Nothing on Earth (9 page)

“They’re used for breeding,” John said quietly. “They are fed hormones that keep them in a constant state of arousal and then assigned to several males until successfully impregnated.”

“Assigned?” she asked, trying not to throw up. John nodded sadly, and she tilted her head as she tried to understand his mood. He seemed to carry a lot of guilt on this topic, and she really wanted to know why. This wasn’t just disgust at his people’s behavior but something deeper, something closer to home.

Only one question came to her mind. “Why?”

“It’s a long story,
Tara
, but we won’t let them take you, so you don’t need to worry about it.” He ran an agitated hand through his hair and then rolled off the mattress. “I have to go into town to pick up more supplies. Do you need anything?”

She shook her head. John had already thought of everything, including the women’s supplies she’d need in less than a week, assuming, of course, that her cycle wasn’t affected by recent unusual events.

She could feel his anguish but had no idea how to comfort him, and he certainly made it clear that he didn’t want it. He pulled his clothes on, his movements smooth and coordinated like always, but with a swiftness that suggested a need to leave quickly.
Tara
twisted to look at Alec’s face, but he just kissed her forehead and urged her to sleep.

She lay in his warm arms and listened to John get in the car and drive away. Her heart thumped harder as panic crept through her. She needed to comfort him, hated the way she’d made him feel that first day, and now she really wished that she hadn’t asked the question. Unfortunately, her need to know outweighed all of that.

“Alec?”

“Are you sure you want to know?” he asked softly. She nodded her head against his chest and rolled over to face him. “Okay, but first you need to know that as soon as John learned the truth he did everything he could to put a stop to it, and when that failed, he gave up almost everything he had in the world to try and protect you and others like you.”

She nodded again as her eyes misted with tears. She already knew John was an honorable man. She wouldn’t have trusted him otherwise.

“Several generations ago the birth rate on our planet started to decline. Medical advancements gave our people a longer life span and more choices over lifestyle, including when they had children and what sex the babies were. Many couples chose to have only one or two children and slowly, over a few generations, it became apparent that there weren’t enough females being born. Governments and scientists tried to reverse the trend, but it pretty much continued. These days, females make up less than one percent of the population.”

She couldn’t quite imagine a population made up of almost all men, but she could certainly understand the implications. Without enough females, every generation would produce less offspring and eventually the race would die out.

“So that’s why they abduct human females? So they can breed and produce the next generation?”

“That pretty much sums it up. The problem for John, and for me, is not what they’re doing but how they’re doing it. Few human women are compatible, so basically they track down the ones that are, abduct them, and force them to breed.” He swallowed heavily like he was trying to keep down the contents of his stomach. She could relate. Her lunch was threatening to make a reappearance, too.

“The general public has no idea that human women are sentient beings. By the time they are seen, the breeding council has pumped them full of hormones, and all the men find are lesser beings desperate to mate. The drugs reduce them to mindless sex slaves, unable to talk, unable to think clearly, unable to defend themselves. The scientists even brag about how they manipulate the babies’ DNA so that the children are intelligent. Nobody knows that human women are already intelligent.”

“So how did you and John find out that it wasn’t the truth?”

Alec looked really uncomfortable now, and she almost told him not to answer. Almost.

“John was a collector. He studied for years to join their ranks. He was so proud when he graduated. I can still see the expression on his face.” Alec smiled just a little, seemingly lost in the memories of easier times. “He couldn’t wait for his first collection assignment, but it turned out to be the experience that changed his entire life.”

“What was his first assignment?”

“You.” Alec smiled softly.

“Me?” she asked in a squeaky voice.

He nodded and pulled her back into his arms. “You were his first assignment. Even after his superiors explained the real situation to him and his teammates, John had been willing to do his duty simply because it’s a necessary thing to keep our planet alive. Once he realized that human women were as intelligent, if not more intelligent, than the men on our planet, he started to see things differently. He couldn’t stand by while human women were being used in such a way. On that first assignment, he managed to hide you from the scans, make it back to the planet, collect me, and move us both here.”

Alec looked more uncomfortable with every word he said.

“That must’ve been hard for you,” she said, trying to stay rational. A really big part of her wanted to rage and throw things, but she also realized it wouldn’t help the situation at all.

“It was, but I made it even harder for John. I spent months sulking and refusing to believe what he told me, even when I lived next door to you.”

“You lived next door? With John? I never saw you. How is that possible? We were neighbors for almost a year.”

He looked really sad now, like he carried a ton of regrets. “I refused to leave the room. Refused to learn the language. I hurt him so much, and I didn’t once stop to wonder how hard it was for him. Well, not until they came for you.” He shook his head, lost in the memories. “I’ve never seen John scared. I didn’t even know he could get scared.”

She lifted a hand to smooth across the wrinkles marring his forehead. “He loves you deeply,” she said quietly.

He nodded his acknowledgement and continued talking. “I’ve got a lot to make up for, but I love him, and now we both love you, so we can build a future together. Well, as soon as we can figure a way to hide you permanently.”

She knew John had been trying to build some sort of device that would hide her from their scans, but she’d watched him grow more and more frustrated over the last few weeks. The materials he needed just didn’t exist on this planet, and every alternative had failed.

“John has also spent quite a bit of time trying to build a version of the scanner the ships use to identify women like you, so that he can find them first and hide them like he’s hidden you.”

“If he hides them all, won’t your people die out?”

He nodded sadly. “It’s a possibility, but what is happening now is unacceptable. Maybe if John can hide enough women, he can force the breeding council to reveal the truth.”

“If people knew the truth, would it change things?” She couldn’t help but wonder if, when the future of their species was the cost, whether Alec’s people would choose to ignore such cruelty.

“I don’t know,” he said as he rubbed his hand down his face. “There are probably more like John, but I don’t know how we would find them. I know John tried to change things, and judging by the comments made by the guy who shot me, I’m guessing it put his life and mine in danger. Hell, he didn’t even tell me. Just did everything he could to protect me and let me treat him like crap while he did it. I owe him a lot.”

“So do I,”
Tara
said quietly. Yes, she owed John more than she could possibly repay. How could she thank someone who saved her from a life of slavery and abuse?

* * * *

John drove carefully, making sure he stayed under the speed limit despite his desire to gun the engine in anger. He knew what Alec and Tara would be talking about.
Tara
was one stubborn woman, and he knew from the months watching over her that when she wanted an answer, she always found a way to get one. He had no doubt that right at this very moment Alec would be telling her everything.

His gut ached. He’d left for just one reason. He simply couldn’t relive those days.

He could still see the terror in the eyes of the women who’d been captured on that collection trip. He’d heard the anguish in their voices, seen the tears in their eyes, watched helplessly as they’d been drugged and tested and reduced to nothing more than mindless sex slaves. His heart had broken when he’d seen proud, intelligent human women stripped of their most basic rights.

It had been the hardest time of his life. His squad leaders had assigned him to guard duty as punishment for failing to collect a specimen, and his fellow collectors had joked and teased him for his failure. The whole time he’d held his tongue. He’d kept his temper, held back the urge to rescue the women, and had tried to figure out who to approach when they got home.

Surely their leaders didn’t understand that human women were intelligent. Surely this was happening without their consent. Surely someone somewhere had a conscience and enough power to put an end to this barbaric practice.

But he’d been wrong.

Maybe he should’ve gone public, should’ve contacted the news outlets and released the scandal that way, but he’d held to the belief that he lived among decent, rational beings, and it had cost him dearly.

He gripped the steering wheel tighter. He’d accepted every abusive word from Alec as his due. He’d messed up both their lives and put his lover in danger. Moving them to Earth had confused and upset Alec, and even after John explained the collectors’ agenda, Alec hadn’t really understood.

Until now.

John’s body still tingled from their lovemaking. Even though he’d longed for both Alec and Tara, a part of him had never believed it would happen. He’d been so relieved to see Alec and Tara form a close bond that he’d been willing just to live his love for
Tara
vicariously through Alec, but to have her love him too was a gift he would never undervalue. He just hoped she still felt the same way after Alec told her the complete ugly truth on how they ended up living in a cave in the middle of nowhere.

He tried to swallow against the emotion clogging his throat. He had no idea how he would live without them, but if that’s what it took for them both to be happy, he’d find a way.

It took him much longer to pick up supplies and return to the cave than he intended, but when he got there, he found the place empty.

Chapter Eleven

Tara
woke slowly, her confusion heightened by the fact that she seemed to be locked in a completely dark room. She moved her wrists only to find herself attached to a wall the same way John had secured her that first night.

She shook her head sharply. Were the last three weeks just a dream?

Hoping to get her bearings she blinked her eyes several times, trying to see the small LED display that had been in that little room. Nothing. There seemed to be no light of any kind, and the fear that she was actually blind started to seep through her.

She tried to speak several times, but her tongue and lips felt strange, felt numb. She tried again but could force no more than a low moan from her throat. What the hell was wrong with her?

Things felt surreal, almost like she floated outside her body, but at the same time like her skin was too tight. She rubbed her face and chest, the stinging, burning sensation just feeling worse. It took a few more minutes of trying to reach the skin on her back and shoulders before she realized that she was completely naked.

A bright light hit her eyes. She slammed them closed and pressed her face into her arms. A cruel laugh sounded off to her left, and she blinked rapidly, trying to adjust her vision so that she could see her tormentor.

Gasping for breath,
Tara
squinted against the harsh light but could only make out rough features of the man in front of her. He laughed again, and the violent urge to lodge his balls deep in his throat buzzed through her. If only he’d step a little closer. She didn’t give a fuck who he was. The bastard deserved pain simply for that mocking laugh.