by Kate Sheperd
“Fuck you!” She spat out inaudibly under the gag while attempting to pull her chains loose. She was going to fight with everything she had left against this force. Kneeling beside her, Hertzog merely chuckled and took his hand and placed it on her chin, forcing her face up to him. “Now. Play nice. You will be happier in the end. They always are.”
Taking a long nail he caressed her cheek with it, examining the marks it left on her skin, and then took his fingers and felt her hair. He had never encountered a creature with such a soft mane without any apparent purpose. It was merely decoration, like the multicolored feathers of a bird, used to gain a male's attention. He was enamored with its softness against his rough, leathery skin. He would gain great pleasure out of wrapping his hands within it during their time together. “What do you call yourself?”
Reaching down he removed the gag from her mouth. As soon as he did so she began breathing, deeply grateful for the additional oxygen it provided. “Well?”
“Jocasta. It is what I call myself.”
“Not anymore. You are mine now. I will call you Zara. In my language it means ‘dirt.’”
Seeing his eyes glow in pleasure with this insult she only nodded and once more thought of her Vangorg. Being held as a hostage was not entirely new to her, since her life with Vangorg had begun with her abduction, but she remembered how kind he was. He was nothing like this creature that lingered over her, studying her, attempting to figure out how to break her. She felt an odd stirring in her abdomen again and knew that her champion was alive. He had to be, after all. They were not one in spirit yet.
7.
Seeing nothing but red, Vangorg awoke against the rough sand. He wiped the blood from his forehead and it smeared against his palm. He stood shakily and breathed in deeply. Channeling his sixth sense, he caught a glimpse of the beings that had invaded his planet holding his people in chains and making them toil in their mines and shops under forced slavery. Gathering his strength, he knew he could not allow this to happen. He focused all of his energy and thoughts on his wife. She was still alive. He could feel it. He said a silent, focused prayer for strength in this impossible battle. He could feel her heartbeat once more. He could feel her fear as well, and knew that if he did not act soon, she would be killed. Jocasta was a fiery human and one not easily broken. The creature that was keeping her would not put up with what he deemed to be her insolence. Picking up his sword and shield from the dust, Vangorg ran toward the palace.
Recalling all of their shared moments, he knew that it would be worth it. No matter what the stakes he vowed when she became his wife that he would always protect her and keep her, even after the cold grave had taken them both. He knew if he only had one heartbeat left remaining within his chest he would choose to spend it with her. He would die happily if it meant he would get one last kiss from her, one last look into those kind green orbs she called eyes. Running to the palace, he stood before the doors and stealthily made his way to the back bedroom the pair had shared.
Peeking around the corner he saw the creature standing over his naked and helpless wife. Seeing her in such a state, he couldn't help the anger that bubbled up in his soul. Every hair on his body stood up. He took a deep breath, attempting to steady his emotions and logically come up with a plan to defeat the alien being, but rage boiled within him. She was his and he was hers. No one would ever take that from him. Picking up his sword, his own eyes glowed with adrenaline. Running toward the being, he could find no words. He simply channeled all of the anger and protectiveness he had for Jocasta into his actions. He didn't think this time, didn't attempt to calculate the creature's movements. He just simply reacted, becoming part of the ether around him. Now he was as flexible and as transformative as water. Hertzog turned and saw him and laughed. He couldn't believe that this man thought he could defeat him. “Fool! I will kill you now. You are annoying like a gnat.”
“Jocasta! I love you! I promised you I would return for you.”
Urged on by her pleading eyes and intense stare, he could feel her love and strength coursing through his veins as well. Hertzog swung wildly at Vangorg, who dodged the attack easily and brought his sword down viciously against Hertzog’s arm. Now it was Vangorg who took pleasure in watching the blood pour from the open wound as he continued his attack. Kicking swiftly, he took down the creature in one motion, sweeping its knees out from underneath it. Without remorse and before Hertzog could move or react, Vangorg screamed out in a warrior's cry as he chopped into Hertzog's neck, finishing the attack while panting and watching the blood spurt from the creature's decapitated head. Its eyes glowed a bright red one final time, then faded to black as Vangorg kicked it once more, making sure the body had no life left remaining in it.
Letting his sword clank to the ground, he knelt before his wife and removed the chains from her wrists. She was visibly shaken as tears ran down her cheeks. “Oh, Vangorg. I knew you were alive. I knew you wouldn't leave me.”
Covering her naked body with his cloak, he picked her up gingerly and carried her out of the room away from her temporary prison and the corpse that was still oozing liquid. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he carried her, and he kissed her passionately. She couldn't hold back her sobs as she felt a deep gratitude that he was still alive. He held her closely to him and made shushing sounds, soothing her and letting her know he was not going anywhere, that it was his destiny to keep her safe. “I'm here, my wife. I will never leave you.”
“Vangorg, the city is in shambles and there's been so much suffering and slaughter. What can we do now?”
“Our people have faced adversity before. We are a strong people with great tenacity. We will rebuild together, my love, and will be stronger than ever. When I saw that creature standing over you, I couldn't contain my rage, my dear. I swear to you I will never be that cruel again unless it is warranted.”
She kissed him deeply, then replied, “I know, my love. It is not in your nature. It won't be in your son's nature either.”
“What did you say?”
“When you slept and didn't feel me stirring, I understand why now. Your life force was being placed into my womb. I'm pregnant with your son, my love. I hope this fact makes you happy.”
Taking her hands within his own, Vangorg slumped to his knees as tears of joy streamed down his face. He couldn't have been happier to have an heir to his legacy. Most of the other women who were abducted were already with child. Vangorg was content to leave that detail up to the fates, however. Staring into her eyes, he placed his hands on her abdomen and openly wept while she held the back of his head and kissed his forehead. It was her turn now to make shushing noises. She felt his joy and relief in her body as well.
“I swear to you, as long as there is breath in my body, that child will not want for anything, nor will he ever suffer any tragedy. It's my duty now to protect him and preserve our lineage and our heritage. It's so breathtaking when you think about it, my darling. Stars burn out and planets die, but this force that we have within us has merged to form another being. I will be a good father. I can promise you that my darling.”
“I know you will, my husband. We are all one heartbeat now in the vastness of this universe.”
The Bear Minimum
The Bear Minimum: Chapter 1
Candy Voss wasn't the kind of girl you could ignore. Her stylish blond hair never had a strand out of place, her manicured nails and red lips were always perfectly applied. She was aloof but she was nice underneath the cold exterior. No one really got a chance to know her that well, her father made sure of that.
She came from money. Old money. Her father was a politician and had more money than she knew what to do with, although she didn't spend as much as people thought she did. She'd driven the same car since he got it for her birthday when she turned eighteen. At twenty-four, her father wanted her to marry the son of one of his biggest contributors - a political match that would look good for her father. Being a daddy's girl, she was willing t
o go along with it to make her father happy. She didn't have many boyfriends, having security guards and the threat of no privacy pretty much scared off most men her own age.
The ones interested in her were people in her father's circle, who were used to this lifestyle. The thing is, she wanted peace and quiet and a less stressful life, but when you're the daughter of a famous politician, you didn't get a lot of choices.
Only meeting Denver Fredrickson a few times, she was willing to marry the man's son. She'd only met him once at the last party her father threw and he'd been charming and handsome, and his family was in the billionaire range. She'd never want for anything, but she had some reservations about the whole thing. Something about Daniel Fredrickson had set off her warning bells, but she couldn't quite place it. When she'd told her father, he'd accused her of just having cold feet and he'd pressured her until she'd given in.
Tonight, she was driving her cherry red jeep out to the woods to the lookout to clear her head. Normally teenagers came out here to make out and have sex, but Candy had always come alone.
Henry Voss rarely let his daughter go anywhere without supervision, but every now and then she could convince him to let her go to the woods and just sit and look at the stars. She'd come out here in her heels and designer jeans and fantasize about what it would be like to live a simpler life. The kind where she could just throw her hair in a pony tail and walk around her house in sweats and sneakers without her father's people seeing her.
It had rained a few days ago, and when she hit the outlook, her tires got stuck in the mud. She couldn't get her jeep out after driving to reverse or even the four-wheel drive. She took out her cell phone and sighed. No cell reception here, she'd have to walk back to the main road to call Triple A. Her father would kill her. She wondered if she could do it without him finding out.
She wasn’t afraid as she walked down the dark path. The heels and dirt and gravel made it hard to walk, but she wasn't a wimp, even if she might appear to be on the surface. She might have been born with a silver spoon in her mouth but it wasn't the kind of girl she'd wanted to be. She had learned to change a tire and her oil, and she could fix basic things around the house. She'd even fixed leaky faucets in their bathrooms without telling her father, simply to prove to herself she could.
Her father never would have allowed her to have an image of anything but a quiet, demure socialite who would marry for his political career. Maybe that was why she was so against marrying Danny. She would do it to make her father happy, but as she walked down the muddy path, she wondered if her happiness would ever matter to anyone.
Tripping, she almost fell face first in the mud. She took off her shoes to find a broken heel. Grunting in frustration, she checked her cell signal again and still had no bars. Shoeless, she walked feeling the sharp sting of rocks and other things in the dirt cutting up her feet.
Finally giving up, she found a stump to sit on to wait until someone found her. She didn't think it would be that long, it was a Friday night. Someone would have to come out this way eventually. Wrapping her jacket around her tighter, she realized that when she wasn't moving the chill of the night air sunk into her bones.
An hour later, shivering and feeling like her teeth where going to chatter out of her head, she gave up on sitting there and decided to continue walking. It was only a few miles but it was now pitch black. Walking down the road, she eventually saw a path leading into the woods. She saw a light shining between the trees and decided maybe they'd have a phone there she could use. Heat would be nice too.
Walking towards the house it was further away than it looked and her feet were raw and bloody by the time she reached it. Knocking on the door she waited and heard footsteps, sighing in relief when the door started to open. She took one look at the man in the doorway and all rational thought flew out of her head.
The man that stood there was a big bear of a man. He stood well over six feet tall and had a bushy beard. He was wearing the green uniform of the state park rangers and looked surprised to see her standing there. He had the grayest eyes she'd ever seen and his brown curly hair looked like a soft mop on the top of his head. She wanted to curl her fingers through it and see if it was as soft as it looked.
"Candy." She said and just stared at him.
"Is it Halloween and I forgot about it?" He blinked at her and stood back to let her in.
Letting out a small laugh she realized she didn't say a whole sentence. "No, my name is Candy, I'm sorry. My jeep got stuck in the mud; I was walking down to the main road and saw the lights through the trees. Do you have a phone I could use?"
"Sure, I could also try to get you unstuck from the mud, from past experience Triple A doesn't like coming up here, and their big trucks get stuck. I have a few boards and some rope and chain that usually does the trick to get you out of the mud here. When it's been raining like this it can be impossible for them to get up here." He cocked his head sideways and his expression softened when he saw how badly her feet were injured. Come sit down on the couch here and let me tend to your feet, and we can talk about your car or truck."
"It's a jeep, but the back wheels just got stuck and I couldn't get it out." Candy told him and felt like an idiot. She knew that mud and tires in the wilderness weren't a good match. It was a rookie mistake. "Are you the park ranger here?"
"One of them. I'm actually wildlife. I keep poachers out and keep track of all the local wolf and bears they've tagged. I have monitoring equipment in the back." He told her as he pulled out a first aid kit and set it down on the coffee table and got a bucket of water to wash her feet and see how badly they were damaged. "What happened to your shoes?"
"I came out in heels. I wasn't expecting to walk. I know, it was dumb. I was just trying to get away from my family for a few hours. I like to come out here and look at the night sky. It's the only place that feels safe and peaceful to me." She told him and shrugged. She helped him wash off her feet and then winced when he poured antibiotic cleaner on her feet to disinfect them.
"You look familiar," He commented as he finished bandaging up her feet and then stood back to look at her for a moment before he started to put his first aid supplies away. "Do I know you?"
"Candy Voss, Henry Voss's daughter. The politician." Candy murmured, feeling embarrassed. His expression changed for a moment, it was just a flash but it looked like anger. His body language was relaxed after he finished putting the supplies away.
"The storm knocked out my land line, I can get your car out when there's light, or I can drive you home now. Your choice." He told her and went to grab his truck keys.
"I'd rather not return home without my car, I can justify staying out all night a lot easier than a strange man bringing me home without my car." Candy stared at him and then stood up and almost fell down. Once she'd been off her feet for a while she hadn't realized how badly they hurt. Crying out she fell forward and grabbed his arm to keep from face planting on his hardwood floors.
"Are you alright?" He blinked at her as he grabbed her to keep her upright.
"Nothing sitting back down won't fix. Apparently my feet hurt more than I thought they did." She said wincing. She looked up into his face and her lips parted, he was close enough she could smell him. He smelled like pine cones and evergreens. It was an intoxicating smell to her compared to the overly perfumed people she was used to being around. This is what a man should smell like. Earthy and strong, capable. He didn't need to preen like a peacock to get attention and feel confident in his own abilities.
Before she knew what she was doing, she leaned forward and kissed him. The minute her lips touched his, he stiffened and looked shocked. Kissing her back, his hand came up to hold onto her head and his tongue plunged into her mouth. Moaning, she deepened the kiss and leaned against his rock-hard body to support herself and her aching feet.
A moment later she pulled away from him and cleared her throat. "Thank you for that. I mean, thank you for fixing my feet. I mean, I don't usually g
o around kissing total strangers but... I don't know, sorry."
Feeling completely stupid, she hobbled back over to the couch and sat down. He probably thought she was a complete hussy now. It was the most erotic kiss she'd ever experienced and it had happened out of the blue. She didn't know what prompted her to kiss him, but the way he'd kissed her back was like a man starved for a steak. It had stirred her in ways she'd never experienced before. She'd had a couple of boyfriends in college that had gotten her to go to bed, but nothing had as much chemistry or spark as that single kiss.
Blinking at the ground, she tried to process what she was feeling. She was technically engaged to someone else, why had she kissed him? She knew the safest thing she could do for everyone was get away from him as fast as possible.
A large alarm went off in the back room and he had looked like he was about to talk to her, but instead his attention snapped to the door.
"I need to take care of this. Kitchen's off to the right, bathroom is that door off the kitchen. I'll be back soon. You rest, eat and drink whatever you want." He told her and took off into the backroom to deal with the alarm.