Free Nothing on Earth by Rachel Clark Page A

failed.
    “John has also spent quite a bit of time trying to build a version of the scanner the ships use to identify women like you, so that he can find them first and hide them like he’s hidden you.”
    “If he hides them all, won’t your people die out?”
    He nodded sadly. “It’s a possibility, but what is happening now is unacceptable. Maybe if John can hide enough women, he can force the breeding council to reveal the truth.”
    “If people knew the truth, would it change things?” She couldn’t help but wonder if, when the future of their species was the cost, whether Alec’s people would choose to ignore such cruelty.
    “I don’t know,” he said as he rubbed his hand down his face. “There are probably more like John, but I don’t know how we would find them. I know John tried to change things, and judging by the comments made by the guy who shot me, I’m guessing it put his life and mine in danger. Hell, he didn’t even tell me. Just did everything he could to protect me and let me treat him like crap while he did it. I owe him a lot.”
    “So do I,” Tara said quietly. Yes, she owed John more than she could possibly repay. How could she thank someone who saved her from a life of slavery and abuse?

    * * * *

    John drove carefully, making sure he stayed under the speed limit despite his desire to gun the engine in anger. He knew what Alec and Tara would be talking about. Tara was one stubborn woman, and he knew from the months watching over her that when she wanted an answer, she always found a way to get one. He had no doubt that right at this very moment Alec would be telling her everything.
    His gut ached. He’d left for just one reason. He simply couldn’t relive those days.
    He could still see the terror in the eyes of the women who’d been captured on that collection trip. He’d heard the anguish in their voices, seen the tears in their eyes, watched helplessly as they’d been drugged and tested and reduced to nothing more than mindless sex slaves. His heart had broken when he’d seen proud, intelligent human women stripped of their most basic rights.
    It had been the hardest time of his life. His squad leaders had assigned him to guard duty as punishment for failing to collect a specimen, and his fellow collectors had joked and teased him for his failure. The whole time he’d held his tongue. He’d kept his temper, held back the urge to rescue the women, and had tried to figure out who to approach when they got home.
    Surely their leaders didn’t understand that human women were intelligent. Surely this was happening without their consent. Surely someone somewhere had a conscience and enough power to put an end to this barbaric practice.
    But he’d been wrong.
    Maybe he should’ve gone public, should’ve contacted the news outlets and released the scandal that way, but he’d held to the belief that he lived among decent, rational beings, and it had cost him dearly.
    He gripped the steering wheel tighter. He’d accepted every abusive word from Alec as his due. He’d messed up both their lives and put his lover in danger. Moving them to Earth had confused and upset Alec, and even after John explained the collectors’ agenda, Alec hadn’t really understood.
    Until now.
    John’s body still tingled from their lovemaking. Even though he’d longed for both Alec and Tara, a part of him had never believed it would happen. He’d been so relieved to see Alec and Tara form a close bond that he’d been willing just to live his love for Tara vicariously through Alec, but to have her love him too was a gift he would never undervalue. He just hoped she still felt the same way after Alec told her the complete ugly truth on how they ended up living in a cave in the middle of nowhere.
    He tried to swallow against the emotion clogging his throat. He had no idea how he would live without them, but if that’s what it took for them both to be happy, he’d find a way.
    It took him much