Chapter 5.

Syl woke to pitch black darkness. His mouth felt cottony, but his mind was clear. He was lying on cool sheets and a fluffy body was pressed against his spine with a soft blanket tucked around them. Warm breaths puffed steadily against his neck and a heavy tail was curled over his hip. Reja.

Memories of the previous day came flooding back and Syl's heart thumped painfully.

He remembered Elvyre feeding him, the sharp taste of fear, and the cool pulse of the silver tool at his neck.

The rest of the night was veiled in a warm fog of contentment. The firm heat of Elvyre's skin. The sweet pleasure of release. The roughness of Reja's tongue in his mouth. A small sound escaped Syl's throat and he clamped it down tight.

There was no pain between his legs. But that couldn't be right. He remembered what Reja had done to him. He'd been raped.

His hand clenched into the slippery bedsheet and he resisted the urge to tear away from the alien. If he woke Reja, he might wake others too.

Did Reja understand what he'd done? And would anyone care?

A patchy memory resurfaced, of a large window, beside a dining table, filled with stars. Syl wasn't home anymore. Was he on a ship or a different planet? Did he have any rights here?

The covers rustled above him and Syl stiffened, mouth going dry.

The mattress dipped and light steps moved across the floor, stopping beside him.

He scrunched his eyes shut and wondered if the Talaya's red irises could see him in the dark.

"You're trembling. Are you ill?" Duo voices breathed. They were so low, Syl had to strain to hear them, but he knew it wasn't Elvyre. "Be friendly now."

A touch smoothed over his arm and Syl jolted. His blood roared in his ears and he thought he might pass out from fear.

"Be friendly." The hand, far too large and with too many fingers, slid up to touch his cheek. Syl felt something wild and instinctive uncoil inside him.

A hoarse shout escaped his throat as he bolted upright and tore across the bed. He dropped over the edge with a terrifying lurch in his belly.

He landed hard on the icy floor. Pain radiated up his shoulder, but adrenaline quickly numbed it, and he jumped to his feet.

The room was so dark, he couldn't make out where to run. He lurched a few clumsy steps, before an iron grip latched onto his hair and jerked him off balance.

His back crashed into the floor and a sob burst from his mouth. A needle stabbed into his neck.

A chill liquid spread rapidly through his veins and the fear dissipated like a pinched candle flame. He relaxed against the floor and arms lifted him.

Scratching claws and distressed mewls were sounding nearby.

"Shh, sweet little thing." Elvyre's soft voices drifted through the dark and the mewls quieted. "Thank you, my love."

Fabric rustled and Syl felt a new pair of hands, smoother than the first, pull him against hot fragrant skin. He settled his ear against the comforting thump of a heartbeat and inhaled the sweet scent of violets. He could barely feel the ache in his shoulder.

"I told you to give him more." The new alien's voices were deeper and Syl could feel the warmth of the stranger at his back.

"And you were right. I just don't want to overdo it. He's so small." Fingers ran gently over Syl's stinging scalp and a slinky, silky body wiggled into the space behind him.

"Couldn't you return him and get an Olepen? They're obedient, durable, pretty to look at." The stranger said, moving back a fraction to make room for Reja.

"And loud. They make an awful racket at night." Elvyre murmured and massaged behind Syl's ear with his thumb. It felt amazing.

"And this one doesn't?" The stranger clicked his tongue strangely.

A damp, spiky member slid between Syl's thighs and little hands ran over his hips. He could feel Reja's quickening breaths against his nape and furred hips pressed to his buttocks.

"You will not." The stranger said and Reja was pulled away with a resentful hiss, sharp claws scoring Syl's skin, but the pain felt distant. "If he starts soiling our sheets again, I'm getting a cage."

"No! Not a cage!" Reja yowled.

"Don't say that. Remember the wretched state he was in? He's been recovering so well. He's just upset, because his friend was frightened. Let me hold him." Elvyre said, voices like a soothing stream running down Syl's spine.

"I only agreed to this, because you said a friend would calm him. I haven't slept properly in months." The second alien's voices buzzed waspishly with anger and Syl felt large hands grip his waist.

He was pulled back into the unknown alien's arms. This one felt larger, the planes of his chest were harder, and his ozone scent was stronger.

"I know you did and you've been so patient, my love." Elvyre crooned and long strands of hair fell over Syl's shoulders. A soft kiss sounded above him. "I'll have a word with him tomorrow."

The hands on Syl's back were calloused and large enough to span his upper body. He shifted beneath them, to lie on the alien's chest more comfortably, and nuzzled his cheek against firm skin.

He listened to Reja's hissing gasps and low moans, as Elvyre breathed words of comfort, and drifted into a deep sleep.

.....

When Syl was roused the next day he could barely open his eyes. His body was heavy with lethargy and his arms and legs dangled limply, when he was lifted. A cup touched his parched mouth and he managed to gulp down a cold, sweet drink, before sleep tugged him under.

When he woke again it was to Elvyre's arms around him. His head was clearing and his shoulder throbbed with pain.

They were in another room, with dark blue walls and a high ceiling glowing with a flickering amber light. It looked like flames, but it couldn't be.

Elvyre was lounging with Syl in a silver chair, filled with white pillows - and all the gleaming furniture in the room was so large, the drop to the ground seemed immense.

"It's time to wake." Elvyre said and stroked Syl's hair, voices sighing when the human flinched. "I need to have a talk with you."

Surprise made Syl glance up warily. That was the sort of thing his teachers, and nannies, used to say when he had misbehaved as a child.

Elvyre's red eyes stared down at him, long white lashes casting shadows on his sharp cheeks from the overhead light.

"You disrupted our sleep last night and made Reja very upset." The Talaya continued softly. "My meo, Cynen, works hard and gets very little sleep already. This can't happen again."

Elvyre looked and sounded so disappointed that Syl's insides churned with guilt. But that wasn't right. He was the one who had been abducted, drugged and raped.

He wanted to say so, but he didn't dare. Elvyre looked patient, but Syl remembered the words hissed into his ear: "Strike me again and I'll have you catrasted."

If Elvyre was willing to kidnap Syl, and treat him like an animal, he would probably follow through with that threat. Syl knew he had to tread very carefully.

"I-I was scared." His voice sounded pitifully small and he curled in on himself, hugging his chest. Partly to hide his naked body and partly because the room was freezing. "I'd like to go home. Please."

Elvyre reached between them and untied the sash of his robe. Syl stiffened further when the alien wrapped the edges around him and pressed him against warm blue skin.

"You miss what's familiar. That's natural." Elvyre tied the sash loosely at Syl's lower back and stroked his hair. "Everything is new and unsettling at first. But you'll come to love us. You love Reja already, don't you?"

Syl's eyes were wide with shock, at the feel of his naked groin pressing into Elvyre's flat stomach, and he shook his head rapidly in denial. He didn't love Reja. That wasn't what he'd felt. He'd had his first crush, maybe. An infatuation. It wasn't possible to love someone so soon...was it?

He could feel the Talaya watching him closely and he averted his eyes. His heart was beating fast and he didn't want to enjoy the soft skin warming him.

"And this ship will be familiar soon." Elvyre's fingertips trailed slowly up Syl's nape and down again. "We're on our way to Vasetk'a. A planet that has been caught dealing in unlawful trade. It needs to be settled immediately. I'm a diplomat and an enforcer, you see."

Syl inhaled sharply. Elvyre worked in crime and politics. Syl wasn't as well versed in those things, as the son of the president probably ought to be. But he knew his rights.

He cleared his constricted throat and gathered all of his courage...or stupidity. "In...in my c-country, abducting a person is considered unlawful trade." He said very quietly.

Elvyre's white brows lifted and his lip curled in the hint of a smile. The hand on Syl's nape trailed over his jaw to cup his chin. The alien's grip wasn't hard, just firm.

He lifted Syl's head, until he was forced to meet the alien's disturbing red pupils directly. A tremor started in Syl's hands and spread to the rest of his body. He knew Talaya didn't like eye contact. Why was Elvyre forcing it now?

"I abide by my own people's laws." Elvyre's voices moved over Syl like a cool caress. His cock twitched against the alien's belly and his cheeks flushed scarlet. "You humans are like children. Your justice system is corrupt. It serves only the wealthy and leaves your sick and weak suffering. Don't you dare to lecture me."

Syl felt stunned tears brim in his eyes. He'd witnessed enough protests, and seen enough horrors on television, to know the alien wasn't entirely wrong. Elvyre's lashes lowered a fraction and the corners of his sharp mouth softened.

"You were so lonely. I could see it in your face." The alien murmured and drew Syl forward, until those red eyes blurred and their lips touched. Syl's breath's hissed rapidly through his nose and he shut his eyes tight.

He was so frightened, but his stupid cock was now painfully hard. He couldn't help it. Elvyre's lips were warm and soft and they pressed against his for a long moment, before withdrawing.

The fingers released his chin and Syl gratefully let his eyes drop to the Talaya's flat chest. Stress and confusion made his head spin and he absently noticed a flash of iridescent scales between the alien's blue nipples.

Elvyre's hand cupped Syl's cheek, long fingers cradling the back of his head. "So was Reja. Do you know how I found him?"

Syl shook his head a fraction. Elvyre's other hand slid up Syl's thigh and sent hot shivers down his spine.

"I found him on Tuunei. On a fur farm. He was barely more than skin and bones. Small hands slipping through the bars of his cage. His eyes were infected and he didn't even have the space to stretch. He was just days away from being skinned alive."

Syl's head jerked up and his eyes grew wide and horrified. He remembered Reja's hollow words: "I didn't have anyone. I was alone."

Elvyre's eyes had gone hard as stone, but Syl somehow knew the alien's anger wasn't directed at him this time.

"It took weeks before he was strong enough to stand. Before he could eat a regular meal, without vomiting, because he was starved.

And it took months, before he stopped crying when I left the room.

Foll are social creatures, they sleep in groups and remain with their families their entire lives. But Reja never had one. It makes his story all the more tragic.

He used to soil every corner of my room compulsively. Trying to keep. To claim. He's come a long way since then." The alien's eyes refocused on Syl. "Do you know how rare it is for a Foll his age to approach a stranger? To mark one? How could I deny him a friend?"

Syl's heart ached and tears slid down his cheeks. His life had been privileged, by anyone's standard, and he would never presume to understand the torture Reja had endured. But Syl understood feelings of abandonment and loneliness.

How many nights had he cried, in his large empty room, as a child? Wishing for his parents to come home and hold him. Just once. He'd lost count. But he'd had food and space and material comforts. Always.

Elvyre considered him for a long moment, before speaking. "I don't expect perfection from you. But I do expect you to care for him, as he cares for you. Is that clear?"

Syl nodded mutely and lowered his head. Reja's life had been tragic, but that didn't change the fact that what had been done to Syl was wrong - drugging and abusing him was wrong - but the protest felt weak in his mind.