Theron's Hope (Brides of Theron)

by Pond, Rebecca Lorino

  She went back to the bed. Pulling the covers loose and sliding under the soft fabric of the bedding, she laid her head on the closest pillow. It smelled like him. She did a story once on pheromones and how they affected the attraction of two individuals. It was when the pheromone parties were starting to become a big deal in the online dating industry. You would take a shirt and sleep in it for several days without wearing deodorant and then place it in a zipper baggie and put it in the freezer. Each person would bring it to a party and if you were interested in someone you would smell the shirt in the baggie. She did not know if there was conclusive evidence to prove that it was a true scientific phenomenon but she had to admit, Zane smelled pretty damn good to her. That being her last conscious thought, her eyes got heavy and she drifted to sleep. Maybe, when she woke up everything in her life would go back to normal and she would find herself in one of New York’s finest hospitals.

  Zane went to Zeb’s quarters to deal with an out of control Avery. Boy, Zeb had a feisty one. Hopefully Grace would not give him as much trouble. So far, all was going well with Gracie. He was glad that she did not pepper him with questions as he explained their current situation. He resolved that he was not going to push her. She would need time to adapt. He gave Avery a medicine that would help her relax. After he was satisfied that Avery would be alright, he gave Zeb instructions on what to expect due to the medication he administered and left his commander’s quarters.

  He went down to the holding room where the Earth females had waited until auction took place and grabbed her bags. They were right where she left them. He dragged them as he saw her do in the airport all the way back to his quarters. When he got there she was nowhere to be seen. He started to panic and frantically looked around. Nothing was out of place, maybe she was in another room. When he made his way to the bedroom he found her on the bed, fast asleep. His first and only thought he had was, “Crap, she is sleeping on my side of the bed.”

  He debated getting into the bed beside her, but he was afraid that if he did it might frighten her. Maybe he should wait until she invited him into the bed. But on the other hand, it was his bed, and she was on his side of it. It was getting later by the minute. He called the clinic to check in and see if they needed him and of course they didn’t. So, he ended up stretching out on the sofa that was about a foot and a half too small and covered some of his tall body with a blanket. Hopefully, tomorrow she would not object to sharing the bed. This was not going to be a great night for sleep.

  Chapter 7

  Grace did not know how long she had been asleep. At first she was having unsettling dreams recapping the day’s events but then as if she changed the channel the dreams became vivid memories of the time she spent with her family. She imagined that when she opened her eyes she would find the French doors leading out to the balcony, the light being diffused through the eyelet lace curtains that covered the wall of windows. She kept her eyes shut just a little bit longer to stay in the glorious dream and when she opened her eyes disappointment overcame her. She came to the realization that everything that happened over the last possible 24 hours was real. She wasn’t going home anytime soon and that she was going to be stuck on the Theron mother ship for the foreseeable future.

  She went to the bathroom and took care of her necessary business. She washed her face and wondered if her suitcases had made it up to the room. She really wanted to freshen up and brush her teeth. She padded down the hallway and when she reached the living room, she beheld the sight of a very tall man on a very short sofa. He had one foot firmly planted on the floor while the other was projected in the air over the arm of the sofa. The crook of his right arm covered his eyes while the other was touching the floor. This couldn’t have been comfortable for him.

  She went to her suit cases and as quietly as she could she dragged them to the bedroom. She took out her shampoo, soap and other necessities and placed them on the counter of the bathroom. It was a bit of a feat to figure out how to use the shower but even that problem was conquered and now she felt fresh and clean. She found a towel in the cabinet under the sink and dried off. Absentmindedly, she reached for her hair dryer and pulled the plug from her bag, searching the wall for some kind of electrical socket and not finding one. It was definately going to be an interesting hair day. She twisted up into a French twist so it would hopefully control the frizz. She added electrical outlet usage to her growing list of questions for the day and quietly got dressed.

  On this ship there had to be some kind of morning beverage similar to the coffee. As quietly as she could, she made her way into the kitchen and started opening cabinets searching for something, anything. However, she was not silent enough. Zane started to stir on the sofa, stretching out as best he could on the sofa. He looked stiff and uncomfortable as he groaned and began to sit up. She could hear the cracking sounds coming from his joints as he stretched his body.

  Looking in her direction and rubbing his eyes, he yawned, raked his fingers through his hair, and said, “Good Morning. I hope you slept well.”

  “I did. You do know that the bed is huge, right? We could have easily shared it. You really did not have to torture yourself sleeping on that little tiny sofa.” She giggled in response to his appearance. His short dark cropped hair sticking out in all directions. “I have many questions for you today, but before I ask any of them, I have to know the answer to the most important one of all. Do space guys drink coffee?”

  Grace seemed in good humor today. She looked like she was refreshed from her slumber and even got a bath in. He needed a shower badly now. His back was killing him from sleeping on that small sofa. “Looks like you found your belongings. You had no trouble with the bathroom or the shower I see.” She shook her head in response. “We have a beverage that we drink that is similar to coffee. It is prepared more like a tea though. It tastes slightly bitter but can easily be sweetened and you can add the milk of the Ona.”

  “Sounds like coffee to me. Can you direct me in its general direction?” She said motioning her hands in an oscillating fashion.

  He got up on his feet as quickly as he could manage limping until he worked out the kinks from his sore muscles and went into the kitchen and pulled out two cups, filling them with water from the sink. He placed them in a cabinet and pressed a series of buttons and then going into another cabinet, he retrieved a couple of bags with some black ground up substance.

  “Is that like our microwaves? We use something similar on our planet to heat our food.” She asked him curiously.

  He retrieved the blue milk from the fridge, shutting the door behind him. Facing her he said, “I don’t know what a microwave does but this is a device that we use to excite the water molecules in the substances we cook. All things we consume generally contain water and when they are in an excited state they give off heat. How do you want yours, sweet? With milk?”

  “I can make mine. How do you sweeten it?”

  Zane went into a cabinet that had many small bottles. He pulled one out that looked like a bottle of eye drops and gave it to her. “This is made from the nectar of the hoonay flower that is grown on our planet. I generally use 3 drops in mine. I tend to like my tolka sweet and with milk. Are you hungry?”

  “I am starved. So, coffee is called tolka and sweetener is made from the nectar of the hoonay. What are we going to have for breakfast?” Grace asked as she was carefully filing all the new words and their meanings into her brain.

  Zane was a wiz in the kitchen. She liked watching him make his way around the small space bringing things to and fro. She asked many questions as she was known to do. She wanted to know about what he was doing, how things worked in the kitchen, and what everything was. She was determined to make the best of this situation as it could possibly turn out to be the biggest adventure she had ever had. No adventure on Earth would ever be able to compare to it. When he was finished digging in the cabinets, he took out two bowls and added the contents of a packet to each. He put them in a differ
ent cabinet and waited until the light went out. He took the bowls out and placed them on the counter steaming and proceeded to sprinkle pink berries on top. On a small plate, he placed a pink piece of what appeared to be bread and placed it next to the bowl on the bar before her.

  “So, can you tell me what I am about to eat?” Grace asked poking around the red violet hued food with a spoon.

  “In the bowl, I prepared a breakfast dish called powa ona. It’s made from a red color grain that is similar to wheat that I have mixed with ona milk. The pink fruit on top is called yazo fruit. The skin of the fruit is sour but the inside of the fruit is sweet. It gives the powa ona a wonderful flavor. On the plate is bhakta. It is bread made from the powa grain after it is ground into a fine powder. If you would like, I have some larma, it is a cheese that is made from the ona milk, or you might like the Larta that is similar to your salted cream. I think that you call that butter. I like to spread one or the other on my bhakta,” he said as he took a knife and spread a dollop of the creamed cheese.

  Dipping the spoon into the food, “Well, here goes nothing.” She tasted the powa ona. It was very similar to the cream of wheat that her school had served three days a week for breakfast. “Can you pass me the hoonay flower nectar? I used to eat something similar to this on my planet. We call it cream of wheat and prefer mine sweet.”

  He handed her the bottle and she added two drops. “Be careful how much you add. Hoonay flower nectar is extremely sweet and a little goes a long way.”

  She stirred in the sweetener and took another bite. “This is really good.” Scooping up a berry in the spoon she tried that next. “This berry is remarkable. There really is no way to describe it.” She took the last sip of her tolka and savored its flavor. It was similar to a hazelnut mocha blend but just a tad bit bitter than the coffee she would drink on Earth. She looked at Zane, “Can you show me how to make another cup of tolka.”

  “Sure.” He showed her where to find everything she needed to make the tolka as well as how to use the cooking device, she would call it the microwave from now on because it pretty much did the same thing.

  “I see that you are doing very well learning the language. I have that ability as well.” Zane said as he ate his breakfast.

  “I learn languages easily. I am fluent in 7 languages on my planet. Can I ask you a few questions now?”

  “Yes, I am happy to answer any question you may have.”

  “What do people on your ship use to dry their hair. I need to get one. Secondly, I have several electronic things that I brought with me that require plugging into an outlet to charge the battery. How can I do that? I don’t see any outlets. I need to write and for now I can do this in my journal, but in the future I would really like to use my laptop and that needs electricity.”

  “We have something that can dry your hair in the market place on the ship. We can go down and purchase one later if you want. As for your other question, on this ship all of our computers and devices are automatically charged by being in the vicinity of the power core. We have no need for these outlets. I can speak with Brylon to see what we can do to adapt your electronic things to our system. Do you think that you can show them to me and explain how they work and charge?”

  “Sure.” She took the last bite of the powa ona and smeared the larma on the bread just as Zane had done a minute ago quickly eating it. “This tastes like cream cheese on bread. It is really interesting, light blue too. Let me go get my laptop.” She placed her dirty dishes in the sink and rinsed them out then went to the bedroom to retrieve her laptop. She brought it to the bar, opened it up and pressed the power button. She could hear the whir of the fan and see the screen come to life.

  Zane moved behind her, looking over her shoulder. “What are on the buttons? Are they your letters?”

  “Yes, letters, numbers and some symbols we use in our language. Would you be interested in learning them?”

  “That would be great.” Sitting down next to her he listened as she pointed out each letter and what sound was associated with it. She opened up her last story and began to see if he could read it based on what he just learned about the English alphabet and basic letter sounds. Surprisingly, he read the words on the screen with a few pronunciation errors but she understood what he was reading aloud.

  “How did you do that?” She asked stunned at his ability to grasp the written language so quickly.

  “I have a photographic memory. I can remember everything I have ever encountered. My father was the same way but I am the only one of my siblings that inherited the gift. I even can vaguely remember being born. This ability makes it really easy to be a ship’s doctor. That reminds me, I have to report to the clinic for a bit. After I get back, we can go see Brylon to look at your power problem and then go to the shops and get you a hair dryer and whatever else you may need. ”

  “That sounds good. How do I find you, if I need you?”

  He walked around the bar to a panel on the wall and when he pressed it the door popped open. Inside she saw a speaker and a bunch of buttons with strange symbols on them. One of the symbols looked like the one she saw on the door to his quarters. He pointed at that button and said, “If you press this button, you will be instantly connected to the transmitter I always carry for emergencies. Why don’t you give it a try?”

  Grace walked around the bar, joining Zane in the kitchen. She pressed the button he indicated and a beeping sound came from where he stood. He pulled out a communication device and spoke into it. His voice was amplified through the speaker.

  “I shouldn’t be long. All of the warriors that bought a mate at the auction have been given special allowances for their time in order to help all the females adjust to life on the ship. You know how to contact me?” He looked to her for affirmation.

  She nodded and forced a smile. She didn’t know how she felt about being locked in a room for a few hours. She figured she would just use the time to write in her journal. It was her journal that helped her the most when her family died. There she could get control of her thoughts and realize the questions she needed to ask. She was absolutely positive she would have many, many more.

  Chapter 8

  Just after Zane left and locked the door behind him, she powered down her computer in order to save what battery she had left just in case they would not be able to come up with a way for her to charge it in the near future. As it was shutting down she went to her carry-on bag to get her journal along with the Montblanc pen that Michael gave her when she graduated college. She kept it in the silver case he had inscribed, “May this pen bring you on many an inspired adventure, Love Michael”. Reading the inscription on the case made her feel instantly sad. She had been holding it together so well and now the tears were starting to fall. The façade she had carefully been building of this possibly being the greatest story of her life started to crumble and she collapsed on the floor, letting the grief and the uncertainty of her current situation out of the cage she locked it into. She was finally realizing she was no longer on her beloved planet earth.

  Zane went to the clinic and checked in. He reviewed and signed all the reports and checked in with some of the patients. He had a great staff in his department and they were handling his absence in the clinic well. It seemed that some of the other earth females were having a tough time adjusting as well. Last night, he saw to Avery himself as a favor to Zeb, so he assumed that some of them would not accept the situation of their abduction very well. He expected that maybe a few would have to be given a sedative. He counted his lucky stars. Grace seemed to be adjusting well. So far he had not seen any of the behavior from her similar to the reports he reviewed this morning. Hopefully, it would remain that way.

  After spending a couple hours and being shooed away by Jeeka, he made his way back to his quarters. He was looking forward to taking her out on the ship. He was resolved to make her as comfortable with him as possible and let her make all the first moves. She would come to him when she was ready.
He had plenty of time for her to become accustomed with the idea of being his mate. He just hoped he would not have to wait too long.

  When the doors of his quarters slid open he did not see Grace. He stepped in and from down the hallway he heard a most distressing sound coming from down the hallway. He ran in the direction of the bedroom to see what was wrong. There on the floor was Grace, holding a small metal case in her arms and crying inconsolably. The sight broke his heart. He thought things were going so well. He did not know what to do, he had no idea what she needed and did not want to do anything that would push her away.

  She must have spent several hours there on the floor. Her chest hurt from the heart wrenching sobs and her eyes burned from the tears. She was brought out of her trance when Zane came in and kneeled before her asking if she was alright. The events of the last, maybe two days was starting to catch up with her. She wasn’t certain as to how much time had elapsed since she arrived here. Was she losing track of time? It looked like he was having a hard time figuring out what to do.