Theron's Hope (Brides of Theron) (40 page)

He moved her so that she could sit on top of him as she adjusted her position to give herself the most pleasure.  It was so intense.  She was not a virgin by any means before she met him and she never had sex that was as passionate and fulfilling as it was with Zane.  She couldn’t hold out any longer as she felt the wave of her orgasm warm her body just as she felt the pulsing of his within her.  They stayed there motionless for a little while, breathing heavy and resting.  Her heart was full to bursting.  Yes, it was possible to love someone this much.  She loved Zane that much.  It was totally possible.

The next morning Gracie was full of questions.  When are we leaving?  What is going to happen?  Will I be able to see anything from the window?  Can I stay with you in the clinic?  Since I can’t come with you, do you think that I could stay with Avery?  My Gods, was it possible for her to have no further questions???

He had to get out, she was driving him crazy.  “Grace for God’s sake, you can’t stay with me and I must stay in the clinic.  I will go right now and see Zeb to find out if you can stay with Avery during the trip.  I will be back shortly,” Zane said as he left the apartment.  Finally, it was quiet.  Finally, he had some peace.  When she got nervous or scared, she tended to talk incessantly.  It would have been cute on any other day but this was also a stressful day for him.  As much as he would like to stay in his quarters with Gracie, he was required to be at his post.

He rounded the corner to the command center and saw it was bustling with activity.  He could see all members of Zeb’s crew at their stations.

“Hey Doc, how’s it going?” Ceran greeted the ship’s doctor.

Zane gave his head a shake as he walked by Ceran, “Things could be a bit better.”

Zeb heard his friend’s reply, “What is wrong. Is your mate ill?”

He explained how Gracie had not stopped talking since she got up this morning and that she tended to do this when she was nervous.  He mentioned how along with the stress of his impending responsibilities in combination with her nervousness was pushing him over the edge. He was at his wits end.

Zeb laughed. “Why don’t you bring her over to see Avery while we travel through the holes? I cannot leave the command center until we are safely through each hole and I am sure Avery would enjoy the company. There is not much she can do while the ship is traveling, and you understand why I do not want her leaving our quarters unaccompanied.”

Zane thought for a second, “You know Zeb that is an excellent idea!”  He asked his friend when he could bring her over.

“You can go get her now. The ship will be leaving within the hour and I told Avery that I would not return to our quarters until after we arrived at Theron. I will have a message sent to her immediately to let her know that Gracie will be coming for a visit. That way she will not be alarmed when you arrive at the door.”

“That would be great and I know Gracie would love to spend time with Avery. She has been asking about her for the past few days. I will go and get her. Send the message to your mate and tell her to expect Gracie in about thirty minutes.” Zane turned and left the command center excited to tell his mate that she would spend some time with her friend Avery.

As he walked in, she was steadily typing the contents of her journal into her laptop.  “Grace, I have good news.  How would you like to go and spend some time with Avery while we travel through the worm holes to Theron?”  He saw the excited expression cover her face.

“Oh, thank you Zane.  I am so excited!  Let me go get my shoes on and I will be ready to go.”  She shut down her computer and ran to the bedroom.  She couldn’t wait to spend some time with another girl.  She really missed her girl talks with Emily.  Maybe she could find Avery as kindred as she found her best friend on earth.  It would be nice to be able to confide in someone who shared the experience of being abducted as well what she was feeling for Zane.

She could hardly contain her energy.  It was hard for her to stop moving.  She was nervous of the method they would use to travel to Zane’s planet.  In school she was told that a worm hole would crush whatever traveled through it.  However, she knew that the ship would be fine. It got here via worm hole, right?  She was just unfamiliar with all this business of space travel.  Having someone to share this time with instead of being nervously alone was definitely a perk.

They made their way to Zeb and Avery’s quarters, Gracie still excitedly chattering the whole way.  As Zane announced to Avery that Gracie had arrived, her excitement was bubbling over.

They both ran to each other and shouted out the each other’s name.  “God, I am so excited to see you!”  Gracie said as she hugged her friend tight.

Zeb left the girls shortly after.  The girls were still giggling about Zane’s reaction to Gracie’s suggestion of ordering Chinese food.  They sat and talked about what Avery was going through.  All of a sudden, Avery mentioned that a Theron warrior was able to detect when their mate conceived and Zeb was confident that they were successful last night.  It took all of Grace’s power of persuasion to get Avery to let her call Zane to see if they had tests to determine if this was true.  When Zane brought the test for Avery to use, she found out that not only was she pregnant but she was carrying a girl.  Zane seemed happy to hear the news.  It would successfully confirm his suspicions that the earth females would be able to carry Theron children.

After Zane left she made Avery and herself a wonderful meal using her newly developed cooking skills.  Avery was quite impressed with her ability in the kitchen, asking Grace to instruct her on how to prepare food and wash dishes.  Turned out Zeb had been handling all of the cooking and cleaning.  She wanted to help but did not have the nerve to ask him to show her. 

“Can I ask you a personal question?” Grace said as she placed the dishes in the dishwasher. 

“Sure,” Avery said.

“I know that this is personal and you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.  I just can’t explain what I am feeling.  I know that these guys just took us away from our lives and we should be really pissed off about that, but I have never felt anything for anyone like I feel for Zane.  I mean, the sex is incredible.  I can’t even describe how intense it is, how fulfilling it is.  I have had relations in the past but never like this.  Do you know what I am talking about?”  Gracie asked.  She was a bit embarrassed disclosing her personal life with someone she just met but she needed to know if this was real.

“I know exactly what you mean.  I did not have a lot of experience with guys before I came here but I can tell you that I have never, ever felt the love I feel for Zeb.  He is amazing.  I am glad someone else is experiencing this too.  I hoped that I wasn’t imagining it either,” Avery said as she put her hand on Gracie’s arm and smiled. “So, you and Zane went to New York City for 6 days.  How did it go?  What were you doing down there?”

Grace explained her mission to Avery and told her about the time she was able to spend with her family as the papers were being drawn up.  “It is really surreal.  Just a few days ago, I richer than you could ever imagine.  I could go anywhere and do anything.  Money was never an object for me and now I am dirt poor and don’t have a two pennies to rub together.  Everything I had is put in trust for us in case that we need to return to earth.  It will be there for our kids, your daughter, if they need it.”  They giggled as they grabbed each other’s hands. 

Just then the lights flickered on and off and the ship shifted, almost knocking the two women off
of the sofa they were sitting on.  Dishes were falling out of the unsecured cabinets and glass was crashing down to the ground.  Avery’s animals jumped onto the sofa to be with her.  Gracie went to stand up and call Zane to find out what was going on but just then another bout of violent quaking hit the ship and she was knocked back onto the sofa.

“What the hell was that?” Grace and Avery said at the same time.  Avery looked terrified.  She could only imagine how she appeared.  She was trying to keep a level head.  So much for that, the lights went out completely when the ship listed again.  The dimmer lights were trying to turn on but they eventually went out too.  It was really dark and as Avery started to speak they both saw a silhouette of a body standing in the doorway.

“Who’s there?”  Gracie shouted trying to sound more intimidating than she actually was.  It was not working to keep the intruder at bay.  He was slowly but surely continuing to approach them.

As Grace and Avery slowly took a step backwards to distance themselves from him, Avery shouted, “Zeb is that you? Answer me, damn it!”

The intruder was still approaching as he said, “No, it isn’t your precious Commander, that thief!” The figure was now standing directly in front of them. Gracie did not recognize the sound of the voice. She could however tell by the way that Avery was shaking that this was Lars.

Just as she figured this out, Avery shouted,
“Leave me alone Lars! You have no right to be here!”

Lars quickly shouted, “Don’t talk to me about right and wrong! I have every right to come claim what was stolen from me.” She felt Lars
pull Avery away from her grasp with brute force.

"I never belonged to you!" Avery shouted.

“You are coming with me,” Lars said to Avery as he pulled her toward the door.  There was no way in hell that this man was going to take Avery.  She hesitated a moment as she tried to figure out what to do.  The Brazilian Ju Jitsu classes she tried a while back probably would have helped had she decided to sign up.  However, with her travel and writing schedule she would not be able to dedicate the time needed to follow up with it.  She was immediately brought back to the situation at hand when she heard her friend call out desperately, “Gracie, help me!”

Gracie tried to position herself between the two struggling bodies but it was of no use. Lars was so much bigger than both of them put together.  “You son of a bitch, Let her go!” Gracie screamed at Lars while she clawed at his face, body, and anything within reach.

Lars looked her in the eyes and said, “Touch me again bitch, and I will kill you!” Using his free hand, Lars shoved Gracie away from him with all his might. She fell to the floor with a thud. Lars was now starting to make his way towards the open door. Gracie scrambled to get to her feet before he could exit the room and enter the hall.

She launched herself at Lars, pounding with every bit of strength she had on his back. But it was no use. She was like a fly irritating a horse. He tried again to shove her away while still keeping hold of Avery. Gracie wasn’t going to let this vengeful man take her friend without a fight. Each time he shoved her away she would move back with as much force as she could muster.

She could tell that he was getting severely pissed off at her attacks and she knew he would retaliate, even hurt her.  It didn’t matter though.  The longer she could delay Lars, the better her chances of Zane or Zeb returning to check on them.  She would do anything to make his attempt to take Avery as hard as possible.  She did not expect him to hit Avery that hard and knock her to the floor. Grace being so distracted by her friend’s lack of movement on the floor didn’t hear him when he said, “You are a pest woman! I told you not to touch me again.” 

He closed his fist tight and swung with full force at Gracie, landing the punch directly to the side of her face.  She saw stars and everything went white.  He hit her with all his strength.  It was as if she was traveling in slow motion as she fell backward from the force of impact and crashed into the wall.  She was aware of the wall sliding down her back or was it the other way around?  She couldn’t tell.  She was losing consciousness but had to stay aware.  She needed to see where he was taking her.  She tried to call out, “Avery!” but couldn’t.  She watched as Lars bent down to pick up a limp Avery and walk out of the door.  After that, there was only darkness.