by Abella Ward
“We’re taking my ship,” he said. He held up a hand as she opened her mouth to protest. “No arguing.”
Astounded, Kara didn’t know what to do other than simply following him up the ramp into his ship. This was her mission, but he wasn’t even letting her take her own ship. She had never met a man so arrogant and controlling, yet at the same time intriguing.
She settled into a seat in the cockpit as Arazor strapped her in. She checked the coordinates and tapped in instructions on the comm-pad she carried, tracking Nariya’s lead. Arazor sat in the seat next to her and entered commands in the console. The screen came to life and he continued the process. Kara couldn’t understand a thing as it was in his own language.
For a moment, Kara forgot what she was doing. His brooding presence dominated the closed space of the spacecraft. Still mad at him for treating her as though she were an errant child, she told herself to focus and keep her eyes on the comm-pad.
“Did you find out where Nariya is?” Arazor asked her, jolting her out of her thoughts. He gazed at her slender body. She wore a white figure-hugging Argarian crew suit.
“Yeah... I, uh, got a message from her,” she said, looking up at him. Again her eyes wandered over his handsome features: the perfect arch of his dark brows, the straight nose, strong jawline, the markings on his neck, and the depth of his gray eyes... “But I–I have been tracking the course her ship has taken,” she continued as she tore her gaze away from his intense one.
There is definitely something wrong with me, she thought as she felt his gaze pierce her. Why was her mind such a mess? She had never been like this at work. She quickly opened the map that showed where Nariya was last seen.
“The message said she would be heading for Lunizia,” Kara said, “but the map shows something completely different.”
Arazor took the comm-pad from her hands and tapped in more commands. “Yes. She was last seen in Alpha Quadrant. From there, her ship took a course in the opposite direction,” he said quickly, scanning the map on the screen. “That means she will likely be heading for Dragua, a desert planet the Klai are known to visit often.” He handed the device back to her.
“Yes, likely. But we need to be sure,” Kara added. Her stomach lurched again. She had a very bad feeling about this.
“The tracker will confirm it soon. Keep checking,” Arazor said curtly as the ship’s engines hummed to life and he set course for Dragua.
The ship silently moved out of the docking station and into deep space. Arazor glanced at the woman seated next to him. She looked pale and kept blinking at the screen. She was nervous no doubt. He wondered what was on her mind.
“When was the last time you’ve eaten?” he asked her suddenly.
“Um...I ...uh...,” she stuttered.
“I thought so,” he said, and ordered the computer to bring them food. “Kara, you need to eat. Now.”
“Stop treating me like a child! I’m a grown woman,” she said, her voice weak as tears stung her eyes.
He got up, unbuckled her from her seat and pulled her to her feet. “I can see that...” he said in his deep voice as he audaciously gazed at her small breasts and slim curves. “You are going to eat now. No more talking,” he said, ignoring her protests.
Kara felt her legs go weak. Fatigue overtook her. She followed him out of the control room and down the aisle into a small chamber. The interior of the ship was dark gray, the ambiance reflecting her very mood. The sight of food on the table made her stomach grumble. She was suddenly famished.
“Help yourself,” Arazor said. She sat down at the table and he took the chair opposite from her, pouring himself a drink. There was a cold chicken sandwich, salad, and white wine. He had ordered her custom-made food for humans. She took a bite and it tasted fairly good. Then, she dug in, forgetting all manners for a moment.
“You aren’t eating?” she asked, when she had eaten her fill. He was gazing at her, calmly sipping his wine.
“I will,” he said pointing toward a platter she hadn’t noticed before. It had some sort of exotic meat on it, something similar to fish, and it smelled good.
“What is it?” she asked.
“It’s called Snakeberry. Back on Agrion, it’s a delicacy. It lives in water. It’s half animal and half plant,” he said, taking a bite. “I would have you try it, but your stomach is not trained to digest it. And I don’t want you getting sick on this trip.”
Kara sat back in her chair and started sipping her wine when her pager beeped. There was an urgent message waiting for her. She tapped the small panel on her wrist and the holographic video message opened. It was the Ambassador.
“Kara, listen to me carefully. Rezurn has made contact. He is holding Nariya hostage and will kill her if we don’t give him a share of our weaponry. Kara, please bring Nariya home safely. And Arazor? Please, I beg you. Help us.”
The message ended with a beep and Kara stared at her wrist, stunned.
Chapter Four
Their journey was uneventful during the weeks that followed. Kara kept track of Nariya’s ship and they landed on Dragua almost a week after the Ambassador’s message.
The sun was scorching hot as Kara and Arazor stepped out on the desert terrain. They wore heat-resistant suits and breathing masks. Kara carried supplies and got into the rover as Arazor turned on the cloaking field around the ship to hide it from view.
“Mark this location on the map. The desert land keeps changing and we won’t be able to track the ship otherwise,” Arazor said. He took off his mask once he was inside the rover.
“Have you been here before?” Kara asked as she saved their location.
“No, but a friend of mine has. He told me that this is the most unpredictable of planets, especially at night. We need to be extremely careful,” he said.
“So, where are we going from here?” she asked him. All she could see was that they were surrounded by vast red sand. There were no living creatures in sight.
“We will go to the city. It might take us a day and a night to reach it. A day here is almost the equivalent of two Earth days. And the nights are longer still,” he said.
They drove all day under the sweltering sun, over sand dunes and stopping whenever a sandstorm hit. The sandstorms were terrible. They had to wait for hours for them to pass and, often, the rover would end up buried in the sand. Luckily, it was built for such environments and could dig itself out easily. Kara kept track of their coordinates and saved them accordingly. As night crept in and the sun faded away, sinking below the sand dunes, Arazor brought the rover to a halt.
“We will camp here for the night. This should be safe.” He checked the coordinates on the system. Kara was clueless as to where they were. It looked like they were in the middle of nowhere. She quietly admired how Arazor could keep track of their location. Secretly, she was glad he had come. She wouldn’t have survived a day on this hostile planet alone.
Arazor set up the portable camp. It was fitted with sealed walls made of a gray material that Kara had never seen before. It seemed as if it were almost alive, resembling the skin of a rhino. Their communication system from the rover was connected to the computer system inside their camp so that they could keep tracking their location and send data back to Andromeda 13.
At nightfall, the temperature dropped and it became quite cold. Kara stared from the porthole outside and into the night. The night sky became luminous as countless constellations filled its expanse.
“Who are the inhabitants of this planet?” Kara asked him.
“The race that has occupied this land is tribal and they are known to be merchants,” Arazor said. They had just finished dinner and Arazor was sipping wine as he gazed at her. He was fascinated by this petite woman. He found himself lost in the color of her long dark hair and her intoxicating scent...
“How do they live in such a hostile environment?” she wondered aloud.
“They live in a city protected by a force field,” he explained. “Only vile cr
eatures live out here in the wilderness. They come out when darkness falls. So stay inside.”
Kara was lost in thought. “I hope Nariya is alive when we find her...”
“You’d better get some sleep. You’ll need to be rested tomorrow,” he said.
“Thanks for your concern, but I’m not tired,” she responded. He was being bossy again.
“You will need your energy once you get to the city. Go to your sleep chamber now,” he said coldly. Why did she have to question every single thing he said?
“Why don’t you go sleep yourself? I’ll sleep when I feel like it, just like you do,” she said. Once again, he saw that light in her clear brown eyes and was awed by her beauty.
He rose from his seat and strode toward her. She moved back until she was against the wall. He towered over her. Cupping her chin with a strong hand, he gazed deeply into her eyes. “I want to take you right here, right now,” he said in a quiet tone that was both chilling and laced with desire.
“You can take my body, but my heart will never be yours. I will not let you break my spirit,” she said, staring steadily into the piercing gray eyes that were growing darker by the second.
For a fleeting moment, he caught the deep desolation in those beautiful eyes... Something he had failed to see before. She was so young, far younger than he was. He looked about thirty-three, but in Earth years, he was over two hundred years old. Yet, she persistently defied him. He suddenly wanted to kiss her... to protect her.
Arazor, you need to get away from her. Now! The voice in his head screamed at him. He suddenly let go of her and strode out of the room, not looking back.
***
Hours later, Kara checked the tracking system once again for any updates. Nothing new. Her mind drifted again and again toward Arazor. She hadn’t been able to sleep and, to stop herself from thinking about him, she had taken up the task of tracking again. There were still seventy-two Earth hours until sunrise. She wondered whether she could survive the long, long night with Arazor.
She was still tracking when suddenly the signals on her device were disrupted. She frowned. A look out of the porthole showed her that the night was still as a picture. There was no sign of a sandstorm. Puzzled, she entered the common control room. Arazor was nowhere in sight. He must be in his sleep chamber, she assumed.
Holding the comm-pad above her head, she continued to try to reestablish the signal, but the disruption persisted. She checked the main computer’s system which confirmed that the disruption was coming from the north. She suited up and unlocked the door to check the source of the anomaly. It was almost pitch black outside. With dim starlight as her guide, she checked her comm-pad again for a signal and tapped in commands to reset the device. Suddenly, she heard something move to her right.
Kara turned on the small flashlight and followed the sound. She peered around the corner of their camp wall. Nothing. She turned back in the opposite direction. Still nothing. Kara had just decided to go back inside when a strange sound behind her made her stop. She turned, pointed the flashlight in the direction of the sound, and froze.
There, towering over her, was the most horrid creature she had ever laid eyes upon. It had a long snakelike body and neck with multiple spindly legs and milky eyes. Pincers encircled its grotesque head. Adrenaline rushed through Kara’s veins as she screamed and staggered backward. Within a split second, the huge, dark thing pinned her to the ground. Kara tried to shield her face with her arms but it was futile. She could smell the rotten breath of the monster. A sharp pain shot up her shoulder and right arm where something hot burned.
Then, suddenly, the creature retreated as if it had been struck.
The next few moments passed in a haze. The excruciating pain was beginning to blur her vision. She saw the bright glint of a sword striking through the darkness. The slashing sounds of tearing flesh and piercing shrieks filled the night air. She blinked and saw Arazor. Her mind was growing fuzzy. She felt herself rise into the air. She was floating, floating... and then falling as darkness engulfed her.
***
Arazor held her in his arms and carried her back inside, sealing the door behind him. He moved quickly and placed her on the bed inside her chamber and tore open her suit. Her breathing was shallow and she was shivering with a high fever.
The gash on her shoulder was thin but deep and the skin around it was getting dark green. Blue-black veins formed around it, like a spider web. The poison was spreading fast.
Stupid, stupid woman, he cursed her under his breath, clenching his teeth. Without losing another second, he raced to the control room and brought back a small vial with blue liquid: the antidote. He made her drink the whole bottle and spread some on the wound. Then he took out his small knife and cut the palm of his hand and sucked some of his own blood. Then, cupping her head, he opened her mouth and he locked lips with her own, slowly letting his blood fill her mouth. He eased her out of the suit and she lay naked on the bed. He sat on the chair next to her and waited. His breathing had become labored and he had to take a deep breath to calm his agitated nerves. But she would be safe now...
The creature had almost killed her. It was blind but detected its prey by sensing heat signatures. Kara would have died if he hadn’t heard her scream and immediately come to her rescue. His blood, mixed with the antidote, would heal her. He had a rare blood type among his kind, something he had inherited from his mother’s side.
He gazed at her frail form. The poison could paralyze the prey if not treated immediately. Even now, it would take days for her to recover. She would hallucinate if she woke up and could go into a coma if she didn’t...
***
Several hours later, Kara woke up. She was delirious and failed to recognize Arazor. “No, no... Please... Stop... Please, I’ll be careful next time...,” she begged him. Arazor looked at her and clenched his fists. He couldn’t do anything to help her in this pitiful condition.
“Please, Ben... stop it... I’m pregnant!” she cried hysterically and tears streamed down her face. Arazor stared at her, his chest constricting. What was she talking about?
“Stop it now! You’ll hurt the baby... It’s yours!” she screamed, shivering uncontrollably. Arazor took her in his arms and wrapped a warm cloak around her. “No... No! It’s over... I lost the baby... The ba – baby’s gone!” she whimpered and cried in his arms. His jaw clenched once again. This woman was broken inside and, for the first time, he saw her in a different light. She was trying so hard to be brave, to stand up for herself. But here she was, so vulnerable and alone... His chest tightened once more and he wished he could make her pain stop. But he couldn’t.
Chapter Five
“Arazor?” It was almost morning when Kara awoke.
“I’m here. How are you feeling?” he asked her solemnly.
“I–I don’t know... Okay, I guess...,” she answered feebly, her head spinning. She was still weak but her delirium was over. She tried sitting up, then realized she was naked under the covers. Her clothes lay at the foot of the bed.
“Here, drink this.” He offered her a glass. She noticed that there was something different about his manner. He seemed almost kind and gentle with her. She wondered why. What had happened to the Arazor who despised her?
“The poison from your wound would have killed you had I not treated it in time,” he explained. “I have brought you food. You should eat when you feel up to it.”
“Thank you,” she said weakly as she sipped her drink. It tasted bitter, but soothed her nerves. “Arazor... How did you know I was outside? I thought you were sleeping.”
“I heard the door open and followed you,” he said. “I had warned you not to go out and you didn’t listen. Luckily, we don’t need as much sleep as humans do.”
“I–I’m sorry... I couldn’t sleep. I was working and suddenly the signal became disrupted,” she said quietly. “And then that creature attacked me… What happened after the attack? Was I unconscious the whole time?”
“What did I say?”
“Lots of things... You weren’t making sense,” he said quietly. He gazed at her for some time as she stared at her glass, lost in thought. “Who is Ben, Kara?” he finally asked her.
She stared at him wide-eyed. “My ex-husband... Back on Earth,” she said, sheepishly averting her eyes as color rose to her cheeks.
He looked at her strangely. “Kara, when this is over, I will let you go. You will no longer be bound to me,” he said as he gazed at her, slowly rubbing his thumb over the runes on his wrist.
She didn’t know how to respond. He was one of the most unpredictable people she had ever met.
He got to his feet and she again was struck by how tall he was. “The sun will come up in a few hours. We need to get moving if we want to reach the city. You get dressed while I pack up,” he said, resuming the cold tone she had become accustomed to. Mr. Bossy is back again, she thought.
He turned to leave. She gazed at his back. She could make out the strong muscles rippling beneath his shirt. ““Arazor? Thanks... for saving my life,” she said softly.
“It’s my duty to protect you, Kara,” he said. He gave her a sidelong glance, and then left the chambers without another word, leaving her along with her thoughts.
So he was willing to leave her after they had found Nariya. She wondered what had made him change his mind. Regardless, though, this was exactly what she had wanted, wasn’t it? Then why was she not happy about it? She felt a tug in her heart. Something was definitely wrong with her. She couldn’t stop thinking about him. His intense gray eyes, his strong jaw, and the way he wistfully ran a thumb along the runes etched on his wrist–a reminder that they were bound for life. She looked at her own wrist...
Stop it Kara! Stop being stupid! Be strong and don’t let yourself go there... It would be a mistake you would regret forever…
