The Human Pet: A Sci-Fi Romance

Part 24

Kayla

"Kepr," my owner says when he walks through the door.

Finally, a real chance to stretch my legs and hopefully see Lugh. I run down hallways, but when we go through the pet park gate, Tarak does not unclip my leash and he keeps me at his side. Is this his way of him telling me that he is upset with me for getting injured?

Tarak sits down at a bench near Lugh and his owner, Andromeda, only now taking off my ball gag and unclipping my leash.

Lugh scuttles close to me. "What happened?" He cocks his head and gazes at my arm. He curls his hands into fists. "Did your scourge–"

"No, Tarak would never hurt me..." I start to tell Lugh everything, from how many of the supplies on the Hydra have numbers that can be tracked, the programs I wrote, and how I had to get medical supply boxes.

He leans closer. "Did it work?"

I gaze at his owner, Andromeda. Her eyes are on my lips. The back of my neck prickles and I can't shake the feeling she is eavesdropping or might overhear us.

I've been burning to share what I've discovered. "Come on," I say, crawling underneath a nearby bench. Lugh crawls underneath to join me.

I love our secret hideaway underneath the bench. Not only are we hidden away from prying eyes, but at the front and the back of this spot underneath the bench are metal grates, which means that even if they wanted, scourges would have a tough time getting at us, not that Tarak would hurt me.

I grip Lugh's hand, eager to finally share what I've learned. "So far, my program has identified two candidate locations where these unapproved medical procedures might occur, rooms 510 and 2054. I've also set up a program to send out alerts to Tarak when medical products are sent to any rooms not designated for medical purposes, but so far, he just ignores them. I don't think he understands the significance of them, but maybe with time he will."

"Can you send these alerts to Andromeda, too?"

I peer out through the metal grates at Andromeda and still, she stares at where we are.

I cup my hands and whisper into Lugh's ear. "Can your owner be trusted?"

"She's kind to me and I think if she knew that a human pet might be in trouble, she would try to help. Send it to her, please."

We are pets; we need all the help we can get, so...

"Show me how to contact her?"

In the dirt, Lugh writes the symbols for where to send his master messages. I repeatedly trace the symbols, hoping that they'll stay in my mind.

Tarak slams his tail into the floor, making loud thwacks, several times in a row.

I stop tracing the symbols. "Something is going on out there."

We peer out through the grates.

Loviatar sits on a nearby bench, accompanied by his human pets. My attention goes to the woman. A bruise still marks her face and like before, she stays relatively still.

Lugh sticks his hand out through the grates and calls to the humans to join us. Adam is nonresponsive, but the woman slightly turns her head toward us.

"We're human, like you. Join us," I call, extending my outstretched hand.

It starts with her eyes, darting toward our fingers. Then about 15 minutes later, she creeps an inch closer. It might take forever for her to reach us at this rate, but the chain connecting her to the bench is long and we can be patient.