Emma's Heart (Brides of Theron 3)

by Rebecca Pond

  “Move Theron, the Emperor wishes to speak to you.” The soldier jabbed the weapon into his back again to get Lars to move forward. Lars walked in silence as a group of the soldiers surrounded him, and a much larger group followed close behind. There was no way he was going to be able to get out of this predicament.

  The soldiers marched him in through the tall ornate doors that lined the front of the Emperor’s palace. They brought him through several corridors, and then down a flight of stairs. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he could see a set of double doors that were being guarded by two fully armed Drylon soldiers, and as they approached, the soldiers pushed open the ebony and gold inlayed doors and motioned for him to step inside. As he entered, Lars could see Gatton sitting on his throne waiting for him.

  “Bring him forward!” Gatton’s voice seemed to boom through every square inch of the room.

  The soldiers marched forward with Lars until he was within a few feet of the Emperor. The look on Gatton’s face automatically told Lars that he didn’t stand a chance in hell of getting out of this in one piece. The Emperor leaned forward in his chair, placing his elbows on his knees. Gatton’s normally completely black eyes were tinged blood red with the anger that Lars saw brewing within them.

  “What do you have to say for yourself, Theron?” Gatton spit the words, as he looked at Lars with disdain.

  Lars took a deep breath before he attempted to speak, “I had absolutely nothing to do with the attack on the base, Emperor. My counterpart, Hano, was the one who lead the Therons to the base on UV-49. I have since taken it upon myself to take care of that little problem…”

  The Emperor jumped to his feet, “Little problem! My base was completely destroyed by your people! You lead them there, and it was all because of your desire to get revenge on your commander over some stupid Earth female! You have caused me enough problems with your schemes and wanting to become a Drylon soldier! You are soon to become a Drylon alright, a Drylon prisoner! Take him down to the dungeon and chain him to the wall! Get this Theron scum out of my sight!” The entire time the Emperor spoke his voice grew louder and louder to the point that even the soldiers cowered away from him.

  Lars was jerked backwards then led from the Emperor’s throne room towards the dungeon. He had heard many nightmarish stories about the dungeon under the Drylons’ Emperor’s palace and knew that it was a place he did not want to visit for very long. He would try to bide his time as best as he could until he could come up with a plan to escape from what he knew was going to be a living hell.

  He was shoved by his escort into a cell that was dark, damp, and smelled of rotten food, unwashed bodies, and excrement. One of the soldiers harshly led him with a tight grip on his upper arm over to the wall across the room, and he proceeded to chain his arms to the wall. From his position in the room, he could see the minimal light coming from one of the sconces that lighted the way through the dark tunnel.

  “Enjoy your new home,” the soldier told him after the last chain was secured on his wrist. The door to the cell slammed shut with a resounding clank, leaving Lars to slid the down the wall to sit on the filthy cell floor. It was almost completely dark now as the light from the hallway could hardly penetrate the tiny barred window on the door.

  “Son of a Bitch,” Lars shouted into the air while he tugged forcefully at the chains. “Let me out!” He pulled as hard as he could on the chains, but he was going nowhere.

  “You ought to have a seat and enjoy your new accommodations, son. Your attempts at escape are useless. All you will end up doing is hurting yourself.” He heard the sound of a deep voice coming from out of the darkness in the nearest corner.

  “Who’s there?” Lars’ head had snapped immediately to the direction from where the voice came, but his eyes hadn’t adjusted to the darkness enough to see anything in the room.

  The only response he heard was in the form of a deep chuckle. Chains began to rattle as a figure slid out of the darkness along the ground moving toward him. As his eyes adjusted, he was able to see enough now to know that the man that shared this space with him was a Theron, but who was he?

  “Who are you?” he asked the man sitting on the floor near him.

  “By the looks of it, I think I am your new roommate.” The man on the floor stared back at the new prisoner.

  “That’s obvious, what’s your name? It would be nice to know your name because we are likely to be rooming together for a while.” He was fast becoming irritated with this man, and if he would have been within arms-reach, he would have punched him square in the face.

  “Well, since you put it like that. My name is Zirlo, and now that I have told you my name, what might yours be,” he replied.

  Lars sat there on the cold damp ground stunned to silence. “Did you say your name is Zirlo?” The man sitting before him couldn’t possibly be who he thought he was. He was supposed to be long dead, at least that’s what all of Theron had been told.

  “Yes, my name is Zirlo. Why do you sound so surprised?”

  “You’re Commander Zirlo? Leader of the Theron warriors,” Lars stated matter of fact. “Are you Commander Zeb’s father?”

  Lars heard Zirlo gasp in surprise as his eyes opened wide. “Yes, Zeb is my son. Is he still alive?”

  Chapter 10

  Emma woke up the next morning just as the light was starting to shine through the window that overlooked the forest outside. When she looked over to the other side of the humungous square bed, Brylon was lying on his back, quietly snoring. His body was covered just below his narrow waist by the bed sheet, revealing quite a bit of his muscular body.

  She tried to sit up as carefully as she could so that she wouldn’t wake him. She watched him as he slept noticing that he was so peaceful in his sleep, and she appreciated the fact that he was a very good looking man. Even though they had been sharing the bed for over two weeks, she had never taken the time to actually check out the man who claimed her as his own. His face was turned away from her, but she was still able to get a good look at his profile. She watched as his unshaven jaw, dusted with the growth of overnight stubble, clenched and unclenched in sleep. He exhaled through slightly parted lips after he would snore a bit as he inhaled through his nose. The quiet snoring sound was almost enough to cause her to giggle out loud. Her eyes traveled further down his chest that was virtually hairless but extremely muscular, his skin was tan, and there was a scar over his right nipple that was faded. She swallowed when she imagined herself running her hands over his chest to wake him, something she very well couldn’t allow herself to do. Especially, after what happened last night.

  Eyes traveling further down his body, she noticed that he had six-pack abs. Even in sleep she could see the sinewy muscles of his chest working as he breathed in and out. His body hair started to thicken right below his belly button and soon was concealed beneath the high thread count material of the sheet. One of his muscular legs was uncovered and bent at the knee atop the sheet. He was lean and there was not an inch of fat to be found anywhere on his body.

  Her eyes returned to study his face, and her heart jumped when she realized that he was watching her. He must have awoken during her covert examination of his body and caught her red handed. She became very nervous when he gave her a knowing glance, and without realizing it, she drew in her bottom lip and started to chew on it. She quickly turned her eyes to examine at her fingers which were picking absentmindedly at the sheet.

  “Good morning, my sweet. How are you this morning?” He rolled to his side propping his jaw on his fist as he looked at her.

  Emma glanced out from the side of her eyes, and then turned her head absentmindedly in his direction and said, “I am okay, I guess.”

  Brylon sat up in the bed and reached out to tenderly touch her cheek with his fingers. She looked away from him shyly, and his heart began to swell at the sight of the woman sitting in his bed, in his home, on his planet. Two years ago, he never would have thought that he would have a
mate to share his life and home with. When the mother ship had first started out on the mission of obtaining mates, their hopes had been high that they would be able to find compatible mates rather quickly. But, as the months ticked by, then a year, and then two years, their hopes were slowly diminishing, along with the fate of their race.

  Now, here in his bed sat the most beautiful creature that he had ever set eyes on. The best part of it all was that she was completely his. He had found his mate and he would do everything in his power to provide for her and protect her. He would never allow anyone to take her away from him. He just needed to be able to breach the wall that she had so solidly constructed around herself. He was determined to find out what had happened to her that caused her not to trust him, and he wanted to find out the entire story behind her reaction last night.

  “Are you upset because of what happened last night, my love?” He was still caressing her cheek and looking into her eyes. He watched as her eyes started to well up with tears as she looked at the ceiling to abate them. She didn’t speak. All she could manage was a nod of her head.

  “Would you like to talk about it?”

  Shaking her head with a bit more force, she whispered, “No.”

  “I want you to know that whenever you are ready to talk about it, I am here for you,” he whispered back to her then changed the subject, “What would you like to do today?” He lay back on the bed as he propped himself up on his elbow. “Would you like to go to the market?”

  “You have a market here?” She answered back.

  He laughed when she gave him a look of disbelief, “Of course. We have everything that any normal city would have except that it just happens to be in the forest. The market provides us access to goods that we get from other worlds through trading as well as things we manufacture on the planet.” He sat up then slid out of the bed forgetting that he had slept completely naked.

  Emma watched as Brylon stood up out of the bed in his naked as the day he was born. He was facing away from her as he stretched his arms to the ceiling as high as he could. This caused the muscles in ass to tighten and clench. She swallowed hard as she eyed his anatomy. She couldn’t turn her eyes away him as he stood, a perfect specimen of the male body, before her. He bent his arms at the elbows, and then brought them down to press on the small of his back as he stretched out his chest. When the well-developed muscles in his back rippled and bunched together, she swallowed hard again. She was starting to feel the ache deep within her core, the embers of the fire that were starting to consume her, all because of the man standing directly in front of her.

  She was still staring at his body, when he suddenly jerked around and caught her in the act of studying every aspect of his body. She felt the flush of heat rise to her face then spread over the rest of her body. She looked away when she knew that she was caught, but not before he gave her the biggest smile she had ever seen cross his face.

  “Well, come on sleepy head. Let’s go to the market and see what we can find. Maybe we can even find Nana a friend.” He walked into the bathroom chatting with her as if nothing had happened.

  She jumped out the bed and ran after him, “Really! The market sells rewas? I think that Nana would love to have a friend to play with!”

  “Then let’s get a move on. While we are there, we can grab something to eat at the market. Would you like to take your shower first?” He stepped into the shower and waved his hand in front of a black panel. Instantaneously water began to fall from the shower head above. “Would you care to join me, little one?” He teased her.

  She could feel the flush of heat overtake her body again and said quickly, “Umm… I think I will wait until you are finished,” as she backed out of the bathroom and sat on the bed to wait for her turn. She was mortified that she had chased after him in his naked state without a second thought. What the hell came over her? No one had ever had this effect on her. This was an entirely new territory for her. Even though her body was screaming out for her to take him, would she ever be able to let this warrior have access to her heart? She kept it locked securely for a reason. Would he prove worthy enough to let him in?

  Minutes later Brylon was out of the shower and Emma made her way in, closing and locking the bathroom door behind her. It didn’t take long for her to shower and dress in a pair of tight jeans and a lavender V-neck t-shirt. She put on her socks and tennis shoes, and then exited the bathroom. Brylon was sitting on the bed, dressed and waiting for her as she came out brushing her long wet hair that was hanging over her shoulder.

  “Ready to go?” He stood and walked up to her.

  She tilted her head back to look up at his face, “I sure am. I hope you have plenty of money to spend.” She smiled with a twinkle in her eyes as she led the way out of the bedroom.

  Chapter 11

  The ride to the market took only about fifteen minutes, but the time seemed to pass by in an instant. As they drove out to the market she was like a child in a candy shop. Every little thing she saw before her was a new and awesome experience. What she saw here couldn’t be compared to anything that she would have seen on Earth. The trees were the size of skyscrapers, flowers the size of hub caps, and strange animals were jumping through the canopy of leaves and would gaze down upon them as Bryon drove by. Theron was a mesmerizing world that, until now, she would have never dreamed possible. She wouldn’t have ever believed that a place like this was possible, if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes.

  The vehicle passed through a tunnel of vines and under branches that blocked the light from the sun, to emerge in a very busy market area. Several vehicles were parked off to the side of the gravel road, along with a strange looking thing that resembled a bicycle. Emma couldn’t contain her of excitement. She was about ready to jump out of the vehicle and start exploring on her own.

  Brylon watched Emma as she became so excited that he thought that maybe she would actually attempt to jump out from the moving vehicle. Maybe, today would be a really good day for her. Maybe, he would be able to finally gain her to trust. The events of last night haunted him, although he didn’t make that known to her. He knew that he had screwed up royally last night, and he intended to make it up to her today.

  Parking the vehicle in the first available spot he saw, he watched as Emma jumped out of the craft and ran over to the opposite side of the car to hurry him along.

  “Hurry up Brylon!” She was tugging on his hands and pulling him in the direction of the vendors that were set up in tents of varying colors stretched as far as the eye could see. It resembled a bazaar of some sort, but never the less, it was still impressive.

  She was still holding his hand as they walked together to the first of the open tents that sold many different clothing items. Emma reached out her hand to touch the material that was laid out for display on several of the tables in a variety of different colors. She picked up a beautiful blue long item that was made of a material that had swirly designs embroidered on it with gold thread. Her guess was that it was a scarf, but she wasn’t positive.

  “What’s this?” She had let go of Brylon’s hand in order to see the full length of the material.

  “These are a kind of scarf that is used to wrap the head. They are commonly used by people that live in the forest and other areas of Theron. It can be quite helpful in protecting the head from various weather conditions.” The vendor to the tent had walked up and was eyeing Emma with obvious interest.

  “Ah…Brylon, it is so good to see you again, my friend! It has been way to long since you have been here last. Please introduce me to this lovely creature who is standing in my tent? Is she what I hope she is?” The vendor looked to Brylon with hope filled eyes.

  “Nator, it’s good to see you. I would like you to meet my mate, Emma.” He motioned to her while she continued to gaze at the gauzy metallic material in her hand. “Emma, my love, I would like you to meet Nator.”

  Emma began to move closer to the opposite table, putting more distance betwe
en her and Nator. She looked a bit uncomfortable at the prospect of meeting a different kind of alien. Her excitement rapidly changed to awkwardness as she said, “Hi…umm… it’s nice to meet you,” with an expressionless face.

  “Nator, Emma is from a planet called Earth. Several of our warriors have found mates on the planet Earth and have brought them here to Theron.”

  Nator, who was a Pernmock, listened carefully Brylon as he spoke. Several thousand Pernmocks lived permanently on Theron where they traded and sold their goods to those who lived on Theron. Nator, who had come to Theron about four years ago, was well under the average nine foot stature of a typical member of the Pernmock race. Because of his height and weakness, he was ineligible to enlist as a soldier. At only six feet tall he was considered to be puny, even though the muscles that surrounded his arms would say otherwise. But, in all other aspects he looked exactly like a Pernmock: razor sharp canine teeth, pale green skin, four eyes, and four arms.

  “I am so pleased to meet you, mate of Brylon. Is this your first trip to the market?” The four eyes, the color of wheat, blinked in unison.

  “Yes it is,” she replied as she stared at the creature talking to her, “I don’t want to seem rude, but may I ask you a question, Nator?” She didn’t take her eyes off him.

  Nator bowed as he said, “Ask me anything you would like my dear.” His canine teeth showed perfectly white and straight as he gave her a huge smile.

  “What are you?” Her head tilted to the side.

  The Pernmock laughed along with Brylon before he answered her question, “I am a Pernmock. Have you not ever seen another race that is different from yours?”