Emma's Heart (Brides of Theron 3) (17 page)

“I don’t know what came over me. I am so sorry, Emma.” He tried to pull her to him
, but she resisted his touch.

“Please don’t touch me. How could you do that to me?” she asked again. “Can we…can we please go
back inside? I would like to go to bed now.” She moved around him, keeping a distance from him, and went back into the house. She waited for him to show her where she was supposed to sleep and was really grateful when he walked past her without saying another word. He led her up another curved flight of stairs to the level that contained the bedrooms for the house. He walked down a short hall then opened a door to reveal a large master suite.

Emma walked into the room and didn’t even bother to take in the breath taking view of the room. All she saw was the bed that
sat in the middle of the room, the bed that she wanted to crawl into and fall into a deep sleep.  Maybe, she could fall asleep and bury the wounds of her past, deep inside where she put all the other bad memories of her childhood.

“I am tired and
I want to go to sleep now if you don’t mind.” She walked past her mate, straight to the bed where she sat to remove her shoes. Without removing any of her other clothes, she slipped under the covers on the bed, rolled over onto her side and closed her eyes.

Brylon watched as his tiny mate moved like she was in pain.
It wasn’t a physical pain, but something more than he could understand. He watched as she crawled into his bed and faced away from him. He had been dreaming of this night with her for so long.  Now, it seemed that he pushed her too far and ended up screwing the night up royally. He could kick himself in the ass for his insistent desire on the porch. His actions had caused her to retreat into some kind of living nightmare.  It was a nightmare in which she didn’t even recognize that it was him that was with her.

He turned the light
off, and left her alone in the room. He went into his office, which was right next to his bedroom. Closing the door softly behind him, he went over to his desk where he had a bottle of foa and couple of glasses to serve to his guests. He poured himself a glass and downed it in one swift gulp. The foa burned the entire way down until it hit his stomach. He poured another full glass. This time he did not gulp it down, but instead took a mouth full and swished it around a bit in his mouth before swallowing it. He sat down in his office chair and spun himself around in the direction of the window. The two moons of Theron were high and were at their brightest light in the dark night sky. He didn’t understand why this was happening.  Things had been going so well for them up until twenty minutes ago. How could he have allowed himself that moment of weakness? He had scared the crap out of her, but he really didn’t understand why. 

What the hell had happened to her
in the past that would have caused such a violent reaction? She said she was going to tell his wife, and that he was supposed to be taking care of her. What was all that about?  Was it the secret that he had been searching for all this time? Could it be the secret that was behind her mistrust of others that caused her tendency for self-seclusion?  Was this why she wouldn’t let him in her life? He sat there berating himself for his actions, when a thought suddenly became clear to him. If anything good came of her reaction tonight, it was the fact that he had managed to unintentionally break through one of the sturdy walls that she had built around her heart.

The small fighter had only just barely managed to escape the atmosphere during the onslaught of the cooperative attack by the Therons and Pernmocks on the Drylon base located on the surface of the nearly dead planet, UV-49. He and one other Drylon soldier made it to the one and only remaining intact Drylon fighter on the runway, and had escaped the inferno in the nick of time.  The only problem was that he wasn’t quite sure how to fly the damn Drylon craft. In his haste to escape from Zeb, who had arrived at the base looking to retrieve his mate Avery, Lars bullied the Drylon soldier that he found abandoning the base at the same time and forced the soldier to allow him accompany him. Once they were safely off the planet and had their course set for the planet Drylon, Lars was finally able to realize the magnitude of Hano’s betrayal.

Lars
couldn’t understand what had changed.  He and Hano had been friends for years now, and even though at times they quarreled, they always had each other’s back, or so he thought. Lars killed his friend in cold blood, during a moment of pure anger and didn’t feel any regret for his actions. Now, the only option he had would be to try and seek asylum from Emperor Gatton on the planet Drylon. The only rub in his plan was that there was no doubt in his mind that the Emperor would think that Lars had betrayed him, and in doing so, led the Theron warriors to his location at the recently reoccupied base. It didn’t matter how he spun his story, he had no choice but to head to Drylon and see where his fate lied. If he went back to Theron, his fate would be unquestionably death.

Slowly but surely, the
small Drylon fighter was able to complete the long journey to the planet Drylon. When they began their approach to the domed city, the Drylon pilot radioed in to inform the Emperor that, of the remaining soldiers stationed at the base on UV-49, he and one other person were the only survivors to escape.  The Emperor would now know that the base was now completely destroyed. Immediately, they wanted to know the identity of the other survivor. The pilot glanced in Lars’ direction then replied back in the Drylon language that the survivor was a Theron warrior, who assured him numerous times on the voyage that he was working directly for the Emperor. A few minutes later, the pilot was given instructions on where to land.  When they touched down, they were both to remain in the small fighter craft until someone came to meet them.  If they made any attempt to leave the craft before then, they would be shot without question.

Lars
nervously watched through the window of the space craft as they descended through the atmosphere and through the opening of the domed city.  Numerous soldiers were swarming over the landing strip, stationing themselves in a circular pattern that completely surrounded the fighter as it touched down. The pilot switched off the engine then sat completely still awaiting further instruction. This confused Lars.

“Open the hatch
, you fool!” He shouted at the pilot.

The pilot turned
his body slightly in his seat until he was face to face with the big Theron warrior, “I have my instructions Theron, and I will not do a thing until I am given further orders. I refuse to die today, for a Theron scumbag like you. Now, sit down and shut up!”

Lars was taken aback at the way the Drylon pilot spoke to him.
Lars was much larger than him and could crush the little fragile pilot’s neck with a simple grip of his hand. “You will not…” And, before he could finish what he was going to say, the pilot spoke into his communicator and popped the hatch to the fighter.

Outside the window Lar
s could see as the soldiers moving in, forming a very tight ring surrounding the craft. Obviously, from the looks of it, the Emperor wanted to see Lars immediately. Lars jumped out of the hatch and climbed down to the ground in one fluid agile movement. Several of the soldiers moved in closer to him, and another soldier actually jabbed the barrel of his weapon into Lars’ back.

“Move Theron, t
he Emperor wishes to speak to you.” The soldier jabbed the weapon into his back again to get Lars to move forward. Lars walked in silence as a group of the soldiers surrounded him, and a much larger group followed close behind. There was no way he was going to be able to get out of this predicament.

The
soldiers marched him in through the tall ornate doors that lined the front of the Emperor’s palace.  They brought him through several corridors, and then down a flight of stairs. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he could see a set of double doors that were being guarded by two fully armed Drylon soldiers, and as they approached, the soldiers pushed open the ebony and gold inlayed doors and motioned for him to step inside. As he entered, Lars could see Gatton sitting on his throne waiting for him.

“Bring him forward!”
Gatton’s voice seemed to boom through every square inch of the room.

The soldiers marched forward
with Lars until he was within a few feet of the Emperor. The look on Gatton’s face automatically told Lars that he didn’t stand a chance in hell of getting out of this in one piece. The Emperor leaned forward in his chair, placing his elbows on his knees. Gatton’s normally completely black eyes were tinged blood red with the anger that Lars saw brewing within them.

“What do you have to say for yourself
, Theron?” Gatton spit the words, as he looked at Lars with disdain.

Lars to
ok a deep breath before he attempted to speak, “I had absolutely nothing to do with the attack on the base, Emperor. My counterpart, Hano, was the one who lead the Therons to the base on UV-49. I have since taken it upon myself to take care of that little problem…”

The
Emperor jumped to his feet, “Little problem! My base was completely destroyed by your people! You lead them there, and it was all because of your desire to get revenge on your commander over some stupid Earth female! You have caused me enough problems with your schemes and wanting to become a Drylon soldier! You are soon to become a Drylon alright, a Drylon prisoner! Take him down to the dungeon and chain him to the wall! Get this Theron scum out of my sight!” The entire time the Emperor spoke his voice grew louder and louder to the point that even the soldiers cowered away from him.

Lars was jerked backwards then led
from the Emperor’s throne room towards the dungeon. He had heard many nightmarish stories about the dungeon under the Drylons’ Emperor’s palace and knew that it was a place he did not want to visit for very long. He would try to bide his time as best as he could until he could come up with a plan to escape from what he knew was going to be a living hell.

He was
shoved by his escort into a cell that was dark, damp, and smelled of rotten food, unwashed bodies, and excrement. One of the soldiers harshly led him with a tight grip on his upper arm over to the wall across the room, and he proceeded to chain his arms to the wall.  From his position in the room, he could see the minimal light coming from one of the sconces that lighted the way through the dark tunnel.

“Enjoy your new home,” the soldier told him after the last chain was secured on his wrist. The door to the cell slammed shut with
a resounding clank, leaving Lars to slid the down the wall to sit on the filthy cell floor.  It was almost completely dark now as the light from the hallway could hardly penetrate the tiny barred window on the door.

“Son of a Bitch,
” Lars shouted into the air while he tugged forcefully at the chains. “Let me out!” He pulled as hard as he could on the chains, but he was going nowhere.

“You
ought to have a seat and enjoy your new accommodations, son.  Your attempts at escape are useless.  All you will end up doing is hurting yourself.” He heard the sound of a deep voice coming from out of the darkness in the nearest corner.

“Who’s there?” Lars
’ head had snapped immediately to the direction from where the voice came, but his eyes hadn’t adjusted to the darkness enough to see anything in the room.

The only response he heard was in the form of a deep chuckle
. Chains began to rattle as a figure slid out of the darkness along the ground moving toward him. As his eyes adjusted, he was able to see enough now to know that the man that shared this space with him was a Theron, but who was he?

“Who are you?” he asked the man sitting on the floor near him.

“By the looks of it, I think I am your new roommate.” The man on the floor stared back at the new prisoner.

“
That’s obvious, what’s your name? It would be nice to know your name because we are likely to be rooming together for a while.” He was fast becoming irritated with this man, and if he would have been within arms-reach, he would have punched him square in the face. 

“Well
, since you put it like that. My name is Zirlo, and now that I have told you my name, what might yours be,” he replied.

Lars sat
there on the cold damp ground stunned to silence. “Did you say your name is Zirlo?” The man sitting before him couldn’t possibly be who he thought he was.  He was supposed to be long dead, at least that’s what all of Theron had been told.

“Yes
, my name is Zirlo. Why do you sound so surprised?”

“
You’re Commander Zirlo?  Leader of the Theron warriors,” Lars stated matter of fact. “Are you Commander Zeb’s father?”

Lars heard Zirlo gasp in surprise as his eyes opened wide.
“Yes, Zeb is my son. Is he still alive?”

Emma woke up the next morning just as the light was starting to shine through the window that overlooked the forest outside. When she looked over to the other side of the humungous square bed, Brylon was lying on his back, quietly snoring. His body was covered just below his narrow waist by the bed sheet, revealing quite a bit of his muscular body.

She
tried to sit up as carefully as she could so that she wouldn’t wake him. She watched him as he slept noticing that he was so peaceful in his sleep, and she appreciated the fact that he was a very good looking man.  Even though they had been sharing the bed for over two weeks, she had never taken the time to actually check out the man who claimed her as his own. His face was turned away from her, but she was still able to get a good look at his profile. She watched as his unshaven jaw, dusted with the growth of overnight stubble, clenched and unclenched in sleep. He exhaled through slightly parted lips after he would snore a bit as he inhaled through his nose. The quiet snoring sound was almost enough to cause her to giggle out loud. Her eyes traveled further down his chest that was virtually hairless but extremely muscular, his skin was tan, and there was a scar over his right nipple that was faded. She swallowed when she imagined herself running her hands over his chest to wake him, something she very well couldn’t allow herself to do. Especially, after what happened last night.