by M. K. Eidem
"Fortunate."
"Only to a point," Jen began, then stopped when she heard the sound of rapid footsteps coming from behind Wray. Treyvon immediately pulled her behind him not sure who was approaching.
"I'm so sorry I wasn't here to greet you when you arrived, General." Kim hurried out of an unseen passage behind the thrones that connected their private chambers to this one. "I was putting Destiny down for the night."
Treyvon relaxed seeing it was only Wray's Empress, but behind him, his Jennifer stiffened, and he didn't understand why.
"Empress," he said, bowing slightly, and felt Jennifer step out from behind him. "May I present..."
"Kimmy?" Jennifer whispered, her gaze going to the magnificently dressed, beautiful female who had just taken Wray's hand as she started to sit down, and tried to reconcile that with the young girl she remembered as her sister.
Kim froze, her gaze going to the cloaked figure that stepped out from behind General Rayner. She hadn't known someone else was there. But that voice... she'd recognize it anywhere. It was the one she never thought she'd hear again. "Jennifer??? Oh my God! It is you!"
Treyvon and Wray could do nothing but stand there in shock as the two females were suddenly in each other’s arms, laughing, crying, and talking so fast that neither male could understand them.
Wray slowly moved toward Treyvon, his eyes never leaving the females. "I believe we have a great deal more to discuss here than we thought."
"Agreed," Treyvon said, his gaze also staying on Jen and Kim.
"Then shall we move our females to a more comfortable area? I believe this is going to take a while."
"Truth."
Slowly, the two males approached their females as if they were an unknown and dangerous beast, carefully putting a hand on the one that was theirs, and tried to separate them.
"No!" The sisters exclaimed as one, their arms tightening around each other as they looked at their males. "She won't be taken from me again!"
"She won't be, my Jennifer, my vow," Treyvon said quietly.
"Nor will she, my Kim," Wray also vowed, running a gentle hand along her cheek. "But let’s go to our rooms where it is more comfortable and we can all ask and get answers to our questions."
"I..." Kim looked from Wray to her sister, calmed by his touch. "You're right. There is much that we need to know, but first." Kim turned slightly so that she and Jen were both facing him, her voice breaking slightly as she said. "Wray, I want you to meet by big sister, Jennifer. Jen, I want you to meet my husband, Wray Vasteri."
"It is a great honor to finally meet you, Jennifer," Wray said giving her a low bow. "Please, this way." He swept his arm toward the corridor Kim had entered through. As the sisters started walking, their arms still around each other, Wray and Treyvon followed.
Jen shrugged out of her cape, ignoring the luxuriously appointed room as she sat down on the couch next to her baby sister and took her hands. "Oh, Kimmy, tell me what happened. How did you get here?"
"I went looking for you," Kim whispered. "You're my sister. You’re all I had left, you and Todd..." Kim's eyes widened as they flew to Treyvon. "Where's Todd?"
"He's dead, Kimmy," Jen whispered, her gaze dimming sadly. "The Zaludians killed him."
"The Zaludians?"
"Yes, on Pontus."
"Pontus? You've been on Pontus all this time?!!" Kim couldn't believe it.
"Yes."
"I was on Pontus!" Kim exclaimed. "Oh, my God! We were so close to finding each other."
"It is only because of you that we found her at all, Empress," Treyvon told her quietly and saw Kim frown at him.
"Because of me? What are you talking about?"
"If you hadn't crashed on Pontus, we never would have discovered that the Zaludians were illegally mining there with slave labor."
"Slave labor?" Kim's eyes widened and went to Jen. "You were a slave?"
"After the Ganglians sold us to them, yes," Jen told her,
"The Ganglians! Oh, God! Oh, Jen!" Kim started to shake and her eyes began to fill. Wray was immediately at her side pulling her into his arms.
"It’s alright, my Kim. You are fine. They will never harm you again. My vow!"
"Harm her? What are you talking about?" Jen demanded then she paled, her head swinging to Treyvon as she remembered everything he had told her that had happened to the female Wray had made his Empress.
The Empress was her baby sister.
"Oh, my God, Kimmy," Jen covered her mouth in horror. "The Ganglians raped you..."
"Repeatedly," Kim whispered from the security of Wray's arms. "Just like they did you."
"No," Jen denied, "they didn't rape me."
"What? What do you mean? It's the only way Ganglians can..."
"I know," Jen cut her off, not wanting her to have to say it, "but they didn't realize I was female. We were playing that stupid Warrior game and Todd wanted to win, so he had me put this black gunk in my hair and on my face."
"It is what protected you, my Jennifer," Treyvon said quietly and moving to sit on the couch, he pulled her in close under his arm.
"I know," she whispered looking up at him, "but it didn't do those Jerboaian females any good. I can still hear their screams."
"The Ganglians like it when you scream," Kim whispered and no one could say anything for a moment, because there was nothing they could say. It was truth. "Why are you calling my sister, 'my Jennifer', General?"
"Because that's what she is. She is my True Mate and Ashe," Treyvon told her.
"But," Kim's confused gaze went to Jen. "Todd..."
"I loved Todd, Kimmy. I know you two never really liked each other that much..."
"He wasn't good enough for you," Kim told her, then immediately looked contrite. "I'm sorry, Jen. I shouldn't have said that."
"It's alright. Todd was... well Todd. And I did love him. If he had survived, I wouldn't be with Treyvon." Jen looked to Treyvon and her heart hurt at that thought. "Treyvon saved me in so many ways. He is a good, honorable, and worthy male that I love with all my heart."
"As I do you, my Jennifer." Leaning forward, Treyvon gave her a gentle kiss.
"Oh, well I guess when you put it like that," Kim's gaze turned to Treyvon. "Welcome to the family, General."
"I would be honored if you called me Treyvon, Empress."
"Only if you call me Kim."
Treyvon looked to Wray for permission and with his nod said, "It would be my honor, Kim."
"I need to thank you, Treyvon, for the blade you gave me. It saved my life."
"You had need of it?" Treyvon's glowing gaze hardened as he looked to Wray.
"Yes, on Vesta, and stop giving Wray that look. It wasn't his fault."
"Lord Reeve attacked you?" Treyvon questioned.
"No, it was Fala and Gyula," Kim told him.
"You ended them this time?" Treyvon demanded of Wray, his gaze hard. Kim was now a member of his family and while Wray might not be able to end them, he could.
"They were ended," Wray confirmed and Treyvon nodded his approval.
"Kimmy?"
"What, Jen?"
"How long has it been?"
"How long?"
"Have I been gone?"
"Close to a year and a half," Kim told her quietly.
"A year and a half... and you?"
"I was taken six months later."
"Six months?!! It took you six months before you bothered to come looking for me?!!" Jen demanded.
"Jennifer..." Treyvon murmured warningly.
"What? She's my sister. I've been worried about her ever since we were taken, worried that she was alone on Earth, and she didn't even bother to look for me for six months?"
"I did look for you!" Kim yelled surging to her feet and Wray wasn't sure he'd ever seen his Kim so angry. "I'm the one that reported you guys missing when you wouldn't return my phone call. But no one would listen to me, especially after I told them I hadn't talked to you for six months. That we'd ha
d a fight! It wasn't until none of you showed back up at work that anyone else worried!"
"They sent out massive search parties and all they ever found was your cell phone with my voice message on it. Unlistened to! Do you know how that made me feel knowing that you couldn't even be bothered to listen to my message?"
"Kimmy," Jen didn't know what to say, her anger leaving her as just as suddenly as it had appeared. She remembered her phone ringing but before she could see who it was, Todd had taken it from her and turned it off.
"They stopped looking," Kim continued. "They all gave up saying that eventually something would be found to explain what happened, but I didn't! I went back up there by myself because I knew you wouldn't just leave me!"
"I wouldn't, Kimmy," Jen slowly rose. "You know I wouldn't."
"That's where Stinky Bastard found me," Kim said. "Looking for you! It's because of you that..."
"Oh God, Kimmy!" Jen immediately wrapped her arms around her sister, pulling her close. "I am sorry, Kimmy. So sorry. I shouldn't have said that. Any of it. None of this was your fault. It was mine. If I had just gone back to town like I wanted, instead of staying, none of that would have happened to you!"
"It was so terrible, Jen..." she admitted, tears filling her eyes again. "I just wanted to die!"
"I know. But you didn't. You are too strong to let some hairy, stinky bastard beat you."
"No one gets the best of a Teel Woman," Kim gave her a watery smile repeating the phrase their mother used to say.
"That's right! We are Teel Women. We are strong."
We are, but if it hadn't been for Wray," she gave Wray a loving look. "I wouldn't have made it, Jen. He not only saved my life, but gave me a reason to continue living it. If it wasn't for him, I would be sitting here right now. I wouldn't be able to tell you just how sorry I am for how I acted after mom and dad died, to you and to Todd."
"Kimmy..."
"No let me say this. I was the spoiled brat Todd always accused me of being. You put your entire life on hold to take care of me, and you didn't have too. Instead of appreciating that I made everything harder."
"Your whole world changed in an instant, Kimmy. You lost so much. Mom and dad, the house..."
"You did too, Jen. It took the Ganglians for me to really lose everything to realize that."
"I would have done any to been able to spare you that, Kim."
"I know, but something good did come out of it. I got you back. I got Wray." Her gaze returned to him. "And I got Destiny. Oh God, Destiny!" Kim moved out of Jen's arms and started pulling her down another corridor. "You have to come meet your niece, Jennifer. She is the most beautiful baby you'll ever see!"
Jen laughed and let Kimmy pull her along. Kimmy had always been happy and full of life. It had only been after their parents had died that that changed. She owed Wray a great deal for giving it back to her. "Then she must look like you because you were a beautiful baby."
That stopped Kim in her tracks. "What?"
"You were a beautiful baby," Jen repeated. "Dad was always showing your picture to his friends. He thought you were the perfect combination of him and mom."
"But you were the beautiful one of the family."
"Kimmy..."
"Mom always said so."
"Kim, I loved our mother, but she wasn't always right."
"But..."
"She was insecure, Kimmy."
"Of what?"
"Of how much Dad doted on you."
"But that doesn't make sense. You were their favorite. I was an accident."
"You were unplanned, Kimmy, there's a difference. I was young, but I still remember how excited Dad was, how he catered to Mom's every need when she carried you. When you were born with his hair and eyes but Mom's figure... you became her competition. I might have her hair and her eyes, but you had her shape and face."
"I never realized..."
"Of course you didn't. You were so young. You only saw them as our parents, not people with their own lives and insecurities."
They had started moving down the hallway again as they talked, with Wray and Treyvon following closely behind, until Kim stopped outside a shut door.
"She's in here," Kim said and pushed the door open, leading Jen across the dimly lit room to an ornate crib. Reaching down, Kim lifted the sleeping bundle into her arms and turned to Jen. "This is your niece, Jen. Our daughter, Destiny."
Jen gasped as she looked down at the beautiful baby girl that was sleepily stretching in her sister's arms. She had her father's bronze skin and his thick black hair, which was already reaching her little shoulders, but when she yawned and opened her eyes it was the emerald green of her mother's that stared back at Jen.
"Goddess, Kimmy, she's beautiful," Jen whispered.
"She is, isn't she?" Kim said proudly.
"She's the most beautiful baby I've ever seen."
"Well of course she is," Wray said, reaching around to take his daughter into his arms. "She's a Vasteri after all." Leaning down he kissed his daughter's little nose.
"Arrogant much?" Jen questioned and Kim just rolled her eyes.
"Don't even try, Jen. When it comes to his daughter, Wray is besotted."
"Just like Dad was with you," Jen said smiling.
• • • • • •
It had taken some doing, and some threatening on Kim's part, but Wray finally allowed Jen to hold Destiny, although he hovered like a mother hen. But when Jen asked if Treyvon wanted to hold her, Wray came unglued.
"No!" Wray roared, startling everyone including Destiny. He was the only male allowed to touch his daughter.
"It is alright, Jennifer," Treyvon said making sure he made no move to touch Destiny. "I'm sure I will be the same with our offspring."
"Offspring?!!" Kim who had been trying to calm the now screaming Destiny, while shooting daggers at Wray, asked. "Jen, are you pregnant?"
"I..." Jen looked to Treyvon, "it's possible. It's the other reason we came here to find out where Earth was."
"Other? What was the first?" Kim asked, laying the now sleeping Destiny down in her crib. When Wray went to touch her, Kim slapped his hand away then pushed him out of the room.
"To find you, of course," Jen said, looking at Treyvon in shock as they followed the other couple back into the sitting room where they all sat back down.
"Me? You were going back for me?" Kim whispered.
"Of course I was. You’re my sister, aren't you?" Jen told her.
"Oh, Jen," Kim reached out to squeeze her hand. "I've missed you so much."
"I've missed you too."
"And we're going to make sure nothing happens to you or your baby." She looked to Wray sitting next to her and ordered. "We have to get Rebecca here. Hadar too, if Lisa will allow it. Jen needs scanned and checked."
"Kim, who’s Rebecca?" Jen asked.
"She's a doctor from Earth, an OB/GYN, to be exact," she told her.
"Seriously?" Jen's eyes widened in shock.
"Yes, she was one of the women Grim brought from Earth."
"You mean one of the ones he kidnapped," Jen spit out and was instantly sorry when Kim recoiled back as if struck then gave her a guilty look.
"Yes," Kim whispered.
"It was not your fault, Kim!" Wray shot Jen a furious look. "It was mine. I made the decision. I sent Grim. You did everything you could to prevent it. Your sister has no right to judge what she doesn't understand."
"Oh, I understand alright. You took those females because you needed them."
"This is truth," Wray immediately agreed, "and I explained to you the reasons why before. We made sure they were unprotected females with no ties and no male. Two are already happily Joined with warriors and have no desire to return to Earth."
"And the rest?"
Wray sighed heavily, "They are currently on Luda and will soon start selecting their own Warrior."
"What if they don't want one? What if they want to return home?" Jen demanded.
"
I am sorry, Jennifer, but that I cannot allow," Wray told her. "They are needed here."
"Wray..." Kim started.
"You know I would allow it if I could, Kim, but I can't. They have no one on Earth that needs them. I have fit and worthy warriors here that do."
"What if they do have people that need them?" Jen asked. "What if they have husbands, boyfriends, and children back on Earth?"
"They have been questioned, Jennifer," Wray told her. "They don't."
Jen looked to Treyvon wondering if she should say anything. Wray was now her brother-in-law, and while her sister obviously loved, trusted, and believed in him, she didn't know the male. So she would trust her True Mate's opinion.
"My Jennifer is not referring to the females on Luda," Treyvon said slowly.
The Emperor was suddenly sitting beside Kim on the couch. "What females are you referring to then, General?" he asked coldly.
"The twenty females we discovered on a Ganglian ship enroute to Vesta to be auctioned off to the highest Tornian bidder."
"No!" Kim exclaimed! "Goddess, no!"
"It's true, Kimmy," Jen told her quietly. "I've seen them, talked to them, and cried with them. It wasn't like what Wray claims this Grim did. The Ganglians weren't 'selective'. They found a group of women and took them all. Kara is married, a mother of two. Vanessa has been married to the same man for thirty-five years, she has six grandkids. Zandy is eighteen, her parents’ only child and she is scared out of her mind. Deb is engaged and was planning her wedding to one of the men that had been with them when they were taken. She doesn't know if he's dead or alive."
Kim's anguished cry stopped Jen from saying more. "I'm sorry, Kimmy. I shouldn't have gone on like that. Wray's right, none of this is your fault."
"Were they...?"
"No, none of them were touched," Treyvon gently reassured her. "The Ganglians knew the Tornians wouldn't bid on them if they were abused."
Wray swore under his breath because that was truth. "If you have the Ganglian ship, why did you need to come here?”
"Because just like they did on the ship you found Kim on, and every other ship we've been able to intercept, their navigational data has been deleted."
"How many ships have you intercepted?" Wray questioned.