5 Five

Since she had already decided to play the subservient role with this group of aliens, she didn't flinch when the larger alien paced to her side and hauled her to her feet. It was rough and unpolite but didn't hurt which told her the beings were either too empathetic to hurt her or they were told not to do so.

Her ego was a bit ruffled at being treated like a human ragdoll, but once they exited those doors relief from the escape of those four walls overwhelmed any anger she felt. On her planet she was regarded as a feared hitman, and here she was excited to see a blank hallway.

Just another day in her life.

"So what's the plan?" she asked once she regained her bearings. "You guys going to take me back to your planet and imprison me, or are you slave traders? Because if you are, I'm going to warn you first and tell you I'm worth far too little for how much of a hassle it's going to be to sell me off."

Jupiter looked down on her, brows creasing in confusion. "Three days? I forget your human time cycles. That is only two of our solar cycles right, Ezriael?"

The doctor, or rather Ezriael laughed. "Yes, Jupiter. You'd think you'd know this being named after one of the human's home solar planets."

Jupiter grunted in response. The big bad guard didn't like talking about himself that much. She could understand that. It was better that way. The last thing she wanted to do would be to get attached to some rando aliens before she ducked out of here.

"I don't get why they still go by days," Ezriael mused, continuing without being prompted. "It makes far more sense to convert to the standard Illiad time standard your humans helped forge, does it not?"

she winced, hit words hitting a sort spot. She had no idea about any of the olden days, or who made one standard. She barely even knew the standards themselves. Everything she ever learned had been from her career, and those lessons were mostly practical use.

Schooling on her little swamp planet hadn't exactly been excellent. Or existent. Most of her life she spent running blindly through mistakes and learning as she went.

"Sorry. I'm not familiar with the history of my ancestors."

She hated the soft look that crossed his face. "Pity."

"Right, anyway," she said once they turned down a dimmer lit corridor, "you didn't answer her question. What's the plan with her?"

"You're being moved to the Commander's quarters. We make landfall in about a week of your time, so the Commander told us to move you in here to make it easier for training."

She tried to still, but Jupiter's firm hand at her back urged her forward. The man didn't even allow her a foothold as they walked.

"What exactly do you mean by training?"

For the first time since knocking her out, Ezriael's face fell into a serious mask.

"Mate's training, of course."

That made her come to a full stop, yanking back from Jupiter before he could push her forward. In her shock she completely forgot her whole harmless angle, baring her teeth in a furious snarl. At the word mate, her blood had run cold, thoughts going straight to the worst.

"Mate? Nobody said anything about mating." she snapped defensively, dodging back from Jupiter's attempt to grab her.

She wasn't about to subject herself to becoming a whore for some alien just because she was at his mercy on this ship. She would go out screaming with a blaster in her hand long before she subjected herself to that.

"You will be expected to be submissive to the Commander while you are aboard this ship. He will not force you, neither will either of us, so do not dwell on that," Jupiter grumbled.

Submissive. What he means is if she was a good girl she'll do as the Commander asks so she won't get eviscerated or tossed into the void of space for her crimes. That is if these beasts even knew she was guilty of any crimes. For all she knew about them, they could have gotten the hit on them for abducting other unsuspecting beings from strange forests and bending them to their will.

But hey, at least they weren't rapists, right? Yeah right.

She'd be out of here within the hour.

She forced herself to pretend to relax and urged her feet to continue forward despite the quaking she felt in her chest. She had to drop this fight, or risk blowing her whole plan out of the water.

Or rather, whatever plan she could come up with now.

Getting on Ezriael's good side had been her plan A, but upon hearing the news he was herding her to his boss to be a fuck-toy she had decided against getting too close. Any being that could see no wrong in this situation was not one that would turn on his boss and free the sad little prisoner.

Dread settled in the pit of her stomach as she laid eyes on the large double doors at the end of the long hall. Each step towards it felt like a death march, with the swish of the opening heavy metal slabs signaling the beginning of her trial.

The sight that unfolded before her was far different from the concubine's room she had been expecting.

Certain ships on the market had a sub-control room specifically made for captains so they could have access to all of the ship's functions without being in the main control room at the head of the ship. This was so if the main room was compromised or a situation where their attention was immediately needed they could hop up and be at the ready in seconds. Typically this was meant for high ranking warlords, due to the price, but apparently, her crew of abductors happened to have their heads in high places.

To have one built-in what was the captain's quarters must have cost at minimum a million units. Maybe two.

The entire back wall of the room was the glass that lit up with bright screens displaying everything anyone might need to know about the ship. Oxygen levels, atmosphere, gravity lock, fuel, even the number of living beings on board. Sleek black control panels blinked underneath them, blending in with the dark of space behind it.

Turning her gaze to the actual room she was met with the same simplistic design as the rest of the ship. Just a large black bed with two bedstands on either side decorated the rest of the space, with the giant bulk of her target propped on the edge like an angry parent anticipating the return of his naughty child.

He looked to be the spanking type too. Just her luck.

"Nice ship," she said through her teeth, struggling to sound less angry than she was.

Burrh's eyes lit on her the moment she walked into the room, shining a bright predatory pink. It reminded her of something someone once told her, about how the most beautiful things in the universe tended to be the most dangerous. Bright colors equaled poison, and beautiful men equaled danger.

This alien was danger incarnate.

Pushing up from the bed, he gave a flick of his wrist to the aliens behind her, ushering them out of the room with the simple command. The action left him and her alone in the quiet of the room, the atmosphere so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Rather unsurprisingly, she felt a tremor of awareness being trapped in a room with such a large male. His size was easily twice hers, and she was on the tall side for a human female. Add to that his skin-hugging black space-tech suit displaying every rolling inch of virile muscle and you had a clear indicator of who would win in hand to hand combat.

In several large strides, his long legs devoured the distance between the two of them. Those eyes looking down on her with an expression that told her every move of hers was being calculated.

"What is your name, little human?"

For a moment she debated giving him a fake name but decided against it. If she was going to go for the innocent run, she would need to be able to keep up with her lies and there was no need to overcomplicate them as it was. All it would take is one slip up then her whole façade is thrown out. At the very least she knew her real name would come up with a clean record.

No one used their real names on the job anyway.

"Jessibelle. Of Virus, the swamp planet." Last names were less common these days since the population was so big family lineage hardly counted anymore. More often than not people identified themselves by planet.

At one point in history, almost an entire planet's population had the last name Smith, and it wasn't because of inbreeding. Well, at least not at first.

"What were you doing on a Cora planet, Jessibelle?" he asked, not an ounce of lenience in his gruff words.