Page 20 of Black Mamba

“I do not want you to leave.”

“Kidnapping is against the law!” Fuck, what is he going to know about laws?

His brow twitches, morphing his expression to a thoughtful one.

“You should let me go. You want to let me go,” I quickly continue, hoping maybe he’s easily convinced.

Fuck. I knew I was taking a risk searching for the water. I’d considered having Greg or Levy take me with them but chose against it. I wish I had just waited until they came around again.

Now they’re going to find my ship hatch open without a sign of me anywhere.

The naga leans forward, nostrils flaring as he sucks in a deep breath like he’s smelling me. I pull back into the wall.

“Like I said, I do not want to let you go.”

I frown, feeling my chances of talking my way out of this dwindling. “Please,” I whisper. “Please, don’t do this.” I’m so sorry, Jenna.

His hand rises then drops and I wince at his claws. “You should come out from there, little female. It doessss not look comfortable. I will not hurt you. I am sorry… I had to handle you so roughly. If you had not fought…”

I shake my head, grabbing my knees to my chest. “No thanks.”

He cants his head. “What can I do to convince you to move?” His accent is unique and his voice is low. “To join me out in the open and take a look around your new home?”

New home? My eyes jump over the antlers high up on the walls. “Tell me you’ll let me go and then release me. I’ll move from here if I can leave.” Otherwise I’m not moving an inch, preferring to take the little coverage the table offers than no coverage at all. My eyes drop to his middle again and heat rushes my cheeks with anxiety. Nope. I’m not moving an inch.

He rises higher and pulls away. “I will not release you. Where would you go but back to your spaceship and its dwindling suppliessss? There is nothing for you there in the long term, only shelter from the elements. You are not from Earth. I would know if you were… You do not know the dangers of procuring resources like I do. I can teach you.”

He’s not wrong, but I have fuel, enough fuel to take off and—hopefully—land again. As well as enough fuel to keep my ship running for months, if not years if I don’t take off. And I have enough supplies to last me weeks, if not months, and that’s with the water I have left.

But it might take years for help to arrive. I try not to let my mind go there. “That’s not a reason to just up and take me!” I whisper-shout, my mind going to dark places anyways. I would’ve been better off if I’d just continued drinking. I almost want to laugh but I’m too panicked to do it. “I had what I needed.”

“You need water,” he accuses.

Assuming he’s heard all of my conversations with Levy and Greg, I don’t lie to him. “I’ll need water—eventually.”

“So you were just searching for it?” He cocks a brow. The very human gesture throws me off. “Issss that why you decided to leave your ship?”

“I was just searching for it,” I agree, though I can’t help but drop my forehead to my knees and squeeze my eyes shut. “Please, just let me go.” Please. “If you want payment for me being on your land, I have money…”

“No. You are here now, and I have… claimed you. It would not make sense to release you back onto my land to live as you please when you are a small, frail female. I will collect what you would like from your ship, but supplying it with water is no longer an option for you. Your remaining food resources can be added to mine. Whereas yours will run out, mine will not. Because of that, you will remain here and I will provide for you from now on. You will have all your needs met and in return, you will submit to being mine.”

His words leave me breathless and feeling incredibly lost. I try to picture it, being possessed by an alien—by him—an alien-serpentine-humanoid, with a nest in a cave and everything, but instead, all I think of is Jenna.

I won’t be able to find her if I’m inside this cave.

“I will not submit to you.” I didn’t even submit to my parents during fights. “Keep fucking dreaming.”

He releases a low hiss and draws back, tucking his chin. “As I said, you will ssssee in time that this is the best option for you. Until then, I will convince you.” He changes course and leans forward, reaching under the table.

I jerk away, pressing into the thick hide at my back as his fingers take hold of my hair and rub it between them.

Tears threaten, and I squeeze my eyes closed as his hand pulls away.

Blinking my eyes open, I watch as he abruptly rises and turns. “I will retrieve your belongings. Stay here, get used to your new home, but do not try to leave. I will know. I will not be gone long.”

With that he slips into the passageway, leaving me alone with the lantern.

Waiting until I no longer hear him, I scurry out from under the table and dash to the light source, almost tripping on a hide as I go. Grabbing the lantern to me, I hug it possessively, shivering against the damp cold.