The Runaway Alien (The Lost Planet 9)

“What about this one?” AJ grumbles. “Should we kill him now before he wakes up? He’s a big bastard.”

There’s a quiet pause where I can’t read Nate’s expression in the gloom and my heart stumbles in the absence of an answer. Then, finally, he says, “No, not yet. He could know information about this planet we may find useful. But you can do the honors of interrogating him.”

I harbor no illusions about their definition of “interrogate.”

No matter which way I look at the situation, none of us are going to get out of it alive.

“I’m pregnant.”

Evan doesn’t even look up from the control panel where he sits with his booted feet propped up.

When he doesn’t say anything, I say a little louder, “Did you hear me? I’m pregnant.”

“I thought they sterilized you before you were loaded on the ship?” His voice sounds different. Maybe he’s as scared as I feel. I inch around his chair so I can look at him. I’ll feel better about this whole mess when I can see his face. The face I’ve come to know and trust.

I bite my lip, then say, “They said there was no time for our group. We had to leave quickly.”

Even worse than Evan being upset is seeing no expression on his face whatsoever. It makes my breathing hitch in an unpleasant way. I want to beg him to hold me like he’s been doing these past few weeks. I feel so incredibly safe in his arms, despite the uncertainty of the future.

Evan sighs heavily, then, finally, looks at me. “Well, that’s bad luck, pet. I’d hoped we’d get to play a lot longer than this. I won’t make the same mistake with the next one.”

Fear lances into me and nausea twists my stomach. “Evan?”

“We’ll have the little brat taken care of when we get to the prison. There are procedures that can handle it.” He’s almost talking to himself instead of me, which makes my bowels feel loose and watery. Gone is the man who made me such sweet, sincere promises. When he takes my arm, his hand is iron, bruising the delicate flesh beneath.

“Now, come on. Don’t fight me. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You are hurting me. You’re scaring me, too. What’s going on?” I hate that my voice is so high-pitched. It hurts my ears to listen to myself beg.

He shakes me until my teeth knock together. My eyes go wide. He’s never hurt me before. He’s always been kind and gentle. “Like I said. We’ll take care of it. I’ll put you back in cryosleep and when we get to the prison planet, they’ll take care of the little bastard.”

I slap at his chest and my heart begins to thunder in my ears. “What are you talking about, Evan? I thought you said you loved me?” This isn’t the man I fell in love with. The one who promised to keep me safe and free the others when we got to Exilium. This person may as well be a stranger.

We reach the room with all the pods where the rest of the women are in cryosleep, their faces smooth and calm, without worry. I almost envy them. Without answering, Evan inputs his code into the door and it glides open. Dragging me along behind him, he moves to my empty pod and begins pushing buttons.

My chest constricts, making it hard to breathe. “You can’t. What about the baby? Won’t this hurt it?” I don’t know the answer to that question. I’ve never even heard of a pregnant woman being put into cryo. Would I give birth in the pod? Would the baby die? How could I have judged Evan so completely wrong? How could he be such a monster?

Maybe I’m having a nightmare.

The delicate bones in my wrist grind together underneath his grasp as I begin to struggle. Definitely not asleep.

Evan shoves me kicking and screaming for all I’m worth into the pod. When I don’t go down easily, he cocks back his free arm and punches me square in the face. I go limp, my vision bursting into white. When my head clears of the ringing, it’s too late. It was enough time for him to close the pod with me inside it and activate the medication mist that will put me into a deep, deep artificially frozen sleep until we arrive at Exilium.

My last thought is of the baby growing inside me and of how if we make it through this, I’ll do anything to protect them.

“Come on, Stella, wake up. Listen to me. Can you hear me, zelfyre? Wake up.”

Galen’s voice stirs me awake. I don’t know how long we’d been locked away in the holding cells, but it was long enough exhaustion and fear blanketed me in waves until I succumbed to a fretful, illusive sleep plagued by memories I’d much rather forget.