Page 44 of My Wild Pet

I’ve put more than two hundred human pets through this process, but I’ve never felt this concerned about any of them before. There’s something very special about Ash. When I bought her I knew she was a fighter, what I didn’t realize was that her fight comes from determination to win, which is a good quality for a show pet, but even more than that, she’s curious,and sensual. She’s going to have a good long life with me and I may even breed her myself. I’ve not had children since Mags bore me a child twenty years ago.

CHAPTER 21

Briar

The silver straps are cold against my skin, locking me onto the small stool like I’m on an alien amusement park ride. My heart is pounding so hard I think it might explode, and I can’t stop shaking.

Aefre stands nearby, calm and composed, his green eyes fixed on the glowing console.

I don’t know what’s coming. Is this a punishment? My mind spins with possibilities, each one worse than the last. The looks the other pets gave me made me think that whatever was happening today was going to be horrendous. Even the smile Gabriel tried to give me revealed this as something to fear.

“I am a good girl?” I ask out of desperation.

Aefre looks momentarily surprised by my question, but then answers me, assuring me that I am a ‘good girl,’ although he doesn’t even glance in my direction. The rest of what he says I don’t understand.

Relief floods through me that this isn’t a punishment, but it’s short lived when the harness tightens even tighter around my body. Its artificial tendrils wrapping around me like a robotic cocoon.

And then the nightmare begins.

My brain begins to throb. It’s unbearable, sharp and electric, making my vision blur and my ears ring. I scream from instinct, the sound tearing out of me, but the harness doesn’t care. It presses on, tapping into my brain, forcing connections so fast, I can’t begin to comprehend them.

Then the room around me shifts. The stool, console, Aefre—they’re all gone. Replaced by darkness. Suffocating darkness. I can’t see and I can’t breathe.

Thentheyappear.

Gigantic tarantulas, their black hairy legs clicking against invisible surfaces as they scuttle toward me. I freeze, my body locking up in pure terror as one of them lunges, its massive mandibles snapping inches from my face.

“Run,” a voice whispers in Imperial.

I don’t know where the word came from, but it burns into my mind like fire.Run.

My legs move before I can think, but I’m not really running. The harness is moving me, dragging my limbs through the motions, forcing me to comply.

The huge tarantulas chase me. I hear their clicking behind me.Run.

“Jump,” the voice commands, and I do. My legs bend, and I leap over one of the glowing webs, landing hard on the invisible ground. My knees buckle. I hear the words,Fall.But my fear pushes me up and forward to keep running.Run.

The spiders close in, their wet mandibles clicking. One of them lunges, wrapping me in its glowing web. The sticky strands tighten around my body, and I fight against them, sobbing as the Imperial voice whispers,

“Die.”

“No!” I scream and I think I pee myself. Maybe I throw up. I don’t know. It’s all a blur, the darkness closing in until there’snothing left but the fear and the Imperial voice, whispering commands over and over.

“Run. Jump. Fall. Die.”

It’s endless. Relentless. Each word sears itself into my brain, tied to these horrifying experiences. The harness forces my body to move, to respond, even as my mind cries for it to stop. I don’t know how many times I die.

And then, just as suddenly as it started, it ends.

The spiders vanish, the darkness recedes, and I’m back in the room. My body is shaking uncontrollably. Sweat soaks my skin, mixing with tears, urine, and vomit.

Aefre steps forward. He wipes my face gently with a cloth that smells like unfamiliar flowers. “Ash is a good girl,” he says, his voice calm, like I haven’t just been through hell.

I can’t respond. I can barely breathe. My hands grip the edges of the stool as I stare at the floor. The dim room feels too loud and too real. My mind spinning with the Imperial words.Run. Jump.Fall. Die.

Aefre puts a finger under my chin and makes me meet his eyes. His eyes are the same color as mine and when he’s this close, I don’t see his grey skin. I see another human. “Why?” I ask. And I surprise myself as the word I spoke which I didn’t know before was Imperial.

“Good girl,” he says. And then reaches into his pocket and shows me a piece of chocolate.

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