Branded (2 page)

Chapter
Two

“A
small colony of humans has been detected deep in the mountain.”

Tolcan
looked at his second in command
during this tracking mission, saw the way focus covered
Stellan’s
features, and looked back at the mountain in the distance. The technology they
had allowed them to see within structures, even if those structures were thick
rock. The scanners were able to pick up heartbeats, if any, in dwellings.

“Although they are so deep within
the mountain that the heartbeats are faint, almost non-discernable.”

“How many?”
Tolcan
asked again.

“Maybe ten humans within one
small cave.”

“How many fertile females?”
Tolcan
asked, staring at the opening of the cave. They’d have to go in, because even
if there was only one fertile human female they couldn’t risk losing her.

“The
scanner picks up at least three.”

If
they could be bred, then they were fertile to their kind. The Rogues, a species
of humanoid aliens that had come here three decades ago, were in need of
females to help propagate their species. They had their own Rogue females, but
not nearly enough to help colonize this planet. This was their home now, and
mating with the humans meant they could build armies and create warriors.

“How
many human males that can be used in the labor camps?”

“According
to the scanner all but two are of prime age.”

He
nodded but continued to focus on the cave. The labor camps were to have
healthy, viable males to work. They were used to build equipment, set up camps,
and other things the Rogues deemed lesser. The Rogues could have lived with the
humans, could have been civilized, but when they were met with hostility and
violence, the only way to retaliate, to survive, was to show they were
stronger. In
Tolcan’s
eyes the years that had passed
were enough to have everyone reevaluating what was happening, and to try to
work together. But it wasn’t his call. He was an Enforcer, a warrior for his
kind, and the Royal class was the one that called the shots.

Until
there were others that stood up for feeling the same way, or the Royals were
overturned, nothing would change. But that was not something
Tolcan
would address by himself, not unless he wanted to be
strung up and made an example of. And if that happened he wouldn’t be able to
help his species prosper and grow. He was trained, bred to be the male he was
today, and it wasn’t until he had landed on earth and seen how the Royals had
disregarded the human life that wasn’t corrupt, that he realized his kind were
acting exactly like the brute monsters the humans called them. There was
strength in numbers, but so far, for these last thirty years, his kind was fine
with how things were going, how earth was their new home, and how the humans
were inferior to them.

“Send
Lycin
and
Petre
to the
perimeter of the mountain opening. You and I will take the cave. We can handle a
handful of humans easily, but be mindful of those fertile females. I don’t want
them harmed in any way during the extraction.”

Stellan
entered the codes that would
send direct links to the other Enforcers, and giving them the orders he’d just
initiated.

“Let’s
move out,”
Tolcan
said, and he and
Stellan
headed down the mountain and toward the cave
entrance.

They
had their
tranq
guns at the ready, which when fired
would stun their enemy, or in this case the humans, enough that they couldn’t
cause harm to the Rogues or themselves, as some had tried to do numerous times.

“I’ll
take the front, you watch the back. Make sure there aren’t any humans lingering
on the outside that the scanners happened to miss.”

Stellan
nodded.

They
moved through the cave, their vision far superior to humans’, as was every
other sense about a Rogue. Not only were they seven feet in height, far taller
than the average human, they also were bigger, more muscular, and their
intelligence made humans’ look like rats’. But then humans’ technology hadn’t
been as primitive as they would have thought. What they lacked in strategic
skills and engineering superior weaponry, they made up for in lethal doses of
violence.

A
Rogue saw perfectly in the dark, smelled things from a mile away, and had the
strength of ten grown adult, fit human males. They didn’t need the humans as
labor, but it allowed them to focus on creating new weapons, planning raids to
hunt for more humans in hiding. It was the grunt work the humans did, the work
they were able to accomplish without breaking their backs.

They
followed the tunnel in the cave for about a quarter of a mile, going lower into
the mountain. The air became somewhat moist, and the scent of dirt and of
vegetation that grew on the walls filled
Tolcan’s
nose. Then, as they rounded another corner, their weapons trained, a human came
out and attacked
Tolcan
. He was momentarily surprised
that the scanner hadn’t picked up the human, but as
Tolcan
took in the sight of the male covered in mud and moss, it was clear he’d done
so to try to hide from them.

Tolcan
shoved the male away with enough
force he slammed into the wall across from him. Pieces of moss fell from him,
and the scent of minerals mixed in with the dirt came through.

Tolcan
aimed his
tranq
gun and fired. The flash of light went into the human’s chest, causing his eyes
to widen right before he slumped to the ground, unconscious.

“Let’s
move. If he knows we’re here, the others might as well.”

Stellan
nodded, and they moved closer.
Tolcan
pressed the location switch on his GPS wrist device,
alerting the other warriors above that they were making their move. If any of
the humans tried to escape through an alternate exit the Enforcers above would
be prepared.

Tolcan
heard the whispered, frantic
murmurs just ahead, and signaled for
Stellan
to stay
close and be ready. They rounded the corner, saw a small opening off to the
side immediately, and noticed several of the humans moving through it.
Tolcan
raised his gun and started firing off shots. He was
precise, exact in his aim, and had three down within a matter of seconds.
Screams erupted, and some of the more prime male humans came forward, fighting
back. They were easy enough to take down, especially since they were so small
compared to Rogues, and were also weaponless.

Tolcan
moved into the cave, saw a man
grab a female’s arm, tugging her toward the exit, and lifted his
tranq
gun toward the humans. But when the female turned
around, her dark hair a wild mess around her frightened face, and her strange
colored eyes watching him with fear, everything in him froze. Maybe it was the
anomaly of her eye color that transfixed him? One was green, and the other was
blue. Or maybe it was the fact she looked at him with a hint of pleading, a
vulnerability that had everything inside of him freezing, and the very male,
very primal, part of him waking up and taking notice.

He
wanted her, and even if it was the most ludicrous thing to want, to desire, it
was undeniable.
Tolcan
had never wanted a female, not
even as a concubine as so many of his kind took. He slept with female Rogues,
found pleasure in his own kind, but for some reason he was hard, aroused for
this human, and she did nothing but stare at him with fear and innocence.

Stellan
moved toward her after the human
male that had been trying to pull her in the opposite direction dropped to the
floor. She looked so frightened, backing into the corner, and when
Stellan
was close enough she kicked out, landing a blow
between
Stellan’s
legs.
Tolcan
was surprised at the feistiness in her, but he was more shocked at the fact he
was just standing here, looking at her, wanting her.

Tolcan
came closer, and her eyes
widened as she took in his size.

“Stay
back,” she spoke in her native language. All Rogues knew the humans language,
but he doubted she’d been versed in his.
Tolcan
didn’t respond, but before he could stop it
Stellan
shot her with the
tranq
gun. She gasped before
instantly passing out.

Fuck
, he thought, not about to voice
that to
Stellan
. Showing any emotion for a species his
kind deemed lesser would make
Tolcan
seem like a
traitor, a sympathizer. There had been a few in the last thirty years that
thought the humans and Rogues could live beside each other. Those had been
deemed betrayers of their people, and sent off to the cells beneath the Royals’
home to live out the rest of their days. And for a Rogue that was a long
fucking time since their lifespan was double that of a human.

“She’s
one that has a lot of spirit,”
Stellan
said and bent
down to touch the female. “She’ll make a good breeder, produce good warriors.”

“I’ll
take her,”
Tolcan
said. He picked her up before
Stellan
could touch her, and knew that something with him
was very wrong. He shouldn’t have wanted her for anything more than to hand her
over to the Royal Guard, but for some reason this thing had awakened in him,
demanding he at least entertain this emotion.

Stellan
looked at him curiously as he
held the female.

“Call
the others to come down and gather the humans. By now the three Enforcers at
top should have neutralized the escaped humans,” said
Tolcan
.

Stellan
nodded. “Yes, Sir,” he said, but
still looked at him curiously.

“Do
it now,”
Tolcan
ordered, deeper, with more command.

Stellan
entered the instructions into
his wrist activator, signaling for backup to come into the caves.
Tolcan
looked at the female, took in her delicate features,
and the fact she was interesting to him, piqued his desire, like no other
female, human nor Rogue, ever had.

He’d
learned throughout his existence that when he felt something so deep, so
powerful it confused him, made him question the very core of who and what he
was, he didn’t ignore it. The problem was
,
did he
really want her as a concubine? The alternative to turning his back on this
curious little human was handing her over to the Royal Guard to be used as a
breeder. For some reason that very idea, the very image of his kind rutting
between her thighs, filling her with Rogue seed, infuriated him. He was insane,
or maybe defective, because these were dangerous thoughts.

Taking
a human as a concubine wasn’t unusual, but having one as a mate, an equal, was
a forbidden, deviant act. Humans were seen as labor, breeding stock, or as sex
slaves only, and having one as a mate meant he’d be deemed as some kind of
pervert, possibly even lose his status as head Enforcer, and all because he had
this fascination with a female.

No,
he’d not jump to an emotional decision. This could simply be because she was an
anomaly, a human that had interested him for the first time, and because of that
he was even entertaining these desires.

“Let’s
go,” he said, putting those thoughts out of his head. She wasn’t going to be
his, wasn’t going to be more than a breeder for his kind. That was the end of
it, and thinking anymore on it meant he’d have to give up everything. He
couldn’t do that, not for a female, or a human especially.

Chapter
Three

Before
Greta was even awake everything came rushing back. It was like a dream, one
going in reverse, faster rather than slower. She remembered the man who had shot
her, the Rogue male that came after her as if she were nothing more than the
dirt on his boot. But then there had been another Rogue male behind him,
watching her, appraising her almost. He was huge, as were all of the Rogues,
and the black bands tattooed on his arms from wrist to shoulder told her he was
an Enforcer. She’d learned enough about the hostile, violent species to know
they had classes, the same as humans used to have. Those bands represented his
rank, and because they covered his arms she knew he was at the top.

She
was afraid to lie there, but even more afraid to open her eyes and
alert
them to her being awake. So she lay there, wherever
there
was, and listened, waited. She
heard nothing but the sound of her heart, the fast respirations as she
breathed, and prayed no one was beside her. All of her people, the men and
women she’d grown up with, helped protect, and who in turn had helped protect
her, were all gone, right in the blink of an eye. Then she thought of Jayce,
how he’d been trying to help her get out of there but then had gotten shot.
God, was he okay? Would he be okay?

“I
know you’re awake.” The deep voice came from beside her, a short distance away.
She was still so afraid, but she opened her eyes, clenched the material beneath
her in her hands, and turned her head. The room she was in was dark, and only
the small window above them, placed in the ceiling, let light in.

She
didn’t move, just continued to stare at the Rogue that sat in the corner, his
big body shrouded by darkness. She scented something in the air, something
sweet, thick, and she knew instantly it was a Rogue herb, one that she’d heard
they smoked to calm down. She’d heard it had calming effects.

She
licked her lips, afraid to even breathe as she stared at him. Who was he? Where
was she? What in the hell did he plan on doing to her? She didn’t know what
happened when a human was caught aside from the rumors the females were used as
breeders, and the healthy, young males for labor. But this place looked more
like a home, or what she assumed a home to be.

There
was the pallet she was on, and a small, metal, square looking contraption in
the corner. It had doors on either side, so she supposed it was used to hold
items, maybe clothing? She didn’t know much about these kinds of comforts, not
with jumping from cave to cave. It was the only way for her to live, for her
kind to survive.

“Are
you hungry, thirsty?” he asked, still staying in the shadows. A cloud of smoke
surrounded him as he exhaled, and she hated having to inhale it, hated that the
room was foggy because of it. Was he trying to drug her, make her do what he
said without fighting him?

She
didn’t answer, just stared at him. He leaned forward, and she got a look at his
face. God, it was the Rogue from the cave, the one that had stared at her,
seemed transfixed by her. His hair was short, black as night, and his eyes—God,
his eyes were so light blue they almost seemed white.

“I
know you can understand me,” he said slowly, deeply. He inhaled from the long,
white stick, the end lighting up red. He held his breath for a moment, and then
exhaled the smoke. “I implanted a chip in your neck so you’ll understand my
language,” he said without any emotion, without even showing any expression on
his face.

She
instantly touched the side of her neck, expecting there to be pain, but all she
felt was this small, flat, disc-like device under her skin.

“So,
I’ll ask you again,” he said and slowly stood, rising to his massive seven feet
height. “Are you hungry or thirsty?”

She
sat up, feeling lightheaded, but pushing it back. He took a step closer, and
she scrambled back on the bed. Her heart beat painfully hard in her chest. The
wall stopped her from moving any further from him, and as he came closer, she
felt like she might pass out. He leaned forward, placed the white stick in his
mouth, took a deep inhalation, and held her gaze with his own.

She
was frozen, scared beyond words, and didn’t know what her fate was. Then he
exhaled slowly, the white, sweet smelling smoke surrounding her face in this
thick cloud. She started breathing harder as her fear consumed her, but as the
seconds ticked by she felt herself grow relaxed on the bed, her heart calming,
and her fear leaving.

He
didn’t smirk, didn’t even move for a few seconds. Then he slowly stood to his
full height again. “I’ll ask again, female.” He held her gaze again. “Are you
hungry or thirsty?”

She
felt herself nod, worry of what was going to happen and fear of this monster
leaving her, just fading away. No, not leaving her, just being buried by the
calmness that engulfed her. He moved out of the bedroom, the door sliding into
the wall seamlessly. She didn’t know how long she sat there, but it seemed like
an eternity before he came back.

His
kind was so human looking, with little differences that weren’t so little in
reality. Aside from his tattoos, his flesh was a strange combination of cream
and brown, the color almost making him seem like he’d been in the sun … but
not. Aside from the clear height and muscle mass difference between them and
the humans, they looked very similar.

“Now, female.”
He set the tray on the bed, and
strange looking items were on top of it. A green gelatinous square sat on the
left, a blue piece was next to that, and this brown, textured slab of what she
knew was meat. There was also a helping of bite sized cream-colored pieces and
a cup of what she assumed to be water beside that.

He
stared down at her, and as she took in the monstrous size of this man, and the
fact he’d just gotten her this tray full of weird looking food, it felt as if
the world was rushing around her and she was on the verge of going over some
cliff without anyone realizing.

“Eat.”
He said that command hard, with all the dominance she’d come to expect from his
barbaric, yet very advanced species.

Picking
up the green stuff, she started eating it. For some unexplainable reason it
melted in her mouth, exploding with flavor, and having her hungry for more. Or
maybe she was just starving, malnourished? Before she knew what was happening
she was devouring the whole plate, even if she had no clue what it was she ate.
Because she’d been in hiding with the other humans she didn’t get a lot of
portions when mealtime came. And when it was time to eat it was things they
could forage and scavenge for quickly. They couldn’t stay out in the open that
long, not unless they wanted to become noticed. This race had technology the
likes of which made humans, when they were at the top of their game, seem
infantile.

She’d
been in hiding for her entire life, she’d always been on the run, always
looking over her shoulder, and hungry … so very hungry. There wasn’t a time she
didn’t go to be with fear on her mind, filling her very soul. It was who and
what she was, though, and she didn’t know any different.

When
she was finished eating she grabbed the cup of water and drank it all, not
realizing how thirsty she really had been. Greta stared down at the tray, so
surprised she’d eaten everything, especially right in front of this Rogue. She
still had yet to know what his plans for her were, but she stared at him
sitting back on the set in the corner, watching her. It seemed since she saw
him that’s all he did … watch her.

“Would
you like to bathe?” he asked.

She
still felt so relaxed, so calm, even if rationally she shouldn’t. Greta
shouldn’t even have eaten the food or have drunk the water he’d given her. She
didn’t know what he could have put in it, but on the heels of that thought she
knew it didn’t matter. If he wanted to hurt her he would, and poisoning her
food seemed like a lazy way for a Rogue to get rid of a human.

“What
are you going to do to me?” she asked warily, knowing she needed to be afraid,
but that drug he’d blown in her face erasing that. Leaning back against the
wall she stared at him, wished he’d quit with the brooding and watching her, as
if he stalked her, waited for his time to pounce and devour her.

Then
he leaned forward, braced his forearms on his thighs, and said in a deep, very
intimidating voice, “It’s because of me you’re not getting bred upon by my kind
against your will.”

Her
heart jumped in her throat. “But I am here against my will.”

He
didn’t respond, didn’t even move.

“Why
am I here and not being raped by your barbaric species?” she asked with a thick
tongue, her voice cracking. “Why would you stop that from happening?”

The
silence stretched on as he bored those eerie light blue eyes into her. “Because
for some reason I want you for my own, and handing you over to get fucked and
impregnated by another Rogue male infuriates me.”

She
felt her eyes widen when he stood, felt that drug finally start to dissipate as
he came closer. She scrambled to push away from him, to get as far from this
massive, scary male as she could, but she was trapped, at his mercy, and she
started hyperventilating.

“You’re
here right now, in my home, because I want you.”

****

Tolcan
knew the Posh was leaving her
system, and he saw the fear start to take root in her again. Taking the small
cigarette of Posh, a plant from his home planet that they had cultivated here,
he relit the end. Inhaling deeply from it, he walked toward her, holding the
smoke in his four lungs for a moment before leaning forward and blowing it
around her. She was too frightened to do much of anything, and that fear had
her respirations increasing.

Posh
had relaxing and almost euphoric properties, and if taken enough in large
quantities it could cause hallucinations. Right now he just needed her
calm,
needed her not in hysterics. It was better for her
that way, better for him, too, because this was new to him as well, and he
didn’t need a crazed human female making this even tenser.

He
blew more Posh smoke in her face. Her eyes dropped to half-mast, and she rested
against the wall, her legs going straight in front of her, and her entire body
becoming relaxed. Moving back to the chair, he sat down, leaned back, and
stared at her. He stubbed the end of the cigarette off on the bottom of his
boot, and tossed it on the small table beside him.

He’d
actually brought her to his pod, took her into his home because the very
thought of handing her over to the processing faculty for the Royals, to have
her tested, probed, checked for superior fertility, had him enraged. And then
the thought of her being paired with Rogue after Rogue until she was
impregnated had this beast emerging from him.

What’s wrong with you? You’re
acting out of character.

He
scrubbed a hand over his face, dropped his hand to his thigh, and stared at
her. She watched him. Her blue and green eyes were so mesmerizing he felt
himself stand and move closer. She didn’t move, her body too relaxed, feeling
too euphoric from the drug to do much of anything but respond if he asked her
something.

He
moved closer to the bed, stopped when his shins hit the pallet, and stared down
at her. He was a Rogue, an Enforcer, warrior, and wanting a human female was
out of character … out of the question.

“You
want me here?” she said softly, sleepily from the drug.

He
didn’t answer, just sat down and looked at her feet. She had nothing covering
them or her legs. The material she wore wrapped around her slender waist and
fell to her knees. But right now, with her legs bent, he could see right up the
material. She wore a garment between her thighs as well, hiding that part of
herself, but he wasn’t a sick bastard about to take from her when she was
unwilling and drugged. Looking at her feet, he saw how dirty they were. He’d
taken off the ratty, hole-ridden shoes when he’d brought her to his home.

She
was filthy, with dirt covering her legs and thighs, her arms and face. Her dark
hair was tangled, but even with the filth on her he saw her beauty, saw the
uniqueness in her, the desire and need that consumed him upon first setting
eyes on her. What was it about her that had him so drawn? He’d never heard of
his kind going through this. The Rogues may have lust for the humans, and
because of that took them as concubines, even having a harem of females at
their disposal, but it had never been like that for him. He’d always focused on
the job, the task at hand … the mission.

He
reached out, touched her toe, and felt his cock jerk because of that small
motion, felt his arousal climb higher. She was so small in comparison to him,
so fragile. She didn’t move, and instead breathed out softly. He lifted his
gaze to her face and felt this growl of appreciation on having her here rise up
in him.

“I
don’t understand any of this. I don’t understand why I’m here,” she said and
rested her head on the wall beside her.

“You
don’t have to worry about why you’re here.” He moved his finger up her leg,
marveled at the fact she was hairless, and wondered if it was another anomaly.
He’d noticed, upon bringing her here, that she had no hair on her legs or arms.
Maybe that was
another uniqueness
, the same as with
her eye color?