Alien Skin Market by Lizzy Bequin

CHAPTER 9: MAUREEN

Several minutes later, after a pair of chittering spider aliens had detached her leash from the wall, led her inside, and tossed her into a holding chamber, Maureen was still shaking uncontrollably. Her mind was a welter of conflicting and confusing feelings, but right at the forefront were two primary emotions—anger and shame.

Angerat the way she had just been touched, the way her body had been so publicly violated.

And shame at how good it had felt.

With just a touch of his thumb, that brutal, purple alien male had brought Maureen to heights of physical pleasure she had never experienced before, wringing from her helpless body a climax of such force and intensity that even now, several minutes later, she could still feel the aftershocks of that explosion reverberating through her arms and legs.

Even Bradley, with his skillful tongue, had never managed to make her feel like that.

But her orgasm had not been the end of it. Before Maureen had had a chance to recover, the alien had penetrated her, forcing his thick finger deep between her legs, invading the most private part of her body. Maureen had feared the creature would inflict another devastating climax on her, this time from inside, and she had been relieved when the spider alien had stopped him.

Yet behind that sense of relief, had she not also felt a twinge of…disappointment?

God, what was wrong with her?

It had to be the stress. A reaction to this nightmare she found herself in. It was making her insane.

Maureen’s stomach churned, and tears brimmed her eyes. Part of her felt like just breaking down and sobbing, but she knew that wouldn’t do any good.

Instead, she drew a deep breath and shoved all of her swarming emotions deep down inside. It was a skill she had learned as a kid following the death of her parents. Later, as an FBI agent, it had come in handy when she needed to distance herself from the gruesome details of a disturbing case.

Now however, it might actually save her life.

Maureen dried her eyes and scanned them around the room, coldly taking in every detail of her new surroundings.

She was in some kind of dimly lit holding chamber, about twenty feet wide and twice as long. There were no windows, and a row of closely spaced floor-to-ceiling metal bars separated her from the only exit.

There were dozens of other strange alien creatures locked in here with her. The same ones that had been lined up outside. Most of them were roaming about freely, and some of them were quite large and scary-looking beasts, but fortunately they did not seem aggressive, and they paid Maureen little attention. Others, the more dangerous ones perhaps, were locked up in separate metal cages. The air was rank with the mingled stench of musk and droppings, but Maureen was so focused on figuring out how to escape that she hardly registered that disgusting smell.

She realized that the mechanical collar was still bound firmly around her throat—her only article of clothing—but the laser-leash had been deactivated. She wasn’t sure when that had happened. Most likely the spider aliens had deactivated it after shoving her in this cell. But her mind had still been too rattled by her encounter with the purple alien outside, and she hadn’t noticed.

The disappearance of the leash was a welcome development. It meant Maureen could move about freely within the confines of this chamber.

Taking care to avoid the other lumbering animals, Maureen moved toward the front of the cell and inspected the bars, testing each one.

As expected, they didn’t budge.

It was strange, though. Maureen couldn’t find any door or gate. But there had to be some means of passing through those bars, right? After all, she was in here, wasn’t she? She must have gotten inside somehow.

Maureen silently cursed herself for not paying more attention when she had been carried in just a minute ago. If only she had not been so distracted by her thoughts of that awful purple alien and all the shameful things he had done to her out there.

A vision of his savagely handsome face intruded into her mind. Glowing orange eyes that penetrated straight to her soul.

Shameful arousal warmed Maureen’s center.

Jesus, what the fuck was wrong with her? That alien had molested her, tormented her. He had touched her inside and out, forcing her body to respond with pleasure, even though her mind had not wanted it.

Maureen shook the unwanted vision from her mind. Now was not the time to be thinking about that purple bastard. She had one job, and that was to find a way to escape from this prison.

As an FBI agent, she ought to be able to come up with something, but until she could figure out how these metal bars opened and closed, she was at a loss.

She would just have to wait and observe.

After another minute, the sound of scuttling feet came from the darkness beyond the door, and a moment after that, one of the spider aliens appeared. The repulsive creature was towing another laser-leash, and attached to the other end of the leash was a hovering pink orb from which emanated muffled snarls.

It was Rawn!

Maureen was so excited by the prospect of being reunited with her little companion that she forgot to focus on studying the operation of the bars. She did notice that the spider alien used one of its legs to tap a series of runes carved into the outer wall—she hadn’t even seen those before—but she wasn’t focused enough to catch the exact sequence.

A moment later, three of the bars disappeared into the floor, forming a gap big enough to pass through.

Immediately, the animals within the holding cell all crowded toward the front, hoping to escape, but the spider alien blocked the gap and fended the animals off with several of its spindly legs. The spider lingered just long enough to shove the floating orb into the cell, leash and all. Then the spider quickly pressed another rune on the wall—a single one this time—and the bars snapped shut again.

Maureen made a mental note to pay closer attention next time. But for now, her priority was helping Rawn. The poor little guy had been trapped inside that ball for a long time now. And to make matters worse, the force field of the ball had become opaque. Poor Rawn couldn’t even see out, and Maureen couldn’t see him either.

She had to get him out of there immediately.

Settling down onto the stone floor, Maureen pulled the hovering orb down toward her lap. Her fingers searched along the metal ring that formed the equator of the orb, and after a moment, she found a series of buttons.

She tried one of them randomly, and the laser-leash disappeared.

Okay, that was a start…

She pressed the next button. This time, the force field of the orb turned from opaque to clear, and the sounds of Rawn’s voice stopped being muffled. His enraged snarls filled the confines of the holding chamber, and several of the other animals recoiled away in fear.

“Rawn! Rawn-RAWN!”

Maureen’s eyes circled with surprise. When Rawn had first been imprisoned within the orb, his round fuzzy body had fit inside with room to spare. But now he filled the space of the orb completely, and his pink nose and bared fangs were smushed against the curve of the force field.

Maureen tried one more button, and at last the force field disappeared completely. Rawn’s furry and much larger body plopped heavily into her lap. Half a second later, he was in Maureen’s face, covering her with sloppy kisses from his raspy tongue.

Maureen laughed and gave Rawn’s thick coat a vigorous scratching, which he gratefully accepted. He let out a euphoric purr.

“RrraaaAAAWWwnnn…”

The now not-so-little furball flopped over on his back, offering his belly for further rubbing, and Maureen obliged him. Not only had he grown larger since she had seen him last, but his shape was starting to change too. His legs were slightly longer now, his snout slightly more defined, and when Maureen rubbed a little too low on accident, she discovered he was in fact a he.

With his shaggy blond fur and his wide, mischievous grin, Rawn was taking on the appearance of an alien Cheshire Cat, though his behavior was more dog-like.

But how much bigger was he going to get?

“I’m glad you’re here,” Maureen tried to say to her furry friend, but all that came out was that same stupid sound. “Mwuh, mwuh…”

God damn those shadowmen.

Was that injection ever going to wear off? Or would she be stuck this way for the rest of her life, forever unable to speak?

That was the breaking point. During everything she had been through in the past hours—her kidnapping, her enslavement, and all the unmentionable things that purple alien had done to her outside—the flood waters of Maureen’s emotions had been continually rising. Now, the troubling thought that she had been robbed of her voice forever broke the levee of her discipline, and tears poured from her eyes. Her body racked with painful sobs, and her lungs burned as she struggled for breath.

She felt something nudging gently at her leg.

It was Rawn, of course. His Cheshire Cat grin had disappeared, and he stared up at her with a look of concern in his eyes like deep black marbles.

“Rawn?” he whimpered.

Maureen reached down and scratched his head.

“Mwuh,” she answered gratefully.

It didn’t matter if her voice was gone for good. She was in an alien world. She couldn’t communicate with anyone anyway. And if she didn’t find a way to get out of here soon, she might lose something far more valuable than her voice. She didn’t know what the spider aliens had planned for her next, but she knew it wasn’t anything good.

Maureen had a choice to make.

She could sit there and cry like a baby, passively awaiting whatever fate lay in store for her. Or she could fucking grow a pair and figure out how to escape this alien hell.

It was an easy decision.

Besides, it wasn’t just her own life on the line now. There was Rawn to think about too, her fierce and loyal little companion, the one bright spot of positivity in all this darkness. Maureen would be damned if she would just sit idly by while the spider aliens abused her new friend. Or worse.

“Mwuh.”

Maureen gave a decisive nod and stood up. With Rawn trotting obediently at her heels, she crossed to the front of the cell again and crouched near the bars, positioning herself so she could easily see the carved runes that operated the door.

The spiders seemed to think Maureen was nothing but a dumb animal. Well they were sorely mistaken, and she intended to use that to her advantage. As soon as one of those long-legged spider creeps came back, she would memorize the sequence of runes for opening the bars. Then she would be on her way to escaping.

Whereshe would escape to was a matter to be sorted out later, on the fly. For now, the only thing she could do was wait.

And wait…

And wait.

Eventually, Maureen’s thoughts turned once again to the purple alien with the glowing orange eyes and cruel fangs. But this time other details flashed into her mind’s eye. That single, orange-tinted tear that had rolled down the alien’s cheek before he left her. What had that been about? And then, when he had finally walked away, Maureen had noticed the scars. Long, ugly lash-marks criss-crossing the heavy musculature of his shoulders and back.

Was he a criminal?

A slave?

It didn’t matter. Whatever tortures that alien might have endured in his life, it did not justify the things he had done to her. The way he had forced himself on her, into her. The way he had publicly violated and humiliated her.

Ghostly memories of his touch tingled across her face, her breasts, and between her legs. Maureen quivered.

God, what the hell was taking these spider men so long to return?

With no windows and no way of telling time, it felt as if she had been waiting for an eternity. Gradually, the weariness crept back into her muscles and clouded her mind. Even here, trapped in a cage with dozens of weird and potentially dangerous alien animals, Maureen caught herself nodding off.

She jerked awake.

She couldn’t allow herself to doze off now, otherwise she might miss her chance to memorize the door code. But her exhaustion was just too intense. She could feel it gently lulling her into unconsciousness. She had slept before on the shadowmen’s ship, but obviously that had not been enough, and she had been through so much since then. So very much…

Even greater weariness surged over her and through her. Her eyelids felt leaden, and they slid closed. Sleepily, Maureen told herself she was just going to rest her eyes for a minute.

Only for a minute…