“You mean wedding rings?”
“Yes.”
“That's not the same.”
“Isn’t it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
She didn’t have an answer for that. She wished she did, but…
“Because this is what we do to animals. Not people!”
“That’s hardly my concern, is it? You are in my kingdom now, pet. And you must follow our customs, otherwise there will be much confusion and probably, pain.”
“Why would there be pain?”
“Because I will punish you if you disobey me.”
Well then. That answered that. She’d apparently agreed to run off with a mad, winged alien who now thought he could treat her like an animal. Her mother had warned her that she’d end up in trouble. Katie never imagined she would be so right.
“Do not worry, pet. You will find yourself well cared for with me. There is no need to work another day in your life. No cooking for ungrateful strangers who bestow pennies upon you in return for your labor. Instead, you will have access to all the riches my kingdom has to offer.”
That sounded like a good deal. And it certainly brightened her mood. She fingered the collar nervously, and looked up at him. “Can we take this off…”
“No,” he said firmly. “It stays on.”
She decided wearing a collar for all the riches of an alien kingdom still wasn’t a bad deal.
“So if I’m your… pet, or whatever.” She blushed just saying the word. “Then do you have a girlfriend, or a wife, or a queen, or something?”
He smiled. It was a very handsome expression when merged with his pre-existing handsome face, and she felt fluttering in her tummy.
“I do not,” he said. “I have never been interested in a female mate who believes she shares power. She does not. She cannot. There is only one king on this planet. This is why I prefer to have a pet.”
So her alien captor was some kind of sexist. Not a great trait, but she supposed not all alien societies had undergone gender revolutions.
“So… being a pet means, also…” She didn’t want to ask. It felt too presumptuous. But it seemed as if there might be some chance of romance. She did not know how to feel about that. Or rather, she did know, but was embarrassed by it.
Every day she’d gone to work, stood over the fryer, felt her pores clog a little more, and wished for someone to rescue her from the mundane work-a-day life she was leading. She’d usually imagined a billionaire stopping for a burger, sweeping her off her feet and taking her somewhere like Tuscany, but this was good too.
“It means you are mine in every way. It means I will protect you, provide for you, and procreate with you.”
“You want a baby? With me?”
“Of course.”
He was not shy about his intentions, or afraid of commitment, apparently. Those were both very attractive traits. But it was also a lot.
“I… I’m nineteen. That’s… I wasn’t going to have a baby yet. I was going to finish college.”
“You were not going to college.”
“No. I was going to my job that I use to pay for college.”
“College being…”
“School. I was going to learn how to be a lawyer. I was pretty close to dropping out anyway. I guess that doesn't matter anymore. They’re going to think I was abducted.”
“They’ll probably think you perished in the explosion which was caused by the time fracture.”
“What’s a time fracture?”
“It’s what happens when an alien from the past reaches into a human feature to claim his pet, but the tender structure of reality in your world cannot compensate.”
His words were confusing. Everything was confusing.
Dominax made it simple by pressing his lips to hers.
His kiss was deliciously dominant. He held onto her collar and pulled her mouth up to his, claiming her mouth with insistence. She felt herself relax into it, her entire body softening as he caressed her mouth and found her tongue with his own.
“You are safe with me, pet,” he told her when he broke the kiss. “I chose you, out of all others…”
“Who happened to be on the street at the time,” she interjected.
“Quiet,” he insisted. “I chose you alone among billions.”
“There are much more beautiful women on the planet.”
“I do not believe that is true. You belong to me. I knew from the moment our eyes met. The way you looked at me, such desperation…”
“I was not desperate! I was just really not looking forward to going to work.”
His fingers ran lightly under her chin. “You were desperate. Tired of your planet, of the people, of the conditions you were forced to endure, a lifetime of servitude without any of the benefits.”
“It wasn’t that bad. I chose my life.”
“Did you? Did you choose where you were born, or what things cost, or what you needed to do to obtain the pittance needed to survive?”
“I was in college. I was going to make a life for myself once I had gotten educated.”
“What were you educating yourself in?”
“I was doing an arts degree. It’s like, a general education about all sorts of things.”
“Ah. Well, this will also be a general education about all sorts of things,” Dominax said, far too cheerfully for her liking. She was unable to come to immediate terms with the fact she had been alien abducted. She half expected to wake up and find it was all a dream, but that would be a cliché.
“You should take me back. I don’t belong here. I don’t want…”
Again, he silenced her with a kiss, but had to break it again to give her the bad news.
“Fate has chosen your path. I have chosen you. There is no choice anymore, pet, there is only surrender.”
His words made her instantly start to panic. When he offered her riches, she was drawn to a bright future. But when he stared down at her with that impenetrably dark gaze and spoke of surrender, she was much less keen.
“Okay, so no.”
“What do you mean by no?”
It figured that a creature like him literally didn't understand the word no. He’d probably never heard it. It probably didn’t magically translate to his native tongue.
“I mean, no. You can’t make me surrender. You can’t make me be your pet, whatever that means. When I agreed to go with you, I thought you meant that we would go somewhere and get high or something. I didn’t think you’d abduct me from my fucking planet.”
“Ah, I see what is happening,” Dominax purred. “You’re not angry. You’re afraid.”
“Don’t psychoanalyze me. I know when I’m angry, and I’m angry. You stole me from my life. My whole world. Take me back. Now.”
“No.”
His refusal was flat, and firm, and without emotion.
“I won’t be your pet,” she declared with bravery she did not feel. “I’ll fight you. I’ll never do what you want. I’ll be like a bird in a cage that bites you every time you put your finger in.”
“And I will be the one who tames you.” He smiled back at her, unconcerned by her outburst and promises of disobedience. “It is inevitable, pet. A king knows how to break a brat.”