Abducting Abby (Dragon Lords of Valdier: Book 1) (2 page)

He was Zoran Reykill, Leader of the Valdier. He was the most powerful of his kind matched only by his brothers. He had been enjoying time on a remote planet on the outer rim of his own galaxy, hunting and enjoying the favors of some of the women brought there for such things. Ordinarily, he would have by-passed pleasure but he had been gone from his own world for two months prior on a diplomatic mission. He spent two days hunting in the thick forests before heading into the city complex. He did not suspect anything until after the meal, when he started to become very lethargic. He only had time to send a message to his symbiosis that he was in danger. He woke, chained in a Curizan spaceship. That was a month ago. The Curizans hoped to ransom him back after they obtained information about the symbiotic relationship his people enjoyed with a living metal organism capable of changing shape and harnessing enormous power. The relationship allowed his people to enjoy many things including longevity, the ability to heal at a faster rate, and unbelievable space travel. Zoran was worried his symbiosis would be captured and made sure it remained hidden until he could escape. He knew he would need it when the time came.

The Valdier lived on the outer rim of the Zion cluster of planets. Only in the past three hundred years had they developed a relationship with neighboring galaxies. At first, the Valdier were very careful about who was allowed to visit. They were very protective of the interaction of their species with the symbiosis. It was not until other species tried to capture and use the golden metal organism, only to have the symbiosis attack and kill whatever species tried to touch it, that the Valdier felt more comfortable interacting with other species. This presented a problem as there was not an abundance of females on Valdier and the symbiosis was not very tolerate of females from other species. It forced many males to limit their time with females who were not from their own planet. Zoran had yet to find a mate, though, he had many females who could pleasure him should he desire a companion at the palace. The symbiosis could live separate from the host for brief periods. His own divided so a small part of it could find him in the prison cell, healing his body and giving him enough to survive the beatings and torture. It then returned to the main body to replenish it with his essence. If not for that, both would have perished.

Now, he felt the strength of it calling to him. He rounded a corner near the entrance. Two guards stood talking quietly back and forth to each other in the tongue of the Curizan. Zoran pulled his laser pistol and quickly disposed of both of them. He could only hope there were no other guards outside the entrance. Holding his ribs against the burning he felt, he swiped the guard’s badge over the scanner and stood back as the door slid open. Peering outside, he moved into the shadows heading for the landing area. His symbiosis was waiting for him there in the form of a space fighter. It took on the reflective surface making it invisible to all around it. It was only their connection that guided Zoran to it. Within moments, he was climbing into the cockpit of the Valdier fighter. With a wave of his hand, gold bands formed up his arms sliding under his skin until he was one with the golden creature.

“Get us out of here.” Zoran murmured softly trying to hold onto consciousness. He was hurt much worse than he originally thought. He could feel the bones in his ribs rubbing against each other.

The symbiosis glowed gold as it began rising out of the compound. Shouts and hisses erupted as the symbiosis lost its cloak of invisibility. Moving smoothly, the golden fighter rose and moved out of the compound at an amazing speed. Zoran knew he needed to stay conscious until he could find a safe place to land and let his body heal. Warnings sounded in his mind as Curizan fighters scrambled to pursue him. Zoran was not concerned as he knew as soon as they reach the outer obit of the planet his symbiosis could move faster than the speed of light. Focusing on using defensive moves to get away from the pursuing fighters, he gave the command for the symbiosis to plot a course to a quadrant unknown to the Curizan. He would never make it back to his own world in the shape he was in. He sent a message out to his brothers hoping they would receive it before he lost consciousness. Zoran gave the final command to leap as soon as they cleared the planet’s atmosphere. It was the last thing he remembered.

Another bolt of lightning flashed before thunder rolled across the sky shaking the cabin walls from its force. The electricity went out over an hour ago and Abby lit a couple of candles to light the interior, although the way the lightning was flashing she probably didn’t need to. Bo had taken refuge under the bed in her bedroom. Every once in a while she would hear him whine and she would call out soft reassurances to him. Gloria was tucked up in the barn nice and safe. Abby hoped there wouldn’t be too much damage but wasn’t too optimistic from the sounds raging outside. She did what she could to prepare. Rain fell in sheets limiting the view outside to just a few feet. It was going to be a long night. Abby sat at the small table staring out the kitchen window when another bolt of lightning flashed. It was strange; but, she could have sworn there was something else in the thunder than followed. She caught a glimpse of something in the sky with that last flash.

Bo whined again, this time coming out from under the bed to put his head on Abby’s knee. He still had his tennis ball in his mouth. Abby reached down and absently petted Bo’s head, scratching behind his ears.

Sighing, Abby leaned over and dropped a soft kiss on the top of Bo’s head, “Come on. Let’s go to bed. Watching the storm isn’t going to make it pass any faster and I have a feeling there is going to be plenty of clean-up work to do tomorrow. Maybe we can find you a couple of sticks to carry back.”

Abby stood up blowing out the candle on the table and picking up the one in the living room to carry with her into the bedroom. She brushed out her hair and changed into a pair of pajama pants and matching tank top that had little pictures of dogs on it. Climbing into the full size bed, she scooted over patting next to her for Bo to jump up.

“You can help keep me warm tonight, big guy.” Abby whispered as she wrapped an arm around the soft fur snuggled up against her.

The next morning was bright as the aftermath of the storm seemed to clear away everything in its path. Abby sipped a cup of coffee as she walked down the front steps of the cabin. There were bits of limbs everywhere. A tree had fallen back behind the barn but it hadn’t done any damage. Bo ran down the steps and raced around the yard smelling all the branches to see if the storm brought anything fun to play with. Abby opened the door to the barn moving down to the stall holding Gloria. Gloria leaned her head over the door of the stall looking droopy-eyed at Abby.

“Did the storm keep you up last night, girl?” Abby asked as she ran her hand up behind one of Gloria’s ears then down along her jaw. “Come on, let’s get you outside to enjoy the beautiful weather.”

Abby moved into the stall opening the back sliding door which led out into the corral. Making sure everything was still secure, she picked up a brush and brushed Gloria down before closing the gate.

“Come on Bo. Let’s take a walk and see what else needs to be done.” Abby called as she moved down the path towards her workshop.

She would check it out before heading towards the meadow further up the mountain where she saw the weird light last night. She had dreamed about it. She couldn’t really remember much of her dream, just a nagging feeling that she needed to check it out. Her workshop survived the storm just fine. She was glad as she had several thousand dollars worth of materials inside; not to mention the piece she was almost finished with. Bo pranced around, wagging his tail and marking just about everything. Abby laughed at the male need to mark. It reminded her a little of Clay when he was following her around town glaring at anyone who looked her way.

Bo ran ahead down the path. Abby was a bit slower as she stopped to move some of the bigger branches out of her way. She liked to hike up to the meadow during the summers and just enjoy the scenery. She was in the process of lifting a really large branch to the side when she heard Bo barking excitedly.

“Hold on, boy. I’m coming.” Abby yelled out. She pushed the limb out of the way and jogged up the path.

Abby stopped suddenly, her mouth hanging open, as she stared at the huge golden ship in the middle of the meadow. Bo was walking around it. As he moved closer, the ship seemed to shudder and move away from him. It was almost like it was alive. Abby moved toward the golden ship slowly.

“Bo, come here boy. I think you are scaring it.” Abby said softly, calling out to Bo to come to her.

Bo took one more sniff of the golden ship before taking off on another adventure. Abby walked around the ship watching as it shivered when she stepped closer to it. It wasn’t real big, maybe about the size of a large SUV but it was absolutely beautiful. She looked at the sleek design. Different colors seemed to swirl through the outer coating making the golden ship almost invisible as it took on the colors around it.

Abby slowly reached out her hand to touch it. The ship seemed to shimmer a bright gold, almost as if in warning. It reminded Abby of some of the wildlife she had noticed while living up in the mountains. She and her grandparents sometimes came across frightened or wounded animals over the years and they nursed many back to health before releasing them back to the wild.

“It’s okay, baby. I’m not going to hurt you.” Abby whispered softly. “It’s going to be alright. I won’t hurt you.”

The golden ship shuddered again as her hand gently brushed against its smooth surface. Abby laughed softly as she felt the smooth, soft metal. She didn’t understand what it was or where it came from but she didn’t get any bad vibes from it. She reached up her other hand, letting it glide over the surface. She rubbed it lightly while whispering nonsense words. She felt her hands slowly sink into the soft metal and long strips of the gold reached out, winding themselves around her arms and wrists. Abby’s breath caught in her throat as she watched the gold bands slowly slide up her arms. When she pulled back two thin, intricately designed gold bands were attached to her wrists like gold wrist cuffs. Abby stared at them, marveling at their beauty, as she ran her fingers over first one then the other.

Bo’s sudden barking turned to a scared yelp as he charged back towards Abby. Abby moved away from the ship looking up startled as Bo raced past her toward the path leading back to her cabin. Turning towards where Bo had come from, Abby wondered what other wonders the storm had brought.

“Well, what got your tennis balls stirred up?” Abby asked bemused. She was still in a daze at finding something so beautiful on her mountain. A groan from the direction Bo just ran from had Abby taking a step back.

Zoran groaned as he tried to lift his head. He didn’t remember much about their landing. He knew he needed to get out, his body on fire but didn’t remember much but the fierce weather from the planet. He collapsed back down unable to move, the pain in his body overwhelming him. He knew he needed to get back to his symbiosis but didn’t have the energy. He could only hope the message he sent out to his brothers would be received as darkness once again took him.

Chapter 3

Abby bit her lip as she moved slowly towards the groan she heard. She really hoped this unexpected visit didn’t turn out to be one of those horror film/alien possession things. She knew the golden ship was not from Earth. It didn’t take a NASA scientist to figure that out. She just hoped curiosity didn’t end up getting her killed. Abby saw the figure laying face down in the damp grass. Well, if it was an alien, he sure had the figure of a human – a very big human. Abby wasn’t a shrimp at five foot eight but this guy had to be well over six and a half feet if he was an inch.

Moving hesitantly until she stood next to him, she saw he had long black hair and was wearing some type of uniform. She couldn’t see what his face looked like because his hair was covering it. Stooping down, she gently brushed his hair back with her fingers letting them rest for a moment on his neck. She found a weak pulse. What worried her the most, though, was how hot his skin felt. The gold on one of her wrists moved when she touched the man, turning to a liquid and pouring down her fingers until it wrapped around the man’s throat. Abby was scared at first that it meant to harm him but then warmth flowed through her and she knew it wouldn’t hurt him.

“I don’t know what you are but I don’t get the feeling you want to hurt him either.” Abby murmured under her breath. “Let’s see what our man looks like and what we can do to help him out.”

Abby ran her hands down the figure looking for any obvious signs of trauma before gently rolling him over onto his back. She drew in a deep breath. He was the most handsome man she had ever seen in her life. He was also the most beat up man she had ever seen. How someone could hurt another being like this broke Abby’s heart. It just wasn’t right to harm another. There was blood in several spots on the uniform on both the front and the back letting Abby know the uniform had been put on over the injuries since it was not cut up. His facial features were not unlike a human. Abby ran her fingers over his face, gently touching the cuts above his left eye and cheek before moving down to his lip. He had strong, proud features. His nose was a little broader than normal and he had prominent cheekbones, much like the Native American Indians. His color was similar too with the darker tanned skin. She wondered what color his eyes would be; brown, blue, or almost black.

Abby checked him over to see if he had any broken bones. She worried about his ribs, as even in his unconscious state he jerked when she probed them. She realized the only way she was going to be able to get him to the cabin was on a skid. Abby let out a whistle for Bo to come to her. He took off towards the cabin earlier but she saw him sniffing around the meadow again a few minutes ago.

Bo wagged his tail as he came towards Abby keeping his head down and his eyes nervously on the still figure next to her.“Come on, boy. I need you to be a guard dog and protect our visitor until I get back with Gloria.” Abby said petting the golden retriever behind the ear.