Premonitions

by Le aha Vaughn

  Eriq felt her tighten around him in her own climax prompting him to find his own, her body shivering as one wave of ecstasy after another hit her. He held her fast not wanting her to wriggle away as he pumped faster and faster until finally he reached his own peak, roaring her name as he spilled himself deep inside her.

  "Nah'Dara!"

  Nah'Dara felt like crying, laughing, leaping from the top of the world. Never in her life had she felt something so wonderful. Her body tingled, her heart raced. Her head spun fiercely. She truly felt alive, every pore in her body singed.

  Nah'Dara rested her head in the crook of his neck totally spent.

  "Wow,” was all she said after a moment of silence.

  "Did I hurt you?” He had taken her with less gentleness. He knew she would be sore in the morning. She shook her head unable to speak.

  He feathered gentle kisses along her hairline as he pulled out causing her to gasp. She was still sensitive to him and he was still hard. He would never have enough of her, but he would let her rest. Next time he vowed take her with much more gentleness.

  * * * *

  Lord Narl watched the viewer intently after his brother fucked the woman in the lagoon. Time's out for watching them have all the fun. Now, it is his turn to enjoy her hot slick depths and kill the Great Prince.

  Touching the communicator, he signaled his men.

  "What is your wish, my Lord?"

  "Time to find them and bring them to me."

  "And the Great Prince, my Lord?” He dared ask about the bastard brother of his.

  "Kill him if you must.” He thought a moment. He had another idea. “On second thought, I'm on my way. I want to see the look on his face when I take his woman away from him."

  * * * *

  Eriq pushed them away from the lagoon wall to the bank where his feet touched the ground. He hated the feel of loss that crept through him as she untwined her legs. Never had he felt anything as powerful before.

  Nah'Dara chuckled. “Me neither."

  His hands did not leave her side as he saw her swaying. “Are you sure I didn't hurt you?” He pulled her into his arms not wanting to let her go.

  "No, unless you count my throat."

  "Who knew you were a screamer?"

  "What can I say? I enjoyed myself?"

  Taking her hand, Eriq led her back to the cottage. He pulled her into his arms ignoring her squeals as he walked through the door. He laid her down on the cot wrapping his arms protectively around her. He placed a gentle kiss on her temple as he gathered the blanket to cover them both.

  Nah'Dara looked at him. Her eyes still dark with passion, heavy lidded and glazed over. “Will it always be like this between us?"

  Spirit, he hoped so. “I take it that you enjoyed it."

  She giggled tracing her hand down his large forearm. “Spirit, if it's always this good, then I think that I could be a very happy woman."

  Eriq's chuckle rumbled deep in his chest. “I'll keep that in mind."

  He felt extremely sated. He felt her truly open to him for the first time since being together. Spirits above, he loved her. The love for her seemed to combat the guilt over Mireya. It made him feel whole.

  Enjoying the feel of her body against his, he pulled her close to him giving into the need for sleep. At his last thought, his world finally felt the smallest bit at peace.

  Chapter 21

  A feeling of urgency wrapped around Eriq and pulled him out of his sleep. Rubbing the sleep form his eyes, he looked down at Nah'Dara sleeping soundly in his arms.

  With extreme care, he pulled his arm away. She moaned shifting slightly.

  "Where are you going?” Nah'Dara half opened a sleepy green eye, a smile touching her lips.

  "To find a tree."

  "Mmm. Hurry back.” She pulled the coverlet over shoulder. “I'm cold.

  Eriq leaned over covering her mouth briefly giving her full bottom lip a gently pull.

  "I'll warm you when I get back.” Taking one last look at her, he stood. He grabbed his clothes putting them on before walking out the door.

  The sense of urgency increased the farther he walked from the cabin. Hearing the familiar sound of standard military boots hitting the dirt, he hid behind the bushes mentally shielding his mind from the intruders.

  Eriq pulled the katana from the sheath on his back, armed. He pulled back the bush and stilled.

  Eriq heard some movement in the bush not far from him. He increased the grip that held his katana. Two Cylian warriors scouting out the remains of his ship. A raiding party? In Alliance Space?

  A couple of warriors walked into the Nadonnis while the others stayed outside. After several minutes, they walked out holding the dismantled distress beacon.

  Completely shielded, he listened to them. He spent many years learning all he could about the Cylian, including their language. He had to understand them before he defeat them.

  "Search the area. They're close."

  Anger and rage filled him quickly. He could not take the chance of them finding Nah'Dara. At the thought of her, he swallowed his rage trying to focus his mind.

  Eriq blended into the forest in need of getting back to her. He could not stand to see another woman he cared about to be taken by the heartless men who killed his first wife. With enough distance between him and the raiders, he ran with speed faster than normal for a human, fueled by the cold dagger of fear creeping through him.

  Eriq reached the cottage seeing Nah'Dara still sleeping on the cot. He walked over to her. Placing his hand gently on her face, he called out to her mentally.

  Nah'Dara. She opened her eyes, smiling at him sleepily.

  "Mmmhmm,” she growled in her sleep-induced voice. Her sexy bedroom eyes were going to be the death of him. Her brown lips were still kiss swollen, and love bites red at her neck. He pushed the sudden rush of arousal away to deal with the present.

  "We got company."

  She sat up fully awake, and he watched her expression change from awareness to confusion. “What's going on?"

  When he did not answer her, he felt her trying to enter his mind. Eriq opened his mind to her. He saw her awareness kick in, her eyes widening.

  "What's wrong?” Her voice colored with concern.

  "There are several Cylian warriors scouting the area.” He headed for what little supplies they had. He quickly tossed her some clothes. “They found the ship and are searching the area for us. We have to leave."

  Nah'Dara caught the clothes and pulled the shirt over her head. She stood quickly, deciding not to bother with the coverlet as it fell to the ground. She hopped into the pants tugging them over her hips. Eriq was watching her as she fastened them, a smile threatened to burst through. He growled at her sexually.

  She shot him a heated glare. “I thought that we needed to go."

  "We do,” he said as he tossed her the phaser. “Just admiring the view.” He headed to door making sure they were not surrounded. He motioned back to her to follow him. When he felt her touch his arm, he grabbed her hand, then making a mad dash through the forest. She could barely keep up.

  He dodged around several trees and bushes, nearly running into another one of those furry creatures.

  Where are we going? She asked mentally.

  We are just putting some distance between them and us. He stopped at the banks of the lagoon. He heard the footsteps of someone closing in on them. He felt out where they were as he searched with his eyes.

  I want you to run as fast as you can to the cave we spent the night in. Wait for me there. When she did not move, he added thundering into her mind, do not wait for me. Run!

  Eriq watched as she disappeared into the bushes. Eriq sensed her fear, felt her racing pulse through their connection. When they get home, he was definitely going to teach her to modify the connection between them.

  If they get home...

  Eriq tuned out her emotions, centering on the location of the raider. After a moment, he saw the raider walking
along the bank. He held his katana in hand. His muscles bunched with readiness. The moment the warrior heard the movement in the bushes and was coming to inspect, Eriq readied for him.

  He kept himself hidden mentally. Cylians matched his race in body mass as well as strength as well as mental capabilities. An Altarian child learned early on to defend itself mentally as well as physically if they were to stand a chance with the Cylian. He could feel something crawling up his back but did not want to take his eyes away.

  * * * *

  Something inside Nah'Dara made her stop when she was almost near the mouth of the cave. She could not let him stand-alone maybe even be killed no matter how good of a fighter he was. She turned around running back to the lagoon. If she did nothing else, she would stand beside him and fight.

  She slowed her pace quieting her steps when she was close to him. She hid behind a large boulder peaking over to see if the coast was clear. Nah'Dara watched Eriq's broad back as a six-legged insect with red wings and a black body as big as her hand traveled across his back. Eriq had not moved. She did not believe he felt it. His attention was obviously elsewhere.

  She wanted to scream it out, but held it in not wanting to alert their attention. She did not dare move, yet she needed to warn him. The thing looked as if it packed fangs. Fear gripped her anew.

  She hated bugs every since her father insisted she spend one night in a cave expecting her find her way back home. Scared witless, she transported back just to be screened by the med assistant.

  The insect climbed a little higher, bee lining for his shoulder. The scream lodged in her throat.

  The insect stopped, angrily flaring its wings. She did not like that at all. Her eyes widened when she saw it retract a long stinger. She forgot her fear. With a yelp, she jumped up swinging her arms flailing to get the bug away from him.

  The moment she moved, the leaves under her feet rustled alerting the raider.

  Shit ... , she thought. Eriq pinned her with an outraged stare before looking at her feet. He grabbed her by the arm yanking her hard to him.

  What are you trying to do? Get us killed? Nah'Dara could hear him yell in her mind. She pushed back from him.

  Get it away from me! To her horror, it quickly stabbed him. He yelped in instant pain as she swung madly at the insect. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the raider advance.

  "Eriq, look out!"

  Nah'Dara took a dive for the ground taking Eriq with her. The raider shot at them with his phaser barely missing Eriq's head. She felt him stand. His fists balled at his sides. The pain in his back obviously forgotten as he charged after the raider moving faster than she ever seen anyone move. He delivered a series of blows to the raider's face before grabbing him in a headlock. The raider's neck gave a sickening snap.

  Eriq threw him to the ground. The look he shot her with those eerily primal eyes made her want to run and hide.

  He went to her, grabbing her up from the ground. Without warning, a group of raiders burst through the trees carrying phasers. They surrounded them, the need to do battle in their eyes. Eriq shielded her with his body as he drew his own phaser.

  He waited, as if mentally measuring up each one before he attacked.

  "Stand down, Great Prince. You are out numbered.” Eriq refused to move. Instead, she felt his grip tighten on her arm. The lead raider stepped forward.

  "Yarrm my hian, LoMoq,” he said. She did not understand the Cylian when he spoke. His rolling tongued dialect wreaked havoc on her ears as well as her mind.

  He knows who I am, Eriq said to her in their intimate way. She could hear the growl in his voice laced with pain he was so desperately trying to hide.

  "Yarrm my, Narl.” The Cylian raider stepped forward. His chest covered in black battle armor. Nah'Dara noticed the battle marking, black swirling tattoos, down his left arm stopping at the large tan forearm, silver hair flowing over his black uniform, and a cool acidic glare in his silver eye.

  The raider pressed the communication on the side of his armor and his words changed from his native dialect to Galactic Standard English. “You're a long way from home, brother, and so deep into Cylian Territory.” Nah'Dara's gasped. Cylian Apace. The EMP knocked them that far off course? They had been in the hands of the enemy all along. A wave of guilt washed over her.

  "I thought we could catch up on old times.” There was nothing friendly in his voice.

  Narl laughed darkly. “The last time I saw you, the bitch you called a wife lay dying in your arms.” She felt Eriq tense seeing the tick in his jaw. His eyes glowered in anger as he raised the phaser higher.

  "Hit a nerve, did I?” Narl said with a smirk. “She took all of me in her hot little cunt like the whore she was. She screamed even clawing, begging me for more, like you could never do for her."

  Eriq was practically oozing steam. Nah'Dara touched his arm.

  "Eriq, don't listen to him,” she said, but by the look on his face he heard nothing.

  Lord Narl looked at her. His heated gaze traveled over her entire body causing her to shiver. For the first time in her life, she felt vulnerable.

  "I see you have another woman now.” The feral grin on Narl's face only made his intentions clear. He nodded to his men. In the blink of an eye, they were on them. Nah'Dara felt arms pulling her away from Eriq; they held her arms in a biting grip. Her backside was pressed against a hard chest.

  Narl stepped closer to Nah'Dara picking up a curl of her dark hair and twirling it around his finger. “She's just as pretty as your last. Wouldn't you say, LoMoq?"

  "You stay away from her.” Another raider stood in front of him and backhanded him across the face.

  "I think she likes my touch.” As he trailed a finger from her hair to her lips, Nah'Dara glowered at him. She snapped at the finger, wanting to bite the meaty sausage off. He pulled back his hand then slapped her himself. The impact left her dizzy. She heard Eriq jerk madly against his holder.

  Nah'Dara leveled her gaze on to him. “You sorry son of a bitch! Touch me again and I will kill you myself."

  He laughed leveling his gaze. “I seriously doubt that."

  She sneered at him, licking the blood from her lip. Her own rage boiled over. We'll see.

  "Take them away. I'll deal with them later.” Soon as the words left his mouth, the raider pressed a hypodermic spray against Eriq's neck. She heard the familiar hiss as the contents injected into his body. He struggled briefly but then he grew still, slumping forward unconscious. She felt another epidermal sprayer against her neck. She did not try to hide the fear she felt inside. Narl gave her dark look all the while his smile widened stilling her with his cold eyes as he shook his head.

  "Keep her conscious. I think I would like to see my new toy.” He turned and walked away through the forest. The raider behind her harshly pushed her forward towards the Cylian camp.

  Chapter 22

  Nah'Dara felt the large hands shove her through the door of a dark cell. She turned just in time to watch two guards bring Eriq's limp body in, dumping him harshly on the floor. She rushed to him using her hands to search for any wounds on his head. Feeling none, she sighed in relief moving him just enough to place his head on her lap.

  How had she gotten this far down on luck? She only wanted to get away. Now she was in the hands of the enemy with the Great Prince of an entire world. It was all her fault. If she was not or had not been so pigheaded going along with her uncle, none of this would have ever happened.

  "But no,” she berated herself. “I had to do things the hard way and now look at us.” She sniffed back her angry tears. “I'm sitting here in a cell as a prisoner of war.” Nah'Dara curled around Eriq's head trying to drown out every bad thought that crossed her mind.

  Hours passed before Eriq showed any signs of coming around. He moaned as he came awake pulling Nah'Dara from her dark thoughts.

  "Nah'Dara?"

  The darkness blinded her, yet she could feel the heat of his body close to her leg. She felt for h
is face feeling the roughness of his beard against her palm.

  "I'm here."

  "Where are we?"

  "In a brig of some kind, but it's too dark to see.” Nah'Dara felt his awareness kick in. She felt him shift positions. That is when she felt his anger as it hit her hard in the pit of her stomach. She could practically feel the heat from his angry eyes searing her.

  "Why didn't you run when I told you to?"

  "Do I ever do what I'm told?” Don't answer that, she thought. Way too obvious she never did.

  "Woman,” he scoffed. “I was trying to protect you. How can I do that when you're so bull headed? When I give you an order, I expect it to be obeyed."

  Nah'Dara felt her blood start to boil. “Hold up, Great Prince. I obey only me. I don't need your protection, LoMoq. I never did, not on Dinti Rixon and not now."

  She turned her head away, but Eriq grabbed her by the shoulders quickly turning her around to face him.

  "Do you know how sick minded Theron is and what he does to women like you?"

  She really did not want to know, yet she felt Eriq in her mind sending her images of women being tortured, thrown against things, raped repeatedly, the blood as he killed the women all flashed through her mind. She fought the bile that threatened her stomach to rebel. She winced under the pressure of his mind as he pressed into hers. His grip tightened on her arms.

  "He'll have you tied up, stripped down, and beaten. When you think he's had enough, he'll rape you repeatedly,” his voice was cracking with each word. “And when he's done with you, he'll kill you.” He pulled her hard against him, his words hissed through his teeth. “Do you want that, Nah'Dara?” He shook her. “Do you?"

  Nah'Dara shook her head her defiance suddenly stripped away from her. No, she did not want that again, vowed never again to be placed in the same position again and yet here she was.

  "Come here,” he said in a gruff voice. Too stunned to speak, Nah'Dara allowed him to pull her into his arms crushing her up against the hardness of his chest. The earthy smell of him filled her, bringing her a small bout of comfort just to feel him.