Theron Destiny (Brides of Theron) (14 page)

She wasn’t paying attention to anything else around. When she heard Zeb’s deep familiar voice she almost jumped out of her skin.

“What are you doing here Avery?” When she turned around and saw the look on Zeb’s face she pretty much knew that she was in trouble. “Answer me!” He said with a bite to it as he folded his arms across his chest.

The shout made her jump again before answering, “I… I… was looking at these little creatures.” She held up the rewa she was holding so that he could see it.

His eyes glared at her while he took a deep breath and slowly released it. “So you just thought you could leave our quarters alone and without telling me? Do you know dangerous it is for you to be wandering around the ship alone?” As he spoke he moved closer to her with each word until he was just a few inches away from face.  When he had finally found her here in the pet shop, the panic he felt when he had realized that she was not inside their quarters was replaced with anger.  Now, he was trying extremely hard to control his anger.

“Do you Avery? Do you realize that the Therons are not the only race aboard this ship? Anyone of them could have grabbed you and made off with you before anyone even realized you were missing?”

She was getting mad at the way he was talking to her as if she were a child that had run off. “I would have known that IF you would have told me. How am I supposed to know anything about this damn ship if YOU DO NOT TELL ME?”

“You should have asked me and I would have escorted you. I will bring you anywhere on this ship that you would like to go. You should have known not to leave the quarters until….” He stopped speaking abruptly when he realized he was about to reveal something to her that she wasn’t prepared to hear from him just yet.

“Until what?” She stood her ground and waited for his reply this time. “What were you going to say? Cat got your tongue?”

He was about to explode if he did not get her out of here and back to their home. “Give the rewa back to Ganna so that we can leave.”

Still holding the little rewa, she backed up a few steps and looked straight at him and said, “No.” She wasn’t going to give him back. He would have to rip the rewa out of her hands before she would let go willingly.

“I will say this one more time Avery. Give the rewa back to Ganna. NOW!” She could tell she was pushing him too far but she was not going to relent. How could he say those things to her after what he and his warriors had done to her and the other girls they ripped from her planet?

“I will not give it back. I don’t care what you do to me, but I am not giving him back. I want him and I will not leave without him.”

They each steadily stared at each other until Ganna interrupted their staring contest, “Commander Zeb, I am more than willing to let Lady Avery have the rewa. It is deformed so no one would be willing to purchase it. Please take it as a gift from me for the honor of meeting my first earth female and your mate.” Ganna gestured with two of his four hands to the rewa as he spoke to the Commander.

Zeb was the first of them to break eye contact when Ganna offered the gift to Avery. “It would not be right for me to let you give away a piece of your inventory. I will pay for the damn thing if it gets my mate out of here.”

Avery watched Zeb as he told Ganna that he would pay for the rewa. Basically, this was just to shut her up and get back into their quarters. She was seeing a side of him that she had not seen yet. A side of him that she wasn’t sure she liked. She technically had done nothing wrong by coming down here. She was not used to being locked away for extended periods of time and it wasn’t going to happen here.

Ganna spoke again, “Please Commander, let her have the rewa as my gift to her. I will not lose any kryins on him anyway. If it would make you happy to pay for something, you could buy something in the store for it. Come, and I will show you what I have to offer for the rewas.” He then turned and started to walk off in the directions of the supplies.

Avery was so happy on the inside with the knowledge that she was going to be able to keep her new pet that she could hardly contain herself. She was going to have to contain it because she was not going to give him the satisfaction in knowing how happy she was to be able to keep him. She was not going to apologize for anything she did today so he could just continue to be angry with her and go fuck himself or let it go.

Ten minutes later they were heading back to the transport tube. She was holding the little guy and Zeb was carrying the pet bed that she had picked out. They got into the tube that would carry them back to the level they lived on, making an effort not to touch one another. Once on their level, Zeb stepped out of the tube first and started walking at a pace that she would have had to run if she had wanted to keep up. But considering what had just transpired she was more than happy to let him storm off while she took her time.

Once they were back in their living area he let loose on her again. “Do you know how incredibly stupid that was? Anything could have happened to you and I wouldn’t have known until it was too late. Do not ever leave here again by yourself until we are bonded together. Do you understand me?”

She made to walk past him but he grabbed her by the arm and yanked her around to face him. She looked down at his hand where he grabbed her. It felt as if her arm was on fire from his touch. She slowly raised her eyes to look at him and said through clenched teeth, “Let. Go. Of. My. Arm.” She pulled her arm loose when he loosened his grip. He gave her one last look then stormed off to his office, the door slid shut behind him.

Heaving a sigh of relief she said to her rewa, “Well, wasn’t that just lovely? I never thought he could be such asshole. Screw him.” She huffed, “Now, we need to give you a name, don’t we?” As she spoke softly to her rewa, she went to sit on the sofa which seemed to be her favorite place lately. She placed the rewa on the sofa and watched while he sniffed the sofa then settled himself up against the cushions. Three sky blue eyes looked at her and blinked.

“What can I name you? Umm… How about… Knox? Does that sound okay for you?” As she spoke to Knox he scooted his way closer to her. When he was close enough to her hand that rested on the sofa, his small arms tried to lift up her hand and not being able to lift it, he made a grunting noise that made her laugh out loud. “You want me to pet you?” She scratched under his chin and was amazing to find that he was purring. “Wow, you purr just like a cat.” She continued to pet Knox for a few minutes while she stared out the window.

Today didn’t go as she thought it would. She couldn’t understand what had freaked Zeb out so badly to yell at her the way he did. She had figured since she had been here for over a week.  Knowing that, it should be alright to move around the ship. Her aunts would say often, if you assume you make an ass out of you and me. I guess this is what she gets for assuming.

“Come on Knox. Let’s go see if we can find Books so that you two can get to know each other.”

Chapter 14

Lars was trying to come up with the perfect plan in order to get even with that earth bitch. Somehow he needed to be able to get her away from Zeb but he was quite sure how to do it.  Zeb wasn’t letting her out of his sight. He thought he would have the perfect opportunity when he had spotted her show up in the shopping area alone. But of course, not long after spotting her Zeb came charging in, ruining the chance he had to exact his revenge. He was going to have to think of something else.

Thankfully, he had a partner who was game for taking care of the bitch. Hano has been his only loyal friend for a long time now. They had hooked up while on starship duty after their planet had been attacked by the Drylons. Ironically, it was Zeb who had assigned them to be partners. The two had spent countless hours orbiting the green and brown planet they had called home until it was virtually destroyed.  Not that he cared much about it. He wasn’t a pure breed Theron as everyone believed he was. His mother had actually been a Drylon and his father was a Theron. The two races were bitter enemies for as long as anyone could remember.

The only thing he really knew about his mother was that she was from Drylon and had died giving birth to him. After her death, his father had then taken him back to Theron where he was raised in the Theron ways. His father would never tell him anything about her, no matter how many times he would ask. But, being the little sneak that he was, he had gone digging in his father’s room one day. He was fourteen and his father was out. He had almost given up any hope of finding anything when he accidentally pulled the drawer out of the table next to the bed. He searched the contents of the drawer, but again didn’t find anything so he went to put the drawer back in the slot but was having trouble getting it to go back on to the track. Growing more and more impatient he raised the drawer up over his head.  He looked up under it and found what was keeping the drawer from sliding in. There it was, wedged between the track and the drawer. It was a thick piece of paper, probably a photo.

He had held his breath as he pulled the picture out and put it to the side.  Then, he returned the drawer back into its proper place. His heart had been pounding so hard in anticipation of what the picture would be of when he turned it over. He let out the breath he was holding when he turned it over to reveal who was in the picture. To his astonishment, the picture contained three people. His father, who was a bit younger, was standing next to a woman who had long blue green hair that flowed almost down to her waist. Standing in front of them was a small boy of about two to three years old. He looked closely at the boy, studying him. Then he saw it. The unmistakable mark that he had always hated. It was a large patch of skin down his neck that was much darker than the rest of his skin.  It covered almost half of his neck. The boy in the picture was him.

He wasn’t quite sure how long he had sat there staring at the picture. To this day, he could remember everything about the picture. It was ingrained in his memory forever. In it stood the woman he wondered about his entire life. Not only had the color of her hair given her away as a Drylon but the shape of her eyes was also the unmistakable Drylon trait. His mother was a Drylon. How in the Gods name did they ever succeed in forming a relationship much less producing a child?

No wonder his father didn’t tell him about his mother. He would have never been accepted on Theron. Chances are if the leaders of Theron had known about his parentage, they probably would have sentenced him and his father to death. His father had been able to keep the knowledge of his son being half Drylon a secret since, thank the Gods; Lars did not possess any of the Drylon physical characteristics. Now, he wondered the story about his parentage was true.  If he was from where his father said he was. One day he was going to find out the truth.  But for now, he was happy that he at least knew what his mother had looked like.

Over the next few years, anger and resentment towards his father began to build. He left as soon as he was old enough and joined the warrior training station that orbited around the planet. It was there that he had learned to become a pilot. When it came to piloting spacecraft, he was a natural.  Every detail about their ships came easy to him. He knew the design of every type of ship the Therons had inside and out. It was at this time that his idea of meeting his mother’s race started to form in his mind.

Once he was a full pilot, he was put under the supervision of Commander Zeb. He was certain that they weren’t going to get along from the moment they met. Zeb wanted everything by the book. Because if this, Lars enjoyed the trouble that he caused Zeb.  It was a game to him.   He would push to see how much he could get away with without being caught.

One day, when he was on an assigned duty with Hano.  He came up with a plan to meet the Drylons.  When the two of them were assigned to go out on a reconnaissance mission he would put it into action. Knowing everything he did about the ship, he knew he would be able to block the location of his ship from the main hub by temporarily disengaging the craft’s tracking device and making it look like a simple malfunction.  As soon as he was off their radar, he would set out for Drylon and see if they were willing to speak to him about his parents. He was a little apprehensive about Hano being involved and reporting his misconduct to Commander Zeb once they returned.  However, Hano had proved that he was a true friend to him.  Hano assured him that he had his back, and that he was willing to participate in any scheme Lars had in mind.

Once they were near enough to Drylon, he sent out a message and waited for a reply. He told them in the message who he was and that his mother had been a Drylon. He submitted the picture he still carried with him from so long ago. It didn’t take long for the Drylons to respond to the message.  They granted him permission to enter the atmosphere and sent him coordinates to where he was to land.

Both men were amazed to see the sights on the planet Drylon. No Theron warrior had been this planet for a very long time. The planet was so different from what he was used to on Theron. The atmosphere had a slight red tinge to it and it was very windy. They flew through the clouds that seemed to swirl around the ship. It was as if they were reaching out and trying to grab hold of it and bring it down. In order to reach the coordinates he was given, he really had to concentrate on controlling and guiding the space craft. He knew he could do it because he was after all, a natural at flying.

On approach, Lars could see that the Drylons lived in massive domed cities. As they got closer to the dome, a large rectangular door opened large enough for ships to enter and leave. Once inside the dome, the door shut again. He couldn’t believe he was actually in a Drylon city. He wanted answers about his mother and this would be the only place to find them.

With Hano, they exited their ship and were greeted by two large armed guards, “Come with us. Emperor Gatton is expecting you.” The guard who had spoken turned and led the way while the second followed behind. They walked for several minutes. Turning here and there into different corridors that had clear domed roofs to let in what natural light could be had.