by Beth Sadler
Chapter 2
Two hours later Triena looked over at Jethro’s still form, slumped casually in his seat as he slept soundly. He hadn’t said a word since listening to the recording, just frowned in concentration then, sat back and closed his eyes. Seconds later he had been calmly sleeping and still appeared to be in that state.
Triena’s own apparent calm was not so genuine; she was still in a state of shock at finding her own life-mate was here in the transporter with her.
It was now common knowledge that Teeronites were finding their life-mates amongst Earthlings but, it was still a shock to realise that she was one of them. At thirty years of age, with two exacting careers under her belt, she had been sure that she was one of the Teeronites who would never bond.
She had been sure that science was going to be her life-mate right up until the moment Jethro had casually kissed her forehead. Then, the tingle that signalled her life-mate was near at hand had started in her fingers and quickly spread its warmth up her arm, across her chest and into her heart. “Hail Hera” her love was a sweaty, blood soaked Earthling warrior who was suspicious and didn’t appear overly interested in her, judging by his sleeping form.
He was also brave; loyal and more magnificent than any man she had ever met on Teeron. No way would he ever want an alien life-mate, if his reaction so far was any indication. Some days it just didn’t pay to go to work, she thought miserably.
Teeronite bonding rituals were simple and straightforward. At some point in time you met your life-mate and were instantly drawn to hold hands. A tingle then started in both partner’s hands and simultaneously travelled up their arms. By the time the warmth had spread across their chests and into their hearts they were fathoms deep in love and bonded until death and probably beyond
No Teeronite would take a life-mate without this sign. The ones who had risked a ‘friendly’ mating had lived miserable lives that were much worse than being alone. Now, Triena had to try and convince this fierce warrior that she was the woman for him, or spend the rest of her life feeling cut in half.
Triena drew strength from the fact that the Earthling, Teeronite bondings, so far had only been one-sided for a short while. The Teeronite felt the instant bond as usual but, it appeared to take the Earthling a little longer to fall in love. Also some courting rituals seemed to be necessary if Teril was to be believed. She had no idea where she was going to find the time for courting, however, she hadn’t spent years as a guardian not to have learnt how to think on her feet. “Hail Hera” love was complicated.
Pushing aside her personal problems Triena signalled to Staren to help her remove Sam from the oxyzon, he would be nearly healed by now and she needed time to wipe his memory of all things Teeron.
Suddenly the supposedly sleeping Jethro was between them and hauling Sam into his own arms.
“I’ll take him now if you don’t mind.” he grunted as he hauled Sam protectively close.
Triena signalled for Staren to release their patient then spoke quietly to Jethro.
“Sam will wake in five minutes and will be nearly healed and able to walk. However Staren must run one more program with him.” Taking a deep breath she prepared to face down Sam’s fierce protector. “We must hypnotise him so that he retains no memory of this ship or our involvement in your rescue. My mission is to keep you safe and make sure you attend the wedding of your sister; no one else is to know we exist.”
Triena turned pleading eyes on him. We don’t want the people of Earth to panic or misconstrue our intentions when we visit your planet. We only visit to gather science, not to interfere in your world in any way.” Triena waited calmly for his response.
Jethro searched her face looking for any deception. Finding only honest goodwill there he gave a brief, sharp nod of his head in agreement.
“Okay, there’s no way he would understand any of this anyway. It might be best if he doesn’t have to try and deal with aliens as well as his injury. And if he ever finds out that I’m one too it will really freak him out.” Jethro finished on a wry chuckle. “I’m not sure I can deal with being part alien myself.”
“Take heart Jethro James, we are all human, only separated by thousands of years and different planets. No one knows how we were separated. However, our scientists believe it was by either space travel or some kind of natural disaster on an, as yet unknown, third planet. Our scientists have been working for hundreds of years trying to find where we all originated from.” Triena smiled gently into his worried face.
Jethro swayed on his feet as the impact of her smile raced through his body and jerked all his male hormones to attention. He was going to need some time with the gorgeous Triena, to see just how human they both were. He would make it a priority to uphold the regiment motto of “Who Dares Wins,” by daring to make time with this alien once he had Sam nice and safe, and back at camp. Oh yes, Miss Alien Transporter Captain had better look out, because, Jethro James was going to be stalking her fine figure just as soon as possible. Now that he’d had time to absorb everything that Triena had told him he was feeling remarkably cheerful and optimistic about his future.
Jethro’s musings were interrupted by Staren’s approach holding an electronic device that resembled an ereader in size and shape. Jethro placed Sam in one of the seats as the lights were dimmed in the room and he was gently shaken awake by Staren as she held the device in front of his face. Speaking into a microphone attached to her shirt her Teeronal was mechanically translated into English as she spoke to Sam and encouraged him to stare at the screen of the device.
“You have been injured and delirious but, will shortly be well enough to walk. You were carried to this area by your friend Jethro who escaped the Taliban as dark fell, you were very fortunate, luck was with you. You will not remember anything of this vessel or of me.” Staren repeated the words over and over until she was satisfied that Sam would have no memory of his rescue.
Clicking her fingers she signalled him to sleep again. Sam slumped in his seat seeming relaxed and comfortable so Jethro was able to relax. There was no fresh bleeding, nor did he appear to be in any pain. So far so good, with Sam’s condition at least.
Turning to Triena he gave her the co-ordinates of the pick-up zone who then repeated them to Staren. He was finally convinced she was telling the truth, unbelievable as it was. With an almost imperceptible vibration, they were once again flying at incredible speed.
“I haven’t thanked you properly for saving us and giving medical aid to Sam; it was very ungracious of me. My only excuse is that I’ve been a bit busy the last few days however, that’s no excuse for bad manners.”
Jethro tried for a charming smile; he had a lot of ground to make up with his alien beauty. The effort was spoilt somewhat, by his crusted, bloody beard and filthy clothes but, he figured things could only improve from here on in, surely he would have another chance in the future to present a better figure. After all, he apparently had his sister to vouch for him and her brand new fiancée. Curiosity finally surfaced in Jethro’s mind.
“What’s the man like that my sister has got herself engaged too?”
Triena grinned. “You will like him. He adores your sister and would do anything for her. He is the geneticist in charge of finding the mixed race descendents, the most highly qualified scientist on Teeron. He found Tasha and followed her from Russia right across Europe, trying to protect her and win her love.
Tasha told me she was already madly in love with him however; she let him convince her with a wonderfully romantic proposal.” Triena’s twinkling eyes drew a happy response from Jethro.
His bellowing laugh and flashing white teeth displayed his heartfelt good humour. “That’s my Tasha alright, never let a good opportunity pass her by.”
Jethro’s relaxed mood was shattered in the next moment as, Staren spoke getting their attention.
“We are one mile from your pick-up co-ordinates sir. It is time for you to hook up and prepare to drop. I will awaken Sam and h
ook him on.”
Before Jethro could move Staren had hoisted Sam into her arms and walked swiftly towards the hatch. Jethro was bemused by the ease with which these slim beauties could sling huge men around as if they weighed no more than a bag of potatoes. Sam equalled his own six feet five inches and not inconsiderable muscle mass.
“How in hell do you ladies handle six foot plus men so easily?”
Triena answered with a casual shrug.
“Teeronites are stronger, healthier and able to run faster than an average Earthling. We assume it is because we have no pollution and are vegetarians that our health is so good. Also, Staren and I are trained Guardians.
“Okay, I’ll bite, what’s a guardian? Jethro was now consumed by curiosity and damned himself to hell for wasting time sleeping when he should have been finding out all he could of this woman; a woman who drew him like no other ever had.”
“A Guardian is a trained enforcer, a cross between your policeman and a specialist soldier. We are only one race of a few million people, on a planet the size of Earth. We have never had a war or serious civil disturbance so we have no need of an army. Guardians are only needed for the protection of our interplanetary scientists and home based civil crimes.”
Triena thought now might be a good time to fill him in on a few more Teeron facts so taking a deep breath she continued. “Unfortunately, the down side, as you say, is that being only one race we tend to all look alike. We all have black hair and blue eyes. We are also, all well over six feet tall, including most of our women.” Triena’s eyes twinkled briefly as she continued. “We’ve all been very excited by the different hair and eye colours that the recent bondings have introduced to our gene pool. Wait until you see Dan and Calli’s twins,” she finished.
Jethro shook his head in bemusement, trying to take it all in. “Obviously we’ve been in expert hands, thank you for all your help, especially Sam’s medical aid.”
Leaning forward Jethro surprised Triena with another of his soft butterfly kisses, this time on the tip of her nose. “See you soon I hope.” With that said he bounded out of his seat and was hooking himself onto the harness before Triena had time to recover her composure.
A bemused Triena quietly went to the control panel, still stunned by the effects of Jethro’s casual kiss, while Staren woke Sam and opened the hatch.
“Be quick now please,” whispered Staren into the now listening night. “We risk being seen now that the hatch is open.”
Just as the two men started to descend Sam snapped his head up and with a forceful look into Staren’s astonished face whispered back.
“Gorgeous, if you think I would ever forget you then you’re seriously mistaken. I’ll find you again and then we’ll discuss my memory problems, including how I feel about you. Until then your secret is safe with me.”
Jethro struggled to smother his laugh but, failed miserably to cover his grin. Sam was nothing if not smart, the fox had been bluffing all along. It looked like another Teeronite was going to be stalked by an Earthling. The last sight Staren had of Sam was his grinning smile and a fierce look of determination in his gleaming eyes.
Triena was dealing with her own problems as she gazed into Jethro’s wonderful face on the screen above the controls she was monitoring. She wondered how long it would be before she saw him again. “Hail Hera.” Please keep him safe until then.