Abducted by an Alien Savage Page 5

  Then I realize the implications of his words. I’ve been listening to these two aliens talk to one another while I was too busy worrying about my predicament. I couldn’t understand them before.

  My eyes widen as I blink at him. “I can. I understand you.”

  He’s absolutely giddy, his toes tapping and a long tail adorned with dark tattoos and beads moving around behind him. Is he wagging it?

  “Wonderful,” he says. Then he holds his palms out as if to stop me, but I’m not moving. What is this guy’s deal? Then he takes a deep breath, and I realize the gesture isn’t directed at me. He’s just trying to contain himself. “Can you tell me your name and where you’re from?”

  I sit back and press the sheet tighter to my body. Do I need to worry about internet stalkers and predators on Xion V? I doubt he’ll ever be on Earth to look me up.

  “My name’s Gemma.” He’s already fidgeting more. “I’m from North Carolina.”

  The healer leaps into the air with a smile and a shout. He thumps the kid on the shoulder. “Do you hear that, son? It worked!”

  His companion is grinning. Then another two alien heads pop in through the tent flaps, looking around curiously. When they see me, their mouths drop open.

  Okay. I’ve had enough of show and tell time. I’m getting out of there.

  I gather my giraffe legs underneath me and stand up. My balance is horrible and even as the others shout at me to be still, I topple over and nearly land on top of one of the alien ladies. I brace my hands on the edge of her cot, hovering face to face with her. It’s then that I notice she’s breathing. It’s amazingly shallow, but it’s there. These females aren’t dead. My skin crawls at the realization that all these aliens are just laying here, in some weird hibernation.

  And I’ve been implanted in one of the bodies.

  But how?

  Did they cut my brain out and move it? Even the fleeting thought clutches my innards and I nearly puke.

  Oh my God, my poor brain.

  I step a leg over the cot, still clutching my sheet to me, and stumble away from the pack of sleeping savages. Once I’m free, the healer and his companion rush toward me, reaching out to help steady me. I slap at the healer’s hand with a shriek.

  “Get off me!”

  “Everything is alright,” he says in a quiet tone. His hands don’t withdraw but he doesn’t try to touch me again. “I’m sure this is strange, but you are safe.”

  “Strange?” My voice has gone up a whole octave. “I’m living an actual nightmare right now. What the fuck have you done to me and where is my body?”

  I turn in a circle to glance around, actually looking over the healer’s head. Oh man. Seriously? I glance down to my feet, then back up at the aliens in front of me. I’m huge. A freakin’ giant. I haven’t considered that part. I must be twice as tall as I was before.

  Watch out, NBA.

  “Calm down,” the healer says gently. “Your old body is still with us.”

  With the head sliced open to extract my brain? A sob lodges in my throat. I don’t want to see that!

  Can they still put me back together if they’ve broken my head?

  I turn toward the other side of the tent where we were dumped earlier and fumble forward. The healer grabs for me, but I shuck him off with impressive strength and rush past the aliens and a stack of equipment.

  But the opposite side is empty.

  The human bodies are gone.

  I feel lightheaded and my knees wobble. Where have they gone? Just when I think I might faint, a strong hand closes over my bicep. I start to throw off the stupid healer again when I realize the alien next to me is much bigger. I peer over my shoulder to find the guy with the dino-mount who picked me up earlier. My captor.

  Only now he’s just a few inches taller than me.

  And holy hell is that a good looking face when it’s that close to mine.

  As I come to my senses, I find there's a new feeling pressing on me. A powerful sense of excitement. It oozes from the alien's body like he's radioactive. Just being close to him gives me a sense of hope. And, if I'm being honest, it is a little arousing.

  “Only one?” he asks, green eyes locked on me.

  “So far,” the healer answers as he nears us. “This one’s name is Gem-ma. I think she needs some air. Will you take her outside? I need to watch the others.”

  “Gladly.” The word is simple but I can hear some suggestive implications in his voice.

  The memory of his huge fingers rubbing on my lady parts on the ride over floods my brain, and my new body reacts immediately. Hardened nipples. Blossoming moisture between my legs. I clench my blanket tighter around my body as a warm blush settles in my cheeks.

  At least I know all that works relatively the same.

  The pulsing energy coming off of him only makes it worse though. My body reacts to it, drawing nearer and yearning to reach out to touch it. Or at least the source of it.

  But I barely know this guy.

  Plus, not my body.

  This situation is more fucked up than any nightmare I’ve had.

  The alien moves toward the tent exit, fingers still tight around my arm, and I guess I’m going outside.

  Walking is getting a little easier, and I follow him out into the sun. Once my eyes adjust, I stop and pull back on him, staring at the village and the surrounding trees.

  I can't believe what I'm seeing. Everything around me is so sharp and bright. My vision has improved immensely, even though I had 20/20 before. It's like looking at the world through one of those massive high-definition televisions. Whatever the latest one is, where things look sharper than they do in real life.

  The alien next to me bumps my shoulder as he pulls me forward again. This time when I look over I find him staring at me with a tiny tilt to his head, as if he’s trying to figure me out.

  “Are you really one of them?”

  This whole scheme is the aliens’ fault. Shouldn’t he know better than I do?

  I blow out an irritated snort. “I’m me. Who are you?”

  He stops and lets go of me to press his hands together, as if he’s going to bow, but he doesn’t. “I am Kovak, Warrior Captain of the Kutarians. It is an honor to meet you, body hopper.”

  “What? Whoa. I’m no body hopper.” At least not by choice. My hands clench at my sides, and the tail behind me whips about furiously. Okay, that’s weird. “I had no choice in this matter.”

  “I know. I’m sorry about that.”

  I tilt my head, ready to lay into him some more but his apology has thrown me off. “What is all this shit anyway? I had a perfectly fine body.”

  “It was weak.”

  “What?” I’ve gone up an octave again. “Who fucking says that? Nice to meet you, weakling? Sorry your body wasn’t good enough?”

  He crosses his arms over his chest, and I’m momentarily distracted by the bulging muscles in his chest and biceps.

  Holy cow.

  But my frown doesn’t budge. I’m still pissed.

  He, on the other hand, looks more relaxed than ever.

  “You were too fragile for our world. You can’t breathe our air or hunt anything large enough to sustain yourself. Your bodies were too tiny to carry our young.”

  And there it is.

  My heart stops and I can feel the blood drain from my face. My rescuer was never doing me a kind service at all. I’ve been brought back to become an alien breeder.

  Chapter 6

  Gemma

  “I am not here to produce babies for you,” I scoff at Kovak, twisting away from his outstretched hands.

  He lifts his palms in the air to relent any restrictions on me, and I move off a foot to regain at least the illusion of freedom.

  “Maybe not me, but the Shaman will tell us who will match well with you.”

  “Wait, he’s going to marry me off?”

  Kovak the Kutarian Warrior frowns. “Marry?”

  Oh, come on. I’m too annoyed to
play Tarzan and Jane. “You know, put me with a―a mate, whatever. Against my will.”

  The alien’s eyebrows tilt in awkward consideration. “Whether it is against your will or not, yes. That will be his intention.”

  “You guys don’t believe in finding love and settling down then, huh?” That gives me way less time to figure out how to switch myself back before some hulking alien is bearing down on me.

  “Normally, yes. Kutarians court one another and create a home with a mate.” He motions into the village at a line of huts. I suppose he means to point out happy homes where couples live. “But these are special circumstances. We are pressed for time.”

  “So I should just come skipping along to your aid then?”

  “We would not have requested it if the need wasn’t dire.”

  “Now hold up. No one ever requested anything from me. I was stolen. You brought me here without asking.”

  “Did you prefer to stay with the stagni?”

  “The what?” I’m so flustered I’ve nearly forgotten my heroic rescue. “Oh, the giant bug monsters? Of course not. I think they wanted to eat me.”

  “Or worse.”

  I totally don't want to know what that means, but I let out a ragged sigh of defeat all the same. "Fine. Thank you for saving me. But this isn't exactly what I wanted instead. We could have gone back to our base."

  “The little fort on the hill? That place won’t last long. They never do.”

  The words jolt a new sense of reality into me. “What do you mean they never do?”

  “Other settlers have come and gone a few times over the years. None stay. Many don’t survive.”

  Oh shit.

  “Did you waltz them away into false hope and a creepy Invasion of the Body Snatchers wedding too?”

  His nose and lip curls and I realize he doesn’t understand my reference, but he still answers. “We had no need for their people. The Kutarians were strong then.”

  “Then why us?”

  “We are weak now.” His ear twitches and his gaze moves over my head. I can hear the healer coming out of the tent before I see him. Kovak speaks softly as he steps around me. “The stagni have nearly destroyed us. We won’t survive without you.”

  Then he’s gone, walking back to the tent.

  I stare after him in a daze.

  Their people will die without me? What am I, the fucking chosen one?

  My back teeth grind together. I don’t care if they’ll all fall into a fiery pit of death, I still deserve a say in the matter.

  I mean, of course, I do care but dammit, this is my life too. I’ve already been body swapped. Shouldn’t I get a say in whether I want to start popping out babies? Or at least who my savior partner should be?

  I put my hands on my hips and glance around the village.

  There are three large tents near me, including the one I emerged from. The ones that dot the grass along the bottom of the mountain base are much smaller. Some of these are the ones Kovak pointed to so I assume they're all single-family dwellings. Beyond them are a few other larger tents.

  Aliens are moving about the village. The same tall, lean stature with shimmery silver skin. I notice again that nearly everyone I see is a male. A single female regards me from the entrance of her tent, and a sudden pang of embarrassment comes over me. I feel foolish standing there by myself, the sheet still wrapped around mel. I've walked through dormitory hallways in nothing but a towel plenty of times, but that was way different. It was a building full of women.

  I’m rather comfortable in my own skin most of the time, but this is quite a different matter. I’m not sure how to feel about someone else’s skin.

  I scratch at the bothersome itch creeping up the back of my arm, hoping to distract myself. Kovak and the healer are discussing the captives.

  I wince when I hear the word.

  No need to be proud of your bold moves there, barbarian.

  It wasn’t as if they’d won us or conquered us. They’d tricked us! Carting off rescued damsels in distress as captives hardly seemed like good sportsmanship.

  Ten points from the Kutarians.

  “None of the others seem to be stirring yet, but I’ll be monitoring them closely,” the healer says. His gaze hardly leaves me. “You’ll be in charge of this one. Take her around. Let her get acclimated. Then take care of your business.”

  Kovak’s eyes slip over to mine, and my skin burns.

  In charge of me? Did this voodoo man just tell Kovak that I belong to him and to get on making the babies?

  I grimace, crossing my arms over my chest. I belong to no one! I’m not sure who I’m more angry with: the asshole healer who just sold me off or my new body that’s started its happy engine up again at the mention of getting down and dirty with Kovak. Even my arms crossed over my chest brush my hard nipples and send a sizzle through my skin.

  Great.

  I start to drop my arms, but I have to keep my sheet up. I snort and cling tighter to my chest. I need clothes, first thing.

  The irritation at my situation all around is driving me nuts and I roll my lips under, nose flaring and my face tingling as I fight the urge to gnaw into my cheek.

  Kovak and the healer place a hand on one another’s shoulder and part ways.

  But I’m not done with this yet.

  “Whoa, hey!” I call after the healer. He hesitates and looks back at me. “What crazy magic are you playing with?”

  He turns to face me, hands pressed together in front of him, some peaceful yoga salute or something. The smile on his lips just won’t go away when her looks at me. Like some proud parent, or crazy genius. I’m not sure which is worse right now.

  “You mean the body swap?” he asks patiently.

  My hands clench and I try to hold my voice steady as the blood pounds in my temple. “Yes.”

  “I released your spirit and placed it in that body.”

  “I don’t want the mumbo jumbo version. How did you get me in here? Did you cut out my brain?”

  He grimaces a little. “Cut? Of course not. Your body is intact.”

  Oh, thank God. I think my knees are going to give out.

  “I only swapped your conscious mind. Implanted your spirit into this beautiful Kutarian body.”

  My muscles twitch and squirm when he says it. No gawking at me, Voodoo Man! I’ll only be in here until I can get back to my human body.

  “Gotcha. I’m actually going to need a rain check on saving the alien world. I want to go back to my own body. Like ASAP.”

  His lips flatten into a thin line and his head moves in a subtle shake. “That’s not possible. Your human body is already dying.”

  My lungs seize immediately.

  What the actual fuck?

  “Are you serious?” He flinches as if I’ve slapped him and called him a liar. “What do you mean dying?”

  A large hand rests on my shoulder and my head whips around. Kovak stands at my side. Silent and strong. He doesn’t seem as if he means to hurt me. Maybe comfort me?

  I don’t need comfort from any aliens.

  But I don’t shrug him off just yet. My focus is on the healer right now.

  “Those masks on your faces,” he says. “They were to assist in your breathing?”

  Were? Oh shit.

  “Yes.”

  He nods. “I thought so. Your bodies react poorly to our environment.”

  “Did you steal our masks?”

  “They stopped working after the first day.”

  My perception spins on its axis and I glance around at the sky. It’s mid-morning. We arrived near sunset. Did I sleep all night in the alien body?

  The healer must read my eyes because he clarifies. “You were between worlds for three days.”

  I choke. “Three days? How―? Where are the rest of the humans?”

  “Still in between. They’re attaching to the Kutarian bodies. It can be a slow process. You were just the first to awake.”

  Well, great. The firs
t woman to step foot on Xion V as a totally different species.

  My brain hurts.

  Then it latches back onto what the healer said about our masks, and my throat closes up. My voice is thin and squeaky.

  “So what about my human body? Did it suffocate?”

  “No. I was able to create a filter for the mask tubes. Enough to keep the bodies alive, for now. The shallow breathing of the lungs in stasis does not bring in enough proper air. The bodies will deteriorate quickly.”

  I swallow a hard lump, my fingers fidgeting at my sides. “How quickly?”

  “By the next full moon at the latest.”

  My brain flashes through every tidbit of information we got on Xion V. Moon and sun positions were high on our list, for telling time and navigating in a new world without cell phones and proper GPS. If my memory is correct, and I’ve properly taken into account how long I’ve been unconscious, the moon should be full in six or seven days.

  My muscles are so tight that they tremble.

  I’ll be dead in a week.

  When I don’t say anything for a long stretch, the healer simply slips away, leaving me standing there. Numb. Broken.

  I have a week to switch back. And I have a feeling they’re not going to take too kindly to me wanting to do so.

  I’ll have to come up with a plan.

  My muscles are still shaking when I realize Kovak has stepped out from behind me and is staring at me. Or more precisely, at my legs.

  I’m not a creature in a zoo. I snarl as I step away.

  “Eyes up here, big guy.”

  He looks at me, and maybe that wasn’t a good idea. His eyes are so beautiful, so stark and green against his silver skin.

  A pair of his fingers drift out to touch the sheet against my ribs.

  “I will take you home to change,” he says. “Then we―”

  “Let me stop you right there. I don’t have a home here.” I lift my long fingers to form air quotes, which he narrows his eyes at curiously. Oh, right. But still… “I don’t live here, Kemosabe. I’m just visiting. Against my will. I’d rather go see my girls.”

  I hope they’re safe wherever they are.

  “Your girls?”

  "Yes, the ladies I arrived with. My fellow captives." I lift my arms out in an exasperated effort to use his word, as much as I hate it. "Where are they?"