Just as she thought this, the bear-thing reached her. It reared up, opened its mouth, and let out the most ear-splitting, terrifying roar Jillian had ever heard. But the roar seemed to have words in it somehow.
Don’t touch…Mine! Jillian heard—or thought she heard. Maybe she was just going crazy with fear. In fact, at this point she sank to her knees as her legs gave way from extreme fright. Earlier, she’d fought to get away from Ripper, but there was no getting away from this Apex predator. No surviving its bite—she was sure.
Gonna die now, she thought. Gonna die. Oh God…
The three-headed Trollox behind her must have thought the same thing because it suddenly released her wrist and ran.
It was the Trollox’s grip that had been holding Jillian upright at all. As it finally let her go, she sank all the way to the dirty ground and rolled into a fetal ball, her arms clutched around herself and her knees drawn up to her chest.
It was too much—too much. Part of her was screaming that she had to get up and run! Run as fast as she could and get way from here! But how could she run from a predator like that? Just one of its strides equaled five or six of hers! She couldn’t go far enough or fast enough to get away if it was tracking her.
Jillian could just see herself getting on the tram and making it all the way to her shuttle, only to be pulled out of the cockpit by one swipe of the bear-thing’s enormous paw. It would be like the ending of a horror movie when you think the heroine is going to escape, only to see her killed by the monster at the last minute.
So she lay in the dirt shivering, waiting to hear it come back for her, waiting for her death…
Which was why it was such a surprise when, an unknowable length of time later, Kalis put a hand gently on her shoulder and murmured,
“Hey, little Mistress—you all right?”
Jillian nearly jumped out of her skin. She screamed…and then, though she wasn’t the fainting type, she fainted dead-away.
23
She woke up in the passenger seat of her shuttle with Kalis sitting beside her in the driver’s seat. Commander Sylvan, the head of the Kindred High Council, was on the viewscreen and Kalis was saying,
“Thank you, Commander—I appreciate your offer of hospitality aboard the Mother Ship.”
“It’s the least we can do since you rescued one of our own,” Commander Sylvan said formally. “And the B’varren Kindred have always been well-respected in our community. Though…” He cleared his throat. “I really must ask you not to change forms while aboard the ship. At least, not in public. We have many brides from Earth here and I’m afraid seeing your other form would frighten them and make them fear for their children.”
“I completely understand, Commander.” Kalis nodded gravely. “You have my word—I won’t change in front of any unsuspecting females.”
Like me, Jillian thought faintly. I was an unsuspecting female. I had no idea he could turn into that…that thing.
Though, to be fair, Kalis had mentioned his “other form” to her several times. But then he had evaded her questions about it, Jillian remembered. Probably because he was afraid she’d be scared out of her wits.
Which she absolutely was. She couldn’t believe she’d been so close to the big Kindred—that she’d been intimate with him. Or rather, let him be so intimate with her, she thought, blushing as she remembered the massage he’d given her with not one but two happy endings. What if he had turned into that huge beast while he was massaging her? He would have ripped her apart! Just the thought made her shiver.
“We’ll be folding space for you shortly,” Commander Sylvan was telling Kalis. “Stand by.”
“We’ll be waiting. Oh, and Commander? Could you please make certain there’s a healer nearby when we land? My Mistress has been through a lot today—she may need to be checked out,” Kalis told him.
“I’ll have Dr. Olivia come with me to meet you both at the Docking Bay,” Commander Sylvan promised. “We’ll be seeing you in just a few minutes.”
“Thank you.” Kalis nodded gratefully. “I look forward to meeting in person.”
“As do I, Brother.” Commander Sylvan nodded and then the viewscreen went blank.
“Well, Mistress—here we go,” Kalis rumbled, looking over at her. “I can tell you’re awake,” he added. “So you might as well open your eyes.”
Jillian was ashamed to admit she had been pretending to still be asleep or unconscious—it seemed easier that way. After all, she had no idea what to say to the huge Kindred. After seeing what he had become, she was scared of him. And also embarrassed when she remembered the way she’d let him touch her and make her come. It was just too many confusing emotions to deal with all at once and she felt completely overloaded at the moment.