Wray (4 page)

Wray forced himself to relax when she began
to whimper. How she seemed to sense when he was upset he did not
know. Maybe it was the tensing of his muscles, or the low growl, he
had been unable to contain, maybe it was just the way of her
species. He wished he could talk to her and find out.

Talk to her... Wray shook his head in
disbelief. Tornian males didn’t
talk
to their female, not as
they did to males. They
conversed
with a female. She told
the male what she wanted and the male told her she would have it.
That was as far as it went.

Yes, he and Adana had ‘talked’ more, but that
was only because she was his Empress and would never leave him.
Something told him this female would demand more. This time when
Wray leaned his head back, it was to rest, all the while making
sure the female was secure in his arms.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Kim didn’t want to leave. She didn’t know
where she was, but she knew it was better than where she had been.
This darkness was different… it was warm and comforting, she felt
safe here. The other had been… no... she wouldn’t go back there.
She would stay here, where every touch was gentle, every word was
soft and every sound was... a snore?

Frowning, she tried to ignore the sound, but
it kept getting louder. What
was
that? Why wouldn’t
it
stop? It jarred her from
the
security of the darkness, reawakening her mind and
senses, so she realized she was lying on something that while hard
was still warm and giving. It moved, it vibrated, it smelled… nice,
nothing like stinky... Kim instantly jerked awake and froze as it
all came rushing back to her. She didn’t want stinky bastard to
know she was awake
. I
f he knew, he would
hurt her again. Suddenly it dawned on her that it wasn’t stinky
bastard holding her, he never held her, he'd just raped her.

Carefully, she lifted her head and saw...
what… who... who... was this.... The rumbling sound that had woken
her was coming from a massive chest that was covered with so many
muscles that they bulged even though the guy was asleep. Looking up
further, she found broad shoulders and thickly muscled arms that
were currently wrapped around her, holding her securely in his
lap.

Trying not to panic, her eyes continued their
journey upward and discovered the unusual features of a man. His
head was tipped back against the wall, his eyes were closed and his
mouth was slightly open, revealing long white teeth, and he
was
snoring.

He seemed familiar to her for some reason.
Why? Shaking the impossibility away, she carefully shifted away
from him ever so slightly and his arms instantly tightened around
her as his snoring turned into a low growl.

She screamed.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Wray jerked awake hearing the female's
scream. What was wrong? His arms immediately tightened protectively
around her as he stood, his eyes flying around the cave, searching
for the threat. Suddenly it was as if he was holding a wild
termagant in his arms as she kicked, bit and scratched at him.

Stunned by her attack, Wray instantly
released her then cringed as she landed on her ass, hard. Reaching
down to help her, she screamed again and crawled backwards away
from him, her eyes never leaving him. She didn’t stop until she ran
into a wall where she quickly sprang to her feet.

"Easy
,
little one."
He said softly and raised his hands in a non-threatening manner as
he prayed to the Goddess that the educator had worked.

"You stay away from me!" The female
ordered.

"I mean you no harm." He told her
,
grateful they could understand each other.

"Yeah
,
right." She
said sarcastically, her eyes moving quickly around the cave,
searching for more threats.

"I tell you truth." Wray frowned when she
didn’t immediately believe him. "We are alone here, no one will
harm you." He saw her eyes move once again to the opening of the
cave, then back to him, when she tensed, he knew exactly what she
was going to do.

"No!" He bellowed moving to intercept
her.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Kim's eyes never left the huge man as she
crab-crawled away from him. When she ran into a wall, she jumped to
her feet, frantically taking in her surroundings. She seemed to be
in some type of cave.

'How the hell had she gotten here?'
She wondered as her eyes flew back to the man who was frowning at
her. To his right there seemed to be an entrance. She didn’t know
what was outside, but she knew she had to get out, had to get away,
it was the only way she would ever survive and she wanted to.
Stinky bastard might have been bigger and stronger than her, but
this guy... this guy made stinky bastard look puny... she would
never survive him raping her. Outside was her only hope. Decision
made
,
she sprinted for freedom.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Wray was surprised by her speed and caught
her just a few feet from the entrance, pulling her tightly back
against his chest.

“No!” He yelled again. “You will perish if
you leave.”

“Let me go!” She cried out, struggling
against his hold, but found her arms pinned against her sides so
she couldn’t scratch him and with her back against his chest, she
couldn’t bite him.

“No! I will not allow you to harm yourself.”
When she continued to struggle, he shook her slightly. “Calm
yourself! Look!” He turned so she could see through the
opening.

Kim stilled, her eyes widening at what she
saw. Outside, there was an eerie yellowish brown light, that seemed
to be filled with what looked like blowing dust that sparkled.

“It is a Pontus ground storm.” He told her
softly, his deep voice rumbling against her back. “Here on Pontus
it contains alme. It can be deadly if too much is inhaled. It has
been raging for two days.”

“Two days?” Kim whispered, looking up at
him.

“Yes. I was barely able to get us here before
it hit.” Wray found himself caught up in her green gaze.

“It’s just us?”

“Yes.” He watched her look back at the storm
and wondered what she was thinking.

Kim watched the blowing dust for several more
moments, trying to decide if she could believe him. It didn’t look
that
bad, but there
was
a lot of it. Then there were
those larger pieces that would fly by occasionally, those would
really hurt if they hit her and she could see how breathing could
be a problem. He was right. She wouldn’t survive out there
long.

“You can let go.” She said quietly,
wriggling
in his arms.

Wray frowned down at her. He didn’t
want
to let her go. He
liked
how she felt in his
arms, against his body. He didn’t want her to try to flee again for
if she did, she would be harmed and he couldn’t allow that. Turning
so he was between her and the entrance, he let her slowly slide
down his body, releasing her only when she was steady on her
feet.

Kim quickly took several steps away from him
and found she instantly missed his warmth. Turning, she watched him
closely and realized he was doing the same thing to her. She could
also see he was concerned that she would flee into the storm.
Why?

“Who are you? Where am I? And how the hell
did I get here?” Kim started firing questions at him.

“I am Wray. You are on Pontus and I brought
you to this cave after we crashed.”

Kim’s mouth opened, then closed as she tried
to process what he was saying. Finally, she settled on the one
thing she immediately understood. “We crashed?”

“Yes. Our shuttle was attacked when we were
transporting you from the Ganglian ship to the Searcher.”

“We! You said it was just us!” Her eyes
immediately flew behind her, bracing for an attack.

“He is not here. My warrior was killed in the
attack.”

“He’s dead?”

“Yes. I had to leave him in the shuttle.”

Kim looked at him for several moments and was
shocked to realize she believed him. Someone he had known had died
while he was saving her. “I’m sorry.”

Wray was shocked that she would concern
herself with a warrior’s death. Males were expendable. Females were
not. “He died an honorable death,” he informed her, “protecting a
female. The Goddess will welcome him with loving arms.”

“You said you were transporting me.”

“Yes, our portable repair unit was able to
heal most of your injuries, but I wanted to make sure, so I was
taking you to the deep repair unit on the Searcher.”

“Who are you?” She asked again.

“I am Wray Vasteri. I am a Tornian Warrior.”
He didn’t tell her he was also the Emperor. It would make things
easier if he did, but for some reason he wanted to see how she
would react to
Wray
, not the Emperor.

“Tornian…”

“Yes. What are you?” Wray finally got to ask
the question he’d wanted answered since he’d first seen her.

“I… generally we call ourselves humans.”

“Humans?” Wray had never heard of them. “What
do you mean generally?”

“I… well, we are all humans, but since we
live in different countries, we usually identify ourselves by
that.”

Wray just looked at her, while he understood
what she was saying it wasn’t the Tornian way. Yes, they would
describe the specific area they were from but first and foremost,
they were Tornian.

“You are called Wray?”

“Yes and you are?” he asked the next question
he’d wanted to know.

“My name is Kim, Kim Teel.”

“Kimkimteel.” He repeated.

“No!” The strength of her denial surprised
him. “Listen. My name
,
first name is Kim,
like yours is Wray. My last name is Teel, like yours, is Vasteri.
Understand?”

Wray didn’t appreciate her talking to him as
if he were an untrained Warrior and growled his displeasure.

“Don’t growl at me!” Kim stomped her foot.
“It’s not my fault you were wrong!”

Wray looked at her in shock. No one spoke to
the Emperor like that… but wait, she didn’t know he was the
Emperor. Isn’t that what he wanted? To discover how she would see
him
?

“I apologize… Kim.” The foreign name somehow
felt right crossing his lips. “I did not mean to upset you. I have
never met a… human before."

"You haven’t?” She asked, not knowing if she
should be happy or sad about that.

“No. What planet do you claim?”

“Claim?” It took her a moment to realize what
he was asking. “Earth. We call our planet Earth.”

“Earth….” Wray thought about the name,
searched his memory and could find nothing that was even close. He
was about to question her further when an especially strong gust of
wind blew into the chamber. “We need to move back to where we were.
It will protect us from the storm.” He stepped towards her,
gesturing to where they had been.

Kim quickly stepped back, keeping her
distance and tried to decide what she should do. Did she believe
him? Trust him?

“Please
,
Kim.” Wray
was surprised at how much it hurt to have her step away from him
and found he wasn’t above begging, not if it kept her safe. “It is
why I chose this spot. It protects us from the worst of the storm.
I would never harm you.”

Slowly, Kim realized she had no other choice
but to trust him… at least for now and backed into the other
room.

“There is food in the bag next to the rock."
Wray’s deep voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Food?" Kim's eyes immediately flew to the
bag hungrily. She couldn't remember the last time she had eaten;
neither could her stomach as it rumbled loudly.

"Yes, it’s just nutrient bars, but it is
something." Wray heard her stomach rumble and knew she had to be
starving, he was.

Watching him closely, Kim slowly moved
towards the bag, still unsure just how far she could trust him. The
cramping in her stomach had her quickly reaching down into the bag,
pulling out a foil wrapped package.

"Sit
,
Kim." Wray
gestured to the rock and watched as the bar slipped from her hand
when he took a step towards her. "I will not harm you." He tried to
reassure her. "Please sit, you are still recovering from the
Ganglian attack and are weak from hunger.” Slowly he picked up the
bar, handed it back to her then took several steps back.

"Ganglian?" She questioned, but slowly
sat
,
her knuckles white around the bar.
“You said that word before.”

"Yes, they are the species we found you with.
Tear it at the top." Wray gestured to the bar, she held so tightly
and watched silently as she struggled with it. "Let me help." He
said softly and stretched out his hand, but moved no closer,
knowing she needed to come to him.

Kim looked at him, her mind racing. Would he
give it back?

He had before.

She didn't really know him.

But she trusted him.

Why?

Wray watched every thought as it passed
across her face. Goddess she had such an expressive face. He could
tell she was afraid, knew she had to be confused and yet she didn’t
break. It made him want to pull her close, made him want to comfort
and protect her even more, but he knew he couldn't, not yet.

"It will be alright Kim." He said softly. "I
promise I will give it back and while you eat, I will tell what I
know." He saw when she reached her decision and ever so slowly, she
put the bar in his outstretched hand before quickly jerking hers
back.

"These can be tricky sometimes." He said,
trying to ease her fear while hiding his relief that she would
allow him to help her. Quickly he tore open the wrapper and the
smell had his own stomach rumbling, reminding him that he hadn't
taken any nourishment since they crashed. Ignoring it, he handed
the bar back to her. He was male. His needs would always come
second to that of a female.