Alien Skin Market by Lizzy Bequin

CHAPTER 18: MAUREEN

Some time later—Seconds? Minutes? Centuries?—Maureen felt a hand jostling her shoulder.

“Human,” the voice said. “Human, are you okay?”

When Maureen finally opened her eyes, she discovered Tristn kneeling in front of her. Jrayk and Vaul were standing behind him, looking on. All three of their handsome purple faces were taut with concern, and their flexible ears were pinned back like worried dogs.

Maureen did a quick check of her body, and didn’t find any pain. Rawn appeared to be okay too. She gave a quick nod and an affirmative “mwuh.”

Tristn’s face softened with relief, and his ears relaxed. He pushed his spectacles up the bridge of his nose and grinned. It was the first time Maureen had seen him smile, and God what a smile it was, complete with the deepest dimples she had ever seen in her life. After everything she’d just been through, those dimples should have been totally irrelevant, but for the space of several heartbeats, they were the only thing Maureen could think about.

“Good,” Tristn purred. “Now stay here. I’ll be right back.”

He departed, and Maureen listened to the sound of his boots clanking away down the outer corridor. Vaul, the big one, stepped forward and gently helped Maureen unbuckle her safety harness.

“Hello, little human,” he rumbled softly.

Maureen was nervous in his presence, but she mustered a smile and said a friendly “mwuh.”

“Mwuh?” Jrayk said. “Huh. Must be a human greeting.”

He raised his hand in a friendly gesture and said, “Mwuh.”

After a second, Vaul followed suit with a “mwuh” of his own just as Tristn strode back into the cockpit bearing a small black box.

“That’s not her language, you imbeciles,” Tristn said, shaking his head. “She’s been drugged.”

“Well how the void were we supposed to know that?” Jrayk grumbled.

Tristn opened the small black case and extracted a nasty looking syringe. Maureen cringed away at the sight of it, and Rawn snarled protectively, placing his shaggy body between Maureen and Tristn.

“This is the antidote I told you about,” Tristn explained. “It will restore your ability to speak.” He gestured toward Rawn. “Now, could you please call off your little guardian long enough for me to administer the injection.”

Maureen exhaled a sigh of relief. She stroked Rawn’s coat to calm him.

“That’s better,” Tristn said. “Now, I’m afraid this will sting.”

He wasn’t lying. The prick of the needle in her shoulder wasn’t bad, but when the medicine flowed in, it burned liked fire. Maureen did her best to mask her pain. These alien males had been friendly to her thus far, but she still thought it wise not to show any signs of weakness in front of them.

After the injection was complete, Tristn withdrew the needle and replaced the empty syringe in its case.

“All right, human. Try to say something.”

“Something,” Maureen said.

Her voice sounded hoarse and croaky, but the antidote had worked—she could speak again! Tears of gratitude sprang into Maureen’s eyes, and before she realized what she was doing, she found herself flinging her arms around Tristn’s muscular neck. She even pressed a kiss to one of those sexy dimples.

“Thank you,” Maureen said. “Oh thank you so much, Tristn.” Her voice already sounded stronger and clearer.

“Ah, well, yes…It was, um, nothing, of course,” Tristn mumbled, and Maureen felt his suede skin heat up by a degree or two. Was the alien actually blushing? It was difficult to tell with his purple skin.

Maureen suddenly remembered that she was naked, and her bare breasts were squashed against Tristn’s heavily muscled chest.

With a blush of her own, she drew back.

Tristn must have sensed the reason for her sudden embarrassment, because in the next moment, he said, “We brought clothing suitable for a human. I’ll have Jrayk provide you with something.” Tristn nodded toward the captain.

“Aw, do I have to?” Jrayk said.

The captain was smirking playfully, and his orange eyes were drinking in Maureen’s nudity with a hungry intensity. Her blush deepened.

“Yes, captain,” Tristn said coldly. “You have to.”

With a grunt, Jrayk left the cockpit, presumably to rustle up the aforementioned clothing. That made Maureen happy. After a day or more of feeling vulnerable and exposed, any sort of covering was a welcome prospect indeed. If nothing else, Maureen would be glad to hide the way her body was reacting to the proximity of these three hypermasculine aliens.

Tristn turned to face her again.

“There is something you must see, human. I know you must be feeling a great deal of confusion and fear right now. What I’m about to show you will help to alleviate some of that.”

Confusion and fear? Um, yeah, no kidding. In the past day, Maureen had been abducted and imprisoned, sold and auctioned. She was hungry, tired, and naked. She didn’t even know what fucking galaxy she was in. To say she was confused and scared was the understatement of the damn millennium, and she doubted very much whether anything Tristn showed her would alleviate that, but she decided it was probably best to humor him.

From the pocket of his blue silk trousers, the alien drew out a small metallic cube.

“This is a holo-cube. It contains a recording made by one of your own kind.”

One of her own kind? Wait, did he mean a human? Maureen could hardly believe it. Her heart lifted with hope. Maybe there was still a chance she would find her way back home after all.

Tristn activated the cube, and a small three-dimensional holographic image projected out of the top, depicting a woman. However, she was was not a human woman like Maureen. She appeared to be a female version of Tristn’s species, with striped purple skin, long pointed ears, and glowing orange eyes. She was dressed in an outfit that resembled a flowing black kimono, and dangling below the hem of the garment was a flexible purple tail.

Maureen had to admit, the purple female was really pretty, and she had a great figure. But yeah…definitely not a human.

Then, to Maureen’s surprise, the tiny holographic figure spoke.

“Greetings Earthling!” The little purple woman laughed. “Ugh, sorry. Bad joke. But I’ve always wanted to say that. Anyway, you’re probably scared out of your mind right now, and you must have about a million questions you want answered. Trust me, I know. I’ve been in the exact same position.”

Maureen couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

The purple woman was clearly an alien, but she was speaking perfect, fluent English. It wasn’t coming from the translator device—Maureen could hear and understand her perfectly with both ears. And even weirder, the alien woman’s voice had a touch of a Southern accent.

But what the woman divulged next gave Maureen such a jolt she almost tumbled out of her chair.

“Well, I guess, I should introduce myself,” the purple woman said. “My name is Bethany Smith, and I’m a reporter…”