Alien Intent (Captured by Aliens Book 3) Read online

  Captured by Aliens Book Three

  ALIEN INTENT

  Jaide Fox

  © Copyright by Jaide Fox February 2015

  Cover art by Eliza Black, © copyright February 2015

  www.jaidefoxbooks.com

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.

  Taken from Earth, Jasmine Gray and the other abductees awaken on an alien spacecraft, bound for a faraway world and a doomed civilization. When a rogue virus destroyed all viable females, the men of Chalcydon are forced to look elsewhere for brides—and the unlucky Earthwomen are their only hope to save their dying race. In Jasmine’s mind, they’ve all been selected as breeders, and she has no interest in making babies for alien captors.

  Captain Dar Tagnon had no intention of claiming a bride for himself, until his meddling Prince and Princess order him to seduce a particularly troublesome female. In his mind, women are to be docile, not willful and disobeying. This Jasmine Gray is the last women he would ever choose for himself, but orders are orders, after all…

  Rating: Highly detailed sensual content with some strong language between consenting adults. Futuristic Romance. Book three of the Captured by Aliens series. It is recommended to read the series in order, but not required—this book can be read as a standalone. Also contains a sneak peek of an upcoming fantasy romance.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  The phone rang above the explosion on the television. There was no ignoring or denying the annoying ringtone beckoning them to answer. Jasmine Gray and her cousin, Samara Brooks, startled from their lounge on the overstuffed couch--neither wanted to move from their comfortable position. The phone stopped and then immediately rang again. Whoever it was really wanted their attention.

  Samara huffed and paused their movie. “Someone always calls when we get to the good part,” Samara said.

  “Yeah. I know.” Sitting up, Jasmine scooped the phone off the coffee table and looked at the screen. She rolled her eyes and looked at Samara as the phone continued to ring. “It’s Cyndy.”

  “What the hell is she calling this late for? She always goes to bed early,” Samara said, looking vaguely concerned. It was eleven o’clock at night, and they all had to go in to work by eight.

  “Guess I better answer it. It might be an emergency.” Jasmine swiped her finger over the screen and put it on speaker. She propped an elbow on her knee. “Hey. What’s up?”

  “Jasmine! Oh my god. The lights are back. You’ve got to come right now,” Cyndy said. Her voice sounded strained and abnormally high-pitched. “I’ve been watching them move over the city for the past fifteen minutes. Something’s going on, I know it.”

  Samara sat up on the edge of the couch.

  “What lights?” Jasmine asked.

  She could hear the exasperation in Cyndy’s voice. “The lights dancing in the sky. Don’t tell me they’re stars or a helicopter. Those don’t move like this.”

  “Cyn, we’ve got work tomorrow. I can’t come this late. And you know I hate that road in the dark—,” Jasmine began, but Cyndy cut her off before she could finish making an excuse.

  “If you love me, you’ll come. I’m counting on you. Bring Samara and her camera. Tonight’s the night. I’ve been watching the lights dance like lightning.”

  “Are you sure it isn’t just fireflies? Just use your phone and we’ll look at it in the morning—”

  “My resolution isn’t worth shit. I need high quality res and you know it. I’m not going to the media with fuzzy crap video so I can look like a lunatic in front of the whole world. Get your asses over here now. I’ll be outside waiting on you,” Cyndy said and hung up before Jasmine could respond.

  “She’s losin’ her damned mind up there on that mountaintop by herself,” Samara griped. “What kind of dad leaves his kid a house out in the boonies?”

  “One that wants his daughter single?” Jasmine growled and stood. “Anyway, she ain’t got any other friends. Let’s go see the aliens so we can hurry up and come back to bed.”

  “Yeah. So much for watching a movie,” Samara said as she walked off to retrieve her handheld digital camera before joining her cousin to leave the house.

  The pitch black night didn’t seem to have a single star in the sky to illuminate their way as Jasmine drove the long winding road up to Cyndy’s house. Heavy cloud cover smeared the dark sky with swirling smudges of grey. The lack of light from above gave Jasmine an eerie premonition. She wanted to believe Cyndy was pulling her leg, but as crazy as Cyndy was, she knew better than to screw with them this time of night. What could she be seeing from her lookout advantage if not stars or flight patterns of airplanes?

  The headlights pinging off reflectors in the middle of the road were the only sources of light for miles, making her feel drowsy when she was already tired from a long day. Jasmine gritted her teeth as the car buffeted from a gust of wind that whipped the close-crowded trees. She clutched the wheel as her nerves wound tighter with dread.

  Narrowing the higher they drove, the roadside trees scraped alongside the door like fingernails on chalkboard.

  “Gah! There goes the paint job,” Jasmine grumbled, turning onto the ruts marking Cyndy’s driveway and passing her white mailbox.

  “It’s probably not that bad. Damn. This place gives me the creeps,” Samara whispered and looked out the window, giving a visible shudder from the corner of Jasmine’s eye. “Shouldn’t we see the house lights by now?”

  “Yeah, I thought so.” Jasmine glanced at her cousin and quickly returned her eyes to the road. Forced to drive at a snail’s pace for fear of bottoming out in a rut, she hadn’t noticed until Samara had spoken that the darkness continued right up to the house. The lack of light spooked her. She didn’t want to get out of the car. But if something had happened to Cyndy…she couldn’t not go see about her.

  “Didn’t she say she’d be outside?” Samara asked.

  Jasmine stopped the car beside Cyndy’s sedan in front of the house. With unspoken reluctance, they both got out of the car and tread carefully up to the dark porch.

  Samara hugged her arms around herself as Jasmine knocked hard on the door.

  “Cyndy?” Jasmine called, punching out a beat with her fist. “Hey, do you hear that?”

  Samara looked at her. “What? I don’t hear anything.”

  “Exactly. Where’s her dog? Prissy barks like a maniac whenever we come over.”

  “Oh shit! Stop trying to scare me. Doorbell,” Samara said, pressing the button. Nothing happened. “I’m officially freaking out now,” she said, looking at Jasmine. She tried the handle, but the door was locked.

  “The power must be out? Let’s try the back door,” Jasmine said, stepping off the porch when her knocks went unanswered.

  The tree canopy rustled in a swift wind, reminding Jasmine of scuttling beetles. The urge to shiver caught her as curly tendrils of her dark hair wrapped around her face. She tucked her hair behind her ear and listened to the wind howl like a banshee. With her eyes adjusted to the dark, she could see well enough not to break her neck as they walked to the side
of the house.

  “It’s only been like forty minutes since she called,” Samara said. “Let me try to call her.” She dug her phone out of her pocket. The screen blinked on, a blinding rectangle in the darkness.

  Jasmine nodded and kept her eyes averted to avoid night blindness. The wind speed picked up, blowing leaves around her sneakers. Samara’s phone flickered off just as they reached the back porch.

  “Fuck,” Samara said, swiping the screen to turn it back on. “My phone died. I guess I forgot to charge it.” It usually ran out of juice by this time of night. Shrugging, she slid the phone into her back pocket.

  Jasmine turned to the door to knock and try the knob. This door was locked up as well, and there was no response to her knocking either.

  “Jasmine!” Samara whispered, pulling the tail of Jasmine’s shirt. “I just saw something in the sky.”

  “Don’t fuck with me right now, Samara. I’m scared enough as it is,” Jasmine said, turning just as Samara stepped off the back stoop.

  Samara was visibly shaking and pointing at a thick cloud swirling above them. “Right there. You can’t see it unless you come down here.” Instead of waiting, however, Samara ran back under the stoop.

  “Now I know you’re fucking with me. What?” Jasmine said, rolling her eyes. “Y’all must’ve planned this out ahead of time. Well it isn’t April Fool’s Day, Samara.” She turned to step off the porch, but Samara grabbed her.

  “Don’t go out there, please!”

  “You just told me to go look!” She shrugged her off. “I’m sure it’s just stars. Or a satellite.”

  “Uh uh.” Reluctantly, Samara followed Jasmine to the clearing in the backyard. They both looked up at the sky. Clouds churned overhead, sometimes moving enough to reveal the night sky. She’d seen a picture of something similar on the internet—people had thought it was a UFO but it was a perfectly natural, rare, phenomenon.

  Samara pointed up. “There! You see it? That white light! Oh my god. There’s three of them now.”

  “Pfffff. No—oh, shit. What is that?” Jasmine squinted at the sky through an opening in the clouds. Sure enough, three stars formed a line as the clouds feathered out and dissipated. “That’s Orion’s belt…” she said, drifting off as one of the dots jumped straight up and disappeared from sight. A second ball of light rotated to the right, forming a ninety-degree angle, and then it too blinked and shot up. The final light remained stationary and then grew in size, getting larger and larger as it came straight for them. Blinding light rained on them—the circumference increasing with each passing second.

  Terror shot through her veins like a dose of amphetamine. Her heart made a painful thud in her chest before it galloped out of control. Hairs rose on the back of her neck.

  “Get in the house. Now, Samara,” Jasmine said in a voice chilled by fear.

  “But it’s locked!”

  “Break a fucking window!” she screamed.

  Spinning on their heels, they ran through the clearing towards Cyndy’s house. Before they could cross the short distance, the glowing orb reached them.

  Nothing should move that fast, Jasmine thought. Her heart raced but her mind felt sluggish as adrenaline flooded her brain. Dimly, she heard something mechanical, like ball bearings screeching through a metal shaft. The grayish blue night disappeared under the onslaught of a white spotlight. Samara screamed and tripped, hitting the grass and sending dirt clods flying. Was she crying? Samara never cried. The air went still and all sound ceased save for the pulse pounding in Jasmine’s ears.

  Jasmine stopped to help Samara to her feet and braved a look at the sky. Circles within circles of blinding light caught her in a trance. She felt her mouth gape, her muscles go lax. Frozen in place, she was helpless to do anything but watch as the light swallowed her whole.

  ***

  Consciousness returned slowly, painfully. Jasmine’s head hurt like a motherfucker. She groaned. Her eyes shut tight she rolled onto her side, gripping her head. A cold metal floor supported her weight, making her hips and back ache. In a fog, she wondered if she’d been arrested and taken to jail.

  “She’s waking up,” a voice said. Cyndy’s voice.

  “Wake up, cuz,” Samara said, touching her arm with gentle fingers.

  Slowly, Jasmine opened her eyelids, blinked a few times, and focused on Samara’s broad, dark face hovering above her. Just behind Samara stood Cyndy Perez. Above them both stretched a silvered ceiling emanating a soft glow across its entire surface. The lack of light bulbs struck her as odd.

  Jasmine sat up and frowned at Samara. “Wh—what,” she croaked. Her mouth and throat were dry as the Sahara. She wiggled her tongue trying to work up some moisture. “What happened to your hair?”

  Samara snorted and grabbed her short locks, which almost touched her shoulders. Jasmine had never seen Samara’s hair grow so fast. “Someone took out my weave…I think. I guess aliens don’t like extensions. Look at your fingernails.”

  “Aliens?” Jasmine asked, looking at her hands. Her manicure had grown out. The nail polish and topcoat were near the top of her nail bed but her nails had been clipped back. “What happened?” she asked, looking at Cyndy. “We were trying to find you at your house.”

  “We’ve been taken,” Cyndy said, sitting beside her friend.

  “We? Taken?” Jasmine said, looking beyond Cyndy and Samara. The room they were in was filled with dozens of women huddling together with frightened looks on their faces.

  “We’ve been taken by aliens,” Cyndy elaborated.

  Jasmine scooted back and got to her feet. “Whoa, whoa whoa! How the hell would you know that? Where’s the door out of here?”

  “There is no door,” Samara said, standing.

  “Of course there’s a door. How did we get in here? You just haven’t looked hard enough yet. And what’s this shit about aliens?” Jasmine pushed through the throng of women until she reached one wall.

  “We’ve looked everywhere. There’s no way in or out,” a petite Spanish girl said. “I’m Lupita, by the way.”

  “Jasmine,” she said, touching the wall. The moment she did, a pulse of light shuddered beneath her fingertips. An image flashed briefly on the wall, like a television screen turned on.

  “It does that sometimes,” Samara said. “I was feeling around, thinking about how much I wanted to go home, and a picture of our apartment came onto the wall. I think it picks up your thoughts and displays them.”

  “Maybe to make us feel more at home so we don’t revolt and cause a panic,” Cyndy said.

  “That’s the craziest shit I’ve ever heard. This isn’t science fiction. We’re not in a movie,” Jasmine said. But she noticed no one else dared touch the wall. She thought about the Smoky Mountains in fall and touched it again. The metal reflected a mountain range covered in colorful trees of red, orange, and yellow.

  “I wish that was true,” Cyndy said quietly.

  “Shit!” Jasmine said, dropping her hands like she’d hit a livewire. “Okay. I’m freaking out now.”

  “I think we’ve been asleep or something and got transferred in here—like they put people in stasis in sci-fi movies. It’s the only explanation that makes sense. I just chopped my hair off and look—it’s to my shoulders. It takes my hair months to grow this much,” Cyndy said, fingering her sleek black hair.

  Jasmine touched her own hair, but it seemed only slightly longer. It was hard to tell with her extreme curls anyway. Six months could go by and she’d hardly notice a change. She thought about her last conscious memory before waking up. They’d seen lights over Cyndy’s house. Could something as insane as alien abduction be real? Cyndy and Samara had always been nuts about sci-fi movies and books. Jasmine preferred her entertainment more grounded in reality. This situation was a stretch for her to grasp.

  “Has anyone in here actually seen an alien?” Jasmine asked the crowd.

  A few of the women nodded.

  “What did they look like?” Samara
asked.

  A young Korean woman stepped forward. “I’m Mai, from San Diego. I stopped at the beach to watch the sunset. No one was around, and then I heard this strange whining sound and a light flashed. I remember being on a table, needles, and huge black eyes in a gray face looking down at me. Then I was somehow in here.”

  “I—I remember seeing a gray egghead with black eyes,” Samara whispered.

  Jasmine shuddered.

  The floor shuddered with her. Every woman in the room screamed, including Jasmine. Mass hysteria was a powerful thing. She’d never considered herself a coward by a long shot, but she felt like she was going to piss her drawers if she’d had any on. As it was, the hospital-looking gown made out of weird clingy fabric was another nail in the coffin of ‘bad shit just happened’.

  “I hate to admit this, but I’m scared,” Samara muttered to her cousin. Jasmine nodded, feeling a quake building inside her body that made her teeth chatter.

  The room vibrated. Devoid of other stimulus, it was obvious to everyone that they were inside something that was moving. And whatever they were inside was stopping.

  Where were they being taken, and why?

  Just as the ‘craft’ seemed to settle, hisses drew the women’s attention to the ceiling. Jutting from the perimeter of the ceiling were small silver nozzles emitting puffs of scentless gas. Someone in the crowd screamed, igniting a panic.

  “They’re poisoning us!” a woman screamed.

  “I don’t want to die,” someone else yelled.

  Jasmine didn’t want to believe they were being gassed to death. Why would they be taken from home and transported somewhere only to be killed? Unless they were just being delivered to a meat market or for a science experiment. Women jostled her, pushing past to pound on the walls of the enormous round room. They banged on the walls, screaming for help that would never come.

  The wall flashed with a dizzying array of images as it was bombarded. Jasmine just stood there beside her friends, knowing she had no choice but to accept her fate for now. The cloud of gas continued to waft down to them, making her head suddenly spin as her oxygen levels decreased. The gas felt thick in her lungs, sticky. She tried covering her mouth and holding her breath, but she had no choice but to inhale the fumes. The wall continued flashing with scenes of Earth: desert, night sky, apartments and more. The sporadic lights, screams, and pounding feet and fists made bile burn the back of her throat as the dizzy spell increased until she couldn’t bear to keep her eyes open any longer.