Upon the Threshold (6 page)

Eli looked on with wide eyes. What in the stars were those things? Lifting the weapon, she shot the one that was trying to get away. She was proficient with weapons even if she hated them. She also shot one that was about to make a dive for Kraven and then moved to put her back to the rocks with an overhang above her. A more defensible position, she hoped.

When the fighting stopped, she jerked off her pack and grabbed her first-aid kit. “Holy Mother, what in the stars were those things?” She moved toward the men, weapon at the ready just in case, and reached out to touch Kraven. “Kraven?” she whispered softly and took in everything with a generous look. He looked larger, his eyes different, teeth different. Everything seemed skewed. “Kraven, can I tend your injuries?” she asked softly but never released her hand on his arm, gentle as it was.

The growl he let loose had all the hair on her body standing on end. Then his eyes shut, and he seemed to be wrestling for control. It was several minutes before he opened his eyes, back to normal, she noted, and looked down at her hand. Then he gave a jerky nod, maybe not quite back in control.

“Not here,” Lukkis said. “We need to get away from the kills and all this blood. There could be more of these infernal things out there waiting to attack.”

“Seriously?” Eli asked in shock and shook her head. “Okay, let’s go. I will have to send a team to ensure that the animals are all okay. Goodness, I don’t know how. The whole point of letting them roam out here was so that they could breed.” She sighed then and looked up to Kraven again. “Come on, let’s get away from here. Where should we go?” She tried giving him something else to think of other than the blood and gore.

He waved his hand, the one she wasn’t practically attached to, back the way she’d come running.

“Good plan. It’s uphill and should hide our scents if there are more out here,” Lukkis said, looking around. “You two get moving. I’ll figure out some way to mask our scents down here so they don’t track us up that hill.”

Eli looked at her pack then Lukkis. “I have scent-killer in my pack. It should kill all of our scent. It’s in the yellow bottle,” she told him which got Kraven moving away from the destruction he had created.

Nodding, Lukkis raced to grab the bottle. Then he ran past them on their way up to start spreading it around. He passed her the pack as they ran.

Kraven was moving at her side, silently He hadn’t said a word and hadn’t pulled his arm from her grip—a grip that even she had to admit was pretty tight. Not that she could get her fingers all the way around his arm. Barely halfway if she was being generous. He could have knocked her hand off at any time, and yet he was permitting her to touch him. And letting her lead him wherever she wanted.

When they finally made it to what looked like a naturally made dip in the hard rock around her, she nodded. “We should be safe here. There is an overhang covering on the sides and back. We should be good, right?” She was asking him because she had no clue what those beasts were that had attacked her. “Thank you, by the way. You saved my life. I don’t think I could ever repay you for doing that.”

He blinked at her and then eased down to sit. His movements were stiff and a little disjointed, like his skin was too tight. “You should have had one of your guards with you, watching your back. It is their mistake for not taking better care when you left. None of us know just what this world now holds for dangers since your people altered it, Elisabeth. We only did what any other would have done to protect you.” His words were stilted and held a deeper undertone, much like the earlier growl. But the look in his eyes had a hell of a lot more warmth than his words did. A lot more.

Eli reached out and touched her fingers to his cheek, caressing him gently. “I’m sorry. Were you hurt?” She would never forgive herself if he was. “And what is with your eyes? You almost look like you were changing into something…” She trailed off with a frown and then said, “Different. That’s not possible though, is it?”

“There is much you don’t know about our people yet, Elisabeth. And you are not in your galaxy anymore either, so who is to say what is or is not possible.” Blinking a couple of times, he shook his head and looked himself over. “No, I don’t believe I was injured. Most of this blood is from those”—he waved a hand down the hill—“whatever those creatures are.”

“Okay. Good. Still, I want to clean you up, okay?” she asked as she reached for the antiseptic and gauze. “I want to get this blood off of you sooner rather than later, so that neither of us have to look at it anymore. When Lukkis comes back, I will clean him up as well,” she murmured softly.

Nodding, he looked to her. “Thank you, Elisabeth. You don’t have to though. There is quite a lot,” he said with a sigh. Turning his head, he stared down the hill. “Lukkis is coming back up.”

“I want to,” she told him gently and smiled. When she heard Lukkis at her back, she said, “I will clean you up next, and please don’t argue with me. I still have the weapon you handed me, and I would hate to have to hit you with it.” Because hitting him with her hand would only hurt her. At the low growls and slightest of smiles from Kraven, she added, “Oh for the love. I was teasing.”

“He’d enjoy it, so avoid teasing him that way,” Kraven said. “Any sign of more of those…things?”

“I heard some movement in the underbrush, but didn’t see anything. And the darkening is getting close,” Lukkis said, looking up to the sky.

When she looked up, she saw the suns were starting to set and the sky just beginning to turn various shades of purple and pink.

“We can’t stay out here, not in the dark without more weapons. We need to make our way back,” Kraven said. Getting to his feet, he pulled her up to hers, quickly and way too easily for her peace of mind. “Collect all your items, Elisabeth. We can’t leave anything behind that can assist with something like these creatures picking up a scent trail.”

Eli grabbed her pack and nodded. “Yes, the last thing that I want is them picking up our trail.” She looked toward where the horses were and sighed. “Will they destroy the whole herd?” She should worry about herself, but instead she was worried about the animals that couldn’t protect themselves.

“Doubtful,” Lukkis said. “Though they may go after the young since they won’t be able to keep up with the older ones. If there are more of those creatures out here, that is.”

“There are always more,” Kraven murmured. He was staring down at the horses, a frown on his face, deep in thought if she had to guess.

“Okay, let’s get out of here. Which camp is closer? Mine or yours?” She was trusting these men completely with her safety, as she seemed to do far too easily. “I trust the two of you, so let’s do this, shall we?”

“Ours is closer, but only by a small margin. We can get you to yours easily enough,” Kraven said. He was still focused on the horses, or rather in that general direction. His eyes were darting around a little, looking here and there before moving on.

“Whatever you think is best,” Eli said softly. “Do you think that we should take a couple of the horses? They can run really fast and have a great deal of stamina. Far more than I could possibly have at least.”

“No, it’s best to leave them here,” Lukkis said, shaking his head. “They have natural instincts that will kick in should danger get too close. Where they end up though…” He shrugged his broad shoulders.

Kraven’s head whipped around and then he was staring at a point in the tree line. “We need to go, now,” he said, his voice very low, and that growl was coming back.

Eli nodded and slipped her hand into his. Giving it a squeeze, she said, “I will go wherever you lead. No more talking. Let’s just go.” Run, walk—whatever it was they had to do in order to be safe, she would do it.

“Lukkis, take the lead and keep her close,” Kraven said—no, ordered.

“Kraven.” Lukkis shot him a look, a warning almost.

“That was an order, Weapons Master,” he snapped out, definitely a lot of bite to those words.

She didn’t catch what Lukkis muttered in reply but found herself being hustled along the hill and straight for the tree line. Thankfully not the same spot that Kraven had been looking toward, but a little too close for comfort.

Eli raced along at Lukkis’s side for a long time in silence. Finally, she tugged his hand and was gasping. “I’m sorry, but I have to take a break.” Their legs were far longer than hers, and she simply couldn’t run for another moment without hurting herself.

He came to a halt, his breathing a little faster than normal, but he definitely wasn’t sucking in air like it was going out of fashion. Unlike her. As she inhaled in that sweet, sweet air she noticed that Kraven was not with them. He wasn’t anywhere in sight actually.

Eli frowned and turned. “Where is he?” she asked Lukkis. At his look, she shook her head. “No. Unacceptable.” She moved to retrace her steps. “Absolutely not. I am not going to allow him to be hurt just so that I can get away. This was due to my stupidity, and I refuse to let him be hurt because of it.”

“Not happening.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted. “Sorry, Elisabeth, but his orders are not just helpful suggestions to be followed if you want. His orders are to be followed without question. The only reason I got away with that little question back there was because he actually does consider me a friend and nearly family. Besides, you really do not want to be anywhere near him right now. So you and I are going to sit for a little longer, and then we are continuing on our path, quickly.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to be around him right now? He could be hurt or worse. I can’t let that happen.” She felt her heart squeezing. What in the stars was wrong with her? “Please, Lukkis, at least you go back and help him? I will keep going to the camps, but please, I’m begging. Don’t let him be hurt.”

“He won’t be hurt, Elisabeth.” He set her back on her feet when she stopped trying to get away. But he didn’t let go, smart man. Turning her, he looked into her eyes. “The Droushanian males are not like your own. We have…” He made a face and seemed to be fighting for the right word. “Let us just say that we have certain skills and extreme training that allow us to do things that would otherwise appear to be lunacy or suicide. He will be fine. We won’t be if we run into him before he is done whatever he is doing. We must keep moving to ensure you are safe and he doesn’t kill me for letting you get into trouble.”

“Okay.” She didn’t believe him. It was clear in her voice. “Why would he do that? Why would he go after those things alone? With only blades on him? That’s not good. No one can fight off a whole herd of whatever those things were.”

“He will be fine. He doesn’t just have blades,” Lukkis said. Following her, he caught her shoulders and made her face him again. “Elisabeth, he is trained for just this, and he’s not going after them. Kraven’s ensuring our trail is clear of danger until we are close enough to the camp. Once we are within a certain range, should something of that nature threaten us, we can use the weapons on the ships to protect us all.”

“Okay. I don’t like it though. I really don’t like that he is out there alone. I…” She hesitated then with a small sigh admitted, “I worry for him. I know that he couldn’t care less about me—well except to keep me alive—but I’m worried for him, Lukkis.” She took in a deep breath, nodded, and said, “Okay, let’s go. Let’s get into that range so he can come closer to us and be safe as well.”

For a moment she thought Lukkis wanted to say something. His mouth even opened like he would, but then he snapped it shut and nodded. Jerking his chin, he put a hand on her back and gave her a little nudge in the right direction. “Walk for now. These woods have lots of areas you can trip over or twist an ankle. Once we’re out we’ll jog back to the camp.”

“Walking is good since running right now would likely not happen for me.” Eli moved quickly but carefully through the wooded area. She was determined not to get these men hurt because she stupidly went out without guards. They had all thought they were so very safe. Never would she have imagined the possibility that there were things out there that could kill her. Ever.

“If the need arose, I’m sure you would manage,” Lukkis told her. “I’m just hopeful that it won’t since I do not know the area as well as I would like yet. We’ve done a bit of scouting but mainly just to see to defensible positions should the need arise. We also put out sensors in areas that are much harder to defend or get any warning from visually.”

“Sounds good,” Eli replied. “My people have relied upon the sensors in the ship. I think that was a serious flaw on our part. I truly think that I need to ensure that full teams go out and begin to search, because I doubt that our men could handle those things one-on-one as you and Kraven seem to have done.”

That earned her a look, and he shook his head. “No, they would have been slaughtered. Those things are fast, agile, and built to take a beating. I don’t know where they came from, but you can be assured that we’ll be finding out.” He stopped suddenly, a hand in the air as he turned very slowly, his eyes searching.

A moment later Kraven hopped down from a stump near her and looked her up and down. “Surviving so far, I see.”

Eli jumped, but when she saw Kraven she moved to him and touched him. “Are you okay?” she asked with wide eyes. She pulled him close. Without any hesitation, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. “Please do not ever scare me like that again.”

It was a moment before Kraven’s arms closed around her body and held her gently. “I am just fine. You should not worry so much, Elisabeth. I am well versed in many techniques of battle,” he said, his arms loosening and his hands falling to rest on her hips.

“I do worry though,” she admitted and pulled back to look up at him. “Sorry. Here I am touching you again. Heavens,” she whispered. “I just am beside myself. You are sure that you are okay? Please tell me you are all right and have no injuries.”

“I’m whole and unharmed,” he said, frowning down at her. “Your worry is touching but unnecessary in this situation. There were no other of those creatures around, at least none that showed themselves. I merely trailed behind you to ensure that you and Lukkis had a head start without trouble trying to sneak up behind you.”