Bait: The Tradrych Strain, #2

By Marissa Farrar

I've been kidnapped to an alien planet, and forced to give birth to a creature that isn't even human.

But now I'm fighting back...

 

The discovery that two of the alien Trads, Nad and Miko, and the slave Athion, Diarus, are part of a rebel group came as a shock. Even more of a shock is discovering I have feelings for each of them, and, it seems, they feel the same way about me.

Now I'll do anything to help them, including handing myself over to the most dangerous Trad in the area, Polityk Borys.

I'm offering myself up as bait, and there's a good chance he'll take the bite.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Warwick House Press
• Release date: Sep 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223434320

Book preview

Chapter One

Liquid metal cuffs circled both my wrists, leaving me in no doubt that I was a Trad prisoner once again. The rear doors to the transporter slammed shut, encasing me with the others in the back of the vehicle, and I jumped at the sudden bang.

Tara? Are you all right? The Athion, Diarus, sat beside me, his hands also in cuffs.

I swallowed hard and nodded.

We were about to be taken to the auction. Like me, Diarus was allowing himself to be sold as a slave in order to get access to the home of the Trad who watched over this district, Polityk Borys. The plan was to gain the trust of the polityk so I could search the private areas of his home and try to find the locations of other facilities like the one I’d recently escaped from.

Diarus may have volunteered for himself to be sold as a slave beside me, but he wouldn’t be subjecting himself to the same things I would. He was there to help me if things turned ugly, assuming I was even chosen by Polityk Borys at the auction. Borys had to look at me and see something in me that would make him think I’d make the perfect breeder for him.

He needed to want to fuck me.

A flush of hot and cold washed over me.

Would he want to do it as a Trad, or would he at least be kind enough to morph to human form before he took me?

Of course, it wasn’t as though I was completely unused to being intimate with a Trad in his natural form. I lifted my gaze to peep at the opposite side of the vehicle, where the two Trads, Nadeusz and Mikotaj sat, side by side. Where once, I’d have been horrified, revolted even, at seeing the Trads in their natural form, I appeared to have changed my mind about them. Not all Trads were bad, and from the way I’d been tangling tongues with Miko, and then had gotten hot and heavy with Nadeusz only a matter of hours ago, I’d clearly changed my mind about finding them hideous. I’d had Nad’s tail pushing inside me, doing all kinds of crazy things to my body. Just the memory of it sent a tingling rush between my thighs, and I pressed them closer as though to capture the feeling.

I caught Nad’s eye, and my face heated. His gaze held mine, dark and intense, and I felt like he could read every word of what I was thinking on my face.

Are you sure you’re ready for this? Nad asked me.

I forced a smile, trying to be brave. As I’ll ever be.

Miko reached across the space between us and touched the back of my hand. You can still back out. No one will think any less of you.

The other women can’t back out, I replied. They don’t have a choice, and I can help them.

That was what mattered the most.

The rebel leader, Aleksy, was in the back of the transporter with us as well, together with a couple of the other rebels. It was important I wasn’t seen with Dairus, Miko, and Nad, or people might realize we were the ones who’d vanished from the facility. I couldn’t risk being handed back to the Trad who’d abducted me, Rhett.

I’d been dressed like a bride instead of a slave. My long blonde hair was pinned up, with a few tendrils framing my face. My dress was silver and white, and I was strapped so tight into the beaded corset that not only did I worry I wasn’t able to breathe properly, but I also thought there was a good chance my breasts were going to topple out of the front. I understood the reason for the over-the-top outfit. They needed for Polityk Borys to notice me among any other women who might also be up for auction.

The vehicle we were in didn’t have wheels, and it lifted into the air. My stomach lurched, and I clung to my seat, thinking I was going to be thrown around. But the transporter was a surprisingly smooth ride, and it glided through the sky without barely a bump or a jolt.

The sandals for my feet were white and silver to match my dress, and were also mercifully flat. I told myself that it meant I’d be able to run, though I didn’t have anywhere to run to. I had to stay with Polityk Borys until I found what was needed. Perhaps I could leave and spend the rest of my life holed up with Nad and Miko, and Diarus, together with the other rebels, but what kind of person would that make me? It wasn’t only that I’d be proving myself to be a coward, and that I’d spend my life hiding away on an alien planet with no future to look forward to, it was that I’d be abandoning all the other women who were being put through the same as I’d been.

The women I’d spent time with back at the facility—Dawn and Avery, and Zoe and Jennifer, among so many others—had no idea about the existence of the rebels. They hadn’t been fortunate enough to catch the attention of Nad and Miko, or Diarus either, and, for all I knew, they were still somewhere in the facility. They had no hope to cling to, and I understood exactly how that felt. It broke my heart that they were suffering day after day, with no light at the end of it. They’d been terrified and miserable, and yes, perhaps so would I be, when I was living as Borys’s slave, but I also had hope and focus, and a reason for waking up every morning. What I’d go through was only a fraction of what they were experiencing every single day.

I wondered what the other women at the auction would be like. Would they be terrified and crying? Would I want to offer them words of hope that all was not lost? They would have no idea that the rebel group existed and that we had Trads, and Athions, too, on our side. But I wouldn’t be able to say a word. I was sworn to secrecy, and even breathing a mention of the rebel group could get myself and Diarus killed.

I thought back to those I’d left behind at the facility. Would they have had their babies by now? What would they think had happened to me? They’d probably assume I’d been taken away to give birth, though if Kaja, the matron, had gone around asking questions about me, demanding to be told anything they might know, they’d all learn quickly enough that I hadn’t just been taken off to have the baby like the others.

I tried not to think about the Trad baby I’d given birth to, but that I’d refused to acknowledge. Was the baby aware of my abandonment? A strange ache formed in the center of my chest at the thought of it. I didn’t even know if it was a boy or a girl. I hadn’t been given any choice in the pregnancy. When I’d been back on Earth, before I’d even known of the existence of Trads or planet Tradrych, I’d been tricked by the Trad, Rhetarz, into believing he was a human called Rhett, when in fact he was a Trad all along, whose only mission was to impregnate me with his spawn and abduct me to this planet.

But I knew I’d war with myself every day about whether it had been the right thing to do to send the baby back to its father. Rhetarz didn’t deserve to have the child, but I’d tried to make the choice that would be best for the baby, not for him. I was a human, and not even the baby’s biological mother—the Trad’s only needed females as incubators—and I was on the run. There was no possibility I could have taken care of an alien baby in this situation.

Strangely, even though I’d been terrified of the creature while it had been inside me, that knowledge didn’t make my decision hurt any the less.

The transport vehicle moved through the air.

How far is it? I asked.

Miko shook his head. Not far. We’ll be there in a few minutes. It was walkable, really, but we couldn’t walk you through the streets like this. You’d have had every Trad in the vicinity following after you.

I didn’t miss how his gaze traveled down to my chest.

Hey, my eyes are up here, buddy, I said, keeping my tone light and teasing, even though inside I was quaking with fear. I had no problem with Miko looking at my tits. I’d happily show all three of them everything I had to offer. They’d made it clear that they had no problem sharing me. Only now I was about to be given to someone else, which took the Tradrych idea of sharing a step too far.

Sorry, Tee. They’re a little...distracting.

Good, Aleksy said. She needs to get noticed.

I don’t think there’s going to be any problem on that front.

My cheeks heated again.

I didn’t seem to affect Aleksy the same way I affected Miko and Nad and Diarus. Maybe he wasn’t into women, or at least human women. Or perhaps he simply took his job seriously and didn’t want to risk having his ideas swayed by any kind of emotional attachment to someone. Not that it mattered, of course. I had the others supporting me.

My stomach churned at the idea of being handed over to another Trad. I was thankful to Diarus for offering himself up as well. I couldn’t imagine going into this completely alone. Of course, there was no guarantee that Polityk Borys was even going to bid on me, never mind both of us. Aleksy seemed confident that Borys always bought the best of what was on offer, and everyone else was too frightened to bid against him, but it wasn’t guaranteed.

I couldn’t imagine what kind of Trad he must be for even other Trads to be too scared to bid against him. He was also the one overseeing the birthing facilities—not only the one I’d been rescued from, where the other women were currently being held prisoner, but also others that had yet to be opened, and that were in secret locations. That was the crux of my mission. Polityk Borys would have the locations of those facilities written down somewhere in his home—or so Aleksy believed—and I needed to find them. When we had the locations, the rebel group would set out to destroy them. The Trads couldn’t bring any more pregnant humans to Tradrych if they didn’t have the facilities in which to house them. That was the plan, anyway. But if I failed at the first hurdle, and Borys didn’t bid for me, the rest of the strategy would be useless.

The transporter began to descend again.

We need to stay out of sight, Nadeusz said. Aleksy will take you to the market.

A shot of panic fired through me. You’re leaving?

No, girlie. We’re not going anywhere. But we can’t be seen taking you into the market. Word will have gotten out that we’re missing from the facility, and if we’re all seen together, people are going to put two and two together and realize you’re the missing woman. We can’t have that.

I nodded to show I understood, but that didn’t change the horrible swirl of fear in my gut at the thought of not having them with me. I was going to have to be without them in Borys’s house as well, but I’d still hoped for a little more time with them. They made me feel safe, which was crazy considering they were both Trads, but they’d been the only ones to take care of me.

At least I’d still have Diarus. I hoped.

The transporter touched down, landing on the ground with barely more than a bump. I sucked in a breath and tried to push down the nerves churning my stomach.

It’s okay to be nervous, Nad said, frowning at me. A woman in your situation would be more than nervous.

In order not to raise suspicions, I needed to forget the rebels existed. If I was one of the other women being brought to an auction to be sold as a slave to be impregnated again, I’d be terrified.

I was terrified. My hands trembled as I adjusted the top of my dress.

The rear doors to the transporter opened, and the noise hit me. A crowd of voices, all shouting and jeering and laughing. I got to my feet and climbed out the back of