"Be serious, Adiron," says the tallest of the three.
Adiron. All right. I memorize that name because I have a feeling I'm going to need it in the future. Adiron. Adiron. I study the aliens and it looks like they're all irritated at the spanking suggestion. A prickle of relief moves over me because if they're not into that idea, we're probably not getting raped. Thank god for that. I shift in my cuffs, trying to free my hands.
"Do you wanna tell us what that was about?" One shrugs off Adiron's arm and marches forward. His gaze is locked on a defiant Alice, and he's glaring at her like she's betrayed him. That's the one she cried against, I realize. Guess his feelings are a little hurt at being deceived. Too bad for him. Alice keeps her expression bland, her gaze locked on the floor, and she remains silent.
"Anyone?" calls the black-robed one. "Speak now and we'll be merciful."
I can feel Adiron's gaze on me, but I say nothing. I calmly stare ahead at nothing and tug at my cuffs again. No one else speaks. I know they won't. We all know we're in this together, and we're not going to screw the others over by blabbing our guts out. Not that it's a big secret, but the way this one demands makes my hackles go up.
"Well?" snarls the one in black. "Are you going to explain how human slaves got a hold of my family's ship? Did you steal it? What did you do with the crew? Where are they?"
No one talks.
In fact, no one talks for the next half-hour or so while they continue to pepper us with questions. Why did we attack them? How many ships have we lured? What's our goal? How did we acquire the Buoyant Star? Where's the crew? What's in the hold? As the minutes pass and the men get more agitated, I can't help but notice that Adiron—the spanking enthusiast—takes a seat across from us and crosses his arms over his chest. His legs are sprawled out and he looks bored, his tail calm.
I'm choosing to take that as a good sign. The other three are worked up as they ask us more questions we don't answer, but I'm starting to feel comfortable that no one's going to torture information out of us. Whoever these aliens are, I don't think they arrived onto the ship with malicious intent. I don't know how we're going to break free, but right now, I'm taking it one problem at a time. I'll watch and observe, and eventually the right opportunity will present itself.
Adiron might be the key, in fact. I glance through my lashes over at him, and he's watching me. He seems fascinated with me for some reason, and I can use that to my advantage if I have to. I can distract him in some way, or convince him to let us go, or…
As I subversively regard him, Adiron jumps to his feet. "We're not getting anywhere with this," he announces. "I have a better idea."
"Oh, here we go," mutters the black-robed one.
I lift my head and watch, uneasy, as Adiron grabs the three men and pulls them in for a football huddle. They whisper, too low for my translator to pick up, and now my worry spikes again.
They turn to look at us with calculating gazes, and my neck prickles with alarm. "Leave the others alone," I volunteer suddenly. "They can't tell you anything."
"Jade," Alice hisses.
I ignore her. If I have to sacrifice myself to save the others, I'll gladly do so. Those girls are my family. "You don't want them," I boldly claim. "You want me."
"Big words for someone that's said nothing in the past half hour," says the tallest of the group, and then he nods at Adiron. "We'll try your suggestion. Grab one."
The men surge forward and I bite back a scream of terror. Ruth growls, Alice tries to shove her chair backward, and Helen whimpers in distress. This is it now. This is the end of the “nice guys” act. I lift my chin, trying to look far more defiant than I feel as Adiron stalks toward me. Of course he's coming for me. He's been fascinated with me since the moment our eyes met.
Well, if he expects me to go down without a fight, he's going to be in for a surprise.
Except…I'm the one surprised when he moves behind my chair and activates a mechanism. It surges forward and he steers me toward the door. With a worried glance backward at the others, my captor steers my chair into the hall. I hear commotion in the room behind me and a called out “Get her to stop kicking!” rings in the hall.
That'd be Ruth, I wager. I hope she kicks a few of them in the blue gonads.