Moon Mark (5 page)

I braced my feet when he got to my ankles. The pressure was hard enough to knock my feet out from underneath me. The crying women around me were my only link to home. I couldn’t fail them and not be there—in control of my mind—if they needed me. That thought cleared my mind as I rubbed the water from my eyes.

Months, he had said. We had been hostages for
months
. Our lives not our own.

The hunters had kept us…in boxes.

Perhaps it wasn’t dirt that was falling off of us.

“You’re awfully forthright,” I hissed, my mouth dryer than sand.

Arguing kept me from screaming. Because I wanted to scream. I wanted to shriek until their eardrums bled. Until this was no longer a reality.

The Kireg stated, “As I said, we want you willing. We want you free to make the choices we’ll give you soon, and from our training, honesty is a trait Humans appreciate.”

I bared my teeth. “You’re going to study us.”

I knew a scientist when I saw one. I was one. As were the three assholes with the hoses.

He nodded his head and turned the hose on the woman next to me. “Yes.”

“What will it include?” My eyes narrowed.

“More than I have time to list right now.”

I covered my chest and the juncture between my thighs.

Screaming sounded better and better.

There were Kireg guards all over this place along with cameras. If I tried to escape, it would be impossible. There were no sounds other than the click of the guards’ boots. There were no windows for natural light, only the horrid harsh glow of the ceiling fixtures. There were no smells, except for the sickly potent scent of fresh paint. And there was no warmth, the confined space constantly blasting with cold air. It was as if the Dynasty had just built this location for these experiments.

I hated the Kireg with a vengeance.

I stopped in my tracks when I entered the cell the Kireg forced a few of us into. The Kireg I despised the most, the one who had started a fucking war on this planet, was sharing a cell with me. I blinked hard and rubbed at my burning eyes. It didn’t change the view before me.

I muttered, “What the hell?”

Geo lay on the cot at the back of the rectangle rock cell. His purple eyes landed on mine and narrowed. “Sacred Moon, it’s you. I thought I had been blessed with your death.” His gaze traveled over my features slowly. “Now, it appears, I wasn’t blessed at all.”

I growled, “Apparently not, since you’re in a damn cell.”

His attention turned to the ceiling. It was then I saw two white devices attached to his temples. My brows puckered as I walked toward him, my feet moving where my curiosity led. I barely noticed there were other male Humans inside the cell, too, along with multiple Kireg.

He flicked an irritated glance in my direction, but it didn’t stop me. He muttered, “A mission went wrong. It wasn’t my fault. There was a traitor in my crew.” He shrugged a shoulder, his voice quieting. “At least I know who it is now.”

“Obviously. You never do anything wrong, do you? But I am surprised they didn’t kill you on the spot when they found out who you were,” I mumbled, and then squatted next to his cot. I pushed my dripping blonde hair back behind my shoulders as I leaned closer, studying the probes on his temples. The gray shirt I had been given was dotted from the moisture and sticking to my skin. I lifted a hand and pointed at the devices. “What are those?”

He scowled. “They’re inhibitors. They keep Kireg from using any of their powers.”

I ducked my head and brought my eyes close. “They look to be implanted into your skin.”

“They are.” He swatted my hand away when I went to touch one. “Don’t mess with them. If inhibitors are removed without the correct device, it’ll kill that individual.”

“Okay, Kireg, no touching.” I cocked my head, eyeing the prongs stuck into his flesh. He didn’t move, eyeing me warily as I evaluated the objects, his gaze constantly altering to my hands to make sure I didn’t try to touch again. Then my eyes widened. “Those are neural transmitters.”

“That’s what I said, Human. It’s an inhibitor.”

“But now I understand how it works on you,” I mumbled. It was fascinating.

“You are annoying as hell.”

“And you kill your own people. I believe I win.”

His nostrils flared, and he sat up on his elbows. I quickly jerked back to keep from connecting with any of his skin. He snorted softly at my action. “You do know it’s the Dynasty who has you now.”

I stood up straight and crossed my arms, peering down at him. “Yes, I do. And it was hunters, who only wished to bribe the Dynasty who kept me in a box for months before this.” When his mouth shut, I cocked my head. I had rendered him mute—an incredible achievement. “How long has it been since we landed here?”

His lips pinched, and then he told me.

My eyes glazed over, and my head spun. I hadn’t wanted to know after all.

“Don’t puke on me,” he hissed.

I turned on my heel and walked to a cot at the front of the cell. I had no more words for him.

The bed wasn’t hard, but it felt foreign to my muscles. My body was used to a box.

I loathed the Kireg. All of them.

It took one day to learn the start-up trials of the scientists. The easy tests always came first.

We were hosed down in the morning and at night. We were fed fish and only fish. It was purple and green, a typical Kireg diet. But, the meals came three times a day, filling my belly full. Even if peculiar.

In the morning, the three scientists had us running on hov-treads. They were testing our endurance compared to the captured Kiregs. They kept sacs nearby for those who needed to throw up, and then they were pushed back onto the machine with a warning to not get off again.

In the afternoon, we were pressed into a confined space. Every single one of us in one small room. The lights would flicker off and on. Off and on. Off and on. Music blared, the same heinous tune on repeat. The cameras watched on as Kireg and Human alike had mental meltdowns, neither species breaking any sooner than the other.

When we were all shoved back into our appointed cells, the nighttime was the worst.

The lights went out—completely out. It was pitch black unless a guard turned on the light at one of the two checkpoints to the cell area. The quietness was eerie, not even an animal heard outside the building. All I had left were my thoughts. The idea of being trapped in a box—much like the cell.

This routine repeated every day…until it didn’t.

The time came when the scientists changed their easy experiments.

When Subject 14 was called for a new trial. And Subject 8 was also picked.

Geo and me. We were paired together…

The see-through cage was no better on the inside than the outside. I trembled where I stood and grimaced, swallowing hard. My stomach churned so fiercely it was a real possibility I would throw up all over the white floor, my stomach literally cramping in painful clenches.

The rebellion leader stood five feet away from me, both of us facing forward toward the onlookers, not glancing at one another. The captured Kireg and Humans stood in their straight lines wearing varying expressions. The Kireg were trying not to show how terrified they were of losing their king while the Humans were fidgeting on their feet and just as green around the gills as I was. Neither people were doing a fine job of keeping their feelings masked.

The usual three Kireg scientists stood directly in front of the cage, their electronic tablets in their hands and their hidden eyes on whatever data they were typing. The middle white-haired man, who had taken the lead before, eventually lifted his head and stopped tapping on his screen. He adjusted the cloth over his eyes above his straight nose, and his mouth moved. I could hear him clearly where I stood, the microphone hooked over his ear and directed to the speakers on the cage’s ceiling.

He explained with extreme thoroughness, “Subject 8. Subject 14. You have five minutes each to hit your designated red button to consent to have sex with one another. If both of you do not comply within that timeframe, the two of you will be eliminated with an acid shower. If you do consent, the sexual act will be performed right where you are with no exceptions.” He peered down at his screen and tapped. The red clock flashed inside the glass, the clarity vivid and gross. “Starting now.”

My eyes glued to the red numbers ticking down until my head fell to stare blindly at the sterile floor. Sweat beaded my forehead, and my fingers went numb. I heaved in a mouth full of oxygen, only to curl my lips at the scent of the antiseptic shower still covering my skin. Everything these Kireg—
the Dynasty
—were doing was merciless and revolting. They wouldn’t change their minds even if I begged—that much had already been proven. A hot tear leaked out of the corner of my right eye, but I swiftly wiped the evidence of my turmoil away.

There was no one here to help me. Not the rebellion or my peers.

No one…but for me. My destiny. My fate.

My chin quivered with the realization I would have to choose on my own.

I jerked my attention away from the floor and glanced at the clock.

Three minutes, two seconds.

The hearing in my right ear went in and out, a buzzing warning of survival.

My head slowly turned, my gaze running over each rebellion member and captured Human. Past all of the Kireg with their weapons, their expressions void of any emotion—pure killing machines. My narrowed gaze scanned the scientists who only watched on with a clinical mind, no apologies in their regard.

Until I turned my head to the side and stared at the Kireg standing next to me. The man who had killed countless others of his own species. The individual who was so cruel and heartless he had started a war without remorse, all for a cause only he had first believed in. A Kireg with profound power and utter devotion from his subjects.

But none of these views were helping my situation.

I attempted to calm my hatred of him, pressing my thoughts to turn logical. To look at the Kireg’s position in life, the authority he held with a firm hand.

This man was a powerful individual every Kireg and Human would need on their side if we ever got out of here. He had the experience in battle and warfare. This Kireg knew how to win a war. He knew how to exact revenge without his emotions getting in the way. And the civil war would continue if we escaped this hell hole.

My jaw clenched, and my eyes stung with unshed tears.

The decision was easy.

While I wanted to save my own life…this bastard was the person I was actually saving.

A man I hated with every fiber of my being.

And I was going to save him.

Save
him
.

He stood straight forward, his cold eyes simply staring at the back wall, though his white brows began to crease under my direct regard—the moment when you realize someone was watching you. His purple gaze flicked in my direction, and then returned to the wall only to snap straight back at me when he understood I was staring.

The air rushed past my lips on a shaky exhale as his chilling eyes met mine. I turned my gaze away from him and kept my sight on the ground. But the cage was elevated. My resolved, downward gaze wasn’t hidden from the scrutiny outside of the room, my repulsed determination clearly on display. I moved and placed one bare foot in front of the other on the cold and painted concrete. I attempted to ignore the heads snapping in my direction from the onlookers, their surprised regard sending unwanted goose bumps over my flesh. I flinched when one of the Humans in the front shouted.

His words were clear through the speakers. “Don’t you fucking do it!”

“Be quiet!” a Kireg instantly barked. “She’s doing what she must.”

My hand hovered over the podium in front of me, the red button mocking.

What I
must
. I wish that were true. It was still a choice.

My own choosing.

One I was making as I pressed my hand down on the red button.

The Kireg scientist in the middle pushed on his microphone, his expression shocked and elated at my action. His mouth started moving as he turned around, but I couldn’t hear what he was ordering—though his directive was evident when most of the guards began herding everyone into a straight line—to lead them out of the room. The scientist glared at the Human, who had yelled at me, the asshole lab coat not appreciating the interference of my personal decision.