Chapter Four

Knox:

A body squirmed in my hand and I squeezed more, trying to separate the terror of being in this Simitarhole from what was before me.

Tiny nails scratched the back of my hand as the being tried to get free. My body healed the wounds nearly as fast as she could injure me. I inhaled, readying to crush my enemy’s throat when several scents filled me, including something similar to my kind’s pheromones.

She.

A female.

The one who talked too much and I had grabbed last night to keep her quiet and from pacing in our cell a million times.

“Fuck.” I jerked my hand from her throat.

She crumbled, gasping and choking. The sound of her body hitting the floor made me cringe. I hurt everywhere from the torture I’d endured day in and day out. Fresh wounds on my ankles and wrists had healed over so many times I knew even my magic wouldn’t be able to remove the scars if I ever got out of this nightmare.

I squatted down in front of the female, fighting against her alluring scent. I snarled to get my head on straight.

She clasped a hand to her throat and scooted away from me, glaring like I was evil incarnate.

Good. I didn’t need complications in my life. And as far as I was concerned, I was a beast. Though I couldn’t blame her as this was the second time I had nearly choked her to death.

She was a tiny thing. Not an Angeliminir like me. No wings or horns. No scales like the guards here. Barely any hair except on her head, which was a brown color that hung to her shoulders. Her eyes were full of emotions in their dark depths. And I found myself wanting to know more about her. I’d been without company since they took Celica away. I couldn’t get close to anyone. Not to her, not to any female. The Roulex would use her against me and I couldn’t go through that agony again. Never again.

She swallowed. “Who are you?”

Because I’d hurt her accidentally twice and my shame wouldn’t allow me to ignore her again, I used her same rudimentary language, motioning to her with my hand. “I thought you were one of them…a Roulex.”

“Right.” She scuttled back into the far corner of the cell. “Like I have scales and a tail.”

“Best if you and I stay away from each other as far as we can.” I nodded, pleased that she was afraid of me. Yet, there was a part of me that relished when she was in my arms earlier before I woke up and attacked her.

“What are you?” she asked, her voice raspy.

Wasn’t sure if her voice was from her incessant questions yesterday or the fact I’d nearly choked her to death. After the first time, why hadn’t she coward away from me like any other female would have done? Even now, she looked at me with a weariness and ready to fight, not timid or terrified.

I needed to focus on my annoyance and not my curiosity about the little wingless female. Why had the runt gotten so close to me earlier? This was a prison for Simitar’s sake. I could be a killer or a rapist. “Stay out of my way.”

She lifted her pointy chin, a streak of stubbornness showing that struck another weight on my curiosity scale.

“I’ve studied all the known species, but don’t recall… ones like you. I’m human.”

I shrugged. “My kind keep to ourselves. Or at least, we did until the wars and the Roulex had invaded our planet.” They wanted the secret of our quick healing abilities and our magic. But I’d never surrender, would never give them Simitar. Even when they had ripped out my heart—my Celica. She had been so good and pure. Golden hair and wings. The light of my life. My wife and the Roulex killed her while I’d been powerless to stop it!

Fresh, hot pain surged up, twisting around my heart, cutting me deeper than any of the Roulex’s blades. The haunting memories would never me and I deserved their torment each and every day.

“Wait. How is it we can understand each other?” The human arched an eyebrow. “They didn’t give me a translator.”

Clever. Most in this horrible situation wouldn’t even think about that question this early.

“Don’t need one.” I tapped the side of my temple, answering so she’d stop asking so many damn questions. “I know hundreds of languages.”

“Wow. Impressive. Why didn’t you speak to me yesterday?”

I ignored her questions and scratched the tips of my horns on the stone prison wall. The Roulex had shaved down the tips, but if they left me alone for long enough, I could get the ends sharp and pointed again. There was nothing more fulfilling then gutting my enemies.

“I’m Samantha.” She swallowed. “Y-You’re not going to eat my liver, are you?”

Of all the things I thought this female would say, that wasn’t one of them. I grunted a laugh and pain punched my side.

“Hey, it’s not funny.” She crossed her arms. “I don’t even know what species you are.”

I sank to the floor and stayed where I was, not giving her anything. Didn’t know who she was or anything about her. Did she even know the reason she was here was to breed with me? She was skittish and defiant all at the same time. But I’d heard other females in this place when they’d been taken by force. And this one looked like she’d panic if she knew the truth of why she was here and why they put us together. Last thing I needed was a hysterical female stuck in here with me.

After a moment, she asked, “Do the females in your world have horns too? Or smaller ones? Did the Roulex file them down?”

I still didn’t say anything, hoping she’d get bored and leave me alone.

“You know, I’m going to keep asking.” She smirked. “On Earth, there used to be deer with only the males shedding their horns and the female were the only ones who didn’t lose their antlers.”

“Bah,” I said. “Males never lose our horns.”

“And the women?” Her eyes brightened and her eyelashes did a flitter thing that I found confusing.

“A few females have budding horns, but they never develop past an inch or two.” My wife hadn’t had horns at all and hated that she didn’t.

The human studied me for a moment and then frowned. “Are you an angel?”

“Angeliminir,” I corrected. Why was I even talking to her? Getting friendly could get us both killed. That’s what the Roulex wanted. Having us bond, relaxed around each other for when their experiments and medication broke us to do whatever they wanted.

“I can’t even say that without my tongue getting knotted.” The human hugged her knees to her chest. “Wait. Did your people ever come to Earth?”

I closed my eyes, not bothering to answer her incessant talking, despite the fact she had a pleasant voice. Not too high like the women of my species, nor the low discord of the Roulex. A hint of raspy that was addictive and I found myself wondering what my name would sound like on her lips.

No! I couldn’t get involved. It was only because I’d been in this place for nearly four years. And alone for two years, three months, one week and four days of that time without my sweet wife that I was even having these feelings.

“No trips to Earth? Well…” She paused. “Angels in our paintings have wings like yours, of course. That’s why I asked. Though there were a few gods who had wings too, like Isis and Horus maybe. But they didn’t have horns. I mean I don’t think they did. Who really knows? Anyway, maybe your people cam—”

“Don’t you ever shut up?” All I wanted was rest. To have a few hours of reprieve before the next round of torture came. Before she wiggled under my skin and into my heart. That was a dangerous place to be. Anyone I cared about, in this place, died and I would not watch another female die because of me.

There was five seconds of precious silence before she spoke again. “What’s your name, angel?” she asked, her voice echoing off the cell walls, lightly brushing across long-buried parts deep inside me I’d thought dead and buried.

This had to be some new torture the Roulex had invented. An irritating female who didn’t know how to shut her mouth.

Samantha huffed out a sigh. “Alright, then I’ll just call you Angel.”

It shouldn’t matter to me what this female called me or what she said or how amazing her voice sounded. Puny thing like her wouldn’t last in this place. Never mind the cruelty they inflicted with their blades and whips.

I couldn’t get involved. Nope. Not now, not ever, no matter how much I wanted to. And certainly not to mate with her and give my wife’s murderers what they coveted most—an Angeliminir offspring. Where they could discover our strengths and our healing abilities. And this puny human before me didn’t matter at all—

“Angel, what are you in here for?”

I cracked open an eye, looking over at her to see if she’d asked what I thought she had.

She gazed at me wearily. “I mean you may look like a holy angel, but…” She gulped. “You’ve got horns like a devil.”

I frowned. “What is a devil?”

“Opposite of angels. They hav—”

“Then you speak of our captors. The Roulex.”

She shook her head. “No, no. Those are reptilian-like. Devils are more like…fallen angels.”

“There is no other race that opposes us as severely as they.” I scowled. “They are our enemy and they will die by my hands.”

“Hush.” She paled and I longed to see the color back in her cheeks. “Do you want them to hear you? What if they punish you for saying that?”

This female had a crazy sense of humor. I’d said worse to them while they tortured me, had even killed half a dozen of them while I was here. I was too precious for them to execute me.

“Why are you here?”

I closed my eyes again, letting my body heal itself, and ride out this new torture of constant questions. Best if she didn’t know. I could shield her with that until the Roulex came and demanded she yield to their requests. How they wouldn’t give up until they had what they wanted. Until they had used her body until it wasn’t able to support her life any longer.

“Are you going to answer me?” she asked. “You know it’s rude to ignore someone when they’re talking to you.”

“It’s rude to talk to someone while they are sleeping.”

She clucked her tongue. “You’re not sleeping.”

“How do you know?” I didn’t bother opening my eyes. She was cute albeit irritating, for a wingless female. Guilt plowed into my stomach. Celica had been my beautiful, amazing wife—my everything—until the Roulex took her life. I needed to use that as a whetstone against any softening.

“People who are sleeping don’t talk, which you’ve been doing with me and before that, you weren’t breathing deeply or looking relaxed at all.”

“This is as relaxed as I’m ever going to be here.” I ground my teeth. “I suggest you rest while you can.” Once they started pumping her with their drugs, sleep would be impossible. It was only because my kind had to sleep to heal that I was able to do so. Plus the Roulex hadn’t put another female in this cell with me for months. Guess they were waiting for Samantha. Though I had no idea what this human, this tiny female who didn’t have wings or any way to protect herself could be a good breeder. But I would not mate with her. No matter how much the Roulex cut and burned and thought of new ways to torture me. I would not give them what they desired. I would not allow them to have any offspring of mine.

“I-I’m not tired.” Samantha shuffled, making noise as she moved. “Why are we here? Why did they put you in with me? What do they want?”

Unable to resist, I cracked an eye open and looked at her. She seemed so lost and scared that my heart twisted. But I couldn’t comfort her. I had tried to help Celica…and she ended up dead because of me. I wasn’t ever going to make that mistake again.