Karac: Kaldar Warriors #1 (14 page)

“You have a friend named Samantha, yes?”  Shocked, I stumbled before catching myself.

“Yes, but how did you-?”

“Her name came up when we were cross checking your friends and relatives in our search for you.”  Darrok said dismissively. 

“Oh.”  I pondered that statement.  Sam was going to kill me when she found out. 

“Do you know where she is?”

“Who?”  I was still back on the search they ran about my family and friends. 

“Samantha.”

“Uh, no, I haven’t talked to her since I gave up my phone.”  My precious phone that I no longer had.  And in the end it didn’t matter.  All I did was prolong the inevitable. 

“When was that?”  Darrok made a turn down another hallway and I followed suit. 

“Right before you’re countdown ended.”

“Six months ago.”  It wasn’t a question but I answered anyway. 

“Yeah.”

“Where was she when you last talked?”  The man was determined. 

“She wouldn’t say.  Neither of us said where we were going.  It was safer that way in case you guys caught up with one of us.”  I looked to him before adding, “Why do you ask?”

“She’s my mate.”  He stated bluntly while still looking forward.  His statement shocked me to my core. 

“What?  How do you know?”

“We just know.  I need to find her.”

“Well, I won’t be much help.  She’s off the grid and Sam is dang good at hiding her tracks.  She was the smartest geek I knew.”

“Geek?”  He looked at me questioningly. 

“Computer whiz,” I said, waving my hand dismissively.  Then looked Darrok up and down.  “Sort of like you, I guess.”  We were passing a room that had windows looking into it from the hall.  I noticed a lot of lifting equipment and in the back looked like a boxing ring.  I stopped and watched the warriors who appeared to be working out or practicing their skill with swords.

“What’s this room?”

“We call it the sparring room.  That’s where the warriors train and keep in shape.”

“Can I go in?”

“I don’t know why you’d want to,” Darrok asked hesitantly.  But he didn’t tell me no.  I turned back to the double doors and went inside.  All eyes turned toward me as I came in. 
Awkward…

“So, can anyone use this room?”  I asked Darrok as he caught up to me. 

“As I said, the warriors use it.  No one else has tried to come down here.”

“Is it against the rules or something?”  I glanced around trying to look at everything without making eye contact with any of the warriors. 

“There aren’t any rules, per say-“  Darrok glanced up as Calzen strode over from where he was training with other warriors near the boxing ring.

“Ashley, what are you doing in here?”  I ignored the hint of hostility in his voice. 

“Saw this place through the window and wanted to check it out.”  I shrugged.  “I thought you went to Command, or whatever.”

“I was.  Finished my business there and came down here.”

“Oh.”  I glanced around and noticed an open corner.  “Can you show me how to defend myself?”

“Uh…what?”  Calzen asked with wide eyes.

“I want to know how to defend myself.  Karac keeps saying that I have to have guards, but won’t really say why.  If being around him puts me in a situation where I need to defend myself, I want to know at least the basics.”

“I don’t think Karac-“

“Karac isn’t here.  Did he tell you that you couldn’t give me a few pointers?”  I asked.

“No, but-“

“Then there’s nothing holding you back.  Let’s go.”  I walked purposefully toward the deserted corner and turned to face him.  I was glad that when I chose my clothes earlier I had picked out stretchy capris and a t-shirt.  I kicked off my flip flops and watched as Calzen approached slowly.  Darrok followed with a frown.

“Ashley,” Darrok started, “I really don’t think Karac would want you to learn to fight.”

“Why not?”

“That’s our job.”  Calzen pointed out.

“If something happens to my guards and I’m left standing alone, do you really think it is a good idea for me to not know some basic maneuvers so I can at least stall until help arrives?”

“Well, when you put it that way…” Calzen trailed off. 

“Good, then let’s get started.”

Calzen was actually a really good teacher.  He showed me a few basic blocks if an attacker came from the front.  I could tell he was going easy on me but I was ok with that.  Hopefully, if I stayed long enough, we’d move into the harder hit contact. 

He paused after I successfully mimicked his move and smiled at me approvingly.  “Good, you’re a natural at this.”

“Thanks.  We’ll see what you think when we move onto the harder stuff.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Calzen said casually.  “Where did you learn that move you pulled on Karac last night?”  I racked my brain thinking what I did last night and then it dawned on me.

“OH!  You mean when I had him bent over, gasping for air, and clutching his family jewels?”  All motion stopped in the room as each head turned my direction.  Shock was written over every single face.  Apparently their hearing was super good. 

“Uh, yeah, that.”  Calzen said with a cough.  I couldn’t tell if he was laughing or clearing his throat.  Darrok, who had been watching from the side decided to chime in.

“Where did you learn that?”

“From a movie.”  I shrugged. 

“A movie?  One of those moving pictures that tell a story?  You learned how to disarm a warrior from a movie?”  Darrok asked incredulously.

“Well, it was more the element of surprise.  I doubt I could ever do it again.  Personally I was surprised it worked the first time.  It was the first time I’ve ever tried it too.”

“
Criza.
  First time doing the trick and you had Karac moaning in pain.”  Calzen shook his head and gave a short burst of laugh.  “You are a quick study.”

“Yeah, you want me to try it on you?”  I teased.

“Show me in slow motion.”  His answer caught me by surprise.  “I want to make sure I got the moves down.”  Shrugging, I moved into position.  We went over the moves a couple times before Calzen was satisfied he understood each step.  We went back to the basics as he showed me how to defend myself once again. 

Ashley

Eventually, we started working on attacks from the back.  This was a little more difficult.  Calzen was considerably larger than me and when he’d go to put his arms around me, it was like a steel cage.  How he expected me to get out of his grasp I had no idea.  We were on our fifth or sixth attempt and I was firmly held by Calzen’s steel arms, when the door at the other side of the room slammed.

“
Criza
.”  I heard Darrok mutter who had been watching us from a distance again.  I followed his gaze to see Karac storming across the room with murder in his eyes.  Calzen dropped his arms from around me and put a good fifteen foot gap between us with his hands held up in surrender.  Karac was closing in on Calzen fast and he was reaching for his sword on his back when he was just a few feet from me, still glaring at Calzen.  I knew I had to do something otherwise it looked like he was going to seriously injure Calzen or possibly kill him.  I stepped directly into Karac’s path who then tried to step around me to get to Calzen, all the while growling deep in his chest, sword drawn at his side.  Not wanting to be ignored, I flung my arms around Karac’s neck so he had to look down at me.  I could see the fury boiling behind his eyes.  He let go of his sword and both hands gripped my waist and held on tight, pulling me flush against him.  He was still glancing behind me toward Calzen and the rumble was constant from his chest.

“Karac, talk to me, what’s wrong?”  He looked down and met my eyes.  He pulled me tighter against him before answering.

“You are mine.”  For safety’s sake, I decide to let that one slide this time.

“No one is arguing that point.” 
Well, at that moment.
 

“He was holding you.  Touching you.”  The rumble in his chest grew as he glared at Calzen. 

“No, he was showing me how to break out of an attacker’s arms.”  But he barely heard me.  He was looking at Calzen who still hadn’t moved from his position with his arms stretched out in front of him in surrender.

“Karac, look at me.”  I put my hands on either side of his face and pulled his head down so he had to look at me.

“He wasn’t holding me.  He was teaching me.”

“Teaching you?  What?”  I was finally getting through his rage and could see sense poking through as he processed my words. 

“How to break out of an attacker’s arms.”  I explained calmly. 

“Why would he do that?”  Karac asked, confused. 

“Do what?”  I questioned to make sure we were on the same page. 

“Teach you?”

“I asked him to.”

“Why?” 

“Because I thought it might be a good thing to know.”  I could see the anger slowly subsiding as he sorted out my words. 

“You shouldn’t have to learn how to defend yourself.  That’s my privilege.”  He growled. 

“Yeah, but you might not always be around.”

“I’ll always be there to protect you.”  He replied insulted. 

“I’m just saying we could be separated, something could happen to the guards, and then where would I be?  Wouldn’t you rather me have some sort of defense skills rather than be a sitting duck?”  I reasoned. 

“What does a duck sitting down have to do with this?”  Confusion written all over his face.  I sighed.  First, and probably not the last, language barrier. 

“It’s a figure of speech.  It means defenseless.”  He thought about my words for a minute.  I realized I was still holding his head between my hands so I slid my hands back down to his shoulders.  I tried to back up but Karac was having none of that.  He looked past me and frowned at Calzen.

“You were touching my mate.”

“It was only to teach her to defend herself, I swear.”  Calzen stated.  Karac studied him for a minute before nodding.  He looked back to me with a questioning eye.

“You really want to learn how to defend yourself?”

“Yes, I do.” I replied with earnest. 

“Then I will teach you.”  He looked at Calzen.  “No one else.”  He looked back at me.  “Understood?”

“Is it that big of a deal that he was touching me?” 

“No one touches what is mine.”  The force behind those words had shivers running up and down my spine. 

“Fine.”  I agreed. 

“Good.”  He looked around the room at the warriors gathered.  “That’s enough for today.  We can come back tomorrow.  Calzen, Darrok, you’re dismissed for now.”

“Yes, Karac.”  They intoned.  Darrok turned and left as Calzen gave me a small wink as he passed.  I shook my head at him.  I stepped back and Karac let me go.  His hand trailed down my arm and clasped my hand as he reached down, gripped his sword, and whipped it over his back into the sheath. 

“I have a surprise for you.”  He had an impish look on his face that was so out of character I forgot my earlier frustration with him.

“A surprise?”  I asked.

“Yes, it is waiting in our rooms.”  He tugged me along.  “Come.”  I slipped my shoes back on my feet on the way by and followed Karac.  We wound our way back to his private hallway and he ushered me through the door to our rooms.  On the table where we had breakfast this morning, sat a huge bouquet of flowers.  The vibrant colors took my breath away.

“Oh, Karac, they are beautiful.”  I breathed.  I slowly walked over to the bouquet taking in all the different kinds and shades of color.

“I wasn’t sure what were your favorite, so I got a little of everything.”  He said from behind me.  I felt him at my back before he added, “I apologize for this morning.  I sprung too much information on you and it didn’t come across the right way.”  I turned to him to give him my full attention.

“You mean about getting me pregnant?”  I leaned back against the table for support. 

“About wanting an heir, yes.”  He sighed.  “Eventually, an heir will be needed.  But there is no rush.  I just want to make that clear.”

“What happens if we don’t mate?”

“Then I will not have an heir to pass the throne to.  The succession will be broken and the Galtina Sector will need to find a new ruler.”

“Don’t you have cousins or something that would keep the crown, or whatever, in your family?”

“Families are small, because of our low fertility.  I have no cousins to pass the crown to.”

“So, some other family would be chosen to rule?”

“In essence, yes.”

“How long has your family ruled?”

“Since the beginning.”  He stated quietly. 

“Beginning of?”  I was scared what the answer would be. 

“When our planet developed space travel.”

“How long ago was this?”

“A millennium.”

“Your family has ruled for 1000 years?”  I asked shocked. 

“Yes.”  He replied simply.

“And you’re basing the future of your entire world on mating with me?”

“Yes.” 

“On my decision to become your mate?”

“Yes.”

“You’re so certain that I’m your truemate?”

“Absolutely.”  He nodded firmly. 

“How?”  He reached out and slowly pulled me into him so we were flush against each other.  Our eyes locked and I couldn’t look away.  That same feeling of everything aligning with him that I had the first time I looked into his eyes was back.

“Because of that.” He replied softly.  “When I look into your eyes, my world is complete.  Everything in this world only matters because you are in it.  Without you, my world would be a cold, dark, bleak place.  You…are my light.”  He bent forward and laid his forehead against mine.  “Do you feel it too?”

I couldn’t lie to him.  It just didn’t feel like something that should be taken lightly.  “Yes.”  I mumbled.  Closing my eyes, I took in the feel of him surrounding me.  I felt safe, warm, and loved. 
Wait, loved?
  He raised his head and kissed my forehead before stepping back and smiling down at me.  A little unsettled about my growing feelings, I gave him a small smile before turning back to the flowers.  I picked out a white lily and held it up to my nose. 

“This one.”  I said, turning back to Karac.  “These are my favorite.”

“What are they called?”

“Lilies.”

“They are beautiful, just like you.”  I blushed before carrying the lily over to the couch and sat down.  Karac followed. 

“So is that where you went earlier?  To Earth?”

“Yes, I wanted something for you.  Calzen told me flowers were a good place to start.”

“Calzen.  He’s not mated is he?”  I was trying to figure out how he would know flowers were a good gesture. 

“No, but he deals with the mated couples and hears the reports.  The mated males are very open about what their females like or dislike.  It helps the rest of us please our mates.”

“Are we that different from your own females?”  I brought one leg up on the couch to face him better as he answered my question. 

“We don’t have that many females back on Kaldar.  Which is one of the reasons why we are searching farther and farther every year.  Our males cannot find their truemates within our own population.”  He relaxed one of his arms across the back of the couch as he also turned to face me. 

“What happened to make the population so low?”  I asked perplexed.  I couldn’t imagine something like that happening on Earth. 

“No one really knows.”  Karac shrugged.  “A few hundred years ago is when the population really started to see a decline.  That’s when our warriors made more of an effort to search other galaxies for their mates.”

“How long have you been looking?”

“Little over fifteen years.”

“Wow.  How old does that make you then?”  I asked curiously. 

“In your Earth terms, around thirty.”  A small grin escaped the corner of his lips at my shocked look.  So, he was seven years older than me.  That’s not a huge leap.  Wait, why am I even considering that?  Internally I shook my thoughts and went back to what we were talking about. 

“You haven’t been in space that whole time, have you?”

“Pretty much.”  He said with a lift of his shoulder.  “I am called home periodically to help my father when he requests it.  But my main objective was to find my mate.”  He paused, looking at me.  “You.”

“And now that you’ve found me?”  I asked meeting his eyes and my breath caught.   

His eyes heated as he gazed at me.  “I’ll give you time to get used to the idea,” he paused before adding, “as well as me.”

“How much time?”  While I appreciated him being gracious, I still wasn’t sure how this thing between us would play out.  I felt things that I shouldn’t feel, especially just after meeting him.  But I couldn’t ignore the connection we had every time our eyes locked either. 
Man, what the hell was I going to do?

“That I cannot say.  There are circumstances out of my control that may require my attention at some point.”  He rubbed the back of his neck in frustration before continuing.  “We are receiving reports of a disturbance in one of the outlying galaxies under Father’s reign.  Scouts have been deployed and we are waiting to hear from them.”

“What’s going on?”  I asked curiously.  I pulled my other knee up and hugged them as I sat back on the couch. 

“Best scenario is the Overlord there is having problems with disputes between tribes.  Worst case, a neighboring race is thinking to take over part of our territory.”  He shook his head. 

“Which would mean war?”

“Yes.  Or a battle at the very least.  It depends on the size of the invasion and who is responsible.” 

“When will you hear back from the scouts?”

“That could be two days or a month.  Depends on how forthcoming the inhabitants are with information.”  Seeing the look of concern on my face, he added, “Don’t worry.  You are safe with me.  And as I said, I will not rush you.  I want you to
want
to be my mate and not be forced into it.”

“And in the meantime, I’m to stay on the ship?”

“Yes.”  He said without remorse. 

“What am I supposed to do?”  I said with a raised eyebrow.  Seriously, the ship was only so big. 

“There are plenty of things.  You can learn about the history of our race.  Talk with the other mated females.  Get a feel of the ship, with an escort of course.”  He smiled.  “And, apparently I am going to train you how to defend yourself.”

“What about my family?  You said I could talk to them any time?”

“Yes, and you can.”  He paused as if remembering something.  “Did you talk with them this morning?”

“Yep.  My parents along with one of my sisters and her family were there.”

“I see.”  He paused, shifting his weight a little before asking, “How did that go?”

“As to be expected.” I shrugged.  “They weren’t happy with you taking me in the middle of the night but they know there’s nothing they can do about it now.”

“I should make amends.” He actually appeared a little chagrined.  Just a little.  “What would you suggest?”