by Tehya Titan
Abby cast a quick glance at Rox and Tex. The look in their eyes told her they would come if she asked, but something made her hold back. “I’ll see you guys later.”
“Good luck, cupcake,” Tex said, making Abby frown at him.
“Later, Abby.”
When Dracor held out a hand, Abby hesitated before taking it. From the shocked look on his face, she realized that he’d been gesturing her forward in front of him. Stupid, she thought with disgust. She tried to pull her hand free, but Dracor held it tight in his, not allowing her to jerk it away. Holding her hand, he pulled her gently toward the front door of the hall.
Abby breathed in the fresh air as soon as they stepped outside. She had to squint a little at the bright sun, but her eyes quickly adjusted. They walked in silence for a few minutes, and she turned to look behind them to see Braec and Taitt following them. Dracor followed her gaze and scowled darkly.
“What are you two doing?”
“You asked me to accompany you,” Braec reminded him.
“Yes, but not so closely.” Dracor shifted his gaze to Taitt, who just smiled.
“I just thought I’d tag along and, you know, keep Braec company.”
Abby studied the two males, then glanced back up at Dracor. “Are they bodyguards or chaperones?”
“Both,” Braec and Taitt said together.
When Dracor growled at them, Abby laughed. Seeing the joy on her face helped ease some of his tension. “Since my senses are dulled, I might not be able to tell if there is a threat close by. They might be annoying, but Braec and Taitt can help keep you safe. It is what is most important.”
“What? My safety?” Abby paused as a thought occurred to her. “Are there some Vor that don’t like the humans being here?”
Dracor sighed as he started walking again. “Some…mostly the females. But they are no threat to you. There are some males that want what doesn’t belong to them. You have nothing to worry about, though. I will keep you safe. I vow it on my life.”
Abby was slightly taken aback by the harsh determination in his voice. “Ah…thanks. It’s comforting to know you’ll keep me safe.”
“I will,” he said again. “Usually, I would be able to protect you myself, but I won’t risk it while I’m on the bizori.”
“Is that the drug you took?”
“Drug? Ah, the elixir, yes.”
Before she could ask about the bizori, he changed the subject.
“What is cupcake?”
Startled, Abby blinked up at him. “What? Oh, it’s something from Earth. A sort of sweet.”
Dracor let out a low growl. “Then why is that human male calling you that?”
“It’s because I was a pastry chef back home. That means I made sweet things to eat for a living. Tex didn’t mean anything by it. He simply said it to be friendly.”
“I’m not sure I’m comfortable with you being so friendly with him,” Dracor muttered.
Abby tried not to smile at the irritation in his voice. “Tex is…sort of like a brother or something. Maybe more of an annoying cousin,” she amended with a laugh. She sobered as she added, “In a world where everything is new, it’s nice to have friends who know and understand what we’re going through.”
Dracor nodded. “I can accept that.”
He led her to the end of the courtyard, stopping before they got to the gate that was manned by two warriors who bowed to them.
“Outside of those gates is the metropolis. Would you like to see it or would you rather go to the shore where we can talk in private?”
Abby thought about that for a few seconds. She did want to see what the metropolis looked like beyond the fortress gate, but she didn’t know if she could handle having all those Vor staring at her, judging her. Besides, she wanted time with Dracor, without interruption.
“I don’t think I’m ready to see the metropolis just yet.”
Dracor nodded. “Then we’ll go to the shore.” He turned away from the front gate and moved toward a side entrance that was guarded by another warrior who moved aside to let them pass after bowing to them.
He led them out into the open, and Abby was surprised to see the ocean was so close to the castle. The ocean sparkled in the sunlight like liquid emerald, and it was strange to see the crystal clear green water under the clear lavender sky. It all looked so…wrong, and yet she knew it was normal to the Vor.
“Our sky is blue back home, and the sun is yellow. And our water…well, some of it is green, but not that kind of green. It’s mostly blue. A dark blue.”
“Strange,” he said.
She laughed. “All of this—” she waved a hand out to encompass what was around them, “—is strange to me.”
“I guess it is.”
“What is bizori, and why did they say it was dangerous?”
With a sigh, Dracor explained what the elixir was and how it dulled his senses. He didn’t consider leaving out the side effects and what would happen to him after the elixir wore off lying…exactly. He just wanted her to know she was safe with him, and that he wouldn’t harm her. When he was done, she was quiet for several heartbeats before she finally spoke.
“So, you can’t smell anything now?”
“No, I can’t.”
She raised their clasped hands. “And you can’t feel this?”
“My sense of touch is gone, but I can still feel the pleasure of holding you. Is this something you do on your world? Clutch hands?”
Abby could feel herself blushing. “Yeah, it’s…a sort of…sign of affection back on Earth.”
A slow smile spread across Dracor’s face. “Then I like it.”
“The Vor don’t ever hold their mate’s hand?”
He shook his head. “Most warriors require their hands to be free in order to get to their weapons.” He tightened his grip as she tried to pull her hand away from his again. “Remember, we have guards right now. I don’t need my hands free.”
They’d made their way down the bluff and reached the water’s edge. The sand was like black stardust, glittering in the sunlight like a thousand gems. Abby felt like she was walking around in some sort of fairyland, but the male standing beside her was definitely not a fairy prince.
A demon prince was more like it.
Just thinking about that made her head hurt. Pulling on his hand, she sat down on the sand, then waited for him to settle down next to her before she asked, “Are you really a prince?”
Dracor winced. “Yes, although my role is Captain of the Guard. I mostly see to my brother’s protection so he can lead our people.”
“Your brother mated one of the women who was brought here with me. I have to admit, he scared the crap out of me when he went after Jordan in the coliseum.”
“You were afraid when he shifted forms?”
“Well, yeah. That and when he flew after her, and bit her, and—”
“I understand,” Dracor said quickly, cutting her off. “It’s one of the reasons I took the elixir, so we could spend this time together without you worrying about me losing control and claiming you before you understood.”
She stared out at the water, then shifted her gaze to him. She needed to look at him to see the truth. “I’m your mate?”
“Yes. You are,” he said softly. “Do you understand what a mating is?”
She told him the basics of the conversation she’d had with the others in the great hall earlier. “It’s difficult for us humans to understand since we don’t have mates back on our world. We have marriage, but that’s not like what Braec and Tex described your mating as.”
“You had marriage with a male on your world?”
Abby could hear the tight strain in Dracor’s voice, and knew he didn’t like thinking about her with someone else. In the past, when Charlie got jealous, she got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, and it made her angry. She wasn’t mad at Dracor, though. In fact, she felt a little secret thrill at the notion that he wanted her to himself.
“I had a bad marriage. He lied about who he really was. Actually, he lied about everything and then he tried to kill me.”
Dracor let out a vicious growl. “Tell me.”
Sitting on the beautiful, albeit strange, beach, she did as he asked. She told him about her life, about her relationship with Charlie, and what happened the night she was taken from Earth. He was silent during the telling, and he let go of her hand when she told him about Charlie hitting her for the first time. She knew by the way he fisted his hands until they turned white that he’d let her go so he wouldn’t hurt her.
When she finished, he cupped her chin in his hand gently. “I will never strike you. I would cut my own hand off before I could ever do that.”
She placed her own hand on his wrist. “I…it’s not that I’m worried you’d do that, but—”
“No, little one. You don’t understand. I could never hurt you. Mating is something difficult to explain to someone who hasn’t seen it before, but it is sacred. When I claim you, it will bind our souls together, and that bond will only grow stronger throughout the years. From the second I met you, you became the most important person in my life, above even my brother, the king.”
She blinked in surprise. “But you’re his captain. It’s your job to—”
“To love you and make you happy, and above all, to keep you safe.”
“Dracor, you just met me.”
He took her hand, lifting it to place it over his heart. “Do you feel this? It beats for you now. You might not have the emotional bond with me that I have with you yet, but it will form once I bite you and claim you.”
Abby was having a difficult time accepting that something that profound could change with one bite, but she was a stranger in a strange land, and nothing that had happened in the past few days made any sense to her. Still, she wasn’t sure she was ready to mate with this man, no matter how good looking she thought he was or how much she liked what he was saying to her.
She felt her heart ache a little as sadness clouded his eyes. He let go of her hand, and turned his head away. “I know I’m not a desirable male, but I swear I’ll try to make you happy here with me.”
That gave her pause. “What make you say you aren’t desirable?”
“You are smaller than most of our females, and they all think I am too big and don’t want anything to do with me—”
“Are you kidding me?” When he turned to look at her, she could see his confusion. He’d basically laid his soul bare to her, the least she could do was be honest. “You might be a little strange to me, since this is a whole new world, but on Earth, bigger is better.”
His eyebrows winged up. “Truly?”
She could feel the blush heating her cheeks. “Umm…yeah. It’s good that you’re big. I meant tall. I don’t know if you’re big…there. Not that I’m…oh, fuck my life.” She buried her face in her hands, wanting to sink into a hole and die.
Dracor let out a laugh so loud the booming sound made her jolt. Abby squeaked in surprise as he lifted her and settled her in his lap, wrapping his arms around her in a gentle yet secure embrace so she couldn’t move. “You are a delight to me, mate. Calm. Just let me hold you.”
Abby felt silly sitting in his lap, but acquiesced. Since he was on that drug, there wasn’t any cause for alarm that he would push to get physical. Still, she would feel a whole lot better if she steered clear of topics that involved his body parts…or hers.
“Tell me more about your world,” she said in a rush.
Dracor did as she asked, content to hold her as he talked more about his planet and his life. If she wanted to ignore the physical attraction between them for now, so be it. The bond between them had already formed, and he could wait for the rest.
For now.
CHAPTER FOUR
It was long past dawn by the time Abby finally left Dracor to get some sleep.
They had spent most of the day at the beach together, and after the sun had begun to set, they had traveled back to the fortress where they’d eaten a meal. In the great hall, they had sat away from the others where they had continued to tell each other about their pasts.
The connection between them had been forged, and neither Abby nor Dracor had been in any hurry to leave the other.
During the night, the other humans and Vor had gone to bed, leaving Abby and Dracor in the great hall. At Dracor’s insistence, they’d moved from one of the tables over to two comfortable chairs near the large stone fireplace. The only one who remained in the room with them was Braec. When Abby had asked why he was sitting there, bored out of his mind, Dracor told her it was for her own safety.
She’d had a feeling that Dracor had asked Braec to stay for some specific reason, as if he’d been waiting for something to happen, but she hadn’t known what. Even though it was a matter of hours, Abby felt as if she’d known Dracor for so much longer than that. So, by the end of the night, she’d felt as if she could tell him anything.
Perhaps that was what he’d meant about the bond mates had together. Even if he hadn’t actually bit her yet, there was still some sort of link between them, something that went deeper than just simple attraction.
Abby started having a difficult time keeping her eyes open by the time the sun had begun to rise, but she hadn’t wanted the night to end. Dracor had been the one to finally call it a night, and she’d liked the way he’d held her hand as he’d walked her to her room. He’d bowed to her after wishing her pleasant dreams, and on impulse, she’d pulled him down and pressed her lips to his cheek in return.
Sleep had come as soon as she’d laid down on her bed, but the moment her eyes opened again, she was anxious to see him again. It had caught her off guard to realize that she’d slept long into the afternoon, and by the time she arrived down in the great hall, most of the castle inhabitants had already finished the midday meal.
Abby saw the redheaded human sitting at the head table with a Vor male she’d never seen before, and was about to back out of the room when the woman saw her and smiled in greeting.
“Ah, there she is! Come join us, Abby.”
She walked toward the table and was slightly taken aback as the Vor glared at her. Since that first day she’d woken up in the cell, all of the Vor males she’d come in contact with had been extremely polite and kind to her. Seeing such a hostile look coming from what had to be Dracor’s brother, the king, made her want to bolt from the room.
There was a loud thunk that came from under the table, and the male Vor turned to stare incredulously at the redhead. “Did you just kick me, mate?”
“Yes, yes I did.” She beamed a smile at Abby. “Please, sit with us.”
“Ah…maybe I should just…go.”
Jordan waved a hand toward her mate. “Don’t mind him. He’s just being difficult. I’m Jordan, and this is Kadan. It’s a good thing you came down before they cleared all this food away. I swear, it’s like they were trying to feed an army.”
“You need to eat more,” Kadan said with a wicked gleam in his eyes. “You’ve been using a lot of energy these last few days and need to refuel. Especially since you’re eating for two now.”
“Don’t remind me of that. I still need time to…never mind.”
Abby stared at her with wide eyes. “You’re pregnant?”
With a sigh, Jordan nodded. “It’s all part of the heat.”
“I thought the heat was part of the pull between mates,” Abby said, confused.
Jordan frowned at that. “Damn it, we’re going to have to teach a class about this shit for any humans that are brought here.”
Kadan sighed. “Language, mate.”
“Don’t start that shit with me again,” Jordan bit back. “These women deserve to know what’s going to happen before some asshole bites them and puts them into a mating heat that makes them raging nymphomaniacs.”
The knife Abby had been using to cut some meat fell from her numb fingers so it clattered onto her plate. “Wh-what?”
Kadan let out a warning growl, but Jordan ignored him. “You know that this big guy flew me from the coliseum, right? Well, since that day we’ve been in our room fucking like—”
“Jordan!” Kadan shouted. “You will not use that language in front of our people.”
“Five days, Kadan. You’ve known me for five days. You don’t get to tell me how to speak. And I know I’m only supposed to argue with you when we’re alone, but this is different,” she added when she noticed he was getting angry.
“But we aren’t alone. How exactly is this different?”
“Abby is your brother’s mate, so that makes her like our sister-in-law.”
“I don’t even know what that means,” Kadan growled.
“It makes her family,” Jordan snapped. “But even if she wasn’t, I’m not going to change how I speak or think, even for you. You said you love me the way I am, or was that code for you’ll love me when you can mold me into what you want me to be?”
Kadan opened his mouth to roar at his stubborn mate, but he closed it again when he saw the tears shining in her eyes. He could deal with her fiery temper, but not with her pain. Never that. “I love you, Jordan. And you have reminded me that we have much to learn about one another. I don’t want to change you. I do love you just as you are and will try not to force you to conform to how the female Vor behave.”
Jordan wiped at her wet eyes with an angry swipe of her hand. “Damn, I’m usually not this emotional.” She reached out her hand, and Kadan pulled her to him, lifting her off her seat and settled her on his lap where she curled into him. “Sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry about, my love,” Kadan crooned, then he let out a soft purring noise that seemed to soothe her.
“You are pregnant,” Abby reminded her softly.
Jordan sighed. “Yeah, and now it’s making me a raging emotional bitch. Awesome.”
Abby was confused by the exchange. She could tell that Kadan and Jordan had deep feelings for one another, but their relationship was still new. Hearing about mating heat was a shock, but Jordan didn’t seem to mind that she was having an alien baby with her mate. Still, Abby wanted to talk to Dracor about everything she’d heard.