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“Where is he taking her?” Eden asked the commander. He’d said his name was Jo-something, but her fear-addled mind hadn’t quite locked on to it.
“To theMadelle, our ship,” the soldier next to the commander answered as the commander turned and walked away. “You will all be taken there, but the evacuation must be done in stages.” After delivering the semi-ominous statement, he followed the commander across the room.
The tables were pushed over to one side and the chairs arranged into rows. The residents sat down and quietly waited for their turn as the evacuation began in earnest. They’d all seen what happened to Jessie. Fighting these monsters was pointless, had been from the start. Some of the residents were ‘beamed up’ to the ship. Eden borrowed the phrase from television because she didn’t know what real aliens called the technology that instantaneously moved people from one place to another.
Ten minutes later, Eden and Kendra were led onto the commander’s shuttle. It was bigger than the two-person pods that had appeared on the beach, but it was clearly not the ship he’d mentioned earlier. He piloted the small craft while his companion kept an eye on the six passengers. Once the shuttle left the ground both males took off their helmets. Eden felt her eyes widen as she saw them clearly for the first time. She’d expected bug people or maybe reptilian scales. Both males were ruggedly handsome and shockingly similar to humans. The commander could have strolled around Sitka and no one would have realized he was an alien.
“Many believe that Earth and the four planets in our star system were all colonized by the same species,” the friendlier male said. Had he noticed her surprised stares or was he reading her mind? “That is most likely why the leaders of your group chose Earth as their destination. It was easier to blend in.”
Or it would have been if the founders ever allowed us to leave the island, Eden grumbled silently.
“My name is Tandor, by the way. Will you tell me yours?”
She dragged her gaze away from the commander and drew in a slow, deep breath. With red streaks in his dark hair, mahogany eyes, and golden skin tone, Tandor was even better looking than the commander. His features were sharper, more exotic.
“Are you mercenaries, or were you dispatched by a military leader?” Despite his friendliness, she still felt too vulnerable to tell him her name.
Tandor shrugged. “A bit of both, I suppose. We’re mercenaries who are being paid by a military leader.”
“Which one? Which planet wants us so desperately that they will send mercenaries to another star system?”
“All of them.” His expression sharpened as his gaze searched hers. “Every planet in our star system is desperate to find you.”
Eden’s best friend Ansley had been chosen as Mistress Neeva’s assistant, so Ansley knew things the other residents didn’t. Before she ran off on some mysterious errand, Ansley had tried to explain what was going on. Unfortunately, she’d crammed months of research into a five-minute lecture so the information dump had left everyone with more questions than answers.
“Are we being taken to the Citadel or to Altor?” Eden tried again when Tandor evaded her question.
His brows arched. “Do all of the females know the truth about your origins? We did not expect that you would.”
“An hour ago we didn’t, but a lot can change in an hour.”
“No doubt.” The commander asked Tandor a question in a language Eden didn’t understand. He turned his seat back around as he spoke with the commander.
Eden was disappointed, yet relieved. She needed a few moments to process the rapid-fire events that just took place. She’d been kidnapped by aliens. But were they aliens if they were all the same species?
“Why do aliens from a distant star system speak English with only a faint accent?” Kendra’s gaze narrowed on the males’ broad backs and she crossed her arms over her chest. She’d taken the evacuation better than most, but the tension around her mouth revealed her stress, her lingering fear.
“I thought the same thing about their appearance,” Eden lowered her voice to just above a whisper. “Tandor doesn’t look quite human, but the only thing about the commander that would draw attention is his size.”
“And his spaceship.” Kendra tried to ease the tension but failed.
They arrived at theMadellea few minutes later. Eden wasn’t sure how to judge the ship. She was intimidated and impressed, but she’d never seen a spaceship before. Was this one large or small, sophisticated or simple? She honestly didn’t know. The shape was more submarine than flying saucer, with smoothed-out edges and rounded corners. The levels, or decks, were staggered, creating contrasting slopes in the front and back. Needless to say, Eden had never seen anything like it before.
The shuttle glided into a small, enclosed area near the back of the ship. Tandor triggered the hatch and a set of steep stairs descended.
“Off load in an orderly manner,” Jo-something directed without bothering to get up. “You are safe here. No one will harm you.”
An armed guard motioned them down and across the small shuttle bay. More guards waited in the corridor. Unlike the hunters, these men were not in armor. They wore tight black shirts and gray pants with multiple loops and pockets. Even without the guns, they would have looked paramilitary.
The women were led along an unmarked corridor, no insignias, no images, just silver-gray walls and floors that felt rough beneath Eden’s boots. One guard led the small procession, another followed behind. If no one meant them any harm, what was with all the guns?
When they reached a large, open area, likely meant for cargo rather than women, both guards remained in the corridor. A tall, leanly muscled male was counting everyone as they entered. His long, red-streaked hair and shimmering reddish-brown eyes made Eden wonder if he was related to Tandor. For just a moment their gazes locked and heated tingles dropped down her spine. Her surroundings blurred and her entire being focused sharply on the handsome male. Tandor was better looking, but something about this male attracted her, intrigued her, made her want to explore. He appeared to be a few years older and less friendly than Tandor, so why couldn’t she look away? Were they brothers, maybe cousins? Or did all of the males of their species look similar?
“Move toward the back wall,” he directed, breaking the spell. “Make room for the others.”
Eden and Kendra did as they were told, but Eden’s gaze drifted back to Mr. Bossypants again and again. He was issuing orders not just to the females, but to the other males. Everyone responded immediately, so he clearly possessed legitimate authority. Jo-something said he was the first officer, so Bossypants was likely the ship’s captain. Did she dare ask someone his name? Why the hell should she care? His crew had just kidnapped her.
“That one looks downright dangerous,” Kendra whispered as they looked around for a place to sit down. There were no chairs, not even a crate, so it didn’t much matter where they went.
