Mia & Korum: The Complete Krinar Chronicles Trilogy

Chapter 6-1

Chapter SixMia left his apartment and walked home, her thoughts whirling in chaos. She was no longer a virgin, and she had the residual soreness between her thighs to prove it. His gel thingy had helped with the majority of the pain, but she could still feel echoes of his fullness inside her. Her s*x clenched slightly at the memory of the orgasms he’d given her, and she shivered with the intensity of her recollection. And he wanted to see her again, tonight. In fact, it sounded like he had no intention of dropping his pursuit—in complete disregard of her wishes.

At that thought, Mia got angry again. He had no right to do this to her. His species may have guided human evolution, but that didn’t mean he owned her. Whatever special chemistry he thought they had did not excuse his behavior, and Mia hated the idea that he thought he could have her whenever he wanted. She wished there was something she could do to thwart him, but her own response to him had made a mockery of any resistance.

It was a long walk back to her apartment, but Mia wanted to stretch her legs and clear her head before potentially seeing her roommate. By the time she got to her building, she was sufficiently tired that going up five flights of stairs seemed like a chore. She was looking forward to plopping down on the couch and doing something totally brainless—like watching a show on her laptop.

This was not her day, however. Jessie had guests, Mia realized as she opened the door and heard masculine voices in the living room. Walking in, she was surprised to see two men she’d never met before.

One of them—an Asian guy—looked to be somewhere in his mid-twenties, while the other had to be at least thirty. The older guy caught her attention immediately. There was something about the way he sat on the couch that gave her the impression of a coiled spring. His hair was blond, and his ice-blue eyes were extraordinarily watchful. He looked to be of medium height and lean, maybe even a bit on the skinny side.

At Mia’s entrance, they both got up. Jessie remained sitting, looking pale and strangely guilty. “Hi, Mia,” she said with some hesitation. “This is my cousin Jason and his friend John.”

Mia’s eyebrows rose. “The Jason we mentioned this morning?” she asked in confusion.

The Asian guy nodded. “The one and only.”

“Oh, hi... nice to meet you,” Mia said politely, trying to connect the dots.

“They’re here to talk to you,” Jessie said, and Mia realized why she looked so guilty.

“Are you guys, like, the Resistance or something?” she asked incredulously. At their non-response, she drew her own conclusion. “Look, I don’t know what Jessie told you, but we really don’t have anything to talk about—”

“On the contrary, Miss Stalis,” John said, speaking for the first time in a slightly raspy voice, “we have a lot to discuss. Jason—why don’t you catch up with your cousin while Miss Stalis and I conclude our discussion?”

Seeing Mia’s response in the stormy expression gathering on her face, Jessie gave her a pleading look. “Please, Mia, I know you’re mad at me, but I really think they can help you. Just hear them out, okay? Jason said they can give you some good tips on how to handle this situation—that’s why they’re here.”

Mia sighed heavily and bit out, “Fine.” Apparently, her relaxing afternoon at home was not to be.

“When does he want to see you again?” John asked quietly.

Mia blinked in surprise. “Uh—tonight at seven.”

“Okay,” he said, “that gives us enough time to bring you up to speed. Tell me—have you been shined?”

“Shined?”

“Did he use any kind of alien device on you that shined a reddish light on any part of your body where the skin was broken?”

Mia stared at him in shock. “How do you know about that?”

Taking that as an affirmative, he said, “You can’t leave the apartment then. Jason—why don’t you take your cousin to see a movie while Miss Stalis and I talk here?”

Jason nodded and left with Jessie in tow, although Mia could see that her roommate was just dying with curiosity.

When they were alone, Mia asked angrily, “What do you mean, I can’t leave the apartment?”

“You have been shined. He basically branded you—you now have little nano machines embedded in whatever part of your body has been shined on. They transmit your location to him at all times. If you were to do something he doesn’t expect, such as leaving your apartment when he thinks you should be home, he would know immediately—and it could make him suspicious.”

Mia looked at her palms in horror. “You mean, when he healed my scrapes, he was really putting a tracking device inside me? Why would he do this?” She raised her head with suspicion. “And how do you know all this?”

“Miss Stalis—” he said wearily.

“Please call me Mia,” she interrupted.

“Okay, Mia,” he agreeably repeated, “we have been fighting the Krinar for a very long time. Don’t you think we would’ve learned a lot about our enemy in the process?”

“Okay,” Mia said slowly, “let’s say I believe you. Why would he do this? Brand me like that?”

“To know your whereabouts at all times, of course. It’s standard operating procedure for them.”

Mia stared at him with shock. “Well then, what can you do to help me?”

“We can’t help you, Mia,” John said bluntly. “But you can help us.”

Mia inhaled sharply. She was afraid it might be something like this. “I think you’ve been misinformed. I don’t want to get involved with your cause in any way, shape, or form. You can’t win, and the last thing we need is to return to the days of the Great Panic. I just want to be left alone—by Korum, by you, and by everyone else—and if you can’t help me with that, then you should just get out.” She pointed at the door.

“You are already involved, Mia, whether you like it or not. Do you know who your K lover is?”

“He’s not my lover!” Mia said sharply.

“You haven’t slept with him?” Seeing the color flooding her face, he said, “That’s what I thought. I’m sure he wasted no time taking exactly what he wanted from you, just like they took our planet.”

Mia fought her embarrassment. “What do you mean, do I know who he is?”

“Did he tell you anything about himself? Do you know why he’s here, in New York? How the Ks ended up coming to Earth in general?”

Mia nodded slowly. “He said that he’s an engineer, that the company he works for made the ships that brought them here to Earth.”

“An engineer? That’s rich.” John let out a humorless chuckle. “He’s one of the most powerful Ks on this planet, Mia. He owns the ships that brought them here—his company, in fact, has been the driving force behind them settling on Earth.”

Seeing the look of sheer disbelief on her face, he added, “He’s part of their ruling council—some even say he runs the council. His company provides everything for their Centers. Without him, there would be no K Centers and no Krinar on Earth.”

“I don’t understand,” Mia said in confusion. “If he’s all that, then why is he here? And what does he want with me?”

“He’s here because, for the first time since K-Day, we actually stand a chance against them.” John’s eyes glittered with excitement. “Because he knows that we’re very close to being able to give them a fair fight. Because he wants to stamp out the Resistance before we go any further.”

He took a deep breath. “As to what he wants with you, it’s pretty obvious. Do you know what a charl is?”

Mia shook her head, feeling overwhelmed.

“The literal translation of charl is one who pleases. It’s the term they use for the human slaves they keep in their settlements. The purpose of the charl is to provide Ks with pleasure. As you may or may not know yet, they enjoy drinking blood during s*x. So they keep us as captives, locked up in their high-tech cages, and use us whichever way they want.”

Mia felt hot bile rising in her throat. “You’re lying. Why would they do this? We’re intelligent beings.”

“They don’t necessarily think of us that way. Most of them regard us as pets that they bred explicitly for this purpose—little better than the primates they’d hunted into extinction on their planet.”

“So what are you saying? That Korum wants to keep me as a slave?” Mia asked incredulously. “That’s bullshit. If he wanted to keep me locked up, I wouldn’t be here, now would I?”

He sighed. “Mia, I don’t know exactly what game he’s playing with you. Maybe he finds it fun to give you the illusion of freedom for now. It’s not real—you understand that, right? If you tried to leave New York instead of staying here and going to him whenever he wants, I don’t know what he would do, whether your family would ever see you again. You’re a smart girl. You sensed that, right? That’s why you haven’t been exactly avoiding him. That’s why your roommate was so scared for you, why she came running to Jason even though they haven’t spoken in three years—because she said you were in way over your head.”

Mia wanted to throw up. If John was telling the truth, then her situation was far worse than she’d imagined. He was right; her subconscious must have realized the danger of running from Korum because she had never seriously contemplated leaving town. Her brain buzzed with a million questions, even as a hopeless pit of despair grew in her stomach.

“So what do you want from me?” she asked bitterly. “Did you come all the way here to tell me that I’m screwed? That I’m going to end up as an alien’s pet, locked up somewhere and used for s*x? Is that what you’re here to say?”

“Yes, Mia,” John answered calmly, his expression oddly flat. “There are no good options for you. If he gets tired of you, then you might be able to resume your life—particularly if you’re still in New York at that time. Of course, you might also catch the attention of some other K and never be seen again. That’s what happened to my sister—that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing, so that other innocent young women can have a normal life.”

Mia looked at him in horror. “Your sister? What happened to her?”

His mouth twisted bitterly. “What happened is I gave her a trip to Mexico as a college graduation present. She went with her girlfriends and met a handsome stranger on the beach. Turns out, he wasn’t exactly human... The night before they were supposed to return home, Dana disappeared from her room. For the longest time, we had no idea what happened—just suspicions that the K was somehow involved. That’s why I started fighting the Ks, to avenge my sister. It wasn’t until a year ago that I learned she’s still alive and is being held as a charl in the Costa Rican K Center.”

Mia’s eyes welled up with tears as she pictured his family’s suffering. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” she said. “Is there any way you can get her back?”

“No.” He shook his head with angry regret. “Even if we succeeded in rescuing her from there—an impossibility in and of itself—she’s been shined, like all charl. They will always know her exact whereabouts—there’s no way we can reverse that procedure.”

“Shined,” Mia said. “Like all charl—like me.”

“Like you,” John agreed.

She wanted to scream and cry and throw things. She settled for asking, “So why did you come here today?”

“Because, Mia, although we can’t really help you, you are actually in a position to help us. If we succeed, not only will you get your life back, but you will also have saved countless other young women—and men—from my sister’s fate.”

“I don’t understand... What are you asking me?” Mia said slowly, her pulse picking up.

“We want you to work with us. To notify us of Korum’s whereabouts, what he likes to eat, how he sleeps, any weaknesses that he might have. And if you happen to come across any information that might be even remotely useful—any passwords, security measures, anything at all—to convey that information to us.”

“You’re asking me to spy for you?” Mia’s voice rose incredulously.

“I’m asking you to make the best of your admittedly unfortunate situation. To help yourself and all of humanity. All you have to do is keep your eyes and ears open when you’re with him and occasionally report your findings to us.”

“And you think I will be able to pull this off? With no training of any kind and no acting skills? Somehow fool one of the most powerful Ks on this planet? What makes you think he’s not already aware that you’re here, particularly if his goal is to crush your movement?”

“This apartment is not bugged—we checked. He would have no reason to spy on you here if you don’t do anything suspicious and continue to play along. He doesn’t know that we’re here—if he did, we’d already be dead. Look, we’re not asking you to be James Bond or some kind of femme fatale. You don’t need to try to get close to him or seduce him or anything like that—just continue your relationship with him, such as it is, and occasionally give us information.”