Discovery (Hybrid Book 1) (20 page)

He decided to try to persuade her to go along with Tamas’ wishes. It wouldn’t matter in the long run, and it might save both of them significant suffering. She’d always been determined, so reluctantly, he decided that scare tactics were the most likely to succeed.

“They need to keep you healthy so you can work, but that doesn’t mean they can’t hurt you, and unfortunately they don’t need me at all.”

He hated himself for causing her pain, but if she capitulated sooner rather than later, it’d be easier on them both.

“Do you think you can cope with watching while hurt me? I’ve been trained to withstand a lot, but they’ll make you watch. They might even make you heal me so they can do it again and again. Everyone breaks sooner or later, Kittycat.”

The steely glint of determination in her eye made him smile.

“I guess we’ll just have to try. We can make a choice about this Connor, that poor baby can’t.”

“Chesara, there is no baby yet, and there won’t be unless you help them. The Federation won’t abandon us.”

The conversation died as each of them worried about the other whilst trying to keep up a brave face. Time seemed to stretch, and without a window in the room, they had no idea how long they’d been there. Connor guessed it was probably edging towards evening.

“You awake?” she asked.

“I am now,” he replied, even though he hadn’t slept. It was impossible in this positon at the moment, but if he hung here for a another day, he’d sleep.

“What’s up?”

The pause before she spoke meant she’d been thinking what to say for quite some time. He tried to ignore his numb arms; he certainly wasn’t looking forward to the pain of returning blood when they let him down.

“Tenset said I’m not a federation citizen, that I’m owned by them, a thing. He said he’s filed papers, and that I’m his property under Kalzirian law.”

His mind whirled as he tried to find something to say to make it easier, but the lack of food and water, and his position was making his mind foggy.

“Anything filed by kidnappers won’t be ratified,” was the only thing he came up with. He regretted the words as soon as they left his lips.

“You didn’t say it wasn’t true.” Her voice was sad, but he couldn’t reply to that, she had her answer already.

T
aking a deep breath, she swallowed the information that just like everyone else she’d ever met, Connor thought she wasn’t human. Depression and loneliness washed over her like a tsunami. What was so good about being part of a species that treated other sentient beings as property anyway?

The argument didn’t help her deal with the fact that she’d just had the basis of her life shattered. She had no idea what to think about the man who’d professed to care about her, and now had all but admitted that he was merely a custodian of a valuable piece of equipment.

She hadn’t known he was present in the room earlier, but she’d known he’d been in here at some point as she’d recognised his scent as soon as she woke up. It had been comforting, but now it felt as if her heart had been ripped out. First Tenset and now Connor. Unfortunately, despite their betrayal, she still loved them both, at least that’s what she thought this feeling was. She hated the pain they’d so callously given her, maybe she even hated them, but deep down, she knew there was a connection that would never be broken. Humans fell in and out of love all the time, but this was different. Even after what he’d done to her, she missed Tenset’s presence so much it made her ache.

She couldn’t ask Connor how he felt about her. Whatever his answer, it would hurt. If he said he cared, she couldn’t trust him, and she certainly couldn’t cope if he admitted he was just a glorified ‘equipment monitor’.

“How much do you know about me?” she asked, but she couldn’t meet his eyes. Instead, she kept them fixed on the wall on the other side of the room.

“I think I know more about you than just about any other person alive.” He paused then added, “why d’you ask?”

“You know I slept with Tenset?”

“Yes.” His voice didn’t give away any emotion, but maybe he didn’t feel any. She was property after all. He was probably only concerned about whether she could still bring in revenue for the Federation.

“When I was with Tenset, it was painful.”

“Did he force you?”

“If anything, I forced him, after it got to a certain stage.”

She heard him sigh, as if this was painful for him. “I’m not angry with you Kittycat, You’re no longer a child and I can imagine Tenset is very persuasive. When it’s a girl’s first time...” he started but she interrupted him.

“To be honest, I don’t care if you’re angry or not. This has nothing to do with emotion. I’m a human medical specialist, and I know what happened isn’t typical. I need to know about my physiology, my anatomy. There was a lot of pain before we did it, not during penetration. He was trying to be gentle, but the need became so strong I hurt, and it didn’t stop till he was inside me.” She paused, not wanting to talk about intimate matters with Connor, but he was the only available source, and he was her keeper.

“There’s something else as well,” she began, but she couldn’t make herself say the words.

“You do know they’re probably listening?”

She nodded, but as Tenset had probably spilled his guts by now, it was only a secret from Connor. There was no way Tenset would have been able to resist boasting about his latest acquisition, just like one of his prize mares. Perhaps he’d send her out to different ‘stallions’ to see if the offspring improved.

Connor spoke quietly. “You know the speech you give patients, that nothing they can say will embarrass you? Well give yourself that talk now. I might not be able to help, but bottling things up is certainly not going to make it easier. Give yourself a kick up the backside and let’s hear it.”

Her voice was barely above a whisper when she replied. “Am I made differently to human women? He said that I didn’t feel the same, you know inside. You know I can’t look inside myself like I can with other people, so I don’t know if I’m different.”

She didn’t want to add that Tenset had thought she was better than any girl he’d had before.

It took a few moments for him to reply.

“You know your mother wasn’t human, but we haven’t been able to work out quite how Dakaran reproduction works. It’s certainly a little different to human.”

“Is that what I am? Dakaran?” she interrupted.

All her life her mother had been referred to as the ‘alien,’ and herself as the ‘hybrid’. The mere introduction of a name for what she was, gave her a boost. In the blink of an eye, she was no longer merely ‘not’ fully human, she was something. She was Dakaran. And she hungered for every scrap of information Connor could provide more than her next breath.

“It seems she had more of an influence on you than would be the case if she’d been human. In humans, as you know, each individual shared fifty percent of their mother’s genes, and fifty percent of their father’s. Genetically, you are eighty-five per cent Dakaran, and only fifteen percent human. Fifty percent of your DNA came from your mother. We don’t know how it works, but it seems that the rest of your DNA was provided by multiple males, both Dakaran and human.

“But, and this is a big but, Dakaran anatomy seems to be almost identical to human. There are minor differences in your physiology, you have a higher metabolism than we do, but there are a few larger differences in your brain chemistry and your reproductive system.”

“Go on.” She was pleased to hear her voice was steady, she’d put her ‘healer’ hat on, and was treating the information like any other case history; she had a better chance of processing it that way. Connor seemed to be studying her carefully before coming to a decision.

“You have an extra structure near your cervix. It contains muscular, nervous and glandular tissue.” He winced as her eyes widened.

“You mean my pussy can do things other pussies just can’t do?” She started laughing at the absurdity of her statement.

A glance at Connor showed his face glowing in embarrassment and she roared even harder, tears rolling down her face.

Eventually, the hysterics wound down and she was left gasping for breath.

“Chesara? Are you ok?”

“Why Connor whatever do you mean? Apart from finding out I’m the property of an egomaniac, that I’ve got an uncontrollable urge for sex, or that I’m the proud owner of a ‘super’ vagina? Perhaps I should worry about being pregnant by said idiot, or maybe I should put the fact that I’m currently waiting to watch you tortured? So yeah, I’m just fucking peachy, thanks for asking.” She started to laugh again, slowly at first, then harder and harder until tears were rolling down her face again.

“Can, can you see the look on matron’s face when she finds out she raised a naturally very talented  tart?”

Connor finally joined in her laughter, as he could indeed see the stern elderly lady looking as if she’d just sat in a cowpat, a decidedly fresh and stinking cowpat.

The door opened, and Melton’s head popped around the door, a confused expression on his face.

“Are you two alright? You honestly should be taking this more seriously you know.” His words were met with more frantic laughter, and shaking his head, he started to leave.

“Oh oh, wait Melton, I’m really, really dying for a pee, and unless you like mop duty can I please use the bathroom?”

After considering for only a second, he nodded.

“Lord Tamas is coming down to see you anyway, so I’ll let you up now,” and he came fully into the room rattling his keys.

He stopped and closed his eyes, and took a deep breath in through his nose. Connor knew what the problem was, he’d been noticing her scent increase for the last hour, and it was taking all his trained discipline to stop himself from having an erection.

“You smell nice, really, really nice” and he lifted a hand to stroke down her bare thigh.

“Oi Zalupa, keep your filthy hands to yourself.” She shouted and struggled against her bonds. Melton shook his head as if to clear it and murmured an apology, before reminding her not to try anything.

As he helped her up, he asked, “what does ‘zalupa’ mean anyway?” She blessed him with a dazzling smile.

“I’ll tell you when I get a wee, and if you don’t hurry, it’ll be mop duty for you.”

Melton raised his eyes to the ceiling and hustled Chesara out of the cell while she rubbed her wrists. They only moved three doors down before he opened a significantly less robust wooden door. It revealed a small bathroom with a plain white toilet, sink and shower cubicle. She did a quick shuffle, and shut the door in Melton’s face, before sitting down for a pee.

“Better now?” came an amused voice.

“Much,” she replied before remembering what the agreement, so she added a loud “dickhead.”

“And I thought we were starting to get on,” came the amused voice.

“That’s what Zalupa means you big ape. Can I have a shower while I’m in here?” Things seemed to be going pretty well with the guard, so she thought she might push it a little. Her brief thrill of triumph was stopped when she heard the reply.

“Only if I can join you,” said Tamas. A chill shot up her spine, followed by a spike of red hot anger.

“You dirty son of a bitch, why don’t you do the world a favour and go sit on a fucking rusty spike.”

The voice lost its amused edge. “Come out now, or I’m coming in ready or not, and I’m really hoping you’re not ready. I’d like to see what’s got my nephew in such a state.”

Chesara hastily adjusted the white shift as she stood up. As it only came to her mid-thigh, and her present lack of underwear meant it wasn’t a terrific amount of use. But it was a damn sight better than nothing at all. When she opened the door, she was surprised to see him holding out a long, silky green robe for her.

“Now if you promise to be good, you can wear this while we go upstairs. We wouldn’t want to corrupt the servants would we.”

Chesara took it without a word, it reached halfway down her calves. She had to smile at a mental image of herself whipping the robe open in the entrance hall and flashing the elderly waiter into a heart attack. That’d teach him to be snooty she thought.

As she’d entered the cells area unconscious, she accepted Tamas’ grip on her elbow to guide her, another trip to sleepy town wouldn’t help plan an escape. The dimly lit damp corridor led to a narrow flight of stone steps heading upwards. They ended at a substantial door with an impressively large lock and sliding bar attached. Chesara noted that the keys Tamas carried seemed to be similar, but not identical to the set Melton had.

The doorway opened behind a wall hanging in the entrance hall of the mansion. Tamas indicated she should precede him into the office she’d been in earlier. However, this time, he had to unlock the door.

T
enset had poured himself a stiff drink after Chesara had been removed, before trying to distract himself by checking on the horse Chesara had healed. The mansion felt oppressive and he needed some fresh air. Spending any more time, trying to reconcile the needs of his people with the needs of that wonderful, captivating girl, wasn’t doing him any favours at all. He was between a rock and a hard place, and he didn’t know what to do about it.

As he made his way to the stables, he saw the grooms quietly leaving the vicinity. He didn’t blame them; even he didn’t want to be in his own company today. Grabbing a dandy brush, he lifted the latch on the stall holding the black gelding and murmuring softly to soothe the animal, he entered the stall. Immediately, his anxiety levels dropped as he touched the animal.

The wound was totally healed. He had to feel carefully to find the slightly raised hairless impression that was all that was left of the wound caused by the poker skewering the poor beast. The horse didn’t even seem to feel his touch. She had said she’d blocked the nerves.

Shaking his head in wonder at her extraordinary gift, he began to brush down the horse’s flank in broad sweeping strokes. As he worked, he let his mind wander to the problem of his own changing thoughts about the methods he and his uncle used to help their fellow Kalzirians.