Star's Storm: Lords of Kassis Book 2 (4 page)

“You are very beautiful,” Star murmured out
loud before she blushed in embarrassment.

Madas chuckled as she leaned back. “Thank
you, little warrior. It is not often that other species look beyond
what they want to see. Most think of the Tearnats as a savage
species with little culture or capacity for caring,” Madas said,
her eyes sad for a moment. “I am just as guilty. When I first saw
Gril….,” her husky, warm voice faded as a small rose color filled
her face.

“Oh no you don’t,” Star said in fascination.
“You are so not going to start and not finish! How did you two
meet?”

Madas blushed again and looked down at the
plate in her lap. “He was on a training mission. The single fighter
ship he was in developed engine problems and he was forced to land.
He had never been to the mountainous regions of our home world
before. My clan was very isolated at the time. My mother led our
clan after my father died. In our clan, the females were taught to
fight as well as the males. My mother believed it was important
that all members of the clan be ready to defend it if necessary.
There are many animals that live in the mountains that would not
hesitate to attack. We were excellent hunters and trackers. I
learned how to use the plants to heal from my grandmother.” Madas
paused to take a small bite out of the fresh fruit on her plate.
Her eyes closed briefly as the sweet juice flowed down her throat.
When her eyes opened, they glittered with humor. “I saw Gril’s
fighter landing in a meadow half a mountain away from our village.
I rushed to see what it was as I had never seen one before. When he
stepped out of it and turned, I thought I had never seen an uglier
male in my life!”

“You thought Gril was ugly?” Star asked
amazed.

Madas chuckled. “You have to understand, I
had never seen a male like him before. He was all muscle and he was
bigger and paler than the males of our clan. He gets his coloring
from the desert.”

Star nodded. She had wondered why Gril was
so much lighter than Madas. He also had just one ridge on his head
and his teeth were longer and sharper. His coloring was more like
the color of the desert camouflage outfits that the military wore
back home.

“So, what happened?” Star asked impatiently.
“What did he do when he saw you?”

“He didn’t…. at first,” Madas responded with
a glint in her eyes. “Remember, he was in my territory. I knew how
to hunt, track, and remain hidden. I was the best warrior in our
clan and the daughter of the leader. But, I underestimated his
ability to sense he was not alone. He is very good at trusting his
instincts and he had experienced war where I had not. For two days,
we played with each other. He would disappear, trying to circle
around me while I would stay one step ahead of him. I grew to
respect his skills as he came closer and closer to me.” Her voice
grew warm as her memories flooded her. “On the third day, he caught
me. He had set a trap and I walked into it.”

Star was staring at Madas totally mesmerized
by the story. Her hand reached up to her throat. What must it have
been like to have the huge Tearnat stalking her day after day?
Then, to be caught in a trap, unable to get out. Star could feel
her own pulse increase at the thought.

“What did you do?” Star breathed out.

Madas grinned. “I cursed him, fought him,
and fell in love with him,” she said quietly.

“Yes, but....,” Star grounded her teeth
together. “What did he do?”

Madas’ cheeks burned with color as she
lowered her head. “He claimed me. Over and over until I couldn’t
think straight. Then, he demanded I take him back to my clan so he
could tell them I belonged to him,” she hissed out softly.

“How did your mom feel about him?” Star
asked curiously, wondering how her own parents would react to
Jazin’s claim on her.

“She insisted he prove that he was strong
enough to claim me,” Madas replied looking out the window as she
remembered how frightened she had been. “In my clan, a warrior has
to prove he is strong enough to protect his mate. If he is not,
both die. I was taken during the night to the Death Springs. Gril
had three days to find and rescue me.”

“What do you mean, you would both die? What
happens at the Death Springs?” Star asked quietly, sensing this was
not a good thing.

Madas looked intently at Star before she
lowered her eyes. “There is a place in the mountains where the heat
of the planet is closer to the surface. There are springs in this
area where the water boils and nothing can live. My clan uses these
springs as a test. Cages are suspended above the largest boiling
spring and the male or female who is being claimed is placed in it.
For three days and three nights, they are left there alone. If the
warrior claiming them does not complete the journey to the Death
Springs before the light of the fourth day, the cage is lowered
into the boiling water,” Madas explained quietly. “The path to the
springs is deadly. Many warriors have lost their lives trying to
make it. Even then, some have made the journey but did not arrive
in time to save their mate. If they survive but their mate does
not, they are given to the boiling waters for failing to be a good
protector.”

“But Gril made it,” Star insisted. “He saved
you, otherwise you wouldn’t be here now.”

Madas smiled. “Yes, he made it. My clan was
not happy that I was claimed by a warrior from outside the clan.
They….” Madas shook her head sadly. “Tell me why you are unhappy,
little warrior. Perhaps I can help you.”

Star realized there was more to the story of
Madas and Gril but she also realized that she would not get any
more today. They spent the next several hours talking about Star’s
frustration at getting Jazin to realize that she might be small but
she was strong. Madas laughed as she told Star about the night she
was injured. She told her how she had warned Jazin that there were
some forces in the universe he couldn’t control. One of them was
his mate.

Madas promised that if Star really wanted to
get out for a while, all she had to do was call. Madas would be
more than happy to sneak her out. After all, she was forever doing
it to Gril! Star gave her big, alien friend a fierce hug before she
left. This world really wasn’t so different from the one she had
known in the circus. Friends came in all different sizes, shapes,
and forms there as well.

“Jazin, I have to return to Earth and tell my
parents Jo and I are alright. I was thinking maybe…,” Star said
later that night. She stared into the mirror and shook her head.
“No, I’m not going to tell him I’m thinking maybe,” she sighed in
frustration. “Since when did you ever ask to do something, girl?
You are not growing weak and needy! Walter would turn me over his
knee and spank my ass if I became a wimp,” she growled out to her
reflection.

“No one is going to turn you over and spank
you but me,” a dark growl came from behind her.

Star squeaked in surprise. She had been so
busy trying to figure out the best way to approach Jazin about
taking her back to Earth that she didn’t hear him come in. It was
late, well after midnight. It was always late when he came in
lately. Since she had been injured, he insisted on her sharing his
bed. She refused for all the fat lot of good it did her. She went
to bed in her bed and either woke up in his or he was in hers.

She was just so afraid he was going to turn
out to be like Justin, her first real boyfriend. She felt like she
had been in a cocoon her entire life until she and Jo got their
condo in Orlando. It was kind-of difficult to go on a date or get
serious about anyone when you were in a different city every other
night. Not to mention, she had more surrogate aunts, uncles, and
grandparents than any kid needed as a chaperone. In Orlando, she
and Jo had lived with their parents for the first year after they
gave up the circus. They wanted to make sure it was something them
really wanted to do. She had been so consumed with learning the new
routines and adapting to life outside of the small world of the
circus that she didn’t even think about dating.

The past year was the first time she felt
comfortable with the idea of going out. She had only gone out on a
couple of dates before she met Justin. He had joined the performing
troupe three months before they were kidnapped. Star had
immediately been smitten with his handsome, blond looks. It took
two more months before he asked her out. She should have known
something was up when he didn’t even give her a second glance until
a Nighttime Entertainment crew came to film her and Jo performing.
The producer of NTE was doing a documentary on the Strauss Family
Flyers to promote a film that Star and Jo had been in. After that,
Justin was all over her. She was glad she had been nervous of
taking their relationship to the next level so soon after he asked
her out.

She wanted what her parents had, a loving,
long term relationship. She was having second thoughts about
whether she should just go ahead and let Justin make love to her
before he made any commitment to her. After all, the girls in the
performing troupe were always talking about the guys they had
‘done’ the night before. She was reluctant because that wasn’t the
way she had been raised. Thank goodness she had overheard the
conversation between Justin and several of the other cast members
before she made that mistake! She had been on the catwalk above
them, checking the rigging before that night’s performance. The
sound of their voices had drifted upwards and she heard every cruel
word the people she thought were her friends said. She had broken
down and told Jo what happened. That next night, her and Jo
resigned after their performance. They would meet up with River and
let her know they were rejoining the circus. It was where they both
fit in.

Star took a deep breath and turned to face
Jazin. She refused to back down. He needed to accept her for
herself or their relationship could never go any further. Her eyes
swept over his black hair that was clipped back at the nape. He
towered over her petite five feet two inches but she had never been
intimidated by someone taller than her. Walter had shown her that
size didn’t matter if you wanted something. She bit her bottom lip
as she stared into his dark, almost black eyes. She had never seen
eyes that dark before and felt like she could drown in them. His
face was defined by sharp but handsome lines. She would have
thought his darker colors came from working outside in the sun if
not for the fact she had seen the dark coloring disappearing below
the waist of his low-hung black pants in the mornings. His eyes
were the color of midnight on a moonless night, a small sliver of
silver light shimmered in the center. His strong nose and full lips
called to her and made her frustrated with her own insecurities.
She wanted to give in to him. She had since the first moment she
gazed into his eyes on the Tearnat warship. It was only the
uncertainty of what was to become of her and her sister that held
her back. She had no doubt at all that River was never going to
return to Earth. The key difference between River and her and Jo
was that River had no other family to return to. Star closed her
eyes briefly at the wave of pain that swept through her at the
thought of how heartbroken her parents. The idea of losing one
daughter would be horrendous but to think that both of their
daughters were missing and presumed dead was beyond the realm of
sanity.

“What is it?” Jazin asked anxiously. “Are
you in pain? Should I call for the healer?”

Tears filled Star’s eyes and she cursed the
fact that she had always been a cry baby when she was upset. “No,
I’m not in pain. At least not a physical pain,” she whispered.
“Jazin, I miss my parents. I can’t help but think about what they
must be going through. The idea of losing one daughter is tragic
but to lose both of your children has to be unbearable for them. I
can’t imagine what they must be going through. They must know by
now that something happened to us. We’ve never gone this long
without calling them.”

Jazin looked down into the pain filled eyes
of his mate. His hand rose gently to touch her cheek. “Your sister
has said as much to Manota,” he sighed heavily. “She will not
commit to him until she can assure your parents that you are both
safe.”

Star jerked in surprise. Jo never mentioned
a word to her about her relationship with Manota or the fact that
she had been pressuring him to contact their parents in some way.
She was getting really tired of people keeping things from her.
Just because she was small and had been hurt that didn’t mean she
should be kept in the dark.

“What are you and your brother going to do?”
Star asked with a stubborn tilt to her chin. “I won’t let them
spend the rest of their lives grieving for us. You can’t expect
either Jo or I to do that. If your father thought….” her sharp
words faded as Jazin drew her closer to him with a groan of
need.

He loved it when she had that fire in her
eyes. He couldn’t resist her any longer. The last of his tightly
held control dissolved as he felt her body melt into his. He had
given her time on the warship to adjust to what had happened to her
and to come to terms with the loss of everything she knew but her
sister and friend. Once on Kassis, she had fought him harder than
any warrior he had ever encountered before when he had taken her to
his House. Her world did not accept the same levels of class
recognition as his did. She had stormed out of his House crying
when he had been greeted by the females who lived there. It was
considered a level of strength, power and wealth for a male to have
many women in his home. Star did not appreciate his status at all.
In fact, the hurt and rage in her eyes had burned through him
leaving him feeling anything but proud. When an assassin’s charge
almost took the life of his brother’s mate, he had learned that
human females did not share – ever. Star’s refusal to return to his
House had him rethinking things. She had finally moved into his
House just a few weeks ago. Even then, she had only begun to warm
up to him the last few days before the dinner and subsequent
attack.