Dark Side Of The Moon (BBW Paranormal Were-Bear Shifter Sci-Fi Romance) (4 page)

To
her surprise he sat up, sat back, moving away from her. “I will not take you by
force. I never would.”

The pain in her
head was vicious now, the edges of her vision growing fuzzy. Above her, his
face swam in and out of focus. Whatever drugs they used, they were pretty
powerful. She closed her eyes again. Maybe, if she were really lucky, she’d
pass out again, and she wouldn’t remember any of what he was going to do to
her. But she realized he hadn’t tried to take her clothes off. He could have
torn her spandex shorts off very easily, but that didn’t seem to interest him.
None of this made any sense.

“No…no
fighting. No more.”

“You’re
a lot like me. You fight. It’s what you do. You have the body, and the spirit
of a warrior.”

She
opened one eye. “I’m
not
like you. I would never harm another person,
much less kidnap them as you have.”

His
frown deepened. Either this guy was as dumb as a box of rocks, or he was high
on something.

“Yes,
woman, you
are
like me.”

“You
keep saying that as though you think you know me. I’m not like you, not at all.
Trust me on that.”

“But
you
are
a warrior.” He reached down and tapped her chest with one
forefinger. She slapped his hand away.

“Listen,
whoever you are…”

He
smiled with surprising warmth, as if they’d just met under completely different
circumstances. “I’m Mikel Taso. I am the Alpha of my Clan.”

“Alpha
of your Clan? I don’t get it. But you know what? I don’t want to get it.”

He
remained sitting on the cot beside her, leaning back against the wall, but when
she tried to swing her legs over the side of the cot, he put a hand on her
ankle. His grip was like steel, but there was something almost gentle in his
touch. She stopped moving.

“I
don’t understand what you want from me, from us. Where are you taking us? Why
did you take us?”

His
brows drew together briefly, some inner conflict flashing in his eyes. He
looked at her for a moment and then his expression cleared.

“You
are on the ship called the Damanth. A class two carrier ship hailing from my
home port.” He looked up at the ceiling. Following his gaze, she saw rusted
rivets outlining metal panels, cables and conduits running overhead. There were
no light fixtures; the light seemed to be coming from below them, radiating up
through the grated floor. Then he turned his gaze back to her.

“A
mission, a simple one. For a simple reason.” He pointed at her. “Women like you.”

“Women?
You come from wherever the hell you live to kidnap women?”

He
shrugged, then smiled. “You are the one commodity my planet is in short supply
of. Yes. We come to your planet, and we take what we need.” He made a face. “We
didn’t succeed this time, except for you. The others…too thin. Not strong
enough. They were taken by mistake. They are not what my Clan desires.”

She
shook her head. Her mind was spinning. Nothing about this making sense. It must
be the drugs. It had to be. And it had to be him that was on the drugs. This
guy was nuts.

“Planet?
You’re crazy, right? You and your friends play dress up, grab a few girls—how I
have no idea. And then you pretend you’re from outer space?” She laughed, a
harsh sound that hurt her throat. It turned into a cough. “You’re certifiable,
you know?”

He
listened to her, without changing expression. “I’m not sure what certifiable
is.” He pronounced each syllable carefully. “But I am not crazy. I
am
the Alpha of my Clan. And this mission is the same mission I’ve been sending
out for the last year. The only difference is; this time I came along to look
for my mate.”

This
made her laugh again, but it dissolved into a fit of coughing. Her chest hurt,
like she’d taken a blow to the ribs…many blows to the ribs. After a minute, the
man got off the cot, crossed the room, and came back with a bottle. It was
almost full of a clear, pale green liquid.

“Here.
It’s just the sedative we gave you. It’s inhaled, and it makes humans cough.”

She
looked at the bottle, then shook her head. “I don’t trust you.”

His
face registered surprise as he looked from her to the bottle and back.
Shrugging, he took a swallow of whatever was in the bottle. Then he held it out
to her again.

“Wine.
And very good wine. From my private stock.”

He
didn’t seem affected by what he’d drank. The coughing started to hurt more.
There didn’t seem to be anything to lose. Reaching out she took the bottle, put
it to her lips. The liquid was smooth, cool, tasting of spice and flowers and
something she could not identify. The liquid fizzed on her tongue. Maybe this
was just really good wine. Then again, she’d never been a wine connoisseur.
Maybe it was anti-freeze and rubbing alcohol.

But
her coughing stopped. She took another swallow, which made him smile, and then
she handed back the bottle. He raised it to his lips and took a long drink.
When he set it down, the bottle was only half full.

“The
effects of the sedatives will wear off soon. I just don’t like to see you in
discomfort.”

“Are
you for real? What do you care?”

Leaning
back against the table behind him, he crossed his arms over his chest. “I care
because I have decided you are to be mine. To be my mate.”

This
time laughing didn’t bring on a coughing fit. “You expect me to believe all of
this? That you’re from another planet in a spaceship, that you kidnap women,
and that I’m supposed to be your mate? Come on, just tell the truth. You’re
taking us to Mexico or somewhere, and you’re going to sell us, right? Top
dollar for pretty models. And I’m just the odd bike messenger that got caught
in your net.”

“What
is your name? What do they call you?”

She
blinked in confusion. “My name? You want to know my name?”

“Yes.
I would like to call you by your name. It is considered polite in my Clan, to
use names.”

“Wow.
You really are crazy. Whatever, I’m Veronica Maxwell.”

His
eyes widened. “You are royalty then, like me, with two names. Or is Maxwell
your Clan name?”

She
shook her head, but that only made it buzz and hurt. “No. Not royalty. Just
first name and last name, like everyone else.”

“Ah…I
think I understand. I will call you Max.”

“That’s
not my name…” She closed her eyes again. Talking with this guy was like talking
in circles. “Fine. Call me Max. I won’t be around long enough for you to call
me much of anything. I want off this…whatever it is. Boat, semi, airplane. I
want off, and I want off now.”

His
eyebrows drew down again, the scar disappearing as he did. “You are on a class
two carrier, on the way to my planet…”

“Oh,
give it a rest. You really expect me to believe that?”

“Then
will this change your mind?” He reached behind him and slid open one of the
metal panels on the wall. All she saw was black.

“Come,
look. See for yourself.” He leaned back on his hands, watching her.

Cautiously,
she stood up and crossed to the edge of the table. The darkness outside seemed
to go on forever; they must be in some place like Texas, miles of nothing but
desert to the horizon. Leaning closer she peered out the window. If they were
in a big truck, there would be running lights of some kind. A plane—which she
doubted—would have lights below. All those expectations ran through her mind,
along with the comeback she’d have for Taso.
If that was even his name.

She
cupped her hands around her face, pressing up against the glass. There were
lights. Most definitely, but they weren’t running lights flashing on the
pavement, or the lights of a city below. The lights she saw were pinpricks of
light, but they weren’t aligned with the horizon, or the lights of cars. The
lights were everywhere, but they were all out there. Far away. Like…

“Stars.
Those are stars?” She pulled back, staring at Taso in disbelief. He nodded.

“Planets.
Your planet, my planet…and stars. Yes.” His eyes held some sympathy, but more
than a little amusement. That irritated her, and she turned back to look out
the window.

“So…you’re
telling the truth? You came to Earth and kidnapped us?”

“Earth…yes.”
He said the words slowly. “It’s the only place for us to find what we need.”

“What
you need?” Something burbled up inside of her, a desperate hysteria, and she
laughed. “Women?”

The
laughter spilled out, big whooping peals of laughter. This was all surreal, too
ridiculous to be true. Bad drugs, bad trip.
Really
bad trip. She sagged
against the table.

Through
a film of laugh-induced tears she looked at Taso. He was frowning, almost
looked angry. He pushed away from the table, crossing the short space to the
bed. Then he was back, standing in front of her.

“Stop…that.
Stop.”

For
a minute she thought he was going to slap her, and she bit back the next wave
of laughter. Something caught in her throat, and she swallowed hard, coughing
again.

“Don’t…”

“I’m
just laughing. Don’t you like the sound of someone losing her grip on reality?”

He
was inches from her, breathing hard. She looked from the scar on his chest, up
to his face, into his eyes. For a moment, he looked as though he were actually
hurt by her words. Then something dropped over his gaze, and she was staring
into cold eyes. She wondered…

“I’m
not laughing at you, if that’s what you think.”

For
an instant he held her gaze and then, slowly, almost imperceptibly, the guarded
look left his eyes. His brow smoothed out, and the corner of his lip turned up
in what might pass for a smile. He nodded.

“We
laugh like that at our enemies. Laugh when we kill them. Laugh…” He shook his
head in obvious confusion. “I think you laugh for a different reason. I didn’t
want you to laugh at me, laugh as if I were your enemy.”

She
took a ragged breath. “Listen…Taso? Listen, you have to know whatever this is
isn’t easy for me. I’ve been taken from my home…” She jerked her thumb at the
window. “And if what you say is true, then I’ve
really
been taken from
my home. My home planet.”

He
stared at her for a minute, then nodded. “Fine. You may laugh, if it helps you
understand.” He made a motion with his hand. “Laugh. Please…”

“I
can’t just turn it on and off, you know.” Her knees suddenly felt weak. She
pushed past him to sit on the bed. It occurred to her that maybe this was true,
this was her reality. She had really been abducted by aliens.

Taso
sat beside her, reached out and touched her hand. She jerked her hand away, but
he took her hand in his. She let him hold it, simply because fighting with him
would probably only complicate things.

“You
are the first of your planet—of Earth—that I have talked to this way. You are
different than the others.” He rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. “They
bring back women for breeding. I don’t see them, except when they unload the
ship, and then at Clan rituals, of course.”

She
managed to hold back a little giggle. “If you were looking for breeding stock,
you got a bad batch this time.” The image of the skinny models rose up, skinny
models who probably had eating disorders. And no periods. “You might just as
well take them back.”

Taso
shook his head. “They’ll be given homes, mates… they will be celebrated,
treated well. We are a virile race.” There was more than a touch of male pride
in his voice. “You’ll see.”

“But
why? Why take us in the first place?”

He
drew a deep breath. “Our world is in a state of constant war. Clans fight
against Clans. Our women fight alongside the men. And they die alongside them.”

“Well,
there you go. If you didn’t let them fight…”

It
was his turn to laugh, a small sound, like he was out of practice. “Try to keep
them from fighting. They are the first in battle and the last to leave. They
are warriors. Like you. Except I will not allow you to fight. You will become
far too important to my Clan’s survival.”

“But
I’m not a warrior. I’m just a bike messenger.”

He
ignored that. “You have the body of a warrior. The spirit of a fighter. You are
like me whether you choose to believe it or not.”

She
shook her head. “I’m not. Really. I mean, I fight…”

His
face broke into a wide smile. “I was right. You cannot hide the truth. Tell me.
Do you kill many enemies?”

She
thought back to the morning in the gym. “No. I don’t kill them. I don’t really
have enemies. I have…” She thought about Red, about the look in his eyes as he
waited for her in the ring. “I have guys who want to take me down a notch
before they think they can ask me out.”

“Take
down a notch…” She heard the question in his voice.