Wray (16 page)

“I will not be long.” He told her and with a
hard kiss moved to the wall.

Kim waited with bated breath as Wray scaled
the walls of the cliff making it look easy. Once he was over the
edge, he stood and looked back down with a cocky smile.

“Show off.” Kim muttered to herself, but she
gave him a smile and a wave, then turned back to the cave.

Wray found himself smiling as he watched Kim
enter
ing
the cave. The cliff hadn’t been a
difficult climb, less than forty feet
,
and
yet Kim had worried about him. The thought filled him with warmth,
to have someone worry about him… he’d have to take measures to see
he didn’t, worry her that is. He didn’t want his Kim to worry about
anything ever again.

His smile faded as he looked over the valley
and could see where the shuttle had crashed. He could have lost her
in that crash, a crash, he truly hadn’t thought they would survive.
The Goddess must have been watching over them.

“Majesty!”

Turning Wray found Veron fast approaching
behind him. “What in the name of the Goddess are you doing back
there
,
Captain!” Wray demanded angrily.
“The shuttle is that way!” he pointed in the opposite
direction.

“Yes
,
Majesty.”
Veron immediately replied. “But the locator beacon indicated you
were somewhere in this area so we deployed the rescue team
here.”

“Send a recovery team to the shuttle.”

“Recovery
,
Majesty?”

“Yes
,
Warrior Damir
is now in the hands of the Goddess.”

“I understand, sire. I will have a team sent
immediately. And the female?” Veron felt he had to ask. When Wray’s
shuttle had gone down, Veron had thought he’d lost him. Thought his
Emperor and friend was gone. When the locator had gone with the
Emperor's code stating they'd survived the crash, he’d thanked the
Goddess for her mercy, but then the storm had refused to end and
his concern had grown again.

Two males confined with a female abused by
the Ganglians.... he'd
shuddered
to think
what they were going through, but to find out now that it was just
the Emperor... Goddess
,
he couldn't think
of a worse punishment, so h
e was
surprised
at the Emperor's next words.

“Kim is fine, she is in the cave. We need to
retrieve her so I can get her on the Searcher and into the deep
repair unit.”

“Kim?” Veron frowned at the strange name.

“It is her name. Kim Teel and she is
mine
!” Wray growled at him.

“Yours?” Veron couldn’t hide his shock. Wray
had claimed he would never take another female after the death of
his Empress, yet now he was claiming this female, a female from an
unknown species and one that had been abused. Why? “You’ve Joined
with her?” he asked quietly.

“No!” Wray saw his friend's shock and
disbelief and while he understood it, didn't like it. “She is still
recovering from the Ganglians but have no doubt
,
Veron, she is mine! Now lets us get to her, she's
alone.”

“By now the other advance team should be at
the cave.”

“What?” Wray had started to walk away, but
whipped around causing Veron to stumble in surprise.

“We knew there were only two caves in this
area where you could have taken shelter in. When the locator was
unable to pinpoint your exact location, we split into two teams.
One above. One below. We are the above team.”

“Contact them! Now!” Wray ordered. “Inform
them, they are
not
to enter the cave!”

“Yes
,
sire.” But
Veron was talking to an empty space for Wray was already over the
side of the cliff.

Kim folded the survival blanket and stuffed
it back into the now empty bag. Standing
,
she looked around the cave. She found she didn’t want to leave. She
wanted to stay here. With Wray. She didn’t want to face whatever
was out there, didn’t want to deal with the looks she knew she was
going to receive. Everyone was going to know what had happened to
her, what the Ganglians had done to her... how was she going to
handle that?

Slowly she sat down on what she’d come to
consider as ‘their’ rock and made herself think about it. Did it
really matter to her? What people, she didn't know, thought about
her? It's not like what happened was her fault but still... She was
still having nightmares, still hadn't Joined with Wray. Could she
really put it behind her? Could she really move on and live a rich
full life with Wray? Could she become a full and complete female?
One that Wray could love and be proud of? Not the victim he’d
found. She wasn’t sure. It was going to be so hard…

‘
Life isn’t always easy
,
Kimberly,’
she could hear her mother’s sweet
voice saying.
‘but it’s only as bad as you let it be, as you
believe it is
. D
on’t let something
bad take away all the good in your life, if you do then the bad
wins.’

Kim couldn’t let that happen. Stinky bastard
had taken enough away from her. She wouldn’t let him take Wray too.
She
would
overcome what had happened to her. It would take
time and she’d never be the person she’d been before but that
wasn’t all bad. She would take what had happened to her and learn
from it. Wray believed in her and she believed in Wray, together
they could do anything.

And what if they couldn't have offspring
together? What happened then? He'd told her how important that was
but he'd already lost Van. Did he even want more? Why hadn't she
asked these questions before?

“Well
,
what do we
have here?” Kim’s eyes whipped around to find two very large males
entering the chamber and neither of them were Wray.

“Who are you?” Kim asked, standing as she
looked from one red male to the other. They were obviously Tornian.
Wray had told her how Tornians came in many colors, but that they
all had the same long black hair. These two weren’t as massive as
Wray but that didn’t make them small by any means. Why were they
here? Where was Wray?

“We are Warrior Gyula,” the larger of the two
spoke indicating himself, “and Warrior Fala.” He pointed to the
smaller one. “We are here for the Emperor.”

“The Emperor?” Kim gave them a confused look.
“The Emperor’s not here.” Why would they think he was?

“But you are…” Gyula growled and took a step
towards her.

Kim immediately took one back. She didn’t
like the way he was looking at her.

“And you have no male protecting you.” Fala
said also stepping towards her, his eyes running over her bare
legs.

“Yes
,
I do. I have
Wray.” Kim claimed, trying to stay calm. These were Tornian
warriors. They protected females. They didn't harm them.

“Your lies reek as badly as you do.” Gyula
spit out moving to her side. “The Emperor has sworn he would never
take another female and even if he did, he would
never
consider Joining with a female such as you!” Kim could easily hear
the disgust in his voice.

“Females such
as
you
are only good for servicing a male when worthy females are
unavailable.” Fala said flanking her other side.

“Such as me?” Kim asked, backing away her
heart pounding. What was going on here? Where was Wray?

“One that cannot further a Tornian Warrior’s
line.” Gyula said, looking at her as if she were stupid. “The
Goddess only created
you
for her most blessed Warriors to
use at their will and I will use you now!” he declared as he lunged
at Kim.

Kim tried to jump out of the way, but Gyula
was faster than he looked and his bruising grip clamped around her
arm as he threw her to the ground.

“I will have her first!” Fala argued, shoving
Gyula aside before he dropped down on top of her.

“Wray!” Kim screamed before the breath was
crushed out of her. She couldn’t go through this again. She
couldn’t!

Wray jumped down the last ten feet landing on
his feet, his hands and chest cut and bleeding from his reckless
descent down the cliff walls. His mind had raced the entire way
down. He never should have climbed that cliff, never should have
left Kim. He should have just waited for Veron to find him, but
he'd wanted to get Kim on the Searcher, so he could properly care
for her. What had he been thinking leaving her unprotected? There
was still so much he hadn’t explained yet, so much she still didn’t
know. If his warriors found her
,
there was
no telling what they might do. Hearing her terrified scream had him
rushing into the cave to defend his Kim.

“No!” Kim tried to scream, but no sound came
out as she struggled against the oppressive weight bearing down on
her, reaching up she raked her nails down Fala’s face. Immediately
he reeled back roaring out his pain and surprise.

“You dare…” he accused and raised his fist to
strike her when another roar filled the chamber.

Both males jumped to their feet and drew
their swords as they turned to confront the unknown threat.

Wray surged into the chamber his eyes
frantically searching for Kim. Finding her sprawled out on her
back, her eyes full of fear, enraged him. His gaze turned to the
two warriors that stood over her, their swords drawn. Wray advanced
on them.

Kim scurried away from the males when they
turned and drew their swords. She didn’t know what had caused them
to release her, but she wasn’t going to wait around to find out.
Jumping to her feet, she kept her eyes locked on their backs as she
prepared to sprint around them. If she could get out of the cave,
she could find Wray and he would protect her.

As her eyes moved to her escape route her
heart stopped. Wray was advancing towards the two males, his
massive chest covered in sweat and blood, his eyes black with rage.
She’d never seen a more beautiful sight in her life or frightening
one, because his hands were empty. Oh God
,
Wray was going to die!

Then to her shock, as soon as the warriors
saw Wray they dropped their swords and fell to their knees,
lowering their heads.

“Majesty!” They said in unison.

‘
Majesty?’
Kim’s jaw dropped in shock.
Why the hell were they calling Wray that?

“What in the name of the Goddess do you think
you are doing!” Wray roared, pushing the two males aside to get to
Kim. His eyes immediately taking in her fear filled eyes, the new
scrapes that ran down her legs
,
the
bruises forming on her arms, the way her shirt was partially torn,
the blood dripping from her fingers.

“Are you harmed
,
little one?” he whispered gruffly
,
stopping just inches from her. He wanted to pull her into his arms,
but wasn’t sure if she’d let him.

“No. You got here in time.” She whispered
shakily and Wray felt a weight lift from his chest.

“Come here
,
little
one.” He said opening his arms and thanked the Goddess when she
dived into them.

“Sire! Our apologies!” Fala spoke pulling
Wray’s attention from Kim. “We know we should not have stopped
searching for you, but when we stumbled across this female… she
distracted us with her obvious willingness to Join with males.”

“What!” Kim couldn’t stop her shocked gasp as
she pulled back in Wray’s arms to look at the male still on his
knees.

Wray ignored Kim’s gasp
,
never taking his eyes off the males. “You would
blame a female for
your
failure to see to your duty?” He
demanded.

“Sire! It has been…”

“Silence!”

“Majesty!” Wray spun around to face the new
threat and found Veron and several other warriors filling the
chamber.

Veron quickly assessed the situation. The
female he’d thought wouldn’t survive, stood in the Emperor’s arms
and the two warriors he’d sent to find the lower cave’s entrance,
were kneeling before an enraged Emperor.

“Majesty, what grievance has occurred that
Warrior Fala and Gyula are on the receiving end of your wrath?”

“They have attacked my female.” Wray growled,
his eyes taking in the deep scratches running down Fala’s cheeks,
the scratches he knew came from Kim defending herself.

“
Your
female?” Gyula’s color faded to
a dull pink as he raised wary eyes to Wray. “But
,
sire, she does not carry your scent!”

“Sire,” Veron took a deep breath and smelled
what his warriors had. Ganglian. “You have not yet joined with this
female. Fala and Gyula have broken no law with their… attentions
towards her.”

Kim’s eyes flew back to Wray. What was this
male saying? How could no law have been broken? She knew Wray was
going to correct the male by how his body started to tremble… then
everything about Wray stilled.

“You are correct
,
Captain.” Wray said
,
his voice as tightly
controlled as his body. He didn’t like what his Captain had said,
but he spoke the truth. There was no way Fala and Gyula could have
known Kim was his. He had yet to Join with her so she didn’t carry
his scent and without it, she was unprotected.

"What does he mean no law has been broken?"
She asked, taking a step back as she searched Wray's eyes. “They
attacked me. They would have raped me if you hadn't stopped them.
How does that not break a law?” Absolute silence greeted her
question with no male willing to answer her. “Answer me
,
damn it!” Kim ordered her tone as regal as the
Empress’ of old.

“Only Tornian females are protected from
being abused by Tornian males." A deep voice finally answered Kim’s
demand and her eyes flew to the male that spoke. "All others are at
risk.”