Prophecy (Book One in the Prophecy Series)

by Lea Kirk

  And now here she sat with this amazing and giving man, talking about stars. She leaned her head on his shoulder. “Where’s your home, Gryf? Can we see Matir’s sun from here?”

  His cheek rubbed across her forehead. “Were we in Terr’s southern hemisphere, then yes we might be able to see it.”

  “I know you must miss your home and family.”

  “I do miss my parents, and Ora’s as well.” His breath tickled the fine hairs at her hairline.

  “I bet they miss you too.”

  He was silent, then, “I do not doubt they do, but they will be dealing with the shame I brought upon them by my negligence.”

  Not this again. “I meant what I said in the cell about this, you know. If we ever get out of this mess, Nicky, Simone, and I will testify on your behalf. And I bet most of the humans in Camp One will do the same.”

  The music of the crickets filled the night. “Thank you, compa.”

  “By the way, what does…?”

  Gryf’s body turned rigid, and his head lifted. His gaze directed toward the western horizon. “Alexandra.”

  Her heart rate jumped at the warning edge to his voice. Scanning in the same direction, she noticed a pinpoint of light rising in the darkness. “What is that?”

  The iron grip of his hands turned her away from him. “Go. Get down and get to the cave and don’t stop for anything.” The scrape of the walkie-talkie against its leather case at his hip reached her ears as she scrabbled across the grey-veined stone. “Camp One, raptor incoming. Repeat, raptor incoming, northeast trajectory.”

  The handheld crackled. “Acknowledged. Northeast raptor. All stations go dark.”

  Where’s the edge of the cliff? Her groping hands slid downward. “Whoa!” Found it.

  “Alexandra?”

  “I’m okay. Just found the edge.” She sat on her bottom and scooted over the brink and down the steep slope. A brief sensation of being air borne preceded her final bone-jarring landing. “Oof!”

  Small loose rocks and dirt rained down around her. She looked back up the thirty foot drop at Gryf’s dark outline. “I’m okay.”

  “Then go. Get inside and do not move until they’re gone.”

  I know, I know, already. She scrambled to her feet and felt her way around the jutting stone perimeter. Her hand found the curve of the cave’s entrance. A Matiran curse came from above, then the scraping and sliding of Gryf’s out of control descent. Cripes, he must be too far to one side of the cleared slope. She had been nothing more than lucky that she’d gotten it right in the dark.

  The distinctive thrum of the Anferthian transport reached her ear. Gryf was still sliding, the swoosh of gravel marked his passage. There was no way he’d make it to the cave before the craft flew over. A thud and a shout of pain announced his uncontrolled impact with the ground.

  The Anferthians were practically above them now. Please, don’t move, Gryf. The last thing they needed was to be picked up by the enemy sensors, if they had them turned on. Maybe they hadn’t.

  The transport flew over, continuing on its way over the mountains in the direction of what was once Nevada. Alex waited until the thrumming noise faded to nothingness before emerging from the cave. She cast a glance in the direction the transport had come. Nothing but empty sky. No more transports, thank God.

  “Gryf.” Her whisper seemed like a shout in the absolute silence. Not even the crickets dared to chirp in the wake of the Anferthian’s passage, and she couldn’t blame them. Light. I’ll need my headlamp to see. Last thing she wanted was to step on an unconscious Gryf in the dark.

  It took longer than she liked to find one of their backpacks, and longer to dig out a headlamp. Once she had it on, she hurried out of the cave.

  He lay sprawled on his back, his right leg at an impossible angle. Shit. First thing first. His pulse seemed rapid, but at least he had one. Falling back on her nurses’ training to examine his head she found a large knot welling up on the left side. A peek under his eyelids confirmed a concussion. She was going to need help.

  A brief search around the area turned up no sign of the walkie talkie. Double shit. No way to call for help, and no way to get him back to camp. Now what’re you going to do, Alex?

  Gryf groaned, and she leaned over him. “Gryf? Can you hear me?”

  His eyes opened as if in response to her voice. She switched the headlamp to red so he could see her.

  “We’re stuck here, honey. Help is probably not coming for a long time, and I’m not leaving you in pain like this until they get here.” They’d be lucky if anyone showed up before noon tomorrow.

  He licked his lips. “Too risky. Eno anim.”

  She gave him a wide-eyed stare. Screw eno anim, she wasn’t going to let him suffer. “We both know that this is inevitable, Gryf. Your leg is broken and you have a bad concussion. You need help now, and…and seriously, is being stuck with me for the rest of your life that bad?” That was supposed to be a joke, but her voice had cracked, ruining the delivery.

  His dusty, scraped palm cupped her cheek. “My brave, compa.” He visibly swallowed. “Never have I hurt so much. Not even the times Graig thrashed me as cadets.”

  “Once we’re done here, I’ll kick his ass for you, okay?” She grasped his hand and lowered his arm back to the ground. “I’m going to put you out while I work on your leg.”

  “No.”

  She gave him a sympathetic smile. “Tough luck, Captain. Dormio.” One tap of her finger to his brow and he was out. “Sorry, babe, but screaming patients unnerve me.” And even Gryf would scream when she forced the sections of bone back into alignment. This would be one unpleasant and tricky procedure.

  It took at least an hour to line up the severed femur and reduce the swelling tissues enough to ensure a clean rebonding of the bone. The entire time her soul moved in a restless manner in her middle, almost like it was pacing. A small piece of her urged her to fight against it when the time came, but what was the point? If she and Gryf were really the lives promised in the Profeti, then it stood to reason that there was a way to beat the Anferthians. And she wanted that in the worst way.

  There was something else she wanted in the worst way too. She glanced at Gryf’s peaceful face. Given their past encounters, there was little doubt that the desire was mutual. Good grief, Mom and Dad, I fell in love with an alien.

  They would have loved him, too.

  The healing light around her hands faded, indicating the bone was mended. Her vision wavered, then stabilized. No passing out. She repositioned herself near Gryf’s shoulder. This was the part that scared her. Dante hadn’t covered concussions, so she’d have to make it up and hope for the best. Besides, Gryf had done it for her without any healer training, so it couldn’t be that hard.

  She placed her hands on either side of his head. What word should she use? She didn’t know the Matiran word for this type of injury, would English work? Only one way to find out.

  “Concussion.” She imagined her healing Gift flowing into his cranium, the bruising on his brain fading away, and swelling going down. It’s working! English words seemed to be as effective as Matiran for healing.

  The flow of her Gift slowed, then reversed, returning to the mysterious place it originated from deep inside her. Gryf’s eyes opened, their pupils equal again, and his mouth curved into a small smile. The familiar signature of a gentle ocean wave washed over her as he released his Gift. A gasp escaped her as her soul shifted in her chest. This time there was no reason to hold back; they’d waited long enough. She slowed her breathing, and allowed her shoulders to relax. A pin-point of pleasant warmth formed over her heart, and a palm-sized white sphere emerged like a star from the night sky. She’d never given any thought as to what her soul might look like. Finding it beautiful might be the height of conceit, but it really was.

  Her soul-sphere drifted toward another, this one crystal-blue. Gryf’s soul. Cripes, but his was just as beautiful. This is like a dream.

  The lights to
uched, merging together with a brilliant flash. It was as though the entire universe tilted and all sense of direction ceased to exist. Everything that was Gryf opened to her. Every experience he’d ever had became her own. His parents, his childhood, Ora, Graig, the loss of Graig’s younger sister, joining the fleet, his first time with a woman, becoming Senior Captain, the fall of the Guardians, captivity, the first time he’d looked into her eyes. All the joys and sorrows that had molded him into the man he’d become were now memories she treasured.

  Nothing else existed in her world but him. Them. Floating, joined as a single entity. She knew him as completely as she knew herself. All his strengths and his weaknesses, what motivated him and what brought him to his knees, were laid out before her.

  A universe of stars spiraled around them, then their souls separated. Hers held a dazzling nugget of sapphire at its center, and Gryf’s blue sphere cradled a pure white core. Both sank back into each of them, and she exhaled a breath in unison with him.

  Cripes. That was anything but a dream. Gryf’s presence was in her, there was no other way to explain it. She was aware of him in a way she’d never been aware of anyone.

  “Alexandra Gaia, to you I give my soul. My life,” Gryf murmured. He was sitting up now, his hands holding hers as though he held a treasure.

  Two lives joined for eternity. Yes, this was right. The urge to sing, and cry, and laugh all at once rose in her. “Gryf Dimytro, to you I give my soul. My life.”

  The look in his eyes was unfathomable and his hands trembled. “I will never leave you behind, animi,” he promised in his words, and with his eyes. “And I will never let you fall.”

  “I’ll never let you fall, either, Gryf.” She swayed, and he drew her to his chest. The familiar thump of his heart beat under her ear, just as it had that first day in the slave cell. They’d come full circle. She closed her eyes and exhaled long and slow. Life was good.

  ~ * ~

  Alex opened her eyes slowly. Dark. Cave. Warm. The soft flannel of the sleeping bag under her caressed her cheek. The weight of Gryf’s masculine arm draped over her waist, and his blue-skinned hand covered her own. His body pressed against her back, solid and comforting under the second sleeping bag that half covered them. Three Matiran luteps lit the immediate area.

  She must have fallen asleep after anim tros. At least she hadn’t fainted again. She’d never fainted before in her life until she met Gryf. A small sigh escaped her.

  “How do you feel, animi?” Gryf’s voice rumbled through her.

  “I’m okay.” And she was, as much as that surprised her. “Wide awake all of a sudden. How about you?”

  “Grateful, and blessed.”

  Aw. She smiled. “What does animi mean?”

  “My soul. And you are, Alexandra.”

  “We did it.” And it hadn’t been so bad after all. She wiggled and rolled over in the circle of Gryf’s arms.

  Her gaze met his and heat erupted to life between her legs, its flame reflected in Gryf’s gaze. “Oh.”

  She reached for him and claimed his mouth in a kiss born from love and fueled by desire. Her tongue dueled with his, tasting, exploring, and caressing. Where this sudden need came from she didn’t care. She wanted him, all of him, here and now.

  Gryf broke the kiss, his lips fluttering and nipping along her jawline, then to the little hollow just below her ear. His tongue dipped into the hollow, sending tingles all the way down to her toes.

  His hand found its way under her sweater, his fingers skimming up her ribcage until they found her breast. A moan escaped her, and she arched into his palm as he rolled first one nipple, then the other, to hardness. What would his mouth feel like there?

  “Alexandra?” He whispered next to her ear, as if seeking permission.

  “Yes, Gryf.” There was no way she could stop, not now. The need to touch and be touched consumed her. She needed to feel the friction of his skin against her own.

  Cool, dry air touched her body as her sweater and bra came off over her head. Both landed with a soft thump somewhere in the darkness beyond the lutep. Gryf’s Matiran uniform joined them a heartbeat later. Alex reached out and skimmed the tips of her fingers across his chest, trailing through the light dusting of white hair and over his dark blue areola. So similar, yet alien and exotic.

  She leaned forward and ran her tongue around them, tasting the faint saltiness of his skin. Gryf groaned, his hands molding to her head to tip her face up. His mouth covered hers again and he pressed forward, easing her onto her back on the rough horse blankets. Then he settled himself between her legs.

  The heat of his hard length rested between them, and she wrapped her arms behind his neck to deepen the kiss. But he pulled back, his lips searing a path over her jaw, down her throat until his mouth closed over her breast. He sucked hard and a sizzling heat consumed her.

  A gentle jerk at her waistband and the smooth grate of a zipper were the only warnings she had before her jeans slid off. Followed by her underwear. Gryf knelt between her knees, and his indigo gaze held hers as he grazed his fingertips up and down the sensitive inner skin of her thighs. Alex caught her bottom lip between her teeth as each pass brought him closer to the part of her most craving his touch. For sure she would climax the second he inserted his finger, if the anticipation didn’t kill her first.

  He brushed over her clit and she took in a sharp breath and closed her eyes. Another fleeting pass, then he circled her entrance, but still didn’t enter.

  What was he doing? “Touch me, Gryf. Please.”

  “Animi, the first time you shatter, it will be around me.” His voice was rough and above her, and the weight of his erection lay heavy on her belly.

  Her eyes flew open. He lifted his hips, then plunged deep inside her, hard and hot. Her joy at their union escaped her in a cry that echoed off the rock walls. She wrapped her legs around his hips to take him deeper. He shifted slightly, as if he knew exactly where to find her sweet spot. Pressure built in her, screaming for release. “Please, Gryf.”

  Growling, his hips pumped faster, his hard length driving into her, bringing her closer to bliss. She dug her fingers into the coarse material of the blankets and pushed up to meet him as she hurdled over the edge into ecstasy. He stiffened and roared, filling her with his essence. The abyss exploded with stars, and they floated as one in the vast universe, joined both body and soul.

  Chapter Twenty

  Gryf drifted back to his body, the glory of his union with Alexandra’s body and soul lingering. They were now truly joined on almost every plane of existence, even though they remained as separate entities. It would not always be so. The day would come when their bodies would cease and their souls unite as one. But not too soon. What they had just shared was worth staying alive for.

  He opened his eyes to the cool glow from the lutep. While their souls had drifted in another place, his body had collapsed atop Alexandra like the rag doll one of the camp orphans carried. Pressing his hands against the thick blankets, he rolled off her, then took her in his embrace.

  Alexandra mumbled something against his neck. He grunted as he stroked his fingertips over the soft skin of her back. No idea what she had said, nor did it matter. Apparently neither of them had the capacity for coherent vocabulary yet.

  Five minutes later, she stirred. “Did we reverse the rotation of the galaxy?”

  A chuckle rumbled through his chest. “It is possible.”

  She tipped her head back and met his gaze. “You glowed. Your eyes, your body….”

  He gave her waist a light squeeze. “You did the same, through your climaxing. Seeing you like that was….” Was what? Like a vision as she shattered around him.

  Her fingers trailed through his chest hair. “Who knew it could be like this?”

  “We do. Now.” He gave the tip of her nose a kiss. “What does Gaia mean on Terr?” Likely there were as many definitions as there were languages.

  Her chuckle was low and sexy. “You’re g
oing to laugh. Remember I told you that my dad was a professor of ancient history? Well, he really wanted my first name to be Gaia, but my mom nixed that idea. So Gaia became my middle name.”

  “Gaia means earth in Matiran.”

  “Yeah, well.” She shrugged one shoulder. “In Greek, too.”

  “It is appropriate then, as Dimytro means ‘loves the earth’.”

  “Are you kidding me?” She made a small sound of amusement, then cupped her warm hands over his cheeks. “I guess it is appropriate. I do love you, Gryf. I’m scared to death, but I love you.”

  “Is it anim tros that causes you distress?” There were things she should fear, but not their union.

  “No, it’s the prophecy thing. I mean, what are we going to do? I thought that the eno anim would somehow show us what to do, but it didn’t. It scares me not knowing, especially the part about sacrifice.”

  He drew one of her hands to his mouth and brushed a kiss over her knuckles. “Prophecies are unpredictable creatures at best. Attempts to interpret them before they are fulfilled are seldom successful. That being said, I believe the sacrifice was made when Kotas took you.” Forty-eight hours of torture was sacrifice enough from his perspective.

  Alexandra appeared thoughtful. “Or maybe it’s all the people who died—in your fleet and here on Earth.”

  He stroked his thumb rhythmically across the back of her hand to soothe her. “Unpredictable.”

  Her tongue darted out, wetting her lips. “The thing that kept me sane in Kotas’s chamber was thinking of you. At one point, in the middle of the night, I thought my dad had come to take me. Even then my thoughts went back to you, and I hoped you would forgive me for leaving you. But, then he told me I couldn’t go, that I had something to do first. I think he meant the Profeti.”

  “A visit from a deceased loved one is not unusual among Matirans. Since you too carry the Gift, such a visit makes sense. After all, Alexandra means Man’s Defender.”

  “You know that?”

  “One of my grandmothers was named Alexandra.” He gave her an impish grin.