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“Good girl. That’s our good girl.”

J closed her legs and sat up. All
she could say was, “I still don’t know your names.”

They looked sad at that, but the
Hadarian
shook his head. “It’s okay, baby.”

Tears, real tears this time, sprang
up in her eyes. Her heart felt like it was churning, screaming in a vortex of
confusion. Why couldn’t she remember?

“No. No it’s not okay. Why can’t
you just tell me your names? Why can’t you explain why I’m drawn here night
after night?”

“You should go back, J. The guards
are about to wake up,” the
Cobrini
said quietly.

Suddenly angry, J quickly donned
her clothes, aware both men continued watching her every movement. When the
doors closed behind her, she sighed with relief. Then she froze when she caught
sight of Gael frowning down at the unconscious bodies of the two guards.

“Gael, I can explain,” she
whispered, suddenly terrified of the looming shadow angrily striding up to her.

Gael had never given her reason to
fear him before, but she didn’t recognize Gael now, not when lines of anger
strained his face. She took a hesitant step backward, feeling like a cornered
animal with no chance of escape.
 

“There are cameras on this ship,
little one,” he said flatly. “Farr allowed your little rebellion to go on
because it amused him, but the time for amusement has come to an end.”

Gael gripped her hand, and J
struggled to free herself from him. He easily subdued her, pinning both her
hands above her head one-handed. Time froze. Gael took out a leather pouch from
the inside of his coat, and the thin syringe glinted inside. J kicked at him
with her legs, but her kicks didn’t even seem to bother him.

“It appears you’ve proven me wrong,
J. Maybe the heart is really the stronger muscle, but I won’t make the same
mistake twice. This is a stronger dosage than before.”

“Gael, please.
What are you doing? What do you mean before?” She whispered, tears streaking
down her eyes.

Why was she crying? Something at
the back of her mind nagged at J. This scene felt sickening familiar.
Repetitive.
The needle came closer, and Gael continued to
ignore her pleas.
Gods.
She was so close. So close to remembering the names of those two prisoners who
were capable of making her body sing, of stringing it like an instrument.

“They
—”

The needle went in.
Gael let go of her, and when she slumped down he easily caught her and hefted
her in his arms.

“We should get you
back to your pod, J,” Gael said in a reprimanding voice. “No more wandering
around at night, understood?”

J nodded weakly,
suddenly feeling so sleepy. Gael mentioned she was sleepwalking? Why was there
a slight pulse between her legs?

“My head hurts,” she
mumbled, wondering why Gael’s fingers felt wrong. She usually liked being
touched.

“You’ll feel better
soon, I promise. You think too much, J. Leave the thinking to your masters,
hmm?”

Gael’s words didn’t
sit well with her, but he was right. J’s purpose was to obey, to yield herself
completely to her owners.

“Okay?” Gael
prodded, settling her in her pod.

Farr was awake, too.
Did she wake him? She hadn’t planned on worrying him. J looked up at him,
afraid he was angry, but Farr only stroked the side of her cheek
absentmindedly.

“It is done?” Farr
asked quietly.

“Done,” Gael agreed.

“How much will she
remember?” Farr asked, smiling down at her finally when she leaned into his
hand and kissed his fingers. J felt exhausted, although she wasn’t sure why.

“She won’t remember
a thing.” Gael reached out, petting her hair. “Sleep, J.”

“Okay,” J agreed,
curling her body while Farr lifted up the blanket to cover her.

Chapter Eight

After being caged up for weeks like
an animal,
Brale
was filled with relief when he felt the
ship tremble and quake for a few seconds, and then its humming engines died
down.
 
They were on solid ground. Planet
Hadar
he guessed, from the way the crew was rejoicing and
the way the air in the cabin was changed, but where?

The primary military base on the
capital perhaps, or a smaller base somewhere in the provinces? Farr must be a
heavyweight in the military to be able to acquire a second cruiser in the nick
of time and catch up to them, so
Brale
had to assume
the worst. He and
Dyos
needed to keep their minds sharp
for their escape, but his mate looked the worse for wear.
  

From his cell,
Dyos’s
eyes were narrowed to half-slits and his entire body was wound up tightly like
a coil. The last time
Dyos
had been on his
homeworld
, Planet
Hadar
had been
in the midst of a war. He had been a dispensable foot soldier in the frontline,
watching his brothers die senseless deaths as his military leaders struggled to
buy time against the invading
Cobrini
horde.

Knowing
Dyos
was reliving dark memories and knowing he could do nothing about it, made
Brale
seethe with anger.

“Get
yourself
together,”
Brale
whispered to himself.

He couldn’t lose his nerve. Not
during this critical moment. The doors hissed open minutes later, revealing two
Hadarians
who were fully garbed in standard military
wear and armed to the teeth.

“Get up, filth. It is time you meet
your rightful fate,” a guard sneered.

Brale
was
nudged to his feet, and he didn’t fight the shackles slapped to his wrists.

“How are you boys treating our
little darling?”
Brale
drawled, trying to ignore the
sharp barrel of the plasma gun pointed to his back as they were marched out of
the cell.

“Your foul mating mark has almost
faded,
Cobrini
,” the warrior behind him said smugly.
“Once our priests have acknowledged and witnessed our mating, we will finally
be able to partake of her sweet flesh.”

“Indeed?”
Brale
hoped he sounded disinterested enough.

“Indeed,
Cobrini
scum. I myself cannot wait to hear the sound of her lovely cries or feast on
the sight of her body convulsing and shuddering as we take turns mounting her.”

The
Hadarian
leaned close to whisper vehemently in his ear, “I understand Breeders have more
stamina compared to the average
Terran
female, so I
believe our rutting can last all night long. We’ll let her sleep during the
day, and repeat the entire night all over again until she is heavy with child.”

It took all of
Brale
not to punch the warrior in the face. Just imagining J in the hands of Farr and
his crew made his stomach turn. Knowing J would be an eager and willing
participant with her memories altered made it all worse.
Damn it all.

“Well, I hope she bites your cock
off,”
Brale
added, tasting blood when the
Hadarian
mutely delivered a painful punch to his jaw.

“That’s enough, Killian. We all
know the
Cobrini
are uncouth and uncivilized beasts,”
Farr said as they joined them by the entrance of the cruiser.

Brale
spotted J’s small frame sandwiched protectively between Farr and Gael’s bulky
bodies. The brief look of disinterest she gave them felt like someone had cut
open
Brale
and ripped out his insides. No tortured
confusion marred her features. Her young face and her body bubbled with
unsuppressed excitement as she asked questions about
Hadar
.

Had she chosen to easily forget
their last stolen moment?

Farr and Gael took turns answering,
giving her small protective touches here and there. Seeing Farr idly stroking
her back and Gael occasionally rubbing at her arm or touching her hair nearly
made
Brale
snap off his mental leash.

“Calm down,”
Dyos
hissed beside him.

Just the sound of
Dyos’s
voice was enough for his rage to ebb.
Brale
gritted his teeth and ignored the triumphant and
lofty look Farr directed to him. The hatch to the cruiser was opening,
revealing the disconcerting streaked blue-green skies of Planet
Hadar
and a sea of pale faces. The primal sound of drums
mingled with the sound of a singular chant uttered by multiple voices.

Oh
gods.
Farr wasn’t serious about an official mating ritual, was he? Walking
down the stairs of the hatch and touching solid ground, the chanting grew
louder, almost to a deafening level.

In the distance, polished marbled
stairs led to an impressive structure supported by multiple marble columns. It
was a
Hadarian
temple, and it wasn’t just any temple,
but the grand temple at the capital.
Brale
stared at
it with disbelief for a few seconds. A quick look at the surrounding tall
buildings told
Brale
they were indeed inside the
capital.

A group of white-robed priests,
high-ranking politicians, and military leaders awaited them. An unsettling
feeling began to line at the pit of
Brale’s
stomach
at the sight of the politicians. Just who the hell was Farr to have this much
of a welcoming party?

“Welcome back, Prince
Farrian
. We are pleased you have succeeded with your
efforts to claim a mate,” one elderly priest greeted.

Brale’s
mouth fell open.
Prince
Farrian
? Lieutenant Farr is the third in line to the
Hadarian
throne?

Dyos
took
an indrawn breath beside him, telling him
Dyos
hadn’t
known about that little tidbit either. All the clues were there. The
state-of-the-art weapons Farr and his crew were toting and how fast he’d
acquired a second ship to pursue them.

Brale
strained his mind for any news or gossip he’d heard about the prince. He
remembered that unlike his two older brothers, who were both renowned warriors
and commanders, Prince
Farrian
was blandly mediocre,
hardly even worth a gossip or two. Other than that,
Brale
came up with nothing.

“Are the preparations ready?” Farr
asked briskly.

“Indeed, prince. Everything is as
you’ve asked. After the temple ceremony there will be a feast celebrating your
union,” the priest answered. “This way, please.”

Their party followed the priest,
and with guns pressed against their backs,
Brale
and
Dyos
had no choice but to follow.
Brale
felt numbed and helpless. The prospect of escape no longer seemed like a
daunting one, but a hopeless one. Why did Farr bring them along when he
could’ve shoved them in the palace dungeons and left them to rot? Killing them
would be the safest option, so why leave them alive?

“I didn’t know you were a prince.”
Brale
was close enough to hear J speak.

“My station doesn’t change
anything, lovely. Do not be afraid,” Farr said in a soothing voice, pulling her
close.

“I’m not afraid, just surprised.” J
said, leaning close to him.

“Good girl,” Gael said, whispering
something close to her ear. Whatever he said made her laugh.

Brale
gritted his teeth. This torture was beyond unbearable. Farr was doing this on
purpose.
Brale
ignored the painful shove of the gun
behind him, urging him to move forward as he pondered on that thought. Stealing
an expensive mate right from under his nose must’ve been a painful blow to his
honor, and a prince had more pride than the average man. Suddenly, it made a
whole lot of sense why Farr would risk keeping them alive. Farr was a sadist.
Killing them after obtaining J wouldn’t leave him satisfied. Farr needed to see
them suffer to reclaim his lost sense of manhood. Forcing them to watch him
claim J in front of an audience would hurt more than any other kind of torture.

Pushed forward, they were herded
past the crowd and up the stairs where more white-robed priests and temple
attendants were waiting by a stone ritual table. Seeing the table quickened the
despair growing inside
Brale
. While he wasn’t
familiar with all aspects of their religion, he knew this one well enough.

In a
Hadarian
mating ritual, after the males and the females recited their pledges in the
eyes of their gods and their priests, they consummated their union in front of
witnesses. Farr and his men were about to mount J in front of an entire crowd.
They made sure
Brale
and
Dyos
were watching, helpless to do anything else as they ruined J.

Rage swept over
Brale
like a fierce storm. He howled, fighting against his restraints, but blows
easily bought him down to his knees.
Brale
bled from
a dozen cuts and his ribs were probably cracked, but he didn’t care. He
would’ve fought more, but stopped at
Dyos’s
concerned
shout. He’d already been shamed and brought low, but his pride couldn’t take
another hit if
Dyos
was hurt, too.

“Quiet down,
Cobrini
.
This is a sacred ceremony,” his captor hissed.

Farr tossed
Brale
an ugly triumphant look, clearly enjoying their useless struggle, but
Brale
ignored him to stare up at J’s wide-eyed gaze. She
tore herself from Farr and Gael, but Gael grabbed her arm in a bruising grip
before she could reach them.

“Who are they?” she asked Farr
uncertainly, pressing a hand to her forehead. “It feels like … it hurts to
remember.”

“Hush, little one. They are insignificant
prisoners beneath your notice,” Farr crooned, settling her to the crook of her
arm. She looked impossibly small and lost as she looked up to him. “That’s
right,
you trust me and Gael with your life, don’t you? I’m
your master. Remember? We know what’s best for you.”

J nodded slowly as if she was lost
in a trance, and it pained
Brale
to see her being
manipulated by Farr like that. How often did they inject the memory serum into
her?

The J he and
Dyos
had fallen in love in wasn’t this sad and impressionable beautiful creature.
Their J was strong-willed and craved freedom. What Farr was offering her was
just another form of slavery. She just didn’t know that.

“And you don’t want to displease
your master, right, little one?” Gael asked.

She shook her head, her voice and
movements mechanical. “No. I serve to please.”

“You know us, J. You just have to
remember. Deep in your memories, we’re still there,”
Dyos
said tightly, but the soldier beside him stuck him hard in the jaw, kicking him
again and again until he fell silent.

At his pained cry, J’s head snapped
to
Dyos
again, but Farr took her arm and gently led
her to the waiting priests. The memory altering drug Farr had injected into her
was failing,
Brale
thought with some semblance of
hope, because J seemed less certain, less sure of herself.

J looked dazed during the entire
ceremony. She snuck occasional glances at them, only stopping when Farr rested
his hand against the back of her neck.
Brale
hardly
heard the monotonous voices of the priests, or the primitive drums still
thumping somewhere nearby.

He trained his eyes on the line of
J’s back, fervently hoping she’d come to her senses, but even if she did, what
could one helpless
Terran
female do?

Too soon it seemed, the thumping
drums stopped, changing rhythm, and a joyous cry tore through the watching
crowd.
Dyos
let out a sound of protest beside him.
The priests had stopped speaking. The ceremony was finished. Farr and his
retinue were heading to the stone table. He lifted J by her waist so she sat at
the stone table, and then began unzipping the oversized flight suit she wore,
exposing her creamy skin.