“It’s what happens when an alien from the past reaches into a human feature to claim his pet, but the tender structure of reality in your world cannot compensate.”
His words were confusing. Everything was confusing.
Dominax made it simple by pressing his lips to hers.
His kiss was deliciously dominant. He held onto her collar and pulled her mouth up to his, claiming her mouth with insistence. She felt herself relax into it, her entire body softening as he caressed her mouth and found her tongue with his own.
“You are safe with me, pet,” he told her when he broke the kiss. “I chose you, out of all others…”
“Who happened to be on the street at the time,” she interjected.
“Quiet,” he insisted. “I chose you alone among billions.”
“There are much more beautiful women on the planet.”
“I do not believe that is true. You belong to me. I knew from the moment our eyes met. The way you looked at me, such desperation…”
“I was not desperate! I was just really not looking forward to going to work.”
His fingers ran lightly under her chin. “You were desperate. Tired of your planet, of the people, of the conditions you were forced to endure, a lifetime of servitude without any of the benefits.”
“It wasn’t that bad. I chose my life.”
“Did you? Did you choose where you were born, or what things cost, or what you needed to do to obtain the pittance needed to survive?”
“I was in college. I was going to make a life for myself once I had gotten educated.”
“What were you educating yourself in?”
“I was doing an arts degree. It’s like, a general education about all sorts of things.”
“Ah. Well, this will also be a general education about all sorts of things,” Dominax said, far too cheerfully for her liking. She was unable to come to immediate terms with the fact she had been alien abducted. She half expected to wake up and find it was all a dream, but that would be a cliché.
“You should take me back. I don’t belong here. I don’t want…”
Again, he silenced her with a kiss, but had to break it again to give her the bad news.
“Fate has chosen your path. I have chosen you. There is no choice anymore, pet, there is only surrender.”
His words made her instantly start to panic. When he offered her riches, she was drawn to a bright future. But when he stared down at her with that impenetrably dark gaze and spoke of surrender, she was much less keen.
“Okay, so no.”
“What do you mean by no?”
It figured that a creature like him literally didn't understand the word no. He’d probably never heard it. It probably didn’t magically translate to his native tongue.
“I mean, no. You can’t make me surrender. You can’t make me be your pet, whatever that means. When I agreed to go with you, I thought you meant that we would go somewhere and get high or something. I didn’t think you’d abduct me from my fucking planet.”
“Ah, I see what is happening,” Dominax purred. “You’re not angry. You’re afraid.”
“Don’t psychoanalyze me. I know when I’m angry, and I’m angry. You stole me from my life. My whole world. Take me back. Now.”
“No.”
His refusal was flat, and firm, and without emotion.
“I won’t be your pet,” she declared with bravery she did not feel. “I’ll fight you. I’ll never do what you want. I’ll be like a bird in a cage that bites you every time you put your finger in.”
“And I will be the one who tames you.” He smiled back at her, unconcerned by her outburst and promises of disobedience. “It is inevitable, pet. A king knows how to break a brat.”
“I’m not a brat.”
“Yes, you are. Of course you are. A good, sensible girl would never have met my gaze. Would never have spoken to me. Would never have agreed to leave her planet. That’s right, pet,” he reminded her, tapping her gently on the nose with his forefinger. “You agreed to this.”
“I didn’t understand what was happening.”
“People rarely do,” he said dismissively. “We are landing, pet. Ready yourself for a new world.”
She was absolutely not ready for a new world. She wanted her old world. Her shitty little apartment which cost too much and had to be shared with three others. They’d report her missing, probably. But nobody would ever find her. She’d become a mystery. Another face in a long series of faces forever gone from their loved ones.
“What about my family?”
“What about your family?” Dominax asked the question with casual interest, as if he didn’t understand what she was trying to get at.
“They’ll miss me.”
“Will they?”
The answer was actually no, but she didn’t want to say that. She had never known her father, and her mother was an inmate at an institution for the criminally insane. That sounded a lot more interesting than it really was.