Savor Me Slowly (Alien Huntress #3)(78)
Author: Gena Showalter

“How?”

“Watch.”

Her metal wrist seemed to shrink in size, and his eyes widened.

“There are grooves in the metal,” she explained, “that are able to collapse into each other, readjusting the width.” She slid her hand free. The chain slapped against the wall as she waved her fingers and grinned. “See.” Then she turned to her bound wrist and placed a silver finger in the hole. Once again the metal realigned. She twisted.

Clink.

She worked on her ankles. Another clink, followed quickly by another. And just like that, she was completely free.

That’s my girl. “Remind me never to tie you up in bed.”

“For you, I’d pretend to be helpless and—” Suddenly her shoulders stiffened. Her head tilted to the side, expression pensive as if she were listening to a conversation. “Nolan’s coming.”

Jaxon listened. He didn’t hear anything.

Mishka slipped her hands back into the chains, though she left the circles wide enough to pull herself free again without any adjustment.

A few seconds later, Jaxon’s ears twitched as a soft pitter-patter of footsteps finally reached him. How had she heard that?

The footsteps grew in volume until Nolan was standing in front of the bars that replaced the door.

To his credit, he did not appear smug. He appeared sad.

“So,” Nolan said. “You are awake.”

“I thought you wanted to destroy your brethren for their sins,” Jaxon said darkly.

The alien’s fingers curled around the bars, stark against the blackened metal. He still wore his ring. “I lied. Part of me did, anyway.” He looked to the ground. “I’m sorry, so very sorry. I just want to live. You understand that, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Mishka said, “but did you have to take us down with you?”

“Yes,” Nolan said on a sigh. “I did. I’m only surprised you trusted me, even a little.”

“Why did you help defeat us?” Jaxon barked.

Another sigh. “Every time we are forced to travel to a new planet, we must first regain our strength. The only way to do that is through sex and the releasing of the virus. As we regain our strength, we look for ways to destroy our biggest threat so that the rest of us can come over.”

Dear God. There were more of them.

“Here,” Nolan continued, “our biggest threat is A.I.R.”

“So you, what? Pretended to want to help us to learn our identities?”

Nolan nodded. “Yes. But you ignored me for days at a time, did not introduce me to anyone else, and kept disappearing so that we could not follow you. Your technology is more advanced than that of the other planets, and we did not know what else to do.”

“Why not simply kill us?” Mishka asked.

Nolan’s features actually blanched. “We aren’t monsters. We wanted to offer you choices.”

Choices? “Like what?” Jaxon asked. “’Cause the only thing I’m willing to agree to is your absolute surrender.”

“Not going to happen,” Nolan said. He scrubbed a hand down his tired face. “We can infect you and teach you how to survive with the virus. We will be brothers, then, and you will fight with us rather than against us.”

Mishka arched a brow. “Why didn’t you teach the people on the other planets how to survive?”

“And have more competition for females?”

“Why us?” Jaxon asked.

Nola smiled, sadness clinging to the edges. “You’re strong, smart. When this planet falls, and it will, you will help us find other worlds, other women.”

“No, thanks.” Mishka shook her head. “Next.”

Anger flittered over the otherworlder’s face. “We can kill you.”

“I thought you weren’t monsters,” Jaxon said.

Nolan’s shoulders squared. “Death would be your choice. Therefore, it would not be murder.”

“Next,” Mishka said.

“We can use you as bait to draw out other agents. Agents we will capture and offer the same choice,” Nolan said. “Someone will choose to join us.”

“Next.”

“That’s it,” Nolan gritted out. “Those are your only options.”

“You could forcibly infect us,” Jaxon said. “So why don’t you?”

Anger finally fading, Nolan gazed down at his feet and kicked a mound of dirt. “You are warriors. Like us. We do respect that.”

“And?” Mishka insisted. “There’s more than simple respect. I can tell.”

Jaxon knew she could have killed Nolan at any point during the conversation, but she was as hungry for answers as he was.

“Taking choice from a warrior is dishonorable and wrong. I know because my choice was taken.” Nolan rested his forehead against the bars. “One day a woman lovelier than anything I had ever seen arrived on our planet. She was like your sun, bright and glorious, blinding to all else. We could not help ourselves. We worshipped her, did anything she desired. And in return, she infected us. One by one. You see, she is the original host, the first carrier.”

Is. Not was. Jaxon’s stomach clenched. “She’s still alive?”

A nod.

“She’s coming here, isn’t she?” Mishka asked.

Another nod, this one shamed. “As soon as A.I.R. is weakened, she will come. That is another of the reasons we have not killed you outright. As much as we despise her and hope to never see her again, we are helpless against her. She speaks and we obey. But you are not so compelled.”

“We can kill her for you,” Jaxon suggested.

Hope curtained Nolan’s expression for the briefest of moments. Then he shook his head. “When she dies, we die. Or so she says. I want her dead, but I do not want to die. I want to live. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. To live and be happy. To love. Like you.” His arms fell to his sides. “Think about all I have said. Please.” He backed up a step.

“Nolan?” Mishka said, stopping him.

He appeared weary as he said, “Yes?”

“I’m sorry.” There was true sincerity in her tone.

“About?”

“This.” She was standing at the bars in the next instant, having moved so fast she’d been nothing more than a black blur. Her arms reached through the bars and latched onto Nolan.

The alien’s eyes nearly bugged as she squeezed his neck, one of her rings digging deep.