Serix wanted to talk to Cassie again before the interrogation, but he didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t the guards that kept him silent —he could always speak to his mate mentally if he had something to tell her that he didn’t want the humans to overhear— it was the thought that by saying anything at all, he would probably just make things worse for Cassie. She was already worried enough, and there was nothing he could say to comfort her. He would be lying if he said that everything would be alright. They both knew it wasn’t true.

By the time the humans came to retrieve him for the interrogation, Serix was starting to feel the effects of the lack of food and water. A dull headache throbbed at the base of his skull, and he wanted nothing more than to lie down and nap. He had to force himself to stand up when Jake unlocked the door to his cell and Connor and Monty came in to hold his arms while they guided him towards the exit.

[b]“I’ll be here when you get back,”[/b] Cassie called to him from her cell. [b]“I love you, Serix.”[/b]

“I love you, too, Cassie,” Serix called back to her, feeling a pang of sadness at the anxiety in her voice. She may as well have said: ‘I’ll be here [i]if[/i] you get back.’ He hated leaving her along like this, but the humans didn’t give him time to think about it. They dragged him roughly into the tunnel, turning the corner so he could no longer see his mate.

Instead of leading him back towards the dining hall, they brought him down a different corridor. A few of the humans dropped back as they walked, apparently assigned to stand guard at different intervals in the dark tunnel. Serix glanced warily at Ryan. The human was setting up a ridiculous amount of security for a simple interrogation.

After a while, they arrived at a smaller, low-ceilinged cavern. Its bare features were dimly lit, concealing much in shadow, but Serix still recoiled at the few things he could see. There were two tables: one at the back of the cavern and one on the west side. The table at the back was long and was arranged with four chairs, while the table on the side was arrayed with various metal things, some rope, and a coil of some strange material that he didn’t recognize. In the center of the room, a single chain hung down from the ceiling, dangling over a drain in the stony floor. Everything about the room screamed danger in Serix’s mind.

“I thought this was an interrogation?” he narrowed his eyes at Ryan, taking a step back towards the entrance of the cave. Monty and Connor tightened their grips on his arms.

“It is,” Ryan said coldly. “My parents designed this place as a safe haven for us, but they knew it would also function as a war bunker when you aliens arrived. They knew we would capture POWs eventually, so they had this room set up for interrogations.” He grabbed a short strand of rope from the west table and tossed it to Monty, then turned back to the Lunairan. “Take your shirt off.”

“What kind of interrogation is this?” Serix pressed, refusing to follow the human’s order.

“I’ll be the one asking the questions,” Ryan snapped. “Now, do what I said or I’ll have Monty do it for you.”

Serix hesitated, and then decided he would rather not have Monty rip at his clothes. He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it to the side. Immediately after that was done, Monty used the rope Ryan had given him to tie Serix’s hands in front of him. He dragged the Lunairan to the center of the cavern and, with the help of Connor, forced his arms over his head to attach the rope to the dangling chain. Serix tugged at the chain, but it held fast. He felt exposed with his arms pinned up like that. If the humans decided to kill him now, he had no way to defend himself. He shot Ryan another venomous glower, “Is this really necessary for questioning?”

“Yes,” Ryan answered curtly. “We have to make sure you won’t move around.”

“Why?” Serix pressed. He knew he was testing his luck, but he felt like a cornered animal and it was making him temperamental.

“Show him why,” Ryan said to Monty.

Monty grinned cruelly and walked over to the west table to grab the strange coil. When he picked it up, the thin material unraveled. Its narrow end dragged along the cavern floor as the human stepped behind Serix. When he was beyond his range of vision, Serix’s heart began to race. He pulled at the chain again but it refused to give way. In the next instant, he felt a searing pain explode across his back. He cried out and struggled futilely against the chain. This was human interrogation? Were they just going to strike him until he said what they wanted him to say?

“Now then,” Ryan turned to the back table, where Jake, Ray, Connor, and Gunner had seated themselves in the four chairs. “Are we ready for the questioning?”

“Go ahead,” Jake replied with a one-shouldered shrug.

Ryan nodded and faced Serix again, “Did you bring that alien into the caves?”

“No,” Serix said, exasperation leaking into his voice. He had told them time and time again that he had nothing to do with the Pilot anymore, and he was getting tired of repeating himself. He gasped when another splitting burst of pain struck his back.

“Don’t lie to me,” Ryan narrowed his eyes. “That other Lunairan already said you were working for him. Hunter tortured the information out of him.”

“[i]He’s[/i] the one who’s lying,” Serix insisted. “He holds a grudge against me for leaving him and— and saving a human.” He had almost said ‘and taking Cassie as a mate,’ but Ryan hated him for that, too. He made a mental note to avoid that topic so the human wouldn’t get provoked. When he finished speaking, he cringed, waiting for Monty to strike him again, but this time the blow never came. However, the look on Ryan’s face was almost as bad as being physically tortured. The human glowered at him with raw hatred and stepped closer so he stood almost nose-to-nose with him.

“Why should I believe that you saved Cassie of your own free will?” Ryan hissed. “You’ve been using her to get to the rest of us. Everything you said to her was a lie, you alien bastard.” Finally unable to control his rage, the human lifted a fist and struck Serix in the jaw, making the Lunairan’s vision swim. “You’re going to pay for using her like that. I can’t stand by and let a manipulative alien ruin the life of the girl I love.”

“My feelings for Cassie are genuine,” Serix said softly, keeping his eyes fixed on the floor. It was impossible to avoid the topic now. “I initially saved her because she interested me. That is true, but while we were in hiding, things changed. I didn’t care about hiding her because she was a novelty anymore; I wanted to protect her with my life.” He lifted his gaze to meet Ryan’s. “I love her.”

“You really think I’ll believe that?” Ryan whispered coldly. He glanced at Monty. “Three more lashes.”

“Wait,” Serix pleaded. “I’m telling you—” He gasped again as the ropelike weapon ripped across his skin, first once, then twice. Just before the third strike, Serix opened a mental link between himself and Ryan, and when he felt the final blow, he shot the pain across the connection. Ryan yelped, his eyes widening in shock when he felt the explosion in his own mind as if he had been the one getting tortured. He stared at Serix for a moment before he realized what had happened. His expression turned murderous as he took the Lunairan by the throat, practically spitting his next words, “Don’t try that again. You hear me?”

“I just thought you should know what that feels like,” Serix snarled, meeting the human’s furious gaze.

“You little bastard,” Ryan turned to Monty. “Ten more lashes!”

“Ryan,” Ray interjected from the other side of the room. “You can’t kill him in interrogation. Try to use the whip sparingly so he doesn’t bleed to death.”

“He deserves to die,” Ryan growled, meeting Serix’s gaze again. “Fine. Just three more then.” Monty followed the orders immediately, and Serix bit his lip until he tasted blood to keep from screaming. He felt something warm trickle down his back. Ryan cleared his throat and continued as if it was all just a casual interview rather than a barbaric interrogation, “Aliens can only get into the caves with the help of someone on the inside. You are the only one who would even consider doing something like that, so you are our only suspect. Besides, everyone knows you weren’t accounted for at the bonfire last night. You had the perfect opportunity to slip away and help your Lunairan buddy get into the caves while the rest of us were distracted. There’s too much evidence for us to assume you weren’t involved. What do you say to that?”

“I only left to help Charlie,” Serix said tiredly. His dehydration headache had intensified with the addition of the lashes. He wanted to go back to his cell and sleep. “He asked me to help him find Sally. He said they were playing a game and she got lost. I swear I didn’t know she never left the fire. I can even show you.” He reopened the mental link into Ryan’s mind and streamed the memory of the bonfire to him, starting with Charlie’s request and ending with his return to the group. He closed off the link and met Ryan’s eyes once more, “You see? I didn’t do anything.”

“How do I know you didn’t make that up?” Ryan pointed out. “I’m well aware that Lunairans can forge images and memories.”

“I’m not lying,” Serix said again. “I don’t know any other way to make you believe me. The Pilot is trying to get revenge on me for betraying him for Cassie. Of course he would take the opportunity to take me down with him when he got caught.” He cried out as he felt the whip lash unexpectedly across his back. Ryan must not have liked that answer.

“Then you’re saying that someone else among us is a traitor,” Ryan said, anger bubbling up in his voice again. “If you didn’t bring that alien into our home, then who did?”

Serix hesitated. He was certain that Hunter was the one who caught the Pilot and brought him into the caves, but he didn’t want to look like he was trying to pin the blame on a human to save himself. Ryan would never believe him. Suddenly, another thought occurred to him. Hunter couldn’t have brought the Lunairan in through the main entrance. He would easily have been spotted. So for him to sneak the Pilot into the river cavern, he must have used a hidden passage. Perhaps there was a way Serix could get out of his situation. He looked up at Ryan, “Maybe the Pilot wasn’t helped at all. I know you think your defenses are impenetrable, but maybe you should examine them again. There might be an unchecked chink in the armor, so to speak.” It wasn’t much to go on, but if the humans found the secret passage Hunter used, they might just believe that the Pilot discovered it first and used it to sneak inside. At this point, any hope was better than none.

“I highly doubt that,” Ryan growled. “We’ve explored every inch of these tunnels. There’s no way we missed a passage to the surface big enough to fit a fully-grown alien.”

“Ryan,” Jake spoke up this time. “We might as well check it out. If there isn’t anything new, it’ll just prove that he’s lying. If we do find something, we’ll be able to close it off so more no more aliens can sneak in later. We’ll be better off either way.”

“True,” Gunner chipped in. “I vote we go with Jake’s plan.”

“I’ll agree with that, too,” Ray said, looking at Serix with the eyes of a physician. “The Lunairan’s had enough for one night, so this interrogation is over anyways. Nine lashes are sufficient.”

“Let’s make it ten to even it out,” Ryan shot Serix another glare, obviously pinning the blame on him for the others’ undermining his authority. Serix tensed, but being prepared for the strike didn’t make it any less painful. He sucked in his breath as the whip cracked across his skin one final time. His back felt like it was on fire, but at least now the torture was all over. He groaned in relief when Monty detached his hands from the chain and he could lower his arms again. Next, Connor approached with a bucket of water, which he splashed on Serix’s back to wash most of the blood away. The water also cooled the searing pain, if only for a moment.

Serix found his shirt in the corner where he had dropped it and put it back on, gritting his teeth when the fabric brushed against his open wounds. He was thankful that he was wearing black. Connor had been right: He didn’t want Cassie to see what happened at the interrogation. She was already distraught enough without the knowledge that he had been tortured by her childhood friend. The dark color of the shirt would conceal any blood that seeped through, and it was long enough to mostly cover the red stains at the waistband of his pants. The cell light would be dim enough to hide the rest of that.

Ryan led the way as Monty and Jake brought Serix back to the hold. Serix had to fight to keep his eyes open as they walked and he stumbled twice. The thought of the cold stone floor of his cell was suddenly very inviting. Maybe if he slept long enough, the ceaseless burning in his back would go away.

When they returned to the cavern where Cassie was waiting, Serix forced himself to stand up straight and walk with purpose. He couldn’t let her know what had happened. Jake opened the cell door and Monty shoved him inside, purposefully laying a hand on his injured shoulder. Serix winced when the human’s rough touch sent another wave of pain through his back, but he refused to make a sound. Instead, he just glared at Monty as the three males exited the room.

Once they had gone, Serix slowly sat down on the ground. Instantly, his weariness intensified to the point where his vision went fuzzy. He felt like passing out, but he couldn’t let himself faint or else Cassie would know something was wrong. Lying down on his stomach, Serix yawned and turned to Cassie, trying to make his condition look like normal fatigue from a hard day’s work, “Well, it’s been a long day, huh?” He offered her a smile. “I think I’m going to sleep for the next three years.”