Gracie's Touch Zion Warriors 1 (7 page)

"Fine! If this is wh
at I have to look forward to tha
n FUCK YOU!" Gracie screamed as she jumped to her feet. "I will fucking die the way I fucking want to and no
one
can tell me I fucking can't!" Gracie yelled out as the platform door descended. "And, I can say fuck all I want to and no one can tell me it is
a
bad
word
, so there!" Gracie added at the top of her lungs for good measure before she froze in horror.

"Oh, fuck!" She whispered as she stared at the group of huge ass men standing outside the supply ship staring at her like she was some kind of banshee from an Irish fairy tale.

Gracie stumbled backwards trying to hit the button to close the platform door but kept missing it. She screamed out when one of the men broke away from the group and charged at her. Turning, she scrambled over some boxes of supplies knocking them over trying to get to the front of the supply ship. She had no idea what she would do when she got there but she hoped by then her brain would figure something out. She continued throwing things behind her ignoring the loud curses as the man following her collided with them. Sliding into the area she normally used for sleeping, she spied her bow. Gracie grabbed it with one hand while grabbing her arrows with the other. She turned just as the huge male reached the open doorway. Gracie fitted the arrow into the notch and swung around pointing it at his chest.

"STOP!" Gracie called out frantically as she pulled the string back. "Please...stop." She whispered.

Kordon froze as he stared into the dark green eyes of the female
that
moments ago was screaming as if she were being tortured. He could hear the others coming up behind him but he did not move. In truth, he felt almost frozen as he stared at the breathing image of the female who had haunted his every waking and sleeping moment since he first heard her voice. He straightened until he was standing at his full height. He held back a smile as he watched her eyes grow larger as he towered over her petite form. He growled out in a low, deep voice his displeasure at her thinness. He would see she was fed properly from now on.

"Please don't make me hurt you. Please just go away." Gracie was saying over and over in a pleading voice.
I really didn't want company if they were big enough to squish me. Being alone was nice.
Really, it was.
Gracie thought desperately.
You never had to worry about being crushed like a bug by creatures bigger than you when you were alone.
Gracie had no idea she was
still
speaking out loud.

Gracie gasped when she heard a feminine chuckle behind the huge male staring at her like she was breakfast, lunch, and dinner all rolled into one. Her arm was beginning to shake from holding the bow string back and her nose was beginning to itch from all the crying.
Oh, hell.
Gracie thought just as a sneeze over came her.
Damn Murphy's Law.

The sneeze caught her by surprise so fast she accidentally let go of the bow string firing the arrow. Gracie sneezed loudly
again
then gasped as she saw what she had done. With a cry, she dropped her bow and moved forward without thinking.

Kordon saw the moment the female's hand released the arrow at him. He moved
,
turning as the arrow approached.
His swift reflex
was instinctive; developed through years of training and battle.
He
ignored the
slight pain in his arm
as the arrow
sliced through the sleeve of his uniform.
It quivered as it
embedded in the metal framing next to him. Kordon vaguely heard Mohan's cry and Bran and Cooraan's roar of rage but none of them could get through the doorway with him blocking it. Kordon turned briefly to command the men to stand down. He jerked back around when he felt delicate hands running over his chest and arm where blood was beginning to seep from the cut the arrow sliced.

Kordon stared in shock as the female who called herself Gracie Jones babbled and
patted on
him. "I'm so sorry. I had to sneeze and I didn't mean to sneeze but I had to because I was crying and I was crying because the stupid solar and fuel cells died, and then I decided to throw a temper tantraum but then you guys showed up and...." Gracie stopped when she felt a set of huge hands slide up her arms to circle her throat. She wondered why they felt so gentle when she knew he was about to break her neck for trying to kill him.

"You're going to squish me now, aren't you?" Gracie whispered as
she stared up into the darkest
blue eyes she ever saw.

The feminine voice said something to the man and he chuck
led softly surprising all of
them
,
including himself. Mohan explained what Gracie was saying from the time she begged him to leave her alone to her asking if he was going to squish her. Kordon looked down into the brilliant green eyes looking up at him in a combination of guilt, fear, and resignation and decided he didn't like any of them. He wanted to see something else in her eyes when she looked at him. He wasn't sure what but fear was not it. Kordon tightened his hold around Gracie Jones' neck drawing her closer. He watched as she closed her eyes and tilted her head back giving him better access to it. Her shoulders slumped for the briefest of moments before she jerked them back so she stood ram-rod straight. Kordon drew in a breath marveling at how beautiful the petite female standing in front of him looked. Her face was pale against the rosy color
ed
highlights in her disheveled hair which was longer than in the images Mohan sent to him. Her lips were slightly parted and she was drawing in short little breaths of air as she struggled to remain still. Kordon's eyes jerked up when he saw her open her eyes again. They shimmered brightly but no tears fell.

"It's okay. I'm ready. I'm not afraid to die." Gracie whispered softly more to convince herself than the man holding her by the neck.

Mohan repeated what Gracie just said to Kordon. Kordon frowned as he looked down into the brilliant eyes. It was n
ot ‘okay’ as she said
. He was not ready for her to die. He would never be ready for her to die. Kordon lowered his head
as
he gently pressed his hands under her quivering chin to raise it towards him before he brushed a light kiss over them. The moment his lips touch hers he knew without a doubt she was his. He would claim her, take her, and never let her go.

Gracie jerked as she felt the warm lips against hers. She hadn't been kissed in over three years. Gracie frowned. She hadn't been held in over three years either and it felt pretty damn good! But
…
she was confused. She didn't understand why the huge man was kissing her when she almost killed him. Of course, it was by accident but he didn't know that, did he?

The man said something softly under his breath and Gracie heard a soft reply. She tried to pull back away from the warm, masculine scent of the man holding her but he tightened his grip forcing her to remain still. Gracie was about to try pulling away again when the soft feminine voice spoke again.

"Gracie Jones, Admiral Jefe says he has no plans to squish you today and you will not be dying." Mohan said peeking around the huge shoulders of Kordon.

"Mohan?" Gracie's voice broke as she whispered.

Mohan's delicate furred face peek around Kordon and she smiled showing off her small sharp teeth. Gracie's eyes widened as she stared into a face that sort of resembled a human but seemed to also resemble that of a beautiful feline. Mohan had a strip of dark red hair flowing down the center of her head but her face was covered in a light coating of soft fur. Her ears were small and pointed on the end and flicked back and forth as if she was listening to something behind her. She was wearing a black form-fitting uniform with a symbol over her left breast in the shape of a space ship with multiple circles around it. Gracie giggled when Mohan wiggled her tiny nose at her.

"Yes, Gracie Jones. I am Lt. Mohan Ta'nee, communication's officer aboard the Confederation warship
Conqueror
. The male you almost killed is Grand Admiral Kordon Jefe, Commander of the Confederation military. The others behind me are Zion officers also from the
Conqueror
. I will introduce them to you later, if you would like." Mohan said with another friendly smile.

Gracie pushed against the chest of the man called Kordon ignoring his low grunt of displeasure. Mohan said he wasn't going to crush her and Gracie wanted to hug the only friendly voice she knew and heard for the last three years. Gracie frowned up at Kordon when he still didn't let her go.

Glancing back at Mohan, Gracie asked in puzzled confusion. "What is his problem? Why won't he let me go? You said he wasn't going to squish me or kill me, didn't you? I'm not going to try anything. I promise." Gracie added as she felt the huge man's hands slid
e
down to her wrists.

Mohan bit back a sigh. She recognized the protective stance Kordon took to block the other warriors' view of Gracie. She was having the same problem with Quan trying to pull her back behind him. He and Kordon had actually gotten into the first heated argument she ever saw between two Zion warriors over whether she should be allowed to come with them or not. Mohan flushed when she felt a pair of hands grip her hips from behind. She knew the fur on her face was
changing colors rapidly
as she hissed back at the huge Zion warrior glaring at her, snapping her sharp teeth at him.

"Are they always like this?" Gracie giggled as she saw Mohan was having the same problem as she was.

Mohan snapped at the man towering above her again. Gracie watched in amazement as the man reluctantly let her go. Gracie looked up and snapped her teeth at Kordon but all he did was look amused.
Maybe I need sharper teeth,
Gracie thought
.

Kordon barely contained the laugh that threatened to escape
him
when the petite female he was holding looked at him with such a serious expression and snapped her teeth at him then looked confused
at Mohan
when he didn't respond. He heard Mohan's hiss of frustration at Quan and was able to interpret Gracie
’s
imitation in trying to get him to release her. Kordon let his hands circle her wrists amazed at how small they were. He reluctantly stepped back a step to let Mohan enter. He wanted to know more about Gracie Jones, why she was screaming when they arrived, and how she ended up being on a moon, millions of light years and over eight hundreds years from her planet.

Gracie looked on silently as men from another shuttle disembarked. Mohan had questioned her for over two hours
’ non-stop
. Gracie was confused at first when
Mohan
kept asking question
after question
about Earth and what happened leading to her being on the moon. It seemed Mohan already knew the answers because she often just nodded as if what Gracie was telling her was old news. It couldn't be that old! Gracie didn't know where this Glasis
system
was or how far it was to get back to Earth
when Mohan asked how she made it to the moon
.

Gracie kept pressing
for answers of her own. She
ask
ed
about news of the war against the Alluthans and how Mohan knew what happened but the Ta'nee, Gracie was still
trying to
wrap her head around
the fact
so many different alien species existed, never gave her a straight answer.
Gracie decided Mohan would make an excellent politician back on Earth.