by KD Jones
“Just as it is okay for Miss Marquesa to feel angry toward the Katierans, it is okay for you, Miss Connell, to feel forgiveness. I think we have done enough for today. I will see you both tomorrow.”
“Wow that was weird,” Lizzie signed to Lola when they left Dr. Garrett’s office.
“It was.”
“I hope I didn’t upset you.”
“I’m not. I…I never thought of it the way you have. I didn’t know of the men who died. Did they have families?”
Lizzie nodded her head. “Some did. They had a memorial on the Kiljorn transport, but I wasn’t there. I was helping get everyone settled on the new transport they shipped us to. I think for me, it helped to see the efforts made on our behalf.”
“Maybe I would have felt differently as well. I don’t know if I can forgive yet.”
“Don’t worry about all that. You have time to work up to that.” Lizzie motioned with her hands then patted her on the back. “Do you want to go with me to the Meal room? I am hungry enough to eat a horse.”
“Yes.” That session left her feeling uneasy. Maybe she needed to think about trying to forgive. It was so hard.
Chapter Four
LarIS lunged forward trying to take his opponent down at the knees. The other male swiftly turned away just barely escaping. Both men were breathing hard as they circled the fighting area.
“You are a little slow, Leader LarIS. Perhaps too much paperwork has made your muscles go soft,” the male’s voice showing signs of laughter.
LarIS growled, “Commander TylOR, I may be out of practice physically, but I have other skills I have yet to rely on.” He pivoted away when TylOR tried to swipe his legs out from under him.
He had met with the Kiljorn Commander for an early Midday Meal and the Commander suggested they spar as a way to release some tension. LarIS worked equally hard to keep his mind out of the Commander’s. He wanted it to be on equal footing, but the other male had the advantage. He was seven feet tall, if not taller. Wide muscular arms and a bald head. He was huge.
“You wish to take a break, Leader LarIS?” TylOR taunted him.
“No. Did you wish to?” LarIS returned, flashing the other male a smile.
TylOR snorted at him. They had been sparring with one another for about thirty minutes. Neither one had gotten close to pinning the other one. They were starting to draw a crowd around them.
*****
“I heard there was a great view on the south side of the Colonial Main Building,” Lizzie signed to Lola as they walked the pathway made out of unusual dark brown stones.
“I am enjoying the view already,” Lola signed to her. She looked around at the beautiful trees and bushes. The Katierans and Kiljorn were well known for their respecting of nature. But Lola felt the Colonists did a much better job of blending their technology with nature. The stone path they walked on was made out of pieces of the mountain nearby. It looked like it was made to be there. That was what she loved about it here. It felt like she was a part of her surroundings. As if the forest had a heartbeat.
“Oh.” Lizzie came to a halt reaching for Lola’s arm. She pointed in the direction ahead of them where many of the warriors were training their fighting skills. “I guess they haven’t finished their training yet. Did you want to leave or wait until they finish up?”
Lola would have preferred going back to her suite. But it wasn’t right to make Lizzie give up a day under the beautiful sky and fresh air. Her friend had come all this way to help her, the least she could do was work through her uneasiness with being around others so Lizzie could enjoy herself.
“It’s okay. We can sit and enjoy the view even with them here,” Lola signed.
Lizzie found them a place not far from the training area where they could spread a blanket and sit on the ground. Lola laid back and closed her eyes. She could hear so many different sounds coming from all around. She focused her hearing on the creatures that sounded similar to monkeys making their cackling sounds. It wasn’t until Lizzie touched her arm that the other sounds intruded and she had to put up a wall to block them out the best she could.
“What is it?” Lola sat up.
“Is that Leader LarIS fighting with Commander TylOR?”
Lola looked in the direction that Lizzie was pointing too. She could make out two men who were bare chested and circling one another. One was huge, clearly Commander TylOR. The other was shorter with red hair. It was him.
“What is he doing? He is no match for the Kiljorn Commander.” Lola got to her feet and started moving closer and closer. Lizzie got up to follow her.
LarIS kicked out at TylOR with his foot hitting the larger man in the stomach. TylOR stumbled back a few feet. Then he regained his footing and swung out a large fist hitting LarIS in the jaw. The smaller man stumbled backwards then made a leap toward the Kiljorn Commander. The Commander threw two more punches that made it impossible for LarIS to find his footing. He went down to the ground hard.
'LarIS!' Lola felt her heart stop at seeing the fearless leader fall. He had to be okay. He had to. She took off running toward the training area. Lizzie followed after not able to catch up.
She couldn’t yell for people to move out of her way so she shoved the men around her until she made a path through the crowd. He was still on the ground. The Commander was kneeling beside him laughing.
'LarIS! Are you okay?' She knelt on the other side of him looking over his body for injuries. He had a bruise on his jaw but other than that, he looked fine. Her eyes locked onto his and saw his surprise.
'I am fine except for my ego. I underestimated my opponent.' He sat up and looked at the crowd that had gathered, addressing them, “I’m fine. I think I’ll call an end to the practice for today.” He looked at the Commander and gave him a smile. “Next time, Commander, it’ll be you on the ground.”
Commander TylOR laughed and helped LarIS up to his feet. “I look forward to it, Leader LarIS. You are a fine warrior.” He turned and headed toward where Lizzie stood talking to AshOR.
'You could have been seriously hurt. Why did you not use your powers to control his movements?' Lola was flabbergasted at casual the men acted.
'Were you worried for me?' LarIS couldn’t help but smile down at her. This was the most she had spoken to him and he was extremely pleased she was using the mind-to-mind connection. It was a more intimate form of communication. He maneuvered her a little bit further away so they could talk without people staring at them. It must look odd to others to see them looking at each intently with no audible words coming out.
She didn’t answer his question. 'Why didn’t you freeze him?'
He sighed. 'I don’t like to do that to people. It makes them distrustful of me.'
She turned to look toward the forest. He was speaking about her specifically. She distrusted him after what he had done to keep her from killing herself. He interfered and she still resented him a little for that.
'How is your day going so far? I am glad to see you outside of your suite.' He longed to touch her soft skin. Her dark brown almost black hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Her dark brown eyes seemed so mysterious. Her full luscious lips begged for his kiss. Kitana, she made him hard for her.
She gasped. Leader LarIS, that is…inappropriate.
Kitana, he must have not controlled his thoughts and she must have heard his desire for her. Damn, he was going to have to be more careful around her. He wasn’t used to that. No one else had the ability to connect with him easily enough to pull his thoughts from him. Should he apologize? It was how he really did feel. He wouldn’t be able to lie to her about it because she would be able to read the truth from him.
'You are a beautiful female. How could I not react to being near to you? You intrigue me like no other. I ache to get to know you better.' His breathing changed and he could scent something from her. It was a change in her scent that made the next sound from him, a low rumbling growl.
Lola shivered. She wasn’t sure if s
he actually heard the growl or felt the rumbling, but her entire body responded. It was surprising and unwelcome, but not unpleasant. She felt her nipples harden and she was getting wet between her thighs. Oh God, she wanted him. She jerked her head up and looked into his eyes to see if he had heard her thoughts. The way he smiled at her was the answer, he had heard her. Just great.
Their eye contact was broken when LarIS turned to look at something behind Lola. He then frowned. When he looked back at her he spoke out loud and she watched his lickable lips and read his words.
“Lizzie wants to know if you are ready to go.”
Lola turned to look at her friend who was glaring at the hulking commander as he spoke to her. The commander’s brother, AshOR, was enjoying whatever problem was going on. She got her friend's attention and nodded that she was ready to leave. She looked back at LarIS. He was watching her intently.
“I hope to see you at Evening Meal.” LarIS bowed and made his way off the training area. Commander TylOR walked along side of him and AshOR.
That is one sexy man. Lola couldn’t help but think.
'Thank you. You are quite sexy yourself,' LarIS’s voice vibrated within her mind.
Lizzie touched her arm to get her attention. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yes.” Lola signed.
*****
“So, what was that all about with you and Leader LarIS?” Lizzie asked, signing her question when they got back to their suite.
Lola blushed, signing her answer, “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Come on, you two were throwing off some major heat. You guys were talking mind-to-mind right?”
“Yes.”
“I heard he could do that. Is it weird to hear him in your head.”
“Yeah, a little bit.”
“It looked sexy as hell the way you two stared at one another.”
Lola wanted to deflect the attention off her. “What about you and Commander TylOR.”
This time Lizzie turned red. “I," she paused in signing, "…don’t know what you mean.”
“It looked like you two were having a heated argument.”
“It was nothing. The man seems to think he’s in charge of me. He’s bossy and stubborn.”
Lola smiled. “He’s also sexy.”
“Fine, he is sex on a damn stick okay. But he is not the boss of me. I prefer someone more…manageable.”
“Like AshOR?” It had not missed Lola’s attention the younger brother flirted outrageously with Lizzie.
Lizzie sighed before signing, “He’s everything that TylOR isn’t.”
“So what’s wrong with AshOR?”
“He’s nothing like TylOR.”
Lola was grateful she didn’t have a problem like Lizzie. She was torn between two men who wanted her—brothers. She changed the subject.
“So we’re going to start our training with Lt. Daniels tomorrow.”
“Yes. It’ll be fun.” Lizzie perked up at the thought.
Lola frowned. If they trained like the men, it was going to be a lot of aches, pains, and bruises.
Chapter Five
“Thank you, Prime ConEL, for coming today,” Dr. Garrett said.
ConEL grunted. He thought he would be done with these sessions. What in Kitana had made him agree to come here again? His mate asked him to agree so he did. He wasn’t happy about it.
Lola looked uncomfortable. She wasn’t used to having someone other than Lizzie come to her therapy sessions. Plus, she just wasn’t comfortable being around men.
Dr. Garrett looked at Lola and gave her a reassuring smile as she explained. “I asked Prime ConEL to come today to talk about his own experiences. You won’t have to share if you chose not to. Sometimes we learn about ourselves when we compare our experiences with others.” She turned her attention back to ConEL. She noticed that he kept glancing at Lizzie who was sitting across from Lola. “Prime ConEL. This is Dr. Elizabeth Connell. We call her Lizzie for short. She is here to help translate what we say to Lola Marquesa, she is hearing impaired.”
ConEL looked at the pretty female with the sad eyes. “She cannot hear?”
“Only some sounds. She also does not speak much, so when Lizzie speaks, it is for Lola.”
ConEL frowned. “Did the Morins do this to her?”
Dr. Garrett shook her head. “No, she has been hearing impaired most of her life.”
Lizzie interpreted for Lola as they spoke.
Dr. Garrett prompted ConEL. “Prime ConEL, how long were you held captive by the Morins?”
He fidgeted but then concentrated on Dr. Garrett. “Ten years.”
Lola looked shocked. She had no idea. She heard rumors but this was the first time she had actually been in the same room with the man. He looked just as uncomfortable as she was.
“Your wife…sorry…previous mate was also prisoner?”
“You know this already,” ConEL said with a frown.
“I know. Bear with me.”
“Yes, she was breeding when we were captured and she had our son while we were imprisoned.”
“The Morins abused her?”
“Yes. For ten years they raped her over and over in hopes of breeding with her. They even took my seed hoping to try to implant it or mix it with their own.”
“Did you ever have an opportunity to escape?”
“Many times.”
“But you remained?”
“How could I leave my young and my mate? What kind of male would that make me?”
Dr. Garrett gave him a reassuring smile. He was still just as wonderful as before. She really appreciated his honesty.
“How did you feel about your rescue?”
He shifted in his seat and turned to look out the window. It was clear he was remembering the time and the frown he wore made it seem very unpleasant.
“I didn’t want to go on. My son was estranged, my daughter was a fully grown female, my position with the Katieran Nation was taken over by my nephew, and my mate…dead.”
Lola held back her gasp of surprise. Surely he didn’t mean he…no it couldn’t have happened that way.
“Could you describe the…event?”
“It was evening, I didn’t feel like celebrating with the rest of the crowd gathered for the celebration. I walked down to the shores of Katiera and stared out over the water. I ached for my mate. I couldn’t remember the color of her eyes. Her eyes haunted me for years while I was imprisoned. But once I was released, I found that I couldn't imagine her eyes at all. I had lost even that. I felt...as if I had failed her and our son. I wasn’t deserving of live. I wanted to…end it all.”
Lola couldn’t help it. She openly stared at the large man across from her. He seemed so strong and confident. How could he have had tried to kill himself.
Dr. Garrett nodded her head as she let everything he had told about himself resonate with her. She shook her head. She had to get rid of the thoughts she was having. It was unprofessional. But if she was being honest with herself, she had a bit of a crush on the tortured male.
“You tried to drown yourself?” Lola asked, using Lizzie to interpret.
He nodded his head.
“You were saved. How did that make you feel?”
“Angry and resentful. I felt like no one else had the right to interfere. It was my life—my decision.” ConEL frowned as he said the words. They sounded so strange to him. Almost as if someone else was saying them.
“How do you feel about your rescue now?” Dr. Garrett pushed him to continue.
“I’m grateful. It took time to feel that way. But I do. I was blessed before with a mate and daughter. Now I am blessed again with a new mate, a daughter, and a son. I know now how precious life is and I don’t want to waste one second of it.”
Dr. Garrett turned to Lola. “Is there something about your rescue you would like to share?”
How did Dr. Garrett find out? The only one there was LarIS. Did he talk to Dr. Garrett about it?
Lola
lifted her hands and talked about her last moments on board the Morin ship. She spoke of LarIS barging in and killing those that were hurting her. Then she said what she had never told anyone about.
“I saw the gun. I reached for it and pulled it up to my head. All I had to do was pull the trigger. I tried to but…LarIS stopped me.” She didn’t tell them how. She wasn’t sure if he wanted people to know how much telepathic power he had. She felt like she should protect his secrets.
“How did you feel about his interference?”
“Pissed off at first.”
“Do you still feel that way?”
“I’m not sure. I still haven’t completely come to terms with what happened to me. I’m not sure if I ever will. I feel resentful toward LarIS but also...appreciative.” As Lizzie relayed her words for them, she realized she had never thanked LarIS for saving her. She showed him her anger, resentment, and fear. But she never showed him that she was grateful.
“Talking about what happened more and more will aid you in overcoming and dealing with things,” Dr. Garrett told her. “I think we’ve done enough for today. Thank you, Prime ConEL, for coming to this session.”
ConEL nodded his head. He looked at Lola as if he was going to something else, but then he stood and left the room. Dr. Garrett watched him go with a wistful expression on her face.
“Are we meeting again tomorrow?” Lizzie asked, interrupting the silence that filled the room.
“No. I have another appointment I have to make. We will meet again next Monday.”
Lola and Lizzie left Dr. Garrett’s office. Each caught up in their own thoughts that they were startled when Prime ConEL suddenly appeared in front of them. He looked directly at Lola as he spoke.
“May I speak privately with you?”
