Hide to Stay Alive (Club Release 1) (9 page)

Another chuckle comes from
above me. “It doesn’t work like that, little one.”

Fuck! With a sinking
heart, I blurt, “You heard me?” Please let him have
guessed.

“
Yes, we zaphinians have
great hearing. You’re a treasure. A treasure that has to be checked
out before I can take you home.” He gestures to the male still
standing near the door watching me with an amused gleam in his
eyes. “This is Dr. Lar ResTa. He’s going to make sure you’re
healthy and ready to take home.”

The doctor nods almost
dismissively at me and then turns his attention to my captor. I
feel like I’m nobody to him. That pisses me off. I’m a living being
not a piece of furniture damn it.

Pretty Eyes, no—my
captor—sniffs the air and briefly looks down at me. He growls
lightly. I’m stunned by his actions and suddenly wonder if he’s a
mind-reader.

This time Dr. Lar ResTa
chuckles and says to my captor, “You’re going to have your hands
full with this one, Din Zar.”

Din Zar. Is that Pretty
Eyes’ name? Why didn’t I ask him earlier? Wait a minute, why didn’t
he ask me my name? Anger rises within me. Am I nothing to him? Why
did he buy me?

More of the doctor’s words
sink into my mind. “You’re going to have your hands full with this
one.” I want to kick myself. I let his amazing eyes distract me
from realizing that I’m not the first female he’s brought home.
There’s a chance I won’t be the last either. For some reason that
thought doesn’t sit well with me.

You’re a captive, Hallie
Mead. Get used to following orders and possibly being part of
a
harem
, my
logical side says. I can’t believe I didn’t understand this sooner.
He’d ordered me around like a pro on the platform from hell. I
tremble as I wonder how many more females he has at his house. I
frown at the thought of being one of many.

Me being placed on the
large device in the corner jerks me back to the present. I try to
sit up but am quickly eased back down. Fuck! I hadn’t even realized
my harem-building captor had guided me over here. What the hell is
this machine going to do to me? My nerves stretch to the point that
I fear they are going to snap.

“
Calm yourself, little
human. This machine is just going to scan you. It’s not going to
damage you in any way.” His tone is soothing and I start to fall
for it.

As a humming noise breaks
the silence, my trust in Pretty Eyes falters. It wasn’t an earned
trust after all. I look down at my wrist to see if the cuff is
gone. Nope, my lips twist in disgust. This guy is not giving me any
chance to escape.

A blue light passes under
me, I feel a slight tingle from it but nothing painful as happened
yet. I hold my breath waiting to see what will happen next. A
clicking sound echoes through the room and then the doctor nods as
he looks at a screen.

The doctor turns and looks
at my captor. “She’s clear. A little undernourished but overall
very healthy. I’ll administer the shot and chip. Then you can take
her home, Din Zar.”

My captor helps me up and
off of the machine. The word “shot” pounds through my mind. I’ve
never had a shot and I don’t plan on ever getting one. My gaze
darts around as I look for an escape. I get two steps away from Din
Zar before he gently tugs the cuffs. Damn it. How could I have
forgotten about being bound to him?

I’m not handling my
situation well at all. Panic claws at my chest. I don’t want to be
shot or probed or anything else.

Zar leans down and looks
deeply into my eyes. He grips my chin between gentle fingers. “He’s
not going to hurt you. The shot only produces a small sting and the
chip doesn’t feel much different.” His eyes harden. “You will get
the shot. It is important to your health. The medicine in it will
cure you of anything you were exposed to when you were capture and
it will stop you from getting anything an alien could bring onto
our planet. Everyone here has gotten the shot and most of us have
the communicator chip. At the club you’re going to need the chip so
prepare yourself, little one.”

The doctor comes closer as
Din Zar releases my chin and stands to his full height. I squeak
when the doctor moves at a speed I can’t follow. All I feel is a
tug on my bodysuit and then a small zap to my upper arm. The
material slips back into place as the smiling doctor steps away to
put down the blasted device he’s just used on me.

“
One more thing,” the
doctor says as he picks up another device. He uses the same amazing
speed as he approaches me.

I blink when I feel a
pinch to my neck. A strange feeling overcomes me and then my neck
throbs for a few seconds. I try to touch the spot but my captor
stops me.

“
Do you understand the
words I’m saying?” Din Zar asks me. Concern flavors his
words.

“
Yes,” I answer as I wonder
what he was concerned about.

“
Good, that means the
communicator chip is working. Now you’ll be able to understand many
languages,” Zar says in a pleased tone.

Oh! I smile as I realize
he was speaking to me in another language. This chip instantly made
me smarter.

The doctor looks at my
captor and grins. “She’s ready to go.” A mischievous sparkle enters
the male’s eyes. “Tell Din Von to ease up on the guys during
practice. I’m leaving the planet for a few days to get updated on
the latest medical innovations. After I’m back you guys can feel
free to pound the shit out of each other.”

“
Thanks, Dr. ResTa. I’ll
let Von know.” Din Zar puts his arm around me and heads for the
door.

CHAPTER

11

~
Hallie ~

♥

A shiver races through me
as I wonder what will happen next. He strokes my shoulder
soothingly with his free hand. At first I’m comforted by the
gesture and then a spike of jealousy shoots through me as I wonder
how many times he’s brought females here and done the same thing to
them.

What is wrong with me? I
don’t even know this guy. His past shouldn’t bother me at all. This
confirms my earlier suspicion, I’m not handling being a captive
well at all. I’m definitely having a mental melt down.

I try not to appreciate
his embrace, but I can’t help but sink deeper into it when we pass
a few large males standing outside a doorway arguing like there’s
no tomorrow. Din Zar growls lightly and the males all stop talking
and watch us walk by.

He pulls me in tighter to
his side and I welcome the feel of his strong embrace. I instantly
feel guilty for liking the feel of him holding me close.
Don’t feel bad, girl. If you weren’t love
starved
,
you would
fight him
, my logical side whispers, not
unkindly. Am I love starved? I don’t like that thought. I’m an
independent female. I can take care of myself.

Din Zar pushing a door
open jerks me back to the present. I’m just getting ready to start
a major diatribe about how dumb I’ve been lately when we step
outside and into the lushest world I’ve ever seen.

My jaw drops and I stop
moving. My gaze darts around taking in as much as I can. I can’t
process the information fast enough. Pretty Eyes chuckles and
nudges me forward. I can start calling him Pretty Eyes again since
the doctor didn’t end up being a mad-scientist. I keep looking
around me. Amazement has me too stunned to say a thing.

Paths lead to several
building made of metal and glass. I glance over my shoulder and
notice that the one we just left looks a lot like the rest on them,
tall and sturdy.

My gaze drops to get a
better look at what I’m standing on. Colorful varying shades of
tan, rust, and black stones make up a huge landing and set of
steps. Compared to the building, they show the most
flare.

I stare at the pretty
designs made from the careful placement of colored stones. Oh, yes,
the landing and steps are pure art. I can’t help but wonder how
long it took to make the landing look like a constellation of stars
and planets.

A strong gust of wind
makes me blink. He tugs gently on the cuffs binding us. “You can
see more of the planet later, seema. For now, I want to get you
home and feed you properly.”

The mention of food has my
stomach rumbling loudly. He guides me down the artfully designed
steps and down a path. I hear grunting and grumbling right before
we follow the path around the side of the building.

The sight of at least
fifty men and women fighting stops me in my tracks. A seven foot
tall female slams an equally tall male to the ground and then
smirks at him. Another female charges the smirking female only to
be easily tossed to the ground next to the male.

That female has a good
reason for smirking, she’s a badass. A pang of longing shoots
through me. I wish I was like her. I frown as I look down at
myself. Another gust of wind smacks into me causing me to stumble.
I glance up to see the badass female smiling at me. Fiery heat
sears my cheeks. She must think I’m too weak to be of any
use.

Din Zar sniffs the air and
then strokes my shoulder. I look up at him. He’s not looking at me
but at the fighters. I stiffen when I catch movement from the
corner of my eye. I look over to see the badass female coming our
way.

She looks me over and then
gives Din Zar an approving look. “She going to the club,
TocGar?”

I’m stunned by the new
name for Pretty Eyes. I look around in case the female is talking
to someone else. Several others are heading this way but there’s no
one else she could be talking to.

Pretty Eyes hugs me closer
to him and then answers. “Not at first. I’m taking her home to be
my seema for a while. I’ll let her decide what she wants to do
after she’s been here long enough to make up her mind.” He looks
over at the fighters. “How’s training going, LarPe?”

The male LarPe has just
bested rushes her. She quickly dodges and then sweeps her arm out
knocking him to the ground again. Air whooshes from the downed
male’s lungs.

That has to
hurt.

LarPe smirks at the male
and then looks at Din Zar. “Good, training this pup is
fun.”

At her words, I peek at
the male and notice that he does look younger than the others. I
flinch when two of the other males come up and slap Din Zar on the
back. The way they crowd in near me causes panic to rise in my
chest and catch in my throat. They’re too big and there are too
many of them around me. That they are so different from me is scary
too. I desperately want to run. The hindering cuff on my wrist
intensifies the fright swelling within me.

The male closest to me
sniffs the air and then leaps back a few feet. He bends and looks
right into my eyes. “Sorry about that, little one. I didn’t mean to
scare you.”

I look into his silver
eyes and see that he’s telling me the truth. As he straightens to
his full height, sunlight brings out the red in his dark strands.
The color of his hair surprises me. It’s black until the light hits
the strands in just the right way. It doesn’t look bad on him at
all.

The white scar on the
right side of the warrior’s chin makes me wonder what happened to
him. Much the way I wonder how Din Zar got the scar under his lip.
These beings must live rough lives. Their lightly striped skin
looks thick enough to protect them better than my skin.

As the others start
talking to my captor, I covertly look around and see that the male
on the other side of Din Zar has a touch of blue in his almost
black hair. Most of them seem to have black hair but a few have
touches of another color in their dark hair when the light hits
them just right. I can’t help but wonder if the colors other than
black are natural.

As we stand there, I watch
the group that’s still fighting. They are a tough lot, so far not
one of them has complained about the abuse or asked to stop for a
break. It’s easy to see which ones have been doing this for a long
time. The grace with which they move is beautiful.

I glance around at the
group around us, they seem to be nice enough and they seem to know
Din Zar really well. He must be one of them. That would explain the
confidence he’d shown on the other planet. The other two males on
the spacecraft must be a part of this group too. I wonder what it
would be like to belong to a group that exudes such confidence and
power.

My stomach rumbles loud
enough that all of them stop talking and look at me. I feel my
cheeks heat up. I don’t like the attention. To my relief, Din Zar
strokes my shoulder and then says, “Looks like I need to get her
home and feed her. I’ll bring her to the club as soon as she’s
ready.” Din Zar looks at the male with the intriguing black and red
hair and says, “Din Lor, let me know if I’m needed at the club.”
His pretty eyes take the group in. “I’ll see you all as soon as
possible.”