Forbidden (A Serian Novel) (4 page)

Chapter Five

Laili wrapped her arms around her waist as she sat in the corner of the very small room. The walls were covered in mold and the ceiling leaked water. No one had cleaned the floors probably since the place was built.

The day came that she was captured and she didn't know how it happened. Not that she didn’t expect it every day of her life. She just hoped Anara was okay and escaped Jacrar and his men. Everything had happened so fast, Laili had no chance to warn her.

At least she managed to get one soldier before they captured her. He still lived because Jacrar forced her to heal the sick Antika, but she made sure she didn't ease the pain. Healing could be just as painful as the initial injury. Laili could sometimes dull the pain some.

The lock clicked and she sank further into the corner as the door opened. Her heart picked up instantly when she saw the Serian come in with food and water. Nothing about him was familiar, yet she had the strangest feeling he wouldn't hurt her.

It wasn't like he smiled to reassure her. Actually, he had a scowl on his face as he walked closer and crouched in front of her. His shoulders were wide and even with his hair so
short, she could tell he had blonde hair like Anara. The most beautiful light blue eyes stared back at her. She caught herself leaning toward him, which had him backing away, his eyes narrowed.

He sat the bowl and cup down before standing. As he walked back toward the door, she noticed that he walked with a limp. She could heal it if it was a new injury, but she figured that wasn't the case.

Why did she want to heal the enemy?

She was going to die there and the last thing she needed to do was be attracted to some Serian who didn't want anything to do with her. Maybe she'd been locked up for too long and it was getting to her head. Yep, that had to be it, even if it had only been a few days since they threw her into small room. Nothing else explained why her stomach fluttered at the memory of those eyes.

****

Slade didn't understand why the half-breed wasn't afraid of him. He didn’t miss the way she actually leaned closer to him. No, she was just hungry.

Two Antikas came toward him as he stood outside the door still trying to figure the girl out. Those green eyes were so beautiful, but her hair looked like it had been just chopped off without a care of how it looked. For some reason it didn't take away from her looks.

"Hey, Slade.
You have your fun already?" One of the younger idiots slapped him on the shoulder. They were both intoxicated.

"What do you two want?"

The other, a drink in his hand, threw his head back and laughed. His abrupt action caused him to nearly tumble over, which only added to their laughter.

"We want to see the girl and give her a little welcome party."

Slade stiffened and fisted both hands to keep from strangling them both at the same time. "I think you two should leave."

The
youngest of the two straightened his shoulders and stepped closer. "I'm not going anywhere. Jacrar said we could use her when we needed."

"That's what you all did with the last girl and look what happened to her. She's dead. Now, I don't care
what Jacrar said, but you two are too intoxicated to control yourselves. You'd either kill her or get her pregnant." Slade shoved the smaller Antika back and crossed his arms over his chest to keep from doing more than that. "Leave now."

"Fine, but we'll make sure Jacrar hears about this." They both stumbled away.

Slade didn't think Jacrar would listen since he had other things to worry about. If he did care, then Slade needed to have a good reason to keep them from using her as a sex slave. She was too fragile and would break easily. Too many men weren't mated and looked forward to Jacrar taking in women as slaves. If Slade couldn't keep them away, then he had a bad feeling he'd end up helping her escape and cause his own execution at the same time.

Chapter Six

"I've only come here to escape Seria. I'm a half-breed and I want to go to Earth." Anara kept her eyes glued on the only one who spoke.

"Step out of the ship," he ordered once again.

Anara bit her lip and tried to move one more time. "I can't. Those morons triggered some security alarm. I'm stuck."

"I don't understand. They are not morons, they are Serians." He took a step forward.

"It's a saying, means they are not smart." The blue eyed Cryok laughed.

Anara looked away when she heard another set of heavy footsteps coming toward them. Ryin!

His green eyes brightened and grew wide as he came to a stop.

The one who seemed in charge didn't look amused. "Ryin, she says she cannot move. Is that true?"

Ryin moved toward her.

"Don't! I don't know if you'll end up stuck." Anara didn't need to get one of them stuck, too.

"She's not lying." Ryin spoke up with a wide grin spread across his face. "She's very pretty. Can I keep her?"

Anara felt the blood drain from her face. Keep her? She knew he liked her but surely he wouldn't force her to stay. He knew how badly she wanted to go to Earth.

"No. You don't even know if we can breed with Serians, and I won't permit you to keep her after the life she has been through. Unless, of course, she wants to stay with you." The leader spoke again, and one brow rose in question.

Ryin turned and winked at her. "You want to stay with me? I've needed to find me a female to mate with."

This time Anara fought a smile because she knew he said that on purpose to tease her. She couldn't shake her head fast enough. "I want to find my family on Earth. I could have forced the pilots here to take me, but I know they already sent a Serian with Jatron abilities to search for me and I needed to get them off my trail. I've heard stories that you go to Earth on a regular basis."

"Yes, but first we need to get you off this ship. Jinx, disengage the alarm, so our guest can exit the ship. Liam, I want you to make sure these two don't wake for another six hours."

A Cryok male stepped forward to touch each pilot's forehead. She wondered what Liam's gift consisted of.

The Cryoks had gifts she’d never seen before. The pull on her legs disappeared and she took a step forward. She tripped and threw her arms out to stop the fall. Although she prepared for the impact, she never hit the ground.

Strong arms grabbed her waist. "I thought you didn't want to stay here. You could have just asked if you wanted to stay with me instead of Ryin."

Anara looked up into purple eyes. "I—"

He laughed. "I am screwing you."

The one who explained the word ‘moron’ before seemed to find the leader's words funny, but Anara didn't.

"I think you meant, 'I'm screwing
with
you', not screwing her. What you said is Earth's slang for sex."

"I do not care, either way." His purple eyes turned back to her. "I'm Nico."

"I'm Anara and you're still holding me." She gained control of her legs again, but his hands at her waist still held her a little too close for comfort.

He pulled away quickly and cleared his throat. "We planned on going to Earth before you landed here. So,
let's get on the move. I'll have one of my men take this ship to Earth. We'll go two different ways so they'll follow with their own ship."

Anara nodded and opened her mind for a quick search around her, which led her to a Jatron nearby but not on the planet. She'd never been able to track someone at that distance.

Warmth and power spread through her body. She felt confused as her breast grew heavy and an ache formed between her legs. The unusual sensation frightened her. Sparks of electricity penetrated every nerve in her body and boosted her energy and power to the maximum. She gripped her head as it pounded.

"She's aroused. Good for you, Nico."

Anara didn't know who’d spoken, but they told the truth. She felt arousal, just not for Nico. The Jatron did something to her. Her body shook and she knew her legs wouldn't hold her up for long.

"I do not believe she is aroused for me. Are you okay?" Once again, Nico grabbed her waist before she fell. He leaned in close enough for the warmth of his breath to tickle her ear. "You should quit before I start to believe that you want my hands on you. We are a very sexual species and it has been too long for me."

She knew exactly why they planned to go to Earth.

"I'm ready to leave if you are." No more talk about sex. She needed to get to Earth before the Cryoks decided to keep her anyways. She looked over to Ryin and saw his eyes were glowing brighter as he glared at the back of Nico's head. Since he never said anything about knowing her, she would st
ay quiet so he wouldn't get in trouble.

"If you insist."
Nico let go of her, then barked orders as he walked away. "Brock, you and Jinx will take the Serian ship and the unconscious pilots. When you make it to Earth, wake the pilots before teleporting to us."

Anara held her head high and tried to ignore the
hungry looks from the men as she followed Nico. "Can I have my weapons back?"

"No."

Apparently, he only teased for so long because he looked dead serious.

"I'll need them if they come after me on Earth."

He spun around.

She almost ran into him. Her nose touched his chest.

"I will not leave you without weapons, nor will I give you any chance to hurt my men. You'll get them back when we are on Earth." At that, he turned away and boarded the large ship.

Wow, he ran hot then cold within minutes. She di
dn't care as long as he got her to Earth and far away from the Jatron that did something to her body.

Their ship was double the size of the one she stole, but a liquid silver color. Inside, she noticed less control panels and buttons.
Maybe because some could control without all of that. She assumed that was what the one did to free her from the Serian ship.

She looked up when
the one he’d called Liam stepped forward. "You want me to put her to sleep?"

Anara stepped b
ack into another hard body and turned to find Ryin behind her.

He squeezed her shoulder and gave her a sad smile. "It's okay. We just can't have you awake on the trip. There are too many people who want to kill off our species, so please don't take offense." Warmth tickled her ear as he leaned closer to whisper. "Are you sure you wouldn't want to stay?"

She shook her head. "Please. You know I can't lose control of my body. Don't make me go through that."

Ryin dropped his head and then looked behind her. "I'll take full responsibility for her. She's been through enough on her planet."

Another hand landed on her shoulder, before she could stop them. Her stiff body loosened as a wave of calm flowed through her. She couldn't bring herself to attack or protest, but she didn't go to sleep.

"He just calmed you down. Even I could tell your heart was pounding and you looked like you would be sick. Just follow me." He wrapped his hand around hers and led the way to a private room.

It wasn't very big, but for as many men that boarded the ship, you couldn't expect much. She still felt better than living in her own home. Not that she ever really called it home.

"I hope I didn't get you in trouble."

"I don't think they suspected anything." He sat on the bed and patted the empty spot beside him. The smile on his lips revealed his sharp fangs. "I won't bite, I promise."

"As if I don't know better."
Her stomach screamed at her to fill it. When Ryin laughed she turned away. "I don't appreciate you laughing at me."

She jumped when he grabbed her arm and twisted her around. There was no chance to move when his lips pressed against hers. She pulled away just as quick and shoved him with all that she could. "Why would you do that?"

Not once had she seen him turn so red. "I'm sorry. I needed to see if you felt anything, but I see this is one sided."

Anara hated the way he made her feel. So instead of sticking around, she walked back out the door and headed in the opposite direction they came from. She really didn't want to risk running into the one who offered to put her to sleep.

"Anara?"

She ignored him and kept walking until a painful grip on her arm, had her falling into another room. It took a second to realize she was locked in the room with a strange Cryok. He was handsome, but the sharp features of his face and the sinister
smirk made her uneasy. Memories had her heart racing and her knees weakening.

No! You won't let that happen again. No one could control her anymore. She was stronger. At first she thought the pounding was from h
er heart, but then she heard Ryin yelling on the other side of the door. He was trying to get to her.

She had no clue what he was yelling as she tried her best to back herself as far into the wall as she could.

"You're very pretty. I love that I won't have to wait until we make it to Earth." One hand reached up to pull on a ringlet and the other started from her right side up until his thumb grazed the underside of her breasts. "Tell them you want to stay."

She tried to tell him to forget it, but nothing would come out. It took her a few more times of trying before she screamed and kicked out at him. Her knee was close to nailing him between the legs, but he twisted and she only managed to hit the inside of his thigh.

Another scream escaped as he picked her up and tossed her onto the bed. It didn't hurt as much as it took her breath. She scrambled to get off until he landed on top of her, pinning her arms with his hands and her legs with his knees. Panic took control and her vision blurred as she tried to escape his hold.

So much happened at once as the door crashed open and more Cryoks filled the tiny room. All of the air was sucked out even as the large male on top of her disa
ppeared and then Ryin crouched above her.

"Anara, I'm so sorry. Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" He started touching her and she looked down to see him rearranging her clothing.

The shirt she was wearing was torn and revealed more than she ever wanted to. With shaky hands she grabbed the two ripped pieces and held them together as he helped her. "Get me out of here."

Three more men watched her and she scooted closer
to Ryin.

"They won't hurt you, Anara. Let's go back to my room and I'll get you cleaned up." Ryin placed his arm around her shoulder.

It was like a prison of emotions broke through and she lost her footing. Tears flowed down her face and then she felt her body shake uncontrollably. The same calming feeling she'd felt before came over her until her eye lids became too heavy to hold open. She trusted Ryin to protect her and gave into the sleep dragging her under.

****

Anara awoke without a clue as to where she was. When she opened her eyes, everything came back to her. She was safe. Green grass tickled her face and the bright sun beamed down on her. Wow.

Earth.

She sat up to look around. No one. The Cryoks just left her there. The new clothes on her body didn't look much different than the simple cloth pants and shirt she'd worn, but cleaner. Ryin must have changed her after the attack. She didn't get to thank him for helping her and had a feeling that was for the best. Hopefully they punished the Cryok who attacked her. She shivered and pushed the memory back with all her other bad ones.

She used her Jatron abilities as she searched in hopes that she would find the only one she knew could help. If anyone could protect her, he could. Her heart froze, skipped a beat, before it started back up.
If he was alive, then she finally had hope that Talia, Acacia, and Isen could be too.

Without any more hesitation, she grabbed the bag laid beside her and took off at a run. She put distance
between her and where she woke up. It would be her safest option.

She ran until her legs burned and she couldn't take it any longer. The pounding of her heart drowned out the sounds around her and, as she dipped to fill her container in a stream, she let herself look around for the first time.

What she’d heard about Earth as a child didn't compare to actually being there. She loved it. She even loved how her eyes burned from the blazing ball of fire in the sky, because the sun showed where she finally ended up. Unlike Seria, she would not be forced to live in darkness every hour in every day.

A rustle in the leaves sent her attention to a small animal as it rummaged for food. The small nose twitched in her direction and she couldn't stop her laughter as the creature's little legs scrambled to get away.

The animal looked adorable and she wanted to see more of Earth's creatures. Animals on Seria did not look as friendly as the small animal she saw. Vegetation and life filled Earth, while Seria held only mountains of rocks and dirt. She enjoyed her senses filled with the sweet and fresh smells. The air seemed different, easier to breathe than the air on Seria.