Unleashing the Beast: A Sci-Fi Alien Abduction Romance (Dark Moon Prisoners Book 2) Read online

  The din inside the structure is indescribably loud as what sounds like hundreds of voices vie to see who can be the loudest. As I look around the three-tiered structure, I’m immediately stricken by the fact that it looks exactly like a prison. Rather than bars, though, all of the cells are enclosed with the same sonic shielding as the cube where they keep me during the zoo’s operating hours. When one of the Gargolians pushes me from behind, I take a stumbling step forward and turn, glaring at them over my shoulder.

  “Move,” says the larger of the two.

  Feeling angry and humiliated, and knowing there’s nothing I can do right now, I obey their commands and go where they tell me to go. They lead me to a cell and one of them deactivates the shield as the other pushes me through the doorway. A second later, I hear the snap and crackle of the shield going back up, and when I turn around, I see the two burly Gargolians walking away.

  I turn again and face the darkness of the cell. The light from the prison beyond doesn’t fall much farther than the doorway, leaving it cloaked in shadow and gloom. As I stand there, trying to penetrate the darkness, I get the feeling that I’m not alone. And as the seconds tick by and the goosebumps march across my flesh, I become more certain of it.

  “H-hello?” I ask, silently berating myself for the wavering in my voice. “Wh-who’s there?”

  And then I see it, a shadow moving against the shadows, and as it steps forward, I draw in a sharp breath. As it steps out of the darkness, resolving itself before me, I find myself staring up at a Tabiean. He’s over seven feet tall and has the same feline-like features of the Tabieans I’ve lived with ever since we broke out of Gerr’a.

  Unlike the others, though, the hair that covers his body is white, and his eyes are a startling shade of blue, but rimmed with red. On Earth, we’d call him an albino. Here on Tabia, he and his clan are called the G’osha. Their coloring is unique among the Tabieans and they have a reputation for their ferocity and fighting skill.

  He stares down at me, his expression dispassionate and holding all the warmth of a glacier. Not that I expected much more. The G’osha have a reputation for being cold and aloof. They live high in the mountains of Tabia and don’t usually involve themselves in the affairs of the rest of Tabiean society. They have their own insular little world, away from everybody else, and from what I’ve been told, they don’t typically show any inclination to change that.

  I’ve heard Kon and the rebels speak of the G’osha many times. They’re respected but feared among the clans of the jungles and plains of Tabia. According to Kon, there are many myths that surround the G’osha, and their legends grow with every telling. Most Tabieans seem to believe the G’osha are imbued with some sort of special powers or magical abilities.

  While the stories about what exactly they can do differ from clan to clan, there is one common thread that all agree on: the Chieftain of the G’osha clan is one to fear. He is said to be the most powerful of all Tabieans and when people speak of him, it’s almost as if they’re afraid to do anything but whisper his name. When the Gargolians came though, they wiped out the clan and it’s Chieftain, Jin, vanished. Nobody has heard from him since.

  A low rumble floats out of the darkness to me as the massive creature takes a step closer, filling my entire field of vision as he looms over me. I watch as his eyes narrow and see the muscles in his body tense, making my stomach churn and my heart lurch in my chest.

  Now, I’m scared.

  Chapter Five

  Tulo

  The strange creature before me looks uncomfortable. I study it, trying to figure out what it is. It has wide hips and full breasts, so I can deduce that it is a female. Her scent is also feminine. She looks around, a slight tremble in her body… I can practically smell the fear wafting off of her. In her place, I would probably be afraid as well. She’s small. Frail looking. Delicate. She would likely not be able to withstand the rigors of this world on her own.

  She casts a wary eye at me, but I can tell she cannot see me well. I can see in the dark. She cannot. Her skin is smooth. Golden. Her hair is dark and falls to the middle of her back, and she’s got eyes a shade of green that remind me of the flowers on a bula bush. She is… attractive.

  “What are you?” I ask as I sit down on my bunk.

  She flinches as if I’d just struck her, the smell of her fear intensifying.

  “Wh - what do you mean?” she asks.

  “Your species. What are you?”

  “I’m a human,” she replies, her voice barely more than a whisper.

  “Human,” I say. “I have never seen one of you before. How have you ended up here?”

  She looks down, a frown on her face. “I was taken. They… the Gargolians… they kidnapped me. Tried to force me to breed with them.”

  He nods. “You are one of many.”

  She sits on her bunk on the other side of our shared cell, leaning back against the wall. The silence between us is filled with tension. The woman stares at me with something like wonder mixed with fear on her face. It’s a strange expression, and one I do not quite understand.

  “Why do you look at me like that?” I demand.

  “You’re him, aren’t you?” she asks. “You’re the Chieftain of the G’osha. That’s you, right?”

  I feel something in my gut tighten. How could this human, this off-worlder, know of me? More than that, why does she look at me with something like awe on her face?

  “Do not call me that,” I growl. “I am Chieftain of nothing. Not anymore. My clan has been destroyed.”

  She looks at me with curiosity blending with fear upon her features. And for reasons I do not understand, I feel strangely uncomfortable beneath her green-eyed gaze. It is as if she can see through me. See inside of me somehow.

  “Why do you look at me that way, human?”

  “My name is Eva,” she replies. “And I’m sorry, I don’t mean to stare. It’s just that… I was beginning to think you weren’t real. That you really were just a Tabiean legend.”

  I cock my head. “Why would you think that?”

  “Because people have been looking for you,” she says as if it is the most obvious thing in the world. “They’ve been looking for a while.”

  “Why?” I demand.

  “Why? Haven’t you been paying attention to what’s happening out there?” Her voice grows louder, shriller. “They’re slaughtering your people. They need your help!”

  Her words send a jolt of alarm surging through me. The last thing I want or need is for anybody to be searching for me. I have nothing for them. Nothing for anybody. Everything has been taken from me and the truth is, the only meaningful thing I still have in this world is keeping my sister safe. This is the sole purpose of my existence now.

  “Kon and some of the other clan Chieftains,” she replies. “They wanted—”

  “I want nothing to do with any of them,” I cut her off. “What do they want from me?”

  Her eyes widen and her mouth falls open as she stares at me. But she quickly manages to gather herself. She purses her full lips and squares her shoulders, sitting up a bit straighter.

  “In case you haven’t noticed, there is a war going on,” she says. “And they could really use your help.”

  “I am not interested in helping them fight their war.”

  “Their war?”

  “I believe that is what I said.”

  She looks at me for a long moment and I can feel the outrage radiating from her like heat from a fire. Her face is twisted with anger, as if she thinks that will sway my thoughts about joining their fight. It will not.

  “Are you not Tabiean?” she asks.

  I look at her evenly. “The last I checked.”

  “Then this is your fight as well,” she presses. “The Gargolians don’t care if you live in the jungles, out on the plains, or high in the mountains. They are taking over your entire world.”

  “Thank you for explaining that which I already know.”

  �
�And you’re content to just sit here and do nothing about it?”

  “What is there for me to do?” I say, my voice harder than steel. “They have destroyed everything. Taken everything from us. They have enslaved and subjugated countless millions. They are a plague that has swept across our world. What is there for anybody to do?”

  She sits back on her bunk, looking at me with disbelief coloring her features. Disbelief, and what looks like disgust. Her expression is scornful, filled with contempt.

  “These are your people—”

  “These are not my people. My people are dead.”

  “The Tabieans are your people,” she presses on, undeterred. “They need their leaders to come together. To free them and push back on the Gargolians.”

  “All I want is to slip back into the mountains. My home,” I tell her. “I want to go deep enough into the mountains that the Gargolians won’t be able to find me. I wish only to live a life of peace. Undisturbed by the troubles of the flatlanders.”

  She shakes her head as she looks at me. The silence stretches out between us. I sit back on my bunk, leaning against the wall behind me as she gets to her feet and starts to pace. She is agitated and, obviously, very angry. But this is not my fight. Or rather, this is not a fight I want. It is one I cannot win.

  “That’s what you don’t get, Jin—”

  “Do not call me that, human. My name is Tulo,” I roar. “Tulo S’vothar. Jin is a name the flatlanders have given me. It is not my name. It offends me.”

  “I’m sorry, I was told that was your name,” she concedes.

  “Jin is Tabiean for ‘White Monster,’” I say, my voice low and tight. “Why would I ever wish to be called such? I am not a monster.”

  She held up her hands in surrender. “All right, all right. I’m sorry. Tulo. I did not know. But the point I was trying to make remains.”

  “And what is your point, human?” I demand. “Make it, because I grow tired of this conversation.”

  She stops and turns to me, her hands on her hips, and a stern look on her face. “First off, like I told you before, my name is Eva,” she says, voice cold. “And second, my point is that you can go hide in the mountains, but eventually, the Gargolians will come for you. They will not rest until they have enslaved or wiped out every Tabiean alive.”

  “And what is it to you, human?” I respond. “You are not Tabiean.”

  “I don’t have to be Tabiean to care about what happens here. I care about the Tabiean people. Kon and his rebels saved me from captivity. My human friend Marissa is mated to Kon.”

  “That is wonderful for her. But it has nothing to do with me.”

  “It has everything to do with you. The Gargolians will come. If you think they won’t, you’re deluding yourself,” she growls. “Your people—”

  I shoot to my feet, a dark, abiding rage boiling within my veins, making the human flinch. The anger she is stoking inside me is unlike anything I have felt for quite some time. Ever since my village was razed, and I was taken, I have had to shut down all emotion. I have had to train myself to stop feeling. It was difficult at first, but it has gotten easier with time.

  This human, though, has gotten under my skin like nobody has since I’ve been in this place. I pace the cell, forcing myself to unclench my fists and take several long, deep breaths, letting them out slowly, as I will myself to calm.

  This is not my war. My people have always been feared and scorned by the flatlanders. The flatlanders have always looked down on us, treated us as outcasts and monsters. They have not shown us respect. They never cared about what happened to us. They have never once treated us like ‘their’ people. I have no love for them, as they have no love for me. Why would this human think I would risk my life or the lives of those I love for them?

  The human climbs off her bunk and steps to the side of the cell, pressing herself up against the wall, and just watches me. I can tell she is intimidated, perhaps even fearful of me, but is doing her best to keep it all in check. I can see through the mask of indifference she is wearing easily enough. I can see the emotions swirling just below the surface, and deep within her eyes.

  Finally calm enough to speak, I turn to her. “Why is it so difficult for you to understand? These are not my people. The flatlanders are not my people. I am not their leader, nor do I want to be. I want nothing to do with the flatlanders, or their war.”

  “Kon and the others can get us out,” she says. “They can give you your freedom—”

  “So long as I subjugate myself to them,” I scoff. “So I’d simply be trading one master for another.”

  “That’s not how it is.”

  “Enough. I am done with this conversation.”

  She stands there in the shadows, staring at me. Her eyes are accusatory, and her expression is one of pure revulsion. She hates me. She is disgusted by me. Not that I care what this human thinks of me. I have all the right reasons for wanting nothing to do with this rebellion.

  “You’re a coward,” she says softly.

  The rage inside me burns bright and my instinct is to lash out – let my rage flow and destroy something. Destroy her. I reach for the chair and then pause. I close my eyes and let out a long, shuddering breath. I am G’osha. I do not let my emotions rule me. I master them. With tremendous effort, I let go of the chair and step back. I focus on my breathing, willing myself to calm, letting my rage dissipate. It takes several long moments, but I finally reel it back in.

  Eva though, remains in the corner with an utterly dumbfounded expression on her face. I thinks she knows how close I am to blowing up and is afraid. She doesn’t know what I am capable of. We stand there for a moment, gazes locked, the silence between us saturated with tension. Without a word, she climbs into her bunk and rolls over so her back is to me and pulls the thin blanket up to her chin.

  I sit down on my bunk again and try to calm myself, then lean so my back is against the wall again. In the darkness and silence that envelops me, I hear the human making soft sniffling sounds. I listen for a moment, not comprehending.

  “What is that noise you make?” I ask.

  She rolls over, and in the dim light slanting in through the shielding of the cell, I see her eyes glistening. Shimmering.

  “What is wrong with your eyes?” I press.

  She quickly wipes her arm across her eyes and sniffs loudly. She narrows her eyes, a look of anger upon her face.

  “Nothing,” she states, her voice like iron.

  She lays back down and turns her back to me again and says nothing more.

  Chapter Six

  Tulo

  The sky was overcast and the day unusually cold. Other than the chill in the air, the day was unremarkable. I had just returned with my hunting party with enough meat to feed my clan for the next several weeks. I watched the females take the carcasses and start to prepare them for storage, then walked out onto the stone outcropping that overlooked the valley below.

  I stood and watched the flatlander’s settlement in the distance, an uneasy feeling stealing over me. I watched as columns of smoke drifted skyward and could see the clan scrambling about, though it was too far away to see with any specificity what was happening. Warfare between the clans was common among the flatlanders. They fought each other for everything from territory to resources.

  “What is it, brother?”

  My sister, Daca, stepped up beside me and followed my gaze down to the flatlander settlement. I watched her take in the scene, nodding her head slightly. I wanted her impression of it before I said anything. I had always valued Daca’s opinion above all others. I thought she should have been made clan chief above me, believing she would have been better in the role.

  “It looks as if the flatlanders are fighting once more,” I said.

  “Why do you sound so…uncertain?” Daca asked.

  I shook my head. “I do not know. Something just feels…off. Can you feel it?”

  Daca nodded. “I have felt something amiss si
nce I woke this morning,” she admitted. “But I do not know what it is.”

  “Nor I.”

  We continued to watch as more columns of smoke began to rise, and the entire settlement was lost. It was then I heard a strange humming sound. And as it grew louder, the very air around us seemed to be vibrating. I exchanged a look with my sister and saw my own confusion reflected on her face.

  “What is that?” she asked.

  I did not get a chance to answer as the clouds above swirled and then parted as ships descended from the sky. It took only a moment to comprehend what was happening, but when I finally understood, Daca and I sprang into action. We ran throughout village, screaming at the women and children to take shelter, and for the warriors to take up arms.

  As smaller ships disengaged from the larger craft and began streaming down to the village, it was a frenzy of activity as the G’osha clan prepared for war. The smaller ships landed and the second the doors opened, Gargolians came pouring out. The G’osha didn’t have the advanced weaponry the Gargolians had, but my people fought with vigor and passion.

  I ran into the fray, swinging my sword and taking the heads off the first two Gargolians I encountered. The best way to neutralize the Gargolian weaponry was to be among them. It was a basic tactic my people used, moving among the enemy and striking with our blades. The Gargolians were reluctant to fire in such close proximity to their own troops.

  All around me was chaos, bodies locked in a frenzied, life and death struggle. The smell of smoke was thick in the air and I knew the Gargolians were setting my village on fire, just like they had set the flatlander’s settlement on fire. The screams of the wounded and dying on both sides reverberated through the air, and the intensity of the fight seemed to shake the very ground we stood upon.

  I squared off with a Gargolian who raised a weapon at me, but I was faster. Dropping to a knee, I rolled forward, and with the point of my blade leading the way, came up, sword piercing the Gargolian. It threw its head back and let out an agonized cry, but I yanked its sword free and quickly lopped its head off.