“Where are the other women?” Leto asked, looking behind them.

  “They were out looking for edible plants.” Karia sobbed, realizing that whatever attacked Fiohn probably got the other women. Leto volunteered himself, since he was considered Leader on the voyage and ordered two of the other men to stay with them and two to go with him.

  “We’ll bring back the other women,” he promised, his handsome brown eyes fully intending to do so.

  Karia and Brietta did not say what they both were thinking—the women were already gone. Cord and Ramus stayed with them helping them into the cave. They went outside to push the boulders in place, trying to add protection should the others come back—or even if they didn’t.

  “What have they done to you?” Brietta sobbed to her best friend. “Did they…?

  “They were monsters” Fiohn coughed, her voice barely above a whisper. “The biggest one, he…” Her voice broke and she turned her head in shame.

  “Don’t,” Karia cooed soothingly. “There’s no shame here. We’ll make you better. The others will run them off, and we can get back on our ship and be safe there.”

  “No, Karia. I am dying, I can feel it. He did…over and over. I couldn’t scream they covered my mouth. I tried to fight. I fought so hard…” Her voiced trailed off.

  “Don’t sleep, Fiohn, you might have a concussion,” Brietta wailed in desperation. Holding her friend’s hand, she caressed her hair. “Please don’t sleep.”

  “When he finally stopped, they all went to the river, maybe they thought I was asleep, that’s when I ran.” Blood pooled slowly out of Fiohn’s mouth.

  “Shhh.” Karia felt her own hot tears flow. “Just rest, you can tell us later.” But Fiohn’s eyes began to flutter rapidly.

  “No, please don’t…sleep,” she finished on a cry, knowing that Fiohn had either passed out or died.

  “She’s still alive,’ Karia declared, looking Brietta in the eye. “She has a pulse. It’s weak, but it’s there.” Brietta nodded, too many tears in her throat to speak. “We’re going to get out of here. I promise.”

  As soon as she uttered those words, Cord and Ramus yelled. “They’re coming…oh God! What the hell are those?”

  “Stay here,” she ordered Brietta, and ran to the mouth of the cave. She stood slack-jawed at the sight. Purple eyes were staring at them from the woods.

  “Get in the cave!” Ramus yelled to her. “Cord, help me get this other boulder in place.”

  Karia watched in horror as the two struggled with the second boulder. She stood back but heard the pelting of rocks before she saw them. The things were pelting the men, hindering their progress. The men struggled and suddenly the creatures attacked as one.

  Karia caught a stone in the head and felt her forehead split, the warm blood oozing down her temple. The boulder was almost in place. But not quite.

  And that was when Karia’s memory just stopped. It was as if someone ripped a page out of a book.

  She shook from the memories. Fiohn of course died later from her injuries. Brietta’s injuries were still a mystery to her. Could she have lost her mind and attacked Brietta? Right now she didn’t know her own mind. She clung to the one thought she was sure of. That was clear. Torin. Handsome, golden-eyed, muscular, Torin. Could he ruthlessly have her killed if he found out she had attacked Brietta? What would happen to her if she was considered docile and not a danger to anyone? How was she to take care of herself in this world?

  According to Torin, women didn’t work; they married. They pleased the men. She had grown up around books and even functioned as a lab assistant—what could she do here? Did they even have jobs for women? Would Torin sell her and Brietta on the slave market? Karia shook her head. He wouldn’t do that. She just knew it. Yes, he admitted to having plenty of lovers, so did she mean nothing?

  She did tell him, after all, she wanted nothing from him, perhaps she spoke too soon. She would need him to help her adjust to life on this planet or some other one. Her crew was gone. Her ship no doubt stolen by the Gaurans. She had nothing. To top it off, she wanted a man who was way out of her league. She sat up at the sound of Bela’s footsteps.

  “I was ordered to take you to bathe,” Bela said briskly, pointing behind her at the guard that followed. “He’ll only be standing guard. Lady, please don’t try anything. He has orders to shoot if you so much as try an escape. First in Command is most serious about the First’s protection. What could a little thing like you do to him?” Bela tried to whisper conspiratorially, in her normal voice.

  Karia held back a laugh. Yeah, what indeed, if threatened or angered enough. Bela could be funny sometimes; the woman had no idea what discretion was. The guard deactivated the field and Karia stepped carefully over the black line. Bela led her to an adjoining room that she had noticed and guessed was the bathroom. Upon entering the room, she realized Scyrillian’s idea of a bath tub was Earth’s idea of a small pool. The water bubbled and she sighed at the heat rising from the water. Strange scents filled the air.

  “Disrobe.” Bela ordered. Shyly Karia disrobed in front of the plump woman, though Bela hardly glanced at her.

  “Well, what happened to you?” she asked, concerned about the blood on the material.

  Karia blushed furiously and stammered trying to explain.

  “Ah, I see. You being different, I should have known the First would have liked to sample you.” She chuckled then got serious. “Where did the blood come from?”

  Karia hastily explained the biology of Earth women. Bela sat and looked liked it was the craziest thing she ever heard.

  “Does he have anyone special, Bela?” Karia asked hesitantly, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

  “His highness has a lot of special women.” Bela sat on a small seat near the pool. “Don’t think you have a chance of getting Attached to him. There’s a long line. Just enjoy him, human, and let him go when it’s time.”

  Bela was trying to be kind. But still the knowledge hurt, and it shouldn’t have. It didn’t matter that he had come to see her everyday since she had been confined. It shouldn’t matter that he took the time to learn chess and other things from her. It certainly shouldn’t have mattered that they had talked for hours about nothing at all. But it did. Karia straightened her back, and convinced herself that Torin too shall pass. She would enjoy this luxury of a bath and not spoil it with tragic scenes of love gone wrong.

  “Leave us.” Torin’s voice echoed in the large room. Bela scrambled to her feet and bowed before hastily exiting. Karia didn’t know what to do. Should she greet him warmly or…

  “I wanted to share a bath with you. I thought it might ease any soreness you might have,” he stated before removing the silk looking robe that should have never hidden such gorgeous parts. “I hope I am welcome.” He hesitated not sure what her silence meant.

  “You are most welcome.” She finally got around the lust lump in her throat. For the first time she could eye the thick rod that had given her so much pleasure earlier. It was smooth and hard, even right now; it seemed to pointing at her. She swallowed, and averted her eyes.

  “You don’t find me pleasing. Do I pale in comparison to your human Earth males?”

  Karia’s head whipped around. “No you’re beautiful!” she blurted out, and could have kicked herself for sounding like a love struck sixteen-year-old. The arrogant smile on Torins’ face deepened her embarrassment.

  “I think you are most beautiful as well, Karia.” Mercifully the water began to swallow him as he came towards her, then sat next to her in one the seats carved into the small pool. “I heard what you asked Bela.”

  “I didn’t mean to pry, Torin. I was just curious. I did not mean to pry.”

  “It is all right, women are curious by nature. But Bela was wrong.”

  “You do have someone special?” Karia hoped to hell her voice didn’t betray her heartbreak.

  “Yes.”

  She could feel him looking closely at her, but she refused to turn her head.

  “How do you feel about that, Karia?”

  A thousand things went through Karia. She felt betrayed. She felt hurt. She felt alone. She felt she had no rights to him.

  “I feel she is a lucky woman,” was the only thought she said out loud.

  “No, I believe it is I who am lucky.” Torin smiled at her. “Because you are truly special, Karia.”

  Karia’s brain being melted and frozen way too many times in the last couple of weeks, took a moment to understand him.

  “Me?”

  “Who else? I must say I am confused by these new emotions. But I would have to ask of you not to tell anyone about us.”

  That was it. There it was out in the open. He wanted her, but he was ashamed of her. Who could blame him? He was the equivalent of a Prince, she wasn’t even Cinderella. She wasn’t pure and all good. She had violent tendencies, tendencies that might have made her attack one of her dearest friends.

  “I understand.”

  “I do not think you do. I hope you are not thinking it is because I am ashamed of you. Never that. I have political enemies as does any leader. Until this matter is resolved, I need to keep attention off of you.”

  “Can you just pardon me?” Karia wondered. He was after all the First.

  “It can be done, but at great cost to my family and people. I would no longer be seen as competent and fair. They would believe security protocol has been breached if I allow you free reign. No species of person has ever been allowed free reign without some sort of investigation. We are a Federation and must be kept unified. If I did not make you follow the same laws, you would become a target for their hatred.”

  “So you’re making me see the Dream Walker anyway. Knowing if she finds I am a danger, I am dead.” Karia was disappointed. She saw his point but boy did it sting a little.

  “I am sure of your innocence now. I do not believe you are a danger to the House or anyone else, unless provoked.”

  “I don’t follow you.”

  “Gaurans by nature are violent and prone to attack for no particular reason. When you attacked me, I believe you thought yourself in some sort of danger. Threatened in some way. It is probably the human in you that tames the naturally violent tendencies of the Gaurans, until you are threatened. Like any species, you defend yourself.”

  “Yes, but that doesn’t explain what happened on Lathaeon.”

  “I believe the Dream Walker will find the memory and it will explain what happened. I do not think you are a killer. Your father might have used Gauran genes to protect you from disease, since they are impervious to it, but I’m not so sure he didn’t know about the side effects.”

  “You think my father did this to me on purpose.” It was a statement more than a question. She had been mulling that very possibility over many times.

  “Karia, I care a great deal for you and I have known you only a short while. Imagine how your father must have felt sending his daughter away to a place he couldn’t possibly help her should she need it. He knew he would be dead and you would need someone to look after you.”

  “Sooo, you’re saying that my father might have purposely added that gene from the Gaurans so I am able to protect myself?”

  “Quite possibly, and to protect whatever children you might bear.” Torin fell silent, letting Karia think on what he said. He idly stroked her curly hair, which even in the humidity managed to stay curled.

  “That does sound like my father,” she said on a heavy sigh. “But I never remember anything.”

  “I think it is because of the strength you draw upon during the transition. You are still human, and humans and Gaurans are different.”

  “Do you think my children will inherit this gene?”

  “Not likely.”

  “Why?”

  “There are no female Gaurans, they must mate with other species to propagate. If it’s a male child, it will be fully Gauran. You are a female carrying Gauran genes. It has been proven in the past that something about females and their genetic code does not allow for female Gaurans. Even if they are born, they eventually evolved into docile simple-minded people. One would never know they were ever once Gauran.”

  “They don’t look Gauran?”

  “Not even a little bit. So it stands to reason, the gene your father gave you will eventually phase out and die over the years, leaving you as you were born.”

  “Then why do we need the Dream Walker if you believe this.”

  “Because we need to know what happened to you and Brietta in that cave.”

  “That, and it would satisfy the people.”

  “Yes, there is that. There is also the matter of my satisfaction.” Torin looked at Karia with hunger in his eyes.

  “Would the First like me to perform such a task?” Karia asked coyly, turning toward Torin and boldly taking his cock into her hands.

  “If she wishes,” he groaned, slowly pushing himself further into her hands, “only if she wishes.”

  “Yes, she does.” Karia whispered hoarsely. She turned her face up to his and needed no other invitation as he bent to kiss her.

  His Karia. She didn’t know it yet but she was his. Every time she willingly gave her body to him the bond strengthened. He loved the taste of her. The feel of her. And now she smelled like his favorite scent, mixed with her own. She was still damn near a virgin but she had good instincts he surmised as she pumped him with her hand slowly in the water. He kissed her hard, trying to relay his passion for her. Until even that wasn’t enough for him. He wanted—needed—to have more from her. Already light as a babe, the water made her virtually weightless. He lifted her and gingerly settled himself inside her as she wrapped her legs around him tightly.

  “Oh!” she exclaimed when he was settled to the hilt.

  He slowly began to walk with her in the pool, trying to reach the side of it to position her against the pool wall. Each step seemed to plant him deeper inside of her. She began to squirm wanting more than the slow torturous teasing he was giving her.

  “If you keep moving like that I won’t last long, woman” he growled into her ear.

  “I don’t care,” she responded petulantly. “We’ll just have to do it again.”

  “What have I created?” He laughed as he stopped and wedged her against the wall and obliged her by speeding up the tempo. The warm water only heightened the sensations.

  “Do that thing you do, Torin,” she moaned.

  “The Mating Waves?” he said innocently. In time, he would learn to control it, turning it on for her pleasure at will. But right now it had a mind all its own. He felt the deep tremors start in him before she even demanded it.

  “Yes, that’s it,” she moaned when she felt the vibrations go through her body. The feeling traveled through her full channel, through her mons, through her nipples until she felt nothing but him. The fullness of him, the vibrations, made her snuggle her mouth against his neck in an effort to smother her scream.

  He continued to pleasure her even as her climax began to subside, then he stood stock-still and bellowed loudly, not caring who heard. He was the First, and could yell out his pleasure as loud as he wanted.

  Karia felt the hot rush of his male release and braced herself for the delicious mini orgasm that followed. She wasn’t disappointed. Seconds later she felt like the old rag doll she used to play with as a child. Between the heat, and humidity of the pool and her two releases, she was spent.

  Torin held her a moment longer before he slid out of her and turned her around. He cradled her like she was the most precious thing he ever beheld, and sat in a carved seat in the wall of the pool with her on his lap. They sat that way for a long time. She listened to the sound of his heartbeat returning, he listened to her breathing.

  “Very soon we must talk about the Mating Waves, Karia,” he said solemnly.

  “Why? I think they’re wonderful,” she responded almost drunkenly.

  “Yes, well, I am glad.” Torin chuckled. “But we must talk, and soon”

  “You sound like you have to go.” Karia turned to look meet his golden gaze.

  “I do. The Dream Walker shall arrive very soon. I must greet her and apprise her of the situation.”

  “I understand.” Karia removed herself from his lap.

  “You may stay here longer if you wish. I know that small cell must be stifling. All of this will be over soon. I promise.”

  “I think I will stay a while longer.” Karia closed her eyes as he kissed her atop of her head then exited the pool. Not at all mindful of his glorious nakedness, he turned to her once before donning the robe and exiting the room leaving Karia alone with her thoughts—again.

  Chapter Six

  Torin felt his heart shatter into a million pieces as he left her. He could deny it all he wanted, but he was very much in love with the Earth woman. They were so near to complete Attachment it caused his heart to ache. He felt her loneliness as he left her. She felt empty when he left her and there was nothing he could do to cure the situation until the Dream Walker arrived. Swiftly, he went to his quarters and changed into the official uniforms the First Family wore when acting in royal capacity. One of the servant girls dutifully began to braid his hair. It took a moment for him to realize the servant wanted more from him than just the braiding of his hair.

  “Not today, Gaila,” he said softly.

  She sighed heavily before she spoke. “I am sorry, First, if I talk out of turn, but it’s been a while since you have been to my quarters. Did I displease you somehow?” Her voice quavered. Like many servants, she liked serving him in all ways.

  At any other time before Karia, he would have thrown her mercilessly onto the sleeping pod and pounded into her. He no longer had such appetites—at least not for any woman save Karia.

  “You have not displeased me.” He patted her hand gently and sent her away. He knew he could not keep turning the servants away. Talk would ensue, and speculation and his mother would descend upon him like a predator. A sharp rap on the door sounded before it slid open, allowed Bri’aque to enter the room.

  “Her ship is landing now; we must make haste to the docking bay. It would not do to have one such as her left waiting.”

 

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