Page 13 of The Arabis Triad

It was pathetic how she sounded—she wasn’t like that—but she couldn’t cope with any more torture. Not after being treated with a semblance of caring.

Tatt-man’s arms tightened. She struggled, but it was useless. She couldn’t budge a limb. Boy-band leaned in close, his clean scent wrapping around her.

He placed the end of the silver device behind her ear. There was a click and a sharp pain exploded in her head.

She jerked. Tatt-man’s hold loosened and she was able to rub the sore spot behind her ear. “Holy fuck! That hurts! What did you do that for?”

Boy-band placed the device on the table, looking pained. She sent it a distrusting look and sidled away from it. As long as no one touched her with that again, she’d be good.

“I’m sorry my mate, but that needed to be done,” Boy-band said.

She froze. Then, she tapped her ear. “Say that again.”

“We are sorry, but it was the only way we could implant the translator device. We would have given you one while you slept, but you woke too soon,” Tatt-man said.

His deep voice vibrated his chest in a way that made her want to cuddle up to him like a cat. She didn’t need to feel that way right now. She really didn’t.

“We apologize for your pain, but we didn’t want to cause you any more distress than you’re already under. You asked not to go back in the medi-bed,” Man-bun said.

It was wholly disconcerting to understand his words. “How could you understand me?”

“Our translators were uploaded with your language before we left to find you,” Boy-band said.

“But—how could you even know my language. You’re… you’re… aliens!”

There. She’d said it out in the open. They looked human enough at a glance, but their skin color wasn’t natural. Boy-band’s brows were slanted a little bit differently and nobody had eyes as naturally black as Man-bun. Not to mention their black horns growing from their temples were as individual as the men themselves. That, and she definitely knew that humans weren’t the only species in the universe. She’d learned that the hard way.

“That is a matter of perspective,” Boy-band said.

She gaped at him. “Did you just… make a joke?”

“It was a bad one. I apologize for my brother, mate.” Man-bun sent Boy-band a chiding look. He was clearly the leader of this little group. It was where she sat with them that was entirely unclear. And then there was the use of that word again.

“Mate? As in, ‘friends’ mate?” she asked, but it didn’t sound like they used it in the usual sense of the word either.

Tatt-man’s chest expanded. The possessive look he sent her seared through her.

“You are our mate,” he said. “Our chosen. The one that will bind our Triad into a Quad. You will gift us with children and be the center of our universe for the rest of our days.”

Holy. Fuck.

And there it was. The cause of the possessive looks and overprotective gestures that niggled her. She scrambled from Tatt-man’s lap. She must have taken him by surprise because he didn’t put up too much of a fight. She nearly landed on the floor but Boy-band’s strong grip beneath her arms kept her upright.

She twisted away from him and backed up until she struck a solid wall. She covered herself with the towel with hands that were shaking so much it was hard to even clutch it. She wound her arms around her abdomen to keep the towel in place, panting hard enough that she became lightheaded.

“Did you have to say it like that? You idiot, Ashir.” Boy-band ran a hand through his short hair.

The strands were thicker than normal hair. Then again, he wasn’t normal. He was a freaking alien who had staked a claim. They all had, if she had interpreted correctly.

A hysterical giggle welled in her chest. She clamped her fingers over her mouth so that it didn’t escape.

She worked saliva back into her terror-dried mouth. Experience told her that if she could make them see her as a person, a thinking being, that she might get out of this hostage situation, but appealing to their humanity was something of a long-shot.

“Your name is Ashir?” she asked Tatt-man.

He nodded, looking endearingly chastised. His horns seemed to droop, if that was possible.

“My apologies. I shouldn’t have told you like that. I know it is a shock for humans. Your species doesn’t have the same thing in your society,” he said.

---