Hesitant to open the door, I took a deep breath, hoping to calm my racing thoughts, but the door chimed, startling me.
My mind immediately raced to Orin. It had to be him standing on the other side of the locked door. Who else could it possibly be?
With cautious steps, I moved toward the door, my heart pounding.
I mustered the courage to speak, but my voice trembled. “Who’s there?”
An unfamiliar voice responded, the timbre laced with urgency. “It’s about the Prince. He needs to see you right away.” The words hung in the air, leaving me with a sense of foreboding.
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end and I reached out my mind searching for Trex. What if he was hurt or unconscious again? He didn’t respond immediately, so I pressed the panel to open the door.
Before I had time to blink, something was sprayed into my face and I barely had time to call out.
THE SOUNDS OF SOMEONEmuttering reached me as I opened my eyes. Panic rose in me when I tried to move and found my hands and feet bound to a surface like an angled bed.
Fighting my restraints, I gulped when I saw the strange doctor from the infirmary.
“Let me out of here!” I screamed.
He turned, holding a medical device in one gloved hand.
“Good. You have regained consciousness. This will make things much easier.” He moved closer and visually examined my entire body.
He leaned in and used the scanner on my abdomen.
“What are you doing? Where the hell am I?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm but failing.
There was no way out of the metal restraints that bound me to the table, but I struggled against my bonds instinctively. My wrists ached, but I was getting nowhere.
Damn it.
I was fed up with being abducted.
The room had a subtle chemical scent that caught my attention. It had the appearance of a science lab or surgery room. The walls were dirtier than the rest of the palace, assuming I was stillinthe palace.
I wondered if we were underground, as the faint smell of dirt permeated the air.
“I’m not going to help you with anything. Let me go.”
He behaved as though he hadn’t heard me. “The implant has attached itself perfectly. Soon, you will be ready. I heard there were other human females with you. Is that true?”
My thoughts turned to Riley and Olivia.
“Absolutely not. There are no humans anywhere in this section of space,” I lied, hoping he couldn’t read my mind.
He gave me a look. “Now. Now. We both know there are several human colonies in the sector. They are too protected toaccess right now. But that will change. What I want to know is if the Protectorate warriors brought more than justyouback to Alara with them?”
“And whatIwant to know is what the hell you’ve putinsideme? What do you mean by implant? To do what?” I seethed.
Surely if he meant for me to be a breeder the implant was not to prevent pregnancy? I shivered as my body recoiled.
“Our species do not mate the way many other humanoid races do. We produce offspring in labs back home, but here we have had to adapt. We use the implants to prepare your body to host our young.”
What?
“I don’t fucking think so,” I spat, fuming.
I started breathing rapidly and felt confused. The Alaran’s had to reproduce, but a breeder? No way.
