Again she fought it, attempting to free her ankles while the thing was moving. But it was to no avail. She was well and truly attached.

“Please be calm,” he said, turning. A neat line creased his brow.

“Let me go.”

“Soon I will, I promise. I expect you need to shower and eat after all this time.”

“Yes. Yes, please, I want that. To eat. To shower.” Hope sprang inside her. Was she about to be released?

“And that’s what will happen.” He paused. “I promise. And I do understand what a promise is.”

He smiled, a calm, gentle expression that both reassured and scared Naomi. He seemed so normal, so nice looking and genteel. Yet here she was, tied down and at his mercy.

“We need to calibrate,” he said.

“Calibrate what?”

“The device.”

She gulped and a flutter held her belly hostage. “What device?” Damn it, she knew the answer to that.

“The one I just inserted.” He turned back to the screen, swiped it a couple of times, the numbers and graphs moving and changing.

“Commence calibration.” The words came from a speaker to her right, the voice electronic, weird, like the one she’d heard before. Neither male nor female.

“Calibration commencing.” He looked up.

She followed his line of sight.

A hole opened in the ceiling, and a cylindrical glass tube slid down. Within it was a long, thin device with a black, domed end.

When it was level with Siren, a window opened with a hiss. He removed the forearm-length wand and cupped his hand over the dome. “Ah yes, this is exactly what I requested.”

“For … for what purpose?” she asked.

Before he could answer, the cylinder, empty now, whizzed back into the ceiling and the hole closed.

“The implantation,” he said, standing at her side and cupping the head of the dome, “is to monitor the physical effects of the human female orgasm.”

Her mouth dried. Her throat tightened. What the heck was she supposed to say to that?

Nothing, apparently.

He continued speaking, gesturing to her pussy. “It will detect the smallest changes in moisture, temperature, and blood flow, as well as voluntary and involuntary muscular movement, spasms, contractions, that kind of thing.”

“But … but why do you need to know that stuff?”

“I told you, I’m a professor and this is important research in preparation for the retrieval.”

“Retrieval?” What the heck was he on about now?

“When we retrieve the human females, we need to know everything about keeping them.”

Shock widened her eyes. “Retrieve human females?”

“That is what I said.”

“You plan on doing this again?” She paused. “To more women?”

“Indeed we do. Many women.”

Horror pulsed through her. This was a planned kidnap on an industrial scale. “You can’t … you…” Disbelief stole her words as she stared at him.

He studied her, head tipped as if waiting for her to go on.

“But … I mean,” she managed. “Why do you need to know things like the temperature of their pussies when they … when they come?”

He wagged his finger. “We do not want to make mistakes. The Kraken pride themselves in doing everything to the best of their ability.”

Her thoughts spun, crashing into one another. His depraved and alarming plan sickened her.

“Initiate calibration,” the speaker instructed. “Or cancel calibration.”

“Ah, we should start,” he said.

“Start what?” Apprehension gripped her. Why was this happening? Was it all a dream? She bloody well hoped so.

“Start building you up to orgasm.” He flicked a switch on the side of the device he was holding. A soft buzzing noise came from it. “Yes, this should work perfectly, providing my research so far is correct.”