by Maree Dry
Zurian moved in a blur and stood between her and the doctor. “You hit only me.”
“You think I won’t do it? You think I’m scared to hit you? I’ll hit you and then him.” And she’d make sure they were good and out and then she’d run.
He grew bigger. If she hadn’t been so scared, she would’ve been fascinated to see him stretch like that. He grabbed the club out of her hands so fast she didn’t even see him move.
“You would hit both of us.” Outrage seethed in every clipped word. “You never hit another warrior. I am the only warrior you will hit with the ceremonial club.”
Ceremonial club? “You’re crazy.”
His eyes flashed red and, for the first time since she found out he was an alien, she thought he might be dangerous to her. Not even when he’d accused her of not showing respect the previous day did he scare her like this. His lips pulled back from his teeth and, for a frightening moment, he looked like the demon she first thought him.
The doctor moved and Julia quickly took two steps away from both of them. “No, stay back. And if I see him going for the tool that produced the flame, I’m out of here.”
The doctor didn’t react to her words. Zurian didn’t answer her, simply grabbed her with that frightening speed and held her immobile against him.
The doctor approached her and she stared at the sinister silver box clasped in his hand.
“Wait. Don’t you want to introduce him this time, before he starts?” She had to buy some time. Find a way to get away from them. She tried to struggle again but he held her immobile against his warm muscled body. “Did Zacar implant Natalie with a translator as well?”
“You will be quiet now and allow Viglar to work.”
“No I won’t.” She tried to kick him and thought her heel would fall off. “Ouch, dammit, what are you made of?”
“Superior Zyrgin skeleton and armored skin.” Zurian added something that sounded like garbled noise. “Did you understand what I just said?” he asked.
He stood oddly, as if prepared to catch her if she fell.
“No.” Wait a minute, why should--She clenched her fists until her nails dug into her palms. “Did you actually manage to calibrate whatever is in my brain?” How advanced was their technology that they could do it that fast and without her feeling anything.
“Yes.”
“And I should understand you now?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sure it’s not working because you forced it on me and the doctor was too hurried. Besides how can you be sure it works on humans.”
They might not show emotion but the way the doctor suddenly got busy with his gadget and Zurian stared away from her said a lot. Zurian cocked his head, touched his shoulder, and growled something. Someone must be contacting him on his communicator. She couldn’t figure out how he used it. He seemed to hear something but she heard no returning grunts. Julia went on her tiptoes and studied his ears. They were more recessed into his skull than a human’s and, of course green and copper, but she couldn’t see anything that could be a receiver in there.
“You are finished studying my ears?” he asked with utmost politeness.
Feeling foolish she stepped back. “Uh, sure.”
“The doctor will make sure you are all right after the first knowing.”
“Wait a minute. Why can’t I understand what you just said into your communicator if the implant is supposed to be working?”
Julia glared at the doctor while he pointed another silver disk at her. He grated something at Zurian and left. Neither of the aliens answered her question.
“It is time for breakfast,” Zurian said. He indicated the kitchen area and she saw two plates on the utilitarian table. He opened a panel and took out a bowl of steaming stew as well as a plate with bread. He seated her, and, taking a fork, scooped some food, and held it to her mouth.
She eyed the fork in his hand. “You’re kidding right.”
“No.”
“But I’m all better now. I can eat by myself.” She needed to talk to Natalie and find out what was with the feeding.
“I will feed you.”
“Seriously.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I would not be a warrior with honor if I did not feed you.”
“I still don’t understand why. You could just make sure I eat enough without feeding me like an infant.
“You will not be allowed to starve yourself. I have observed you do not eat enough.”
Julia decided not to argue further for now. She’d win this argument eventually.
“Where did the food come from?”
He didn’t answer, just lifted another bit to her mouth. She was tempted to throw the mother of all fits. She was not an infant and wouldn’t be treated like this. Not even her parents would’ve tried to baby her like this.
He seemed ready to catch her again. “What is wrong?”
“Nothing, I was just thinking about my parents.” She braced herself to deflect more questions from him but he merely nodded and fed her the bite. She appreciated his reticence.
In the end, she ate everything he gave her just to move on from this strange experience.
He rose and placed the plates, utensils on a silver tray, and it looked as if a gentle wind cleaned them. He placed the items back in the cupboard.
“How did you do that?”
“Superior Zyrgin technology.”
Julia would’ve liked to walk outside but muscles she didn’t even know she had ached. She didn’t dare complain in case he called back the doctor. “I’d like to visit with Natalie.”
“There are security measures in place. You cannot visit her if you are not cleared in advance.”
She had the strong sense that he wanted her far away from Natalie. “And what should I do to get cleared?”
“I put in the request.”
“How very militaristic of you. And can I leave this place and walk around outside?”
“No.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Why not?”
“You are not trusted yet.”
He pulled her close to him and she bit back a moan when her sore muscles protested. They would definitely talk about the number of hours they made love. He leaned down and pressed his head against hers.
“Why do you always do that?”
“I respect and acknowledge my breeder.”
“A simple kiss would’ve sufficed.
“Humans kiss every time they part?” He pounced on her words.
“Not all the--oomph--”
He kissed her, not a quick goodbye kiss, but a deep kiss, his lips caressing hers, as if he savored the taste and texture. His mouth opened hers and his rough tongue dueled with hers. Julia’s knees buckled.
He lifted his head but kept her pressed against him. “I have to attend to warrior business. You cannot leave this dwelling.”
“Does that mean I can’t walk about freely?”
“Yes.”
Julia didn’t say anything to that. She would get out and if she made too big a fuss now he might become suspicious.
She watched intently as he left and the door glided open. He’d grunted to make it work. If she could record that grunt, she might be able to do the same and explore. Or maybe once the translator kicked in, she could give the right command. Julia touched her temple where a slight dull ache throbbed. As much as she would like to speak their language she didn’t like having their technology floating around in her brain.
Examining the door, she couldn’t find any panel hiding wiring she could use to open it. There had to be something she could jippo.
“I’ll figure it out,” she muttered and went to get her TC.
Putting it down on the couch, she activated the system. She had one of the few existing voice activated models. Fifty years ago, a fire had destroyed the building of the company supplying the component for voice activated TCs.
On hers, the menu hovered in the air but
the buttons were still disabled. She’d show these aliens that it was not that easy to block her TC. Any block they put up she could break through. Maybe she’d send their systems a few surprises while she was at it.
“What are you doing?”
Julia screamed and clutched her heart. “You broke my TC when you carried my pack. It won’t contact Natalie.” She’d give him the benefit of the doubt.
“There is a block on this dwelling to ensure you cannot call out with your primitive device.”
“Primitive?” Then the import of his words hit her. “I have to be able to use my TC.”
“No.”
“How am I supposed to pass the time if I can’t talk to my friends?”
She tried hard to look pathetic and tearful. She’d made a very good living as a certain type of programmer but she didn’t plan on telling him that. If he knew of her gift with TC technology, he would never allow her near theirs and she planned to have a very close look. She also needed her TC to organize a new identity for when she escaped. Why did she feel sad at the thought of leaving him?
“You will rest and prepare to give me plenty of sex when I return from warrior business.”
“What? Are you, crazy? I’m not some harem slave lounging around until I can give you pleasure. Give me back reception on my TC, Now.”
“No.”
“If this is your attitude, I’m shaking the dust of this place off as soon as Sarah is found.”
He looked around. “Why would you want to dust when I have found your friend?”
“That’s not--” She threw up her hands. “Oh, never mind. If I don’t have something to do during the day, I will--I will--” She cast around for something terrible and then remembered his obsession with her weight. “I will waste away with unhappiness and become very thin.”
It actually worked. Before her astonished eyes, he stalked forward and punched what she assumed was buttons on the wall while he grunted to himself.
Should’ve examined that wall earlier. It was the same wall they watched the news on. Her TC bleeped and several of the menu’s hovered above the table. She frowned when she saw her favorite folder with the Space Ranger in wasn’t highlighted. “You need to fix it some more. I have to be able to watch the Space Ranger.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “It is forbidden.”
“What, forbidden to watch the space ranger?”
“Yes.”
“Are you deranged?”
Who in his right mind would forbid anyone to watch the space ranger? Zurian growled deep in his throat. Goosebumps broke out on her skin and she rubbed her arms. Every hair on her body stirred as if an evil wind had blown over her. He stalked her. There was no other way to describe the way he moved toward her. She wanted to get up and run and keep running. His eyes pinned her in place, shot red sparks at her, his lips pulled back from his teeth.
He grasped her hair at the nape of her neck, pulling back arching her neck painfully. “Do not ever say that to me again.”
“Ouch! My neck. Let go.”
He hissed down into her face, his incisors growing while she watched. She was terrified of this monster who looked capable of killing her.
“Zurian, please, you’re hurting me.”
He released her, slowly straightened, and moved away from her. Then the pacing started. Every now and then he stopped and stared at her. She wished he would start again no matter how terrifying that restless pacing made her. When he stared at her like that, she felt like prey. Julia sat absolutely still.
At last he came to stand over her with his legs braced apart and his arms crossed over his chest.
“We will have rules.”
“Okay.”
She wouldn’t argue with this monster. Not while she could feel the anger simmering in him anyway. But she would find a way to escape him. Again that sense of betrayal haunted her. How could he step in front of bullets and laser blasts for her and then be like this?
“You will not wander around without permission.”
“How dare--”
So much for not arguing. But really, she was supposed to get permission before she went anywhere? Like a child?
“You will not interrupt me when I speak.”
“Should I bow every time you pass, your majesty?” She really needed to curb her tongue before he decided to rid himself of a noisy human breeder.
“You will not see the space ranger.”
“It’s a child’s show. What’s your problem?”
“It is unseemly.”
“What?”
“You will obey me at all times,” he continued as if she hadn’t spoken.
She snorted at that. Not even when John threatened her with his pistol did he make her obey all those years ago.
“You will not make me angry.”
“Good luck with that one,” she muttered.
He might not be on Superman Crack but either aliens from that Zyrgin planet were demented or he was snorting alien crack.
He stalked forward and lifted her chin in his hand. “That is the most important rule. You will never make me angry.”
“Why not? Because you’ll kill me?”
“Yes,” he said with chilling matter-of-factness.
Chapter 13
“You’d kill me?” Her whisper echoed in the living room.
They stared at each other. Including the times he’d come to her house, she’d known him now for more than a year and still she couldn’t read him.
He didn’t move a muscle or showed any emotion but something rolled off him in waves. The kind of something that activated every survival instinct she had.
“You do not make me angry,” he said at last.
The smart thing would be to back off and talk to him when she didn’t get the feeling he suppressed a volcano of dangerous emotion. But who wanted to be smart. She put her hands on her hips and tapped her toe.
“So you seriously expect me to have a relationship with you?”
“Yes.”
“A relationship where I cower and compromise and you act like an arrogant jerk and expect me to take it lying down.”
“Why would you lie down?”
She threw her hands up in the air and stared up at the ceiling. “Give me strength.”
He grunted, turned away from her, and she knew he spoke to his secret communicator again.
Once again icy calm, he took her arm and turned her toward the wall where the news image flashed before. “Someone is trying to contact you on your primitive device.”
“Hey, what do you mean primitive?”
“Primitive, not very advanced.”
“Never mind, is it Sarah?” Maybe she was safe after all.
“No, the call originated in Denver.”
Julia held her trembling arms around her middle. She saw his lips move but couldn’t hear what he said. She’d known this day would come, had feared it every day for the last five years. Had known when she saw who she thought was John that her past had caught up with her.
“I don’t want to talk to him.”
She wanted to go to the bedroom, lie down, pull the blankets over her head, and pretend she was a normal person who didn’t sleep with an alien and whose family wasn’t mafia.
“Him?” he said with menace.
She had to swallow a few times before she managed to speak. “It must be my evil uncle. Well, cousin really, but I call him uncle because he is so much older than me.”
“Evil.”
How to explain centuries of criminal behavior and unspeakable cruelty. “You have no idea.”
“This uncle is the brother of your father.”
“No he’s my mom’s cousin.”
“I will allow you to speak to him.”
“That’s so kind of you, but I don’t want anything to do with him.”
He ignored her and continued. “We will allow him to try for a few days.”
“Make him work for it? I like that idea but I’m still not talki
ng to him.”
“When we allow him to make contact, you will not tell him anything about us.
“Are you deaf? I said I’m not speaking to him.”
“You will find out what he wants.”
Julia threw up her hands. “Fine, I’ll talk to the man who has been sending enforcers to kill me for six years.”
“When we find out what he wants, I will kill him for you.”
She could almost forgive him for earlier. “I like that idea. He doesn’t deserve to live but I suppose we can’t just kill him. I am ashamed to admit that I fear and loathe him. Family should not be like that.”
At least that’s what she’d always thought. Maybe it was normal. Look how Sarah’s mother had sold her.
“You will not tell him of this place or about us.”
“Of course not.” She wouldn’t tell her uncle the way to hell if she could help it.
“If you do, we will kill him and everyone in his family.” He said it matter-of-factly, but she believed every word.
“No big loss,” she bluffed.
He couldn’t get through her uncle’s security anyway. The violence of the day she left was etched into her brain. The man her father had beaten to death. If the family could get to such a powerful man, she doubted Zurian could get to them. Still he’d put the reverend’s head on a pike, something she still hadn’t processed.
“I will make you watch as I kill them,” he stressed.
It was an empty threat. She didn’t know how, but she knew he would never let her watch something like that. His arrogance and domineering ways grated on her but there was no denying he would protect her with his life. Making her look on while he killed her uncle was an empty threat. Though she didn’t doubt for one moment that he was capable of following through on his threat to kill Uncle Jacob.
“All right I get it. Don’t tell my evil uncle anything. Jeesh.”
“You will take the call in the main cave when we allow it”
Success at last. She’d get to see where Natalie lived. She wisely didn’t show too much interest. “Okay, but, Zurian, I’m more worried about Sarah right now.”
