Wray (13 page)

“It took me nearly six months to finally
admit I was wrong.” Kim looked up at Wray but instead of seeing
disappointment, she saw understanding. “I went to their apartment
to tell her how sorry I was, but they weren’t there. A neighbor
finally told me they’d gone on a trip and would be back in a few
days. I didn’t want to wait so I tried to call Jen. She never
answered and they never came back.”

“What happened to them?”

“No one knows. Hundreds of people went out
searching for them and the ten other people that were with them,
but they never found them. After six months, I couldn’t take it any
longer, so I went looking for them. That’s how stinky bastard found
me. I was looking for Jen.”

“You went searching for them alone?” Wray
didn’t try to hide his anger.

“She was my
sister
.” Kim looked up at
him defiantly. “I don’t know if you can understand what that means,
but I’d already lost my parents, I wasn’t going to lose her too,
not without a fight.” Jerking herself out of his arms, Kim walked
over and stared out at the storm. It swirled around so wildly… was
so out of control… it reminded her of her life. Would the chaos
ever end?

Wray opened his mouth to argue with her then
snapped it shut because he did understand. If Grim had gone
missing, nothing in the universe would have stopped him from
searching for his brother. Could he fault Kim for being as loyal to
her sister?

“I know they’re dead.” Unaware of where
Wray’s thought’s had gone, Kim finally voiced the truth, she hadn’t
wanted to face. “They have to be. It’s the only way Jen would have
left me.”

“I’m sorry Kim.” Wray slowly pulled her into
his arms, giving her a chance to protest if she wanted. “I do
understand.” He told her. “I would be lost without my
brother
,
Grim.”

Kim looked up at him, surprised. “You have a
brother? I thought you said the female always left.”

“She does, but sometimes the female remains
long enough to present a second offspring before she is enticed
away by another.” This is not what happened with Wray’s mother, but
he wasn’t ready to confess that to her, not yet.

“So you do understand why I went looking for
her.”

“Yes, I understand
,
Kim
,
but that
does
not change the fact that you should not have gone
alone. You nearly died because of it.”

“Well, it’s not like I
knew
there were
stinky, hairy aliens out there that liked to kidnap women and
torture them! The worst that I thought could happen was that I’d
ruin my shoes.”

“What?” Wray gave her a confused look, not
understanding her words.

“I’m a city girl
,
Wray. This…” she waved her hand around the cave, “is not what I’m
used to.”

“City girl…”

“City girl. I grew up in a place that had
lots and lots of people living in it. We call them cities. It’s
what I’m used to, not this.” She gestured around the cave.

“This is strange to you?” Wray couldn’t hide
his shock.

“Of course it is.”

“But you haven’t complained… not once.”

“Would it have made any difference?” she
asked.

“No, but…”

“I take it a Tornian female would have
complained.”

“Yes.” He agreed. “About the lack of food,
the lack of privacy. About not being able to leave.”

“But that’s not your fault. You got us here
alive.”

“That would not matter to a Tornian female.
She would expect a male to fulfill her every need, no matter how
unreasonable, wherever they were, whenever she demanded it. If he
did not she would consider him unfit and leave him.”

“That’s just crazy
,
Wray. Not to mention wrong! Even
I’m
not that selfish or
stubborn.”

“You are neither
,
Kim. This Todd may have thought so, but he was wrong. He should
have put
your
needs before his own. It seems to me,
he
was a selfish one."

"Wray?" Kim asked softly, looking at the
ceiling as her fingers absently ran down his chest, caressing every
bulging muscle, exploring every deep crevice. Together they laid
down on the survival blanket wrapped in each other's arms as
darkness settled in.

"What
,
my Kim?"
Wray's words rumbled under her ear.

"How do the luciferins know to dim when the
sun sets?"

Wray frowned at the question. "I do not
know," he told her looking at the plants. "I've never heard of them
doing this. Luciferins are unique to Pontus, but even here, they
are rare.

"Oh," she said, her fingers reversed their
journey as she spoke. "It’s sad that something so beautiful can
only be seen by so few. I'll miss them when we leave."

"I would take them with us if I
could
,
Kim."

"Thank you." She tilted her head up giving
him a gentle smile. "But if I can only take one thing from this
place then I'd rather take you."

"Goddess
,
Kim," Wray
whispered, his fingers sinking into her hair as he pulled her up
for a gentle kiss. How had he ever survived before her?

“Hmm, that’s nice.” She said smiling at him
only to be caught by surprise when she yawned. “I don’t understand
how I can still be tired. All I'm doing is sleeping.”

“That is because you have been through a
great deal
,
Kim. Your body is doing what
it needs to do to heal. You must let it.”

“It shouldn’t take this long, not after you
healed me. You said the Ganglians didn't have me for more than two
days. We’ve been here longer than that so I shouldn’t still feel
like this." She said grumpily.

“I did not say that
,
Kim" Wray said and lifted her so they lay chest to chest, her legs
between his as his arms wrapped around her, cocooning her in his
warmth. "I said no Tornian female had ever recovered after two days
at the hands of the Ganglians. I do not know how long they had you
because I do not know where Earth is. The Ganglians initiated a
purge of their navigational history as soon as we intercepted
them.”

“Why would they do that?” Kim propped herself
up on his chest and looked down at him.

“I do not know and none of the other
prisoners were from Earth.”

“Other prisoners… Oh God, there were others?”
Kim whispered, horrified at the thought of someone else going
through what she had.

“Males
,
Kim. They
were all males.” He quickly told her, knowing what she was
thinking.

“Oh.” She whispered. “Good. That’s good I
guess.”

“It is and it isn’t. They were Jerboaians and
I do not know where the Ganglians captured them. If I did I might
have an idea where Earth is and why the Ganglians want to keep its
location a secret.”

“I wish I could help but I don’t know where
Earth is... All I know is that there are nine planets in our solar
system, that the Earth is the third one from the sun and that it’s
called the blue planet. I don’t know how long I was on that damn
ship. Stinky bastard wasn’t very talkative, at least not that I
could understand. He would come in when he wanted to rape me,
otherwise I was left alone.”

“Do not think about it Kim.” Wray’s arms
tightened around her, he didn’t want her ever thinking about that
time again. It was over and she had survived. Earth’s location
wasn’t as important to him as Kim’s happiness was.

Soon she would be fully recovered and they
could Join. Wray tried to control his body's response at the
thought of Joining with her. He knew it would be amazing, knew her
responses would drive him to need more than one release….

More than one release… Wray’s body stiffened
as a thought suddenly occurred to him. Oh dear Goddess, how could
he possibly think to ask her that? What she would have to
remember…

Kim was nearly asleep; the steady beat of
Wray’s heart, reassuring her she was safe. When that steady beat
changed to a rapid pounding, it woke her. Lifting her head, she
found an unreadable expression on Wray’s face.

“What’s wrong, Wray?”

“I…” Wray found he couldn’t speak. He didn’t
want to ask, found he didn’t want to know.

“What?” When Wray still didn’t speak, Kim
pushed herself up, resting her forearms on his chest to look down
at him. “Please tell me
,
Wray.” Her eyes
pleaded with him.

Wray didn’t want to tell her what he knew. It
was his responsibility as a male to protect her, it was his honor
to care for her and he’d never wanted to do that more than with
her. He'd realized this was why the Goddess had created him, to
care for
this
female, but could he if he continued to keep
things from her?

“There might be a way for you to know how
long the Ganglians had you.” He finally told her.

Kim frowned at him, she could see the pain
and regret in his eyes but didn’t understand it. If there was a way
for her to know how long the Ganglians had her why wasn’t he
telling her? “I’m not going to like this
,
am I?” she suddenly realized.

“I… it does not matter
,
Kim.” He told her, his arms tightening around her.
“You need to rest.” He tried to pull her back down, but instead she
pushed away from him settling on her knees between his legs.

“Stop that! I don’t need to rest
.
I need to know the truth.”

“Kim.”

“Is it something a Tornian would know? A
Kaliszian?” she demanded.

“Yes.” He grudgingly admitted. Sitting up, he
wrapped his arms around her, keeping her close.

Kim could tell she really wasn’t going to
like this... she could tell by how tense Wray had become and by how
hard he was trying to protect her. Taking a deep breath, she shored
up her courage and spoke. “Tell me.”

Wray’s eyes never left her as he watched Kim
make her decision. He saw her fear; saw her doubt and finally her
resolve. Goddess, he’d never known a female could be so strong and
he knew he needed to be just as strong if he was going to help her
through this.

“Ganglian males can only find their release
once a day.” He forced himself to say it, then pale
d
when he remembered how many males had been on board
that ship. If all of them had…

“It was only the one.” Kim told him, somehow
knowing where his mind had gone. “The one with the white collar.
Sometimes he’d let the others watch, but they were never allowed to
touch me.”

“The Captain.” Wray growled and closed his
eyes silently thanking the Goddess for what she hadn’t suffered
while cursing the Captain for what she had.

“If you say so.” She said and felt that bone
numbing cold seep inside her again as she was sucked back to that
time with stinky bastard. “He was the one that found me when I went
looking for Jen.” She whispered. “And then…”

“Do not think about it
,
Kim.” Wray growled, pulling her close, he didn’t
like how still she had become, how distant. It was as if she were
no longer with him. “It will never happen to you again. My
vow.”

“I lost count after ten.” she continued as if
he hadn’t spoken, her eyes traveling over the fingers fanned out
across his chest, “Stinky bastard would bite a different finger
every time he….” she trailed off absently staring at the scars that
were barely visible on them, not noticing how Wray’s muscles tensed
even more. ”When he ran out of fingers, he would bite me in… other
places… I think it was only a couple more times but I can’t be
sure. By then I was hurting so badly that I didn’t really care, I
just wanted it to end.”

“Kim…”

“If it wasn’t for Warrior I would have given
up.” She admitted in the same emotionless voice.

“Warrior?” Wray frowned at her not liking how
pale she had become, how chilled she felt and now she was making no
sense.

“I heard him.” She whispered. “After stinky
bastard shoved me in that cabinet. It was so dark in there and I
was so cold. I was hurting so badly and then I heard him... heard
him growling.” Kim didn’t realize that life
had
returned to her voice as she spoke of her pet, how
full of love it was, but Wray did. “It was the growl he used that
frighten
ed
everyone away, everyone but me
because I knew it was just his way. He was angry and frustrated,
but he wasn’t going to hurt me, he’d never hurt me, he was going to
save me… was going to take me home and I wanted to go.”

“Kim…” It was all Wray could choke out as he
pulled her against his chest. He could tell her memories were
pulling
,
sucking her in, ripping her away
from him and he didn’t know how to bring her back.

“And then I saw you…” The strong beat of
Wray’s heart had Kim’s gaze lifting to his. It had her
seeing
him. “You were so fierce, so beautiful. You
growled
at me…” Kim found a smile curling the edges of her
mouth at the memory. “I looked at you and knew I was safe, knew I
was home…
you
saved me Wray,
you
,
not Warrior.”

Kim’s words had Wray’s very soul stilling as
he remembered how he’d found her, crammed in a tiny cabinet, her
body so damaged and abused and still she’d reached out and touched
his cheek. She’d curled up trustingly into his arms. He hadn’t
understood it then, but he did now. Silently he thanked her Warrior
for allowing him to save her, for his life would be meaningless
without her.

“I love you
,
Kim.”
Wray found himself speaking the ancient words he’d always thought
to be a myth. Now he realized they were true, it just took the
right female for a male to feel them.

“I love you too
,
Wray.” She told him and felt the warmth of his love filling her,
driving away the cold. “I can survive what happened to me as long
as you are with me.”