The Breeding Experiment (Veslor Mates Book 3) Read online

“She doesn’t know why we had to leave. Becky had a bad scare when she was six, involving three criminals breaking into our greenhouse. She was playing, and she heard them kicking in one of the exterior doors to gain entry. She hid, thankfully. The alarm sounded when they got inside. Mom didn’t realize that Becky was in that section with them. She sealed if off and overrode the safety controls to turn up the bulbs. Some burst, raining glass down on the men. The bulbs that held burned them severely.”

  “Bulbs?”

  “They mimic the sun indoors. The vegetation is tougher to grow on Radison and they need harsher UV rays than on Earth.” She lifted her arm. “Those bulbs tend to burn skin if you’re exposed for even a few minutes. We only turn them on when we leave those sections. Mom overrode the safety limit and the bulbs started burning those men in seconds. There wasn’t any shelter, since it was a new crop that had barely begun to grow.

  “Once they were too injured to put up a fight, my father and brothers subdued them and called for help to have them arrested and taken away for medical treatment. That’s when they realized Becky was missing. It took us hours to find her. She had crawled into the seeder machine and had seen the entire thing. She wasn’t physically hurt, thankfully. The machine protected her from being cut or burned…but she didn’t talk for almost two years.”

  Gnaw’s mouth opened but he said nothing. Sympathy shone in his eyes.

  “We babied her after that. She had nightmares for years about the bad men getting ahold of her, and from witnessing their suffering, their screams as their skin burned. Becky went from this kid who used to run around the greenhouse on her own to always sticking close to one of us.”

  “She’s an adult now,” he reminded her.

  “Yes, she is. But we’ve still tried to shelter her from anything bad.” She put the shirt back on.

  “Does she know about the brothels?”

  “She knows they exist but not that women are forced to work there or that she was ever at risk of being taken away. Our parents didn’t even pressure her to get married. She was safe after I made that deal with Anthony. Men frightened her after the break-in. Especially after she heard them talking.”

  Gnaw cocked his head in question.

  “We have security feeds. Cameras.” She paused. “They monitor the sections inside the greenhouse. My parents played the feeds back to see exactly what had happened after those men got in. Becky looked unhurt, but they weren’t certain if the men had done something to her, since she was so traumatized. I snuck into the security room to watch and listen, too. Those men were horrible. Greenhouses like ours are run by families. They were hoping there would be women there.”

  Gnaw scowled.

  “Only men in good standing are permitted to get married or even pay to use the brothels. That means they must follow all the rules, have jobs, be deemed productive members of society. Otherwise, they never have access to women. The three who broke in not only came to steal food but women too. They were pretty vocal and crude about what they planned to do to any women or girls they found. Men like them steal us to use.”

  “Use?” Anger tightened his features and the word came out sharp.

  “Rape,” she whispered. “That’s what happens to women and girls who are stolen. Those men would have stolen us, taken us to the camp they came from, and abused us to death. That’s why we have alarm systems on our greenhouse and a security room in the bunker to lock our family inside. It’s not just to keep us safe from storms.”

  “You’re never going back there.”

  She forced a smile. “I never want to.”

  “You aren’t.”

  The wall suddenly opened. Gnaw snarled and moved, blocking Darla from the Elth and their weapons as another bucket of food was brought. Darla held still until the wall sealed closed and the big Veslor moved away from her. He walked over to stare down at the bucket.

  “Meat.”

  She was excited until she rushed over, seeing what was inside the bucket. Then she blinked back tears. They’d brought meat, but it was raw.

  Gnaw crouched, sniffing at it.

  “Can you eat that?”

  “I’m not certain I want to. I can’t identify what it is.”

  “Does it matter?”

  “It could be other sentient aliens. It’s not human or Veslor, though. I’m certain of that. I’ve smelled the blood of both. Nor is it any race I can identify by scent.”

  Her hunger fled fast. Would their captors feed them other aliens? That hadn’t crossed her mind. Gnaw stood and glared up at the camera, snarling, “What meat is this? We won’t touch it until you identify it.”

  Darla wasn’t planning on touching it at all. Raw meat could make her sick and probably give her some disease. She reached up, touching her ribs. The bones there were more pronounced. She’d dropped some weight in just the few days she’d been in captivity. The grass stuff didn’t settle well, so she only forced herself to take a few bites at every meal.

  “Eat,” an Elth voice snapped from the speakers.

  “Cook it at least. She’s a human. Their bodies can’t process raw meat easily.”

  Darla felt gratitude toward Gnaw for sticking up for her. She doubted the aliens cared, though. They hadn’t so far, willing to do anything to get their way.

  Without warning, the lights flickered and the floor under them vibrated.

  A loud boom sounded.

  Gravity became unstable.

  Terror struck Darla, but before she could do more than gasp, Gnaw spun and grabbed her around the waist. He yanked her off her feet and rushed toward the exam bed, where he sat her before climbing up and pinning her down with his body.

  “Hold on to me.”

  “What’s happening?”

  “I believe my grouping is attacking.”

  There was another boom from somewhere and the lights flickered again. Darla clutched at Gnaw. “Why are we on the bed?”

  “Gravity might be lost, or there is the risk of a hull breach if we are on a ship or space station.”

  Breach. That one word terrified her. She may not have ever been up in space before leaving Radison, but she’d heard about hull breaches—and the results of them. Everything in the room would be sucked out into space, including the very oxygen they breathed.

  It meant death.

  “We’ll die if that happens.”

  “Most ships have emergency shields that cover breaches when they happen, but it can take up to ten seconds. Hold your breath if it occurs and don’t let go of me. I’ll keep us on this bed. It’s bolted to the floor.”

  She adjusted her legs enough to wrap them around his waist and clung to his big body tighter. His weight pinned her but if gravity failed, it wouldn’t for long. She remembered how it felt to be weightless in the shuttle.

  Another explosion sounded, and that time the lights didn’t come back on after going out. A soft yellow light blinked on, near the part of the wall that could open, but it was faint.

  Then Gnaw’s weight felt lighter, and she experienced a slight dizzy feeling.

  “Gravity is going,” Gnaw warned.

  “I feel it.”

  “Don’t let go of me.”

  “I won’t.”

  Gravity faded but returned. There was a loud pinging noise and a hiss. She twisted toward the sound to see the wall to their cell had opened.

  Gnaw must have noticed too. He moved fast, releasing the bed and sliding them both off the surface.

  “Get behind me and stay there. Grab hold of the waist of my pants. Don’t let go,” he snarled.

  She hated that she wasn’t wrapped around him anymore as she slid down his big body, but she didn’t protest. It was their chance to escape. She grabbed hold of the waist of his pants as tightly as she could and kept close to him as he stalked quickly toward the open wall.

  They exited into the wide, tall corridor. “My sister and the other women are there.” Darla pointed to where she’d been kept before.

  “Let’s
find out what’s happening first. They might be safer locked inside a cell. If the Elth approach, release me, crouch into a ball against a wall, and stay down.”

  Darla didn’t like those instructions. She understood them. He wanted her to make herself a small target and stay out of the way if he had to fight. But she still didn’t like it. She really hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

  A blast sounded to their left, and Gnaw headed that way, almost dragging her behind him. She wanted to protest. They should be running away from scary noises, not rushing toward them. But it wasn’t as if he was giving her a chance to offer her input.

  He had admitted to having a job that involved fighting. She came from a mostly peaceful planet. Violence scared her, but then again, she’d never had a huge Veslor using himself as a human shield, either.

  Gnaw moved down the hall—then halted so fast, she bumped into him.

  “Release me and stay down,” he whispered.

  She didn’t hesitate, even though she hated to let him go. Darla threw herself at the wall and slid down, her attention focused on the hallway. Squeals sounded, and then four Elth were quickly rushing toward them. One Elth shot his weapon but it wasn’t at them, instead aimed at whoever they were fleeing from.

  In shocked awe, she watched as Gnaw leapt forward. He didn’t attack the aliens at first, instead landing on his hands and feet, bent over—and then his body began to instantly transform into another shape. It happened so fast that within a few blinks, he’d gone from being himself to becoming a beast with four large paws sporting long, sharp claws. It looked strange to see that scary creature wearing torn pants, the waist split open.

  He roared in rage and attacked the Elth.

  They tried to flee from him, but the big alien cat moved too fast. He took them down, their shrieks loud as his claws tore open their skin. White stuff sprayed the walls, floor, and even the ceiling. Some of it hit Darla, too. She flinched but couldn’t take her gaze off Gnaw as he tore up the Elth with his lethal claws, stomping on them once he had them down. The thick white stuff that must’ve been their blood spread across the floor around them.

  Gnaw slipped on it with all four of his big paws when he was done killing the aliens. The pants weren’t on him anymore, the destroyed material scattered with the dead bodies. His long claws scratched on the floor as he moved. He turned his head, and the only thing she identified in that altered beasty face of his were his beautiful eyes.

  He jerked his head at her and started to walk slowly in the direction he’d indicated.

  Darla was shaking as she used the wall to get to her feet. There was no way she could follow him without stepping in the white blood still spreading on the floor from the torn up corpses of the Elth.

  “Oh frack,” she hissed, locking her gaze on Gnaw as he prowled away from her. As scary as he currently looked, she didn’t want to be left behind. That meant following. He hadn’t attacked her. It had to imply that just because his body was in another shape, his mind remained the same.

  The stuff she stepped in had the same consistency as lukewarm soured milk. It was a little chunky. She gagged but refrained from puking. There was no way she wanted to lose sight of Gnaw. She continued to walk, almost tripping over a thick tentacle. It forced to her look down, stepping carefully over the Elth until she cleared the last body part.

  Beastly-looking Gnaw glanced back, seeming to make sure she followed him, and then picked up his pace. She jogged to keep up. It was still shocking to see him this way, even though she’d learned from the news that they were a shifter alien race. They hadn’t shown what Veslors looked like, though, with their huge cat bodies.

  There were slight noises ahead, ones she identified. It was the same sound she’d heard when the Elth fired their weapons. Gnaw suddenly roared and rushed around a corner, leaving her behind.

  Darla froze when high-pitched shrieks followed. Then she forced herself to creep forward, peeking around the curve of the wall.

  Gnaw had two of the aliens on the ground, batting at them brutally with his huge paws. His claws tore them apart and their white blood sprayed everywhere.

  She silently swore to never drink milk again. Ever.

  A third Elth came out of a door that suddenly opened near where she was hiding. Gnaw seemed so focused on finishing off his alien pray that he must not have heard the hiss. He didn’t even glance over his shoulder to indicate he knew the other Elth had entered the hallway.

  Outrage filled her as the Elth raised one of its tentacles, revealing a weapon he aimed toward Gnaw.

  She reacted on instinct, rushing around the corner, and throwing herself at the tall alien.

  Her intention had been to tackle him and take him to the floor. Instead, it felt as if she’d slammed into a clammy, slightly squishy pillar. Neither of them went down.

  The Elth twisted his gelatinous body her way, loosening her hold on the part of his body just above where his tentacles started. His three eyes widened, probably surprised by her attack. Then something wrapped around one of her thighs, squeezing painfully. It felt as if her bones were being broken. She screamed and managed to raise her arms, clawing at the white skin of what should be his face. It was near his mouth, since he was too tall for her to reach his eyes.

  She was suddenly falling when the tentacle holding her gave a sharp jerk. She hit the floor hard, the air knocked from her. The Elth pointed the weapon and she braced for searing.

  It never happened.

  Gnaw launched through the air and slammed into the Elth before he could shoot. They both crashed out of sight into the room the alien had just come from. Terrifyingly deep snarls and high-pitched shrieks sounded next.

  Darla sucked in air and knew she was hurt. Her head throbbed from where it had slammed into the floor, her back too, but her thigh worried her the most.

  Motion from the corner of her eye had her turning her head.

  White-suited bodies, at least a dozen of them, rushed around a corner of another turn in the wide hallway. It terrified her when she saw the large rifle-like weapons they held, but the clear helmet masks revealed them to be humans.

  “Don’t shoot the cat!” she yelled, hoping none of them would mistake Gnaw for a hostile alien.

  One of the men in the lead reached her first. He bent, grabbed her arm, and she gasped as he yanked her hard enough to cause more pain. He dragged her along the floor, taking her around the corner she’d peeked from behind earlier. Then he released her and dropped to his knees, bending over her.

  “Don’t shoot the cat,” she repeated. “It’s Gnaw. He’s a Veslor. Tell them so they know not to shoot him!”

  “We know who he is. Let’s worry about you.” He touched her outer thigh, and she protested.

  “Ouch!”

  “It looks like one of those bastards got you with his suckers. They have little hooks on them, and it tore open your skin where he attached to your leg.”

  It took her seconds to realize he must have meant the small rounded parts on the tentacle legs of the Elth. She wiggled her toes and bent her knee a little. A few spots on her leg now burned a bit, but she doubted any bones were actually broken.

  “He squeezed me and yanked me off my feet.”

  “Well, he cut you, but it’s not bad. Medics are on their way. What’s your name?”

  The pain in her head and back dulled and she tried to sit up to look at her leg, but the human put his gloved hand on her chest and gently pushed her flat.

  “Stay down.”

  “What about Gnaw?”

  “He’ll be fine. The rest of the team is assisting him in eliminating the threat. Tell me your name and rank.”

  She figured out then that he had to be a fleet member. “I’m Darla Mitt, a civilian. Are you from Defcon Red?”

  “Yes, Miss Mitt. Don’t worry about a thing. We’ve taken control of the ship and are eradicating the threats onboard.”

  “My sister and other women are being held together in a room. We were kidnapped from
a shuttle. I think I can lead you ba―”

  “We found them.” He turned his helmet to peer behind him. “Over here!”

  Two more outfitted men came around the corner. One of them carried a bag. He went to her other side, dropped to his knees, and twisted to place the bag on the floor.

  “Civilian,” the first man stated. “Injuries to her left leg so far. I’ll leave her to your care.” Then he rose to his feet and walked out of her view.

  Something pressed against her leg, and she startled. It was the other man. He held a fist-sized device against her skin. There was a sharp jab…

  “What was that?”

  “Don’t worry,” the first medic said in a matter-of-fact voice. “Just a little sedative. You’ll wake up feeling much better.”

  Darla panicked, trying to fight the blackness. She had to make sure Gnaw was okay! But the sedative worked fast and was far too strong.

  Chapter Seven

  Gnaw tried to get past the nine fleet tactical members of Team Two and Four. The human males blocked the exit. He snarled at them but all that accomplished was making them seem more nervous. They had stunner weapons trained at his chest.

  Craig Treeton had taken the lead. “Just take some deep breaths, Gnaw. Your grouping is on their way. We have no idea what’s been done to you. Don’t attack us. We’re your friends.”

  Jasper Cross, another human, nodded behind Craig. “That’s right. We’re on the same side, buddy. Did they drug you? Torture you?”

  “Don’t piss him off,” Trenton Burns muttered. “Fuck, look at the size of those claws. He’s got pieces of squid stuck on some of them.”

  Gnaw heard a familiar snarl, and the humans moved aside, allowing Roth to walk between them. His grouping leader had removed his helmet, cradling it in one arm, and held a weapon in the other. Roth met his gaze and stopped feet away.

  “Shift if you’re able,” he softly rasped.

  Gnaw sat and closed his eyes, trying to calm.

  “He’s not shifting.” Jasper sounded anxious.

  “Give it time,” Roth snapped. “It’s not instant. He’s been fighting for his life. You saw the bodies. Gnaw has to get control of his anger first.”