Alpha's Prey

Chapter 1

Mina

How the fuck did I end up here?

One day you’re a young professional who’s on the fast-track for a promotion, the next you’re standing on a freaking auction block. That’s right—I went straight from the top of the world to the bottom of the sewers. 

“One-hundred krats!”

“Two hundred!”

“Five hundred!”

Narrowing my eyes, I try to see past the glare of the lights. The room, opulent chambers covered in crimson tapestries, is completely packed with Kraaj. The vile creatures, silver-skinned and with more muscles than neurons, are now frying their brains by trying to do the math. They’re bidding higher and higher, and I find myself wondering if their heads will implode once they get to four digits. 

“Two thousands krats,” one of them suddenly bellows, smashing his fist on the table at the same time. His head doesn’t explode, and his skull doesn’t cave in, so I think it’s safe to assume these assholes can handle four digits without their brains turning into mush. Who knows? There might be a spark of intelligence in them.

“Oh my God, just look at them,” the girl beside me whispers. Her knees seem to be in the process of turning into jelly, and her lower lip is trembling. I can already see tears pooling in the corner of her eyes, so I do the only reasonable thing I can and elbow her in the ribs as hard as I can. She doesn’t appreciate it.  “What the hell was that for?”

“Don’t let them see that you’re afraid,” I reply, looking straight ahead and holding my chin up high. The best way to have someone listen, is to actually follow your own advice. Easier said than done, of course, since I’m pretty terrified right now. Being sold off like a handwoven carpet on the bazaar isn’t exactly an item on my bucket list, after all. 

“One hundred thousand,” a deep guttural voice says, and I see a tall figure rising up at the end of the room. He’s a massive Kraaj, probably one of the biggest I have ever seen, and he’s as ugly as he is terrifying. Even though he’s silver-skinned like the rest of them, it’s actually pretty hard to notice that at first—every bit of his skin that isn’t covered by his uniform has been tattooed over with red patterns. From his hands to his neck, there are blood red marks everywhere, lines intertwining and dancing around each other. Even his face is covered in them. Almost makes me wonder if the idiot didn’t do it on a drunken dare. I mean, who the hell chooses to look like that?

“Sold to District Chief Udrak,” the Kraaj standing beside the auction block announces. He slams his ceremonial staff against the marble floor and, for a couple of seconds, the entire room quiets down. Then, as if on cue, every single one of these assholes starts to bang their cups against the table as hard as they can. Some even go as far as clapping their hands, while others whistle drunkenly.

Yeah, what a happy moment. 

“Move.” Poking me with the tip of the staff, the guard forces me to walk down from the auction block. The anxious brunette beside me whispers me a nervous ‘good luck’ and, somehow, I manage to offer her a smile. Not that I feel like smiling. It just feels right to make one final effort at politeness.

With my heart beating at a thousand miles per hour, I go down the chamber, still looking straight ahead as I walk between the rows of tables. Drunken Kraaj oggle me as I go, loud voices and laughter coming at me from all sides, and I suddenly start feeling stick to my stomach. 

“What a pretty little thing.” Standing in front of the massive double doors leading out of the room, Udrak grins at me. He has his arms crossed over his chest, a golden breastplate hiding under his red cloak. Up close, he’s even uglier. His teeth have been sharpened, giving him a shark’s smile, and his eyes are as dark as coal. “What’s your name, human?”

A charming fellow, no doubt. 

“Fuck you,” I say without a moment’s hesitation. Probably not the smartest thing to do, considering all those sharp teeth, but what the hell. You only live once, right?

Moving fast, he grabs my chin and drags me close to him, his fingers feeling like a vice on my jaw. “I asked you your name, not what you’re going to be doing tonight.” Narrowing his eyes with sickening joy, he allows his grin to become even wider. Stubbornly, I keep my mouth clamped shut. “I see. I don’t need to know your name, anyway.” Finally letting go of me, he pushes me back so hard that I stumble and crash against the guard, my head bumping against his breastplate. “Take her to the hangar. My men will be there.”

“Sir.” Placing his closed fist over his heart, the guard bows his head and holds my arm. Just as quickly, he opens one of the doors and drags me out of the room. Outside, there’s another Kraaj wearing nothing but simple grey robes. In his hands there’s a datapad, and that’s where all of his attention is. “Log this one out. Udrak bought her.”

“How much?” The Kraaj in the grey robes asks with disinterest, already jabbing with his thumb at the datapad.

“One hundred thousand.”

“Really?” Looking away from his datapad, he finally looks up at me. “That’s quite a lot. I thought only the girl Kavan requested would go that high. Guess this was a good group, huh? What’s your name, woman?” I’m about to reply with a profanity-laced tirade, but he continues speaking before I have the chance to. “Don’t make it harder on yourself. You’re Udrak’s property, but I haven’t logged you out yet. I can still show you a world of pain.”

“Mina Towers.” As much as I’d like to, there’s no use in being sassy just for the hell of it. 

“Says here you were born and raised in Luvon, right?”

“Correct.”

“Residence?”

“Downtown Hela.” 

“Occupation?”

“Attaché to the IHC Representative of Cultural Affairs in Luvon.” God, it hurts to say it out loud. Years of hard study landed me a prestigious career in the Intergalactic Human Conglomerate diplomatic corps, and I was already on my way to a promotion. Just a few more years and I’d be able to land a position as a high-ranking diplomat. It was everything I ever wanted, and the Kraaj had to come and piss all over it. 

“I’ll just put it down as secretary,” the Kraaj notary mutters, and I grit my teeth so hard pain shoots up my jaw.

“I’m not a secretary,” I hiss. “I was an attaché to the IHC Representative of—”

“Exactly, a secretary.”

Seriously, fuck the Kraaj and the spaceship they rode in on. 

Isn’t it enough that they’re making life miserable for everyone? Do they really need to belittle me and treat me like I’m just someone’s toy? Sighing, I bite my tongue and make an effort to remain silent. It’s no use to protest now. 

Or, rather, it’s no use to protest at all.

The first thing I did when the Kraaj landed on Luvon was to file a formal complaint with the IHC and the Trident Alliance. Supposedly the moral standard in this stupid war that’s tearing the galaxy apart, both the IHC and the Alliance merely shrugged and washed their hands off this whole mess. Apparently, the Alliance has their hands busy with the Ataxian Coalition, and the IHC can’t take on the Kraaj by themselves. This, of course, means that Luvon has been pretty much abandoned by everyone. 

Sure, all my life I knew that trouble was coming. A planet on the border between the Ataxian Coalition and the IHC, we’re like an innocent puppy tied to the rails while two trains are on a collision course. Not a pretty scenario, but we always managed to go by unnoticed.

That, of course, until the Kraaj came.

Since nobody really gave a shit about Luvon, they decided to use the opportunity and occupy the planet. Not the friendliest of races, the Kraaj have a bone to pick with everyone, and they decided to use Luvon as a forward base. Thankfully, the Kraaj were quick to address the issue of human rights. Their official stance on the matter is ‘what the fuck are those?’

“Alright, we’re done here.” Stashing his datapad inside some hidden pocket on his robe, the notary nods at the guard. “Take her away.” 

“You heard him. Move it.” Poking me with his staff once more, he leads me through the hallway and toward the elevators at the back. It climbs up the building’s outer wall, and its glass structure affords me a view of Luvon’s capital city, Hela, as we ascend toward the hangar. There’s almost no air traffic, now that the Kraaj have pretty much put a halt to human activity, and from up here I can see the refugee camps that have started to occupy the once green outskirts. It’s a drab, gloomy scenario. 

“Where am I going?” I ask the guard, not even caring to hide how tired of all this bullshit I am.

“District 17,” he replies with a casual tone. “Chief Udrak is in charge there.”

“That’s Sannar, right?” A coastal city, it used to be one of the liveliest places in the continent. It had it all—strong tourist appeal, a booming economy, and views that were unrivalled. After the Kraaj settled there and renamed the region as District 17, the place has now turned into a hellhole where riots and violence are a daily occurence.

“Sannar? I think so, yes.” Leaning against the elevator wall, the guard sneers as he looks at me, his eyes taking in my entire figure. His gaze makes my skin crawl. “Not that you’ll have time to enjoy the sights. Udrak’s gonna keep you really busy, if you know what I mean.” He snorts then, laughing at what he probably thinks to be a smart little joke. “He’s insatiable, you know? Rumour has it that he already had a few human girls at his residence. None of them lasted long. He’s a savage, even for a Kraaj. But, who knows, maybe it’ll be different with you.” He snorts once more, clearly not believing any of his words. 

“Don’t worry about me,” I find myself saying, all the fear I’m feeling suddenly turning into determination. “I don’t want for it to be different with me.” After all, I don’t intend to last long in Udrak’s hands. 

And that because I’ll never allow him to lay his filthy hands on me.

Once I have a chance, I’m going to make my escape.