by Celeste King
My last thought was of Galen as everything went black.
I had no idea how long I had been unconscious. One minute I was on Zerentia planning on seducing my sweet husband. The next minute, I woke with an incredible head ache. My entire body screamed in pain, and my stomach twisted into a million different nots.
When my eyes focused, I noticed that there were five aliens watching me from across the room. Each of them had a stun gun in their hands, aimed directly at me.
I had no intention of doing anything stupid. Even if I could stand, I didn’t think my body could handle another round of electricity.
“Who are you?”
They stood there in silence, with their eyes never wavering from me.
“Okay. You obviously don’t know your own names. Fair enough for a group of people stupid enough to take me away from Galen.”
The five men never even flinched. I almost had the heart to poke them to see if they would topple over, like statues. However, the fact that my legs were nothing more than rubbery sticks and those tasers were not fake, I decided to sit tight.
“Why did you guys take me?”
No answer and no movement. This started to irk me.
“What do you want?”
Nothing for about five minutes. They all stood still staring at me.
My throat burned and my mouth felt like it was filled with cotton. I was not about to ask for water, though. I would never let an enemy see any kind of weakness in me.
One of the aliens handed his stun gun to the man standing beside him and picked up a bag. He slowly approached me as though I were a rabid dog poised for the kill. I still wasn’t about to do anything stupid, though.
He opened up his bag, and pulled out the arm cuff used to measure blood pressure. He took my temperature and listened to my heart. Apparently satisfied, he packed up his equipment and backed away from me as slowly as he had approached me.
I almost wanted to laugh and tell him I wasn’t a rattlesnake, but I was satisfied that I had them terrified of me.
The medic alien went outside with another guy. They came back with two large boxes and set them down on the floor. Then, all five of them quickly left the shack.
As soon as they were gone, I checked my body for any kind of injuries. The only marks I could find were the four burns where the tasers hit me, and the barbs dug into my chest.
Battle scars I supposed.
I tried to stand, but I couldn’t get my legs to work at first. After a lot of effort, I managed to use the wall to pull myself up.
There were two smaller rooms, on opposite sides, that were attached to this larger room I was in.
Slowly, in case someone was in there, I pushed the door open. However, the rooms were bare.
I crawled back to the corner in the larger room that was just behind the door. I at least would have half a second advantage if someone opened the door, since they wouldn’t be able to see me.
The hammers in my head were thundering, and my eyes were burning. My body felt as though I had been beaten with a baseball bat. There wasn’t any part of me that didn’t hurt. My stomach had untwisted itself and then twisted back up a different way.
With my body propped up in the corner, I leaned my head against the wall and closed my eyes. I must have fallen asleep, because when I opened my eyes again, everything was dark.
14
Galen
My eyes were still clamped shut when I reached for Maura. Her spot on the bed was empty and cold. Cracking open my eyes, I noticed that she had already got out of bed.
I figured that she was probably outside doing her exercises. She liked to work out first thing in the morning. She enjoyed the early morning suns. I believed that she has really fallen in love with the planet and its people. I just wish that she would fall in love with me.
It was still early, so I figured I would go outside and join her. She liked to go for a run, and I wanted to run with her. I wanted to be with her, regardless of whether she was in love with me. I knew that she cared a lot for me. It showed in her kisses and when we made love. It was just a matter of time before her feelings deepened.
I was pretty sure that she loved me. She might have been resisting her feelings because she was fighting the curse. However, I thought that it was more likely that she was just afraid of getting hurt. That was understandable.
Once she admitted that she loved me, her love would be strong and never ending. That I could count on.
Lost in my thoughts, I was startled by a strange noise that filled the air and a triangular shaped space ship flew overhead. I squinted at it, and realized that it wasn’t one of mine. I had not authorized any ship or aliens to land in our area. That means that people were on the planet illegally. That was never a good thing.
Immediately, I thought of Maura. I scanned the entire area. I didn’t see her in the courtyard. I walked over to the section where she usually worked out. I didn’t see any sign of my beloved, but I did see a lot of different foot prints. I followed the footprints over to one side, near the forest border. It was obvious that there had been some type of struggle.
My heart jumped into my throat and my stomach sank. This wasn’t good.
I focused on Maura, and an intense pain exploded in my gut, causing me to double over. I tried to control my breathing.
Warriors don’t panic, I told myself over and over again.
I called Noxu and Gowen and told them to bring out the troops. Together, we combed the surrounding forested area. We found a small clearing where the ship had landed. There were a lot of foot prints surrounding the triangular indention.
We also found the three guards that had been assigned to guard the area. They had been hit in the back of the head and piled on top of each other. Luckily, they were still alive.
Maura was nowhere to be found.
Noxu, Gowen, and I told our most trusted troops to get ready for a mission. Then, the three of us went into our communication room.
I contacted Jubal, king of the Zurcon race, and Keyan, king of the Vehmae race. They had also attended the ball and had met Maura. Their two planets were the closest to mine, so I asked them for their help. They said they would be here in a couple of hours.
Jubal and Keyan got here in record time. They stared at a map of the galaxy, trying to figure out which of the planets were close enough to be potential hiding places.
While they worked, I mostly paced around the room. I was getting angrier and angrier. All the deities in the world could not keep those safe if she was harmed in anyway. I promised that I would tear them apart and destroy them.
While I created a worn path on the carpet, Jubal and Keyan tried to figure out who would take her and why. That would help them determine where she would be.
There were many possibilities about who could be behind the kidnapping, although all of us had our suspicions. Reasons for the kidnapping were varied, although I thought that it could be a distraction. Jubal and Keyan agreed that it was likely to be a distraction, especially since no one had contacted me about a ransom.
A distraction from what, we didn’t know.
With those thoughts, we returned to the map. There were several possible planets, but we decided that the one most likely was labeled PA-7846.
The planet had always been very arid. It was mostly covered in sand, and there wasn’t a whole lot that grew on the planet. It was hot at night and even hotter in the day time. At one time there were some people who tried to farm parts of it for moisture, but soon, everything was used up.
For a while it was used as a haven for outlaw aliens, and there were a few towns that were developed where some of them hung out. However, after a while, it became too unbearable even for them. It is been officially uninhabited for decades.
It is the perfect place to stash someone. It wasn’t too far away and no one, who wasn’t looking for her, would find her.
Luckily it was a pretty small planet, so we had a pretty decent chance of finding her, if she
were still alive.
I had explained the situation on the telecom to Jubal and Keyan, so they had brought equipment that would work for the varied atmospheres of different planets. My people had loaded my equipment for me, so all I had to do was board the ship.
We also had high powered heat seeking radars. We could fly low over the planet and pick up even the faintest of anomalies in heat signatures. Her body temperature would be cooler than the ambient atmosphere of the planet.
If she was on that planet, and she was alive, we would find her. And whoever was responsible for taking her had better pray that we would find her alive and unharmed.
15
Maura
Through the slits in my eyes, I could see that it was dark outside. I didn’t have a way to determine what time it was, so I didn’t know how long I slept. I guessed that it was a while, because it was still bright out when I was brought here.
That didn’t really help, though, because I didn’t know where “here” was. I could be anywhere in the galaxy. Depending on the sun or suns, the location of the planet, and the rotation of the planet, it could be light outside for three hours or thirteen.
I lifted my head off the wall and instantly a searing pain flashed through my brain. It eased a tiny bit after I stayed still for a minute. My eyes still burned as though someone had flung acid in them and my sight was a bit blurry. I hoped that would clear up in a few minutes.
Using the wall to help me stand, I discovered that my legs were a bit sturdier. I wasn’t ready to run a marathon, but at least I could walk without falling over.
The door was unlocked, which was actually a bad sign. If the captors thought there was any way to escape, it would have been locked or barricaded.
The stars gave off enough light to tell me that I was surrounded by sand. There was only sand as far as the eye could see. I hoped that the sun or suns would shine some light on the situation and let me figure out if there was any possible avenue for escape.
Unfortunately, the sand wasn’t the only deterrent to keep me from leaving. It was dark out and it was sweltering. How hot would it be with the sun out?
There was no way to even come up with a plan tonight without being able to adequately survey the area. I had no way to gauge what was around me, if there were any dangers in the area, or if there was any potential aid nearby.
The only good aspect about the situation was that there was no sign of the aliens who kidnapped me. Of course, that could also be a bad thing if thing if Galen doesn’t find me in time. I really didn’t want to die in this shack, on this planet, alone.
Shutting the door, I remembered the boxes that the aliens had brought in. I wasn’t sure I wanted to open them, but I was thirsty.
Much to my relief, one of the boxes was full of bottled water. I had to regulate how much water I drank, because I didn’t know how long it would take for me to either escape or for Galen to find me. There was no doubt in my mind that Galen was already looking for me.
The other box had food in it. My stomach rebelled at the thought of food, so I settled on sipping the water.
Sliding back down to the floor in the corner behind the door, I tried to figure out who would want to take me and why. I wasn’t anyone important. I didn’t even think that anyone or organization knew where I was living. Except for the UPO. They knew. There was still the question of why. What value did I have to them?
My thoughts turned back to Galen. A huge lump formed in my throat, and it was impossible to swallow. Tears formed in my eyes and streaked down my face.
“I am in love with Galen,” I announced to an empty room. The sound of my voice echoing off the walls startled me as much as my words. “I’m in love with him.”
I finally figured out that I was in love with Galen, and that he completed me. I had vowed to tell him today, but I never got the chance. Those jerks grabbed me before I could.
What took me so long to figure things out? Why was I so dense? Why was I so stubborn? Why didn’t I wake him up to tell him? He would have been fine with that.
All of these questions haunted me as though they were spirits from another realm. I shook the thoughts out of my head, like a dog shakes off water. The questions were not going to help me now. Hopefully, I would have plenty of time to mentally beat myself up later.
Those thoughts dissolved as new tears formed in conjunction of my biggest fear that I would never be able to tell him what was in my heart. He would never know that I loved him with every fiber of my existence.
I took a deep breath, and another thought occurred to me. If we were, indeed, fated mates, then perhaps he could hear me if I called out to him with my heart.
Closing my eyes, I pictured the inside of my head and heart. I saw myself pushing every thought out except for a picture of Galen.
I pictured his gorgeous body, his beautiful eyes, and his sexy smile. I pictured his deep voice speaking my name. I felt his arms around me, pulling me close to him. I tasted his lips on mine.
“Hear me, My Love. I’m waiting for you. I love you and I need you.” I repeated those words over and over again as though they were a mantra. I put every bit of energy into the phrase and these feelings.
I had no idea how long I sat there and called out for him. The next thing I knew it was light outside.
Jumping up, I threw open the door. Unfortunately, the sun didn’t reveal any secrets that stars hadn’t already showed me. There was nothing but miles of sand around me. To make it worse, just as I feared, it was exceedingly hot outside. There was no way I could survive a trek out there.
My only option was to wait for Galen to find me. I knew in my soul that he would find me. I only hoped that it would be in time.
16
Galen
The planet was only a couple of hours away, but it seemed as though it took us three eternities to get there.
She has to be there. She must be there.
Something inside of me hummed. I never ignored any time of sensation, because often our bodies could interpret situations and messages before our brain can register anything.
Finally, the planet loomed, and we prepared to glide in and scan the entire planet, looking for any signs of life.
My entire body pulsed, Maura, where are you? Hopefully, she would feel me if I got close, and would be able to signal me.
The intensity of the humming grew stronger until my entire body was vibrating. She was near. I knew it.
Noxu was the first one to spot a lone shack that was in the middle of a huge sand field. Jubal focused the heat sensor on the shack. It picked up a small spot that was cooler than the rest of the area.
Gowen skillfully landed our craft a little way off from the shack in case there were unfriendlies inside of it. We didn’t want to take any chances with Maura’s life or our own. We had special shoes, a lot like snow shoes, that allowed us to travel easily across the sand. Jabul was used to the sand anyway, since a lot of his planet was sand.
Finally, we reached the shack. I quietly approached the small building, trying not to alert anyone to my presence.
One of the windows was just clear enough that I could look inside.
At first, I panicked when I saw Maura curled up on the floor in a fetal position. I was afraid that she was hurt – or worse. However, the humming inside of me let me know that she was only asleep.
I focused all of my love and energy toward her.
“Maura, wake up.”
Slowly, she opened her eyes and pushed herself up off the floor. She shook her head as though she were shaking off cobwebs.
“Over here, Maura,” I silently told her.
Her eyes darted around the room until they focused on the window. As soon as she laid eyes on me, she jumped up and ran out of the shack straight into my arms.
Jubal and Keyan were standing behind me.
In quiet whispers they asked her if she was hurt. She shook her head no.
They asked her if she was alone. She nodded that she was.
Both of them decided to search the shack to determine whether the kidnappers left any clues.
Maura wrapped her arms around me tight and buried her head in my chest. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought she was crying. But since warriors never cried, I would never have accused her of it.
I held her to me, so thankful that she was with me, alive and well. Leaning down, I kissed the top of her head, and then rested my cheek on her.
After a moment, she pulled away and looked up at me.
“Galen, I need to tell you something.”
“Yes, My Love?”
“I need to tell you that I was an idiot, and I’m sorry.”
“How so?”
“I’ve been in love with you for a long time, but was too stubborn to let myself believe it, and too afraid to tell you.”
I smiled. “Baby, I love you too. I figured out that you loved me while we were on the ship over here. I could feel it. My body started humming. Besides, the only way you would have heard my telepathic messages telling you to wake up.”
She looked at me funny. “Are you starting to glow?”
I looked down. It seemed that I was glowing, but I wasn’t going to admit to it.
“I’m sure it’s just the way the sun is glinting off of my skin. It is iridescent, you know.”
“There are two suns on Zerentia, and you never looked like this. You are glowing. I thought only pregnant humans glowed.”
“Are you bullying me?”
She put an innocent look on her face. “No. I would never bully you. That would be mean. I would never be mean. I am sweet and innocent.”
I simply looked at her and grinned.
“You know, it’s funny that you sent a telepathic message that I heard and you said that your body started humming last night.”