James couldn’t be certain he wasn’t dreaming. Surely the tall, green-skinned man who strode through the door wasn’t real. Had he merely had a drug-induced dream of waking up and seeing the woman across the way? No, he was fairly certain he was awake … it was then that he remembered his mother telling him about her encounter with aliens all those years ago.

As his long legs carried him down the line of cells, the green-skinned man didn’t spare a glance for any of the cell’s occupants. He looked absolutely furious and James was sure that if anyone had been standing in his way they would have been suffered his wrath and he hated to think how painful that might have been.  He was fascinating, in a terrifying sort of way, and James couldn’t help but watch him storm down the hall.

On his way past the cell next to James his nostrils suddenly flared, he lifted his chin, and a few strides later he stopped dead right in front of James. His nostrils flared a few more times before he slowly turned his head to glare at James, who suddenly wished he was the one passed out or dead on the floor.


For several long moments the other man stared intently at James and James tried his hardest not to cower under his glare. He was almost positive this man had something to do with the people that had locked him up and James didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing him squirm but it was no use.

That look was too intense and it made James uncomfortable for more reasons than he cared to think about. It had been so long since he’d had any type of contact with someone outside the cells that it would have been uncomfortable to look anyone in the eyes for too long. He lowered his gaze from the alien and stared at the floor.

Without a single word, it was over. The green-skinned man turned away and continued on his way down the corridor leaving James staring after him.

He’d watched the alien disappear through the door at the opposite end of the corridor and then stood staring at the door for far longer than he would ever admit before moving back over to sit down at the empty desk. He couldn’t get the green alien with the stormy expression out of his mind.


 Who was he? Was he the one who had locked all of them up? Why did he look so mad? Why had he stopped to stare at James?

He was still running over the hundreds of questions he had hours later when the door opened again.

James shot up out of his seat and moved to the edge of his cell in the hopes of seeing the alien again. He looked no less furious than he had before but this time he wasn’t alone as he stormed back into the corridor.

Two women with purple skin were following in his wake. The taller one with cropped hair was jabbering insistently at the green man whilst the shorter one with braided hair and facial tattoos looked on with a smirk as though she were enjoying the situation far too much.

“Your highness,” the taller purple one was saying. “You must reconsider!”

 Highness? Did that mean the green-skinned one was royalty.


“I must do no such thing,” he snapped aggressively and James instantly wanted to cringe away from him. That voice was possibly the most powerful thing he’d had ever heard. “I will have no part in what you are doing here Anjulesa. You disgust me, all of you.”

“Eamazyn please!” the woman begged. “We cannot do this without you. We have tried!”

“So I can see,” Eamazyn gestured towards the blonde woman still laying on the floor of her cell where she’d fallen.

They stopped briefly in front of the cell and Anjulesa glanced at the woman only briefly before sighing heavily and turning to the other purple alien. “Another one,” she rolled her eyes. “Make sure someone collects it Zeljaden.”

“Do it yourself,” the shorter woman snarled. “I’m not your slave and I won’t touch it.”

“Her,” Eamazyn corrected her. “Humans are living creatures, they are not here for you to use for your own purposes.”

“Our purposes,” Anjulesa reminded him. “You are one of us whether you like it or not, my prince.”
“I am nothing like you and I will not have any part in this,” he narrowed his eyes at her for moment before turning and continuing back down the hallway.

“You have a duty to your people!” Anjulesa tried again, hurrying after the Prince.

“Duty? This is your idea of duty?” Once again he stopped in front of James’ cell and glared angrily at him before turning his head to address the other alien again. “How does locking humans up like animals count as duty?”


 “We wouldn’t need them if you would just—”

“Enough!” Eamazyn suddenly roared and James couldn’t help the startled gasp that escaped his mouth. The prince turned his gaze back to James and his frown deepened. “Who is this one?”

“Who? What do you mean ‘who’?” Anjulesa frowned. “It’s just a human. No better than a common animal. It doesn’t matter who it is.”

“And you would use him the way you have used the others?” he demanded, emphasising the pronoun in what James assumed was an attempt to get the other alien to understand that he wasn’t a thing.

“Well yes, of course, but if you would just—”

“When?”

“When what?” Anjulesa frowned, apparently just as confused as James was.

“When do you plan to stop this disgusting process?” Eamazyn demanded angrily. “When do you plan to accept the fact that I will not help you? When will you realise you are stuck here and learn to live with it as I have?”


“Never,” Anjulesa snarled at his back. “You forget little Princeling, you came here by choice. I had no such choice, I was sent here to find you. You are the reason I’m stuck on this disgusting piece of space trash! This one will be taken tomorrow night and used up just like the others. If he is the one, he will be lucky. If not … You could stop all of this if you just agree to help us and return home!”

There was a low growling sound and it took James a few seconds to realise it was coming from the tall green alien. And they thought he was the animal? Without another word Eamazyn turned on his heal and strode to the door he had first come through, leaving the two purple aliens standing in the corridor in front of his cell.

The shorter one suddenly began to giggle quietly and after a moment Anjulesa turned to glare at her, baring her teeth threateningly.

“Don’t think I won’t tear you apart where you stand.”