Protected

  The point is, seeing a female get hurt makes me a little crazy.

  “Char’noth?” I demanded, my hands curling into fists. For now he was just raising his voice at her. That was all he had better do if he wanted to live.

  “I am finishing the configuration for organic living material now.” The head Commercian beckoned me to a round, silvery portal made of light which had suddenly appeared in the center of their station. “Make your preparations.”

  I opened the bottle of saphor solution which would turn my blue-gray hide brownish-tan and drank it down. It burned like fire going down my gullet but I barely noticed it.

  As my skin changed from its normal shade to that of an Earth male’s, I looked at Char’noth.

  “Now?”

  He nodded. “Now.”

  I stepped into the portal and was pulled down to the planet where the female I was supposed to be protecting was in danger. I only prayed to the Goddess of Mercy I wouldn’t be too late.

  Chapter Three

  Grav

  I came through a silvery, reflective viewing surface into a sleeping chamber. At least, I thought it was a sleeping chamber—it had a rectangular platform with pillows on it that looked like it might be meant for sleep. On the platform was my bundle of clothes, the mask, and the cubes. That was good because I was naked—my clothes hadn’t made the journey.

  Outside the door, voices were raised—Leah’s mate was saying something that sounded angry. I pulled on my mask and trousers hurriedly but as I was trying to get the mask into place, I heard the raised voices turn to shouting. And then the dull thud of a punch landing on soft, vulnerable flesh and the cry of a female in pain.

  That sound makes me fucking crazy—I can’t stand it.

  No time for my shirt or the cubes. I yanked open the door, looking for the source of the ominous sounds, but I couldn’t find Leah and her mate anywhere. It took me a minute to realize that this was a two story domicile and the fight—(more like the beating)—was happening downstairs.

  Rushing down the staircase, taking the steps four at a time, I finally found them. Leah was crouched in a ball, trying to shield her face in a corner of the entry hall. Her mate—a male who would be considered big by Earth standards though he was nothing to me—was leaning over her, raining blows down on her wildly.

  A murderous hate twisted his features when I grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around to face me. The expression quickly turned to surprise when he saw me.

  “What the…who the hell are you?” he demanded.

  “Someone who knows what the fuck you are,” I growled and plowed my fist into his nose.

  It flattened with a satisfying crunch and he howled as blood began to flow at once.

  Leah’s mate flailed, trying to punch back but I had the element of surprise—the little shit never saw me coming. I punched him again and again, making sure to make every blow count. He made a gurgling noise and then I heard Leah crying behind me,

  “You’re killing him! You’re killing him!”

  I dropped the male, my chest heaving as I tried to control my fury. I turned to face her slowly, pushing back the curtain of red rage that had dropped over my vision with an effort. Braxians are berserkers and I had been very close to the point of no return.

  “Don’t you want me to kill him?” I asked, looking at her. “After what he did to you?”

  Her lovely face was twisted with fear and pain. Her lip was split and I could tell she would have bruises from his ruthless beating.

  “Please,” she whispered, not answering my question. “Please, I don’t know who you are but please…”

  I suddenly realized what I must look like to her. Shirtless and covered in her mate’s blood with the smart-fabric mask twisted in a way that was sure to distort my features. And I was so much bigger than her—she probably found me terrifying.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, my words coming out harsh and angry. I tried again. “I’m sorry,” I told her in a softer tone. “I know you don’t know me but I’ve been assigned to watch over you.”

  “Assigned? By who?” She was still cowering away from me in a way that twisted my heart. No matter what else happened, I didn’t want her afraid of me.

  Suddenly I thought of a way to win her trust.

  “Lady Zoe—I’m from her. From your friend, Zoe,” I told her.

  “Zoe?” Her brown eyes grew huge. “You know her? You know what happened to her?”

  “She was abducted,” I said. “By Lord Sarden—who is now her bonded mate and the ruler of the planet Eloim.”

  “What?” The hope that had briefly blossomed on her face turned abruptly to disbelief and fear. “You say he rules a planet?”

  Damn it, I was making a fucking mess of this! I reminded myself that the Earthlings had no idea that the galaxy around them was full of sentient life. Their instruments were too primitive to contact any other people and they were too skeptical to believe in things they couldn’t see.

  “I can prove it,” I said quickly. “I have a message for you from Lady Zoe.”

  “Where?” Slowly she stood, her arms wrapped around herself protectively.

  “In the upper part of your domicile.” I stepped over the prone form of her mate. He was unconscious but still breathing—which was a hell of a lot more than he deserved, the female-beating bastard.

  “What? What is it doing up there? Is that where you came from? How did you get in the house?”

  “It’s a very fuckin’ long story, Leah,” I told her. “Look, do you want to see it or not?”

  “I do, but…but I’m not going upstairs with a strange man.” She shivered. “And how do you know my name?”

  “Lady Zoe told me all about you, including your name,” I said patiently. “I’ll go get her message to you. Will you wait for me?”

  “Yes.” She stepped carefully over her prone mate, wincing as she did. “I…I’ll be in the living room. Just hurry.”

  “Fast as I can,” I promised and ran up the stairs. I had to prove to her that she could trust me—had to show her everything was going to be all right.

  But I still wished I’d killed her abusive asshole of a mate. He had it coming.

  Leah

  I sat on the floral print couch with my arms wrapped around myself and shivered. My face ached where Gerald had punched me and I could feel blood dripping from my burst lip and a cut above my right eyebrow. But my mind such was a swirling mass of questions it hardly seemed important.

  Who was the strange man who had suddenly appeared in my house and saved me from Gerald’s brutal attack? Did he really know Zoe? How had he gotten inside in the first place? And what was all that about Zoe being married to the ruler of a planet?

  Was I going crazy and imagining this whole thing? Maybe I was in the hospital, unconscious after Gerald’s beating and I was dreaming all of this.

  Footsteps pounding heavily down the stairs assured me it was no dream. I didn’t know who the mystery man was but he was huge—almost a giant. He’d certainly put my abusive husband down with no problem and I had no doubt he would have kept going until Gerald was dead, if I hadn’t stopped him.

  Why did you stop him? whispered a voice in my head. After all the awful things Gerald has done to you since he got you to move here, away from friends and family and any kind of support. Why did you make him stop?

  I didn’t have an answer.

  And before I could think of one, the giant was back in the living room. His face was no longer distorted which was good—before it had almost looked as if his features were twisted somehow. It made him that much scarier. Now he looked normal—well, if a seven-foot tall, muscular, bare-chested giant can look normal, that is. Though his face was oddly generic—which was strange. He looked kind of like one of those police sketches you see where the artist is trying to give the idea of the wanted man and it winds up looking like everyone and no one at the same time.

  “M
ay I?” The giant gestured and after a moment, I realized he was asking if he could sit by me.

  “Oh…of course.” I scooted over and he sat on the other end of the couch, which creaked alarmingly under his weight. He looked to weigh in the neighborhood of 300 pounds—maybe more—but all of it was muscle. He was holding something in his hand.

  “Here.” He uncurled his massive fist, revealing two gleaming crystal cubes. In his large palm they looked like a pair of shiny dice but each was actually about the size of that old puzzle game, the Rubix cube. “Go on,” the mysterious giant said to me. “The one that’s yours will respond to your touch.”

  Hesitantly, I reached for one of the cubes and picked it up. I turned it this way and that but nothing happened.

  “Not that one, then,” the giant grunted. “Try the other.”

  I put the first cube back in his hand and picked up the other.

  Immediately it sprang to life.

  A 3-D image of Zoe suddenly appeared on top of the cube, as though being projected from the crystal facets. She was wearing a close fitting emerald green gown and her hair looked gorgeous—a red, curly profusion around her freckled face. On her head was a slim, silver circlet with a pinkish-purple jewel—almost like a crown.

  “Leah!” she said, smiling that sweet, Zoe-smile of hers. “Oh my God—I’ve missed you so much. And I want you to know I would have sent a message earlier but things have been crazy here, between the coronation and trying to get settled on a new planet…you know how it is.” She shrugged. “Well, you don’t know and I’m afraid I don’t have a lot of time to tell you in this message, although I promise to send more soon.”

  She took a deep breath.

  “Okay, try not to freak out, but the reason I sent you this message is you might be in danger. There’s a really bad guy named Count Doloroso—he’s extremely creepy and he wants an Earth girl for…” She shook her head. “You don’t want to know what for. Anyway, the good news is that the guy I’m sending these message cubes with is going to be looking out for you. So don’t worry, okay? He’s a Protector—which is kind of like a professional bodyguard—and his name is Grav. I know he’s big and scary looking but he’s actually a sweetheart. Okay—that’s all I have time for now because Grav needs to get going to Earth right away. But I hope to see you again—maybe you and Charlotte can even come visit me on Eloim.”

  She blew me a kiss and then the projection winked out of existence.

  “Zoe!” I whispered, still looking at the cube. “Oh my God—that really was Zoe!”

  “Of course it was,” the big guy that Zoe had called Grav rumbled.

  I looked up at him. “And she’s really okay? Living on…on some other planet? That sounds so crazy.”

  “Only because you Earthlings don’t understand how many other sentient species are out there in the galaxy around you,” he said patiently. There was a look of concern on his strangely generic features. “Here—you’re bleeding.” He looked around and saw the box of Kleenex on the coffee table. Taking one he reached for my face. “Can I…?” He made a motion with one big hand.

  “Oh, uh…okay, I guess.” I probably wouldn’t have let him get so close under different circumstances but this still felt so surreal—like everything that was happening was some kind of hyper realistic dream. So instead of pulling away, I leaned forward and let him dab at my wounds.

  “I’m so fuckin’ sorry about this,” he rumbled as he tended me. His touch was surprisingly gentle for such a big guy. “I should have got here sooner but they had to reconfigure the damn transport. Still, that’s no excuse. I shouldn’t have let this happen to you.”

  “You didn’t do it,” I said, looking up at him. “It was…it was Gerald.” My husband’s name came out in a choked whisper and I felt myself wanting to cry. I held the tears back grimly. I couldn’t afford the luxury of breaking down right now—I needed to get as much information about Zoe as I could. Just knowing she was actually alive somewhere made me feel stronger and more hopeful. “This isn’t your fault,” I said, making my voice stronger.

  “Yeah, it is. It was done to you on my watch,” he growled. “There’s no fuckin’ excuse for that.”

  “You say ‘fucking’ a lot, don’t you?” I said.

  “Oh, uh…sorry about that.” He shrugged, his massive shoulders rolling. “I’m just so fuckin’…uh…” He stopped, clearly realizing he’d just said it again. “I mean…”

  Incredibly enough, I felt laughter bubbling up in my throat. It had a slight hysterical edge to it but it felt good coming out. It made me wonder when the last time I’d laughed in my own home was. I honestly couldn’t remember.

  “Sorry,” he said again lamely.

  “You will be sorry, you son of a bitch.” The thick, angry voice made me jump. I looked up and saw Gerald standing in the doorway to the living room. One eye was swelled shut and his nose looked like a squashed tomato. Blood was smeared across his face like war paint and his sharp gray eyes were filled with rage.

  “Gerald,” I said. “I—”

  “You little bitch,” he snarled. “I knew you were cheating on me—I just didn’t know you were doing it with more than one man.”

  “I’m not cheating on you,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ve never cheated on you. This man was sent to protect me.”

  “Protect you? Protect you from who?” he sneered.

  “From anyone who tries to hurt her. And right now that means you, you little fuck.” The giant named Grav rose from the couch to his full height and glared down at Gerald. “What the fuck is wrong with you, beating a defenseless female half your size? I oughta twist your head off and use it for grun-ball practice.”

  I didn’t know what “grun-ball” was but I didn’t think it was a good idea to find out.

  “Grav—” I began but neither the huge giant nor my husband were paying attention to me.

  “You’ll pay for what you did to me,” Gerald snarled. “And as for her—” He gestured at me. “She had it coming. She’s been cheating on me since we got married.”

  “Gerald, I never cheated on you,” I said again.

  “Yes you did, you little slut!” he snarled. “Don’t lie to me! You’re always lying to me! That’s why I have to punish you—you bring it on yourself!”

  “So it’s Leah’s fault you used her like a punching bag?” Grav demanded. “Are you hearing yourself, you sick fuck? This is your mate. Not only that but she’s special—unique—a La-ti-zal. You ought to be spendin’ every last drop of your blood defending her, not hurting her!”

  “Leah deserves every punishment I gave her and more,” Gerald said coldly. “You both do—and you’re going to get it.” He held up his cell phone and shook it at me. “I called 911 over five minutes ago. The police are going to be here very shortly.”

  “So what?” I demanded. “When they get here I’ll tell them how you beat me up!”

  “You can try that if you like.” Gerald crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall casually. “Except I already told them how an unknown assailant broke into our house through an upstairs window and was beating us both.”

  “What?” I felt sick. “But that’s a lie!”

  “Well, you can try convincing the police of that,” Gerald drawled, raising one eyebrow. “Except I already told them my wife took several blows to the head and she’s rather confused.”

  “You little—” Grav began.

  “I also mentioned that the assailant was holding you hostage, darling,” Gerald continued, looking at me. “And of course you’ll say anything your captor tells you to in order to survive. I wouldn’t be surprised if they come in here shooting to kill your big friend there.” He nodded at Grav and smiled nastily.

  Outside I heard the sound of sirens.

  My stomach sank down to my shoes as I realized what Gerald had done. He’d completely twisted the story in his own favor—there was no way the police would b
elieve me. At least not in time to save my rescuer from getting shot.

  I looked at Grav and shook my head.

  “I’m sorry, but you’d better go. It’s too dangerous for you here now.”

  “And it’s not fuckin’ dangerous for you?” He glared at me. “I’m not leavin’ you here with your asshole of a mate, Leah. He’ll just beat you up again.”

  I had to admit, he was probably right. The first two times Gerald had hit me, he’d begged my forgiveness and promised it would never happen again. I wanted desperately to make my marriage work so I believed him—or told myself I did. Now I realized it would never stop. The man I’d been blind enough to marry was deranged and abusive—not to mention jealous far past the point of common sense. One way or another I was going to have to get away from him.

  The sirens stopped in front of our house.

  “Oh dear—it appears the authorities are here.” Gerald smirked at us both. “Maybe I should go out and greet them.”

  Before I could answer, he darted to the front door and threw it open.

  “Help!” I heard him shout hoarsely. “He’s still in there and he has my wife! Please, help me!”

  “Just relax, sir. We’ll get her,” a tough, no-nonsense voice answered him.

  Well, crap.

  I looked at Grav and he looked at me.

  “I have to go and you do too,” he told me. “Come with me.”

  “Come with you where?” I asked, but I was already getting off the couch.

  “To see your friend. I’ll take you to Lady Zoe,” he promised.

  “You can do that?” I took a hesitant step towards him.

  “Sure I can. Got a ship in low Earth orbit right now.” He grinned at me, his strangely generic features wrinkling, and held out one huge hand. “Now or never, darlin’. I hear your planet’s authorities about to come in. I’ll fight ‘em off if you want me to, but I don’t think they deserve to be pounded into rejix pudding like your mate does.”