18. Chapter 18
I admired Ghan-Zahr's cool. I wanted to kick and punch Carl until he told us all his dirty secrets. He wasn't the first man I had ever slapped but the first I had wanted to truly hurt. His stoicism and refusal to talk were infuriating to me. The reporter in me sensed how much more he wasn't divulging, and somehow, Vandruk's primitivity had gotten to me. It drew a long-dormant primal side in me that was willing to cross the lines of civility.
Outrage simmered inside me—outrage for Carl offering Ghan-Zahr a position of power that he had no right to hand out. Granted, I didn't know how Vandruk was run; they could have slaves for all I knew, but something told me they were honorable men. I threw a surreptitious glance at Ghan-Zahr. Had he contemplated that offer? Again, a deep-set sense in me said no, even though I had nothing to back my opinion up with.
"Carl offered to make you king of Vandruk. Was that when you took him prisoner?" I asked Ghan-Zahr.
He nodded grimly.
So Carl's suggestion had outraged him too. Enough to give up on his plan when he came to Earth. Which reminded me.
"Why did you come through the portal?" I couldn't imagine for a second that he had been forced through. No, not my strong warrior. My?
Ghan-Zahr led me away from Carl, who still refused to look at us. "I come to kill him."
"Oh." His statement should have done all kinds of things to me, instead of only making me nod in understanding. "Why didn't you?" Really, Rachel? He told you that he came to kill Carl, and all you can ask is , why didn't you?
"I learned, I saw things…" Ghan-Zahr stopped by a group of large boulders. "I learn every story has two sides… I learn that when portal opened, it wasn't to kill our gallies."
My hand reached for his arm and stroked it in sympathy and amazement that he had been able to see that.
"I realized I need learn more about humans if we want to beat them."
Okay, so he wasn't the humanitarian I had thought him to be for a moment, but still… he drew me in, and it wasn't just his rock-solid muscles or good looks. He was a man I very much wanted to get to know better. A man I realized I could finally fall in love with. If what I'd learned about him so far held true, he was the real packet. A real man. He knew when to hold back and when to throw punches. I could only imagine how much he wanted to hurt and or kill Carl, but he was using restraint. He was patient. He was also thoughtful when he made me the boots, a great lover—insert dreamy eyes and a glimpse in his direction—he was strong and open minded. He was willing to give humans a chance. And a kidnapper, Rachel. He kidnapped you . I wish that part of my brain would actually shut up because… because I was happy that I was here. Your parents are not gonna see it that way . I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, truly willing to shut that side of my brain off now. I didn't even want to think about my family right now and what watching me get abducted might do to them.
This time the glance I threw at Ghan-Zahr was a little less awed.
They'll worry themselves to death , the voice insisted.
Not helping , I snarled and realized I was defending the man who had kidnapped me to myself .
Yeah, Rach, you got it bad.
Don't I know it .
He's just like Trevor .
This time my mind went too far. Ghan-Zahr was not like Trevor. Not at all. Ghan-Zahr was not a Neanderthal. He might live like one, but his mind was anything but.
Oh yeah ? Which part? The one claiming: Mine?
Be real Rach, you don't know anything about him .
Maybe not , I admitted, but I have a feeling about him and my feelings about people are usually right.
At that, my mind finally threw its hands up in the air and capitulated. At least for the time being.
"I thought Carl tell me plans"." He shook his head, his voice bringing me back to the present. "But he offer me be king of Vandruk. That's when I"—he pounded his chest—"knew I couldn't… play friends any longer."
My admiration for him grew. This man was more intelligent than anybody on Earth would give him credit for. So he didn't know words like pretend yet, but his English was excellent, especially given the short time he had to learn it. He must have been studying it twenty-four seven, on top of absorbing what else he could learn about humans, all the while pretending to have been charmed by Carl.
"Why did you take me?" I asked suddenly.
His gaze softened. His palm once again caressed my cheek, and I couldn't have stopped myself from snuggling into it if somebody had held a gun to my head. It was a spontaneous gesture; it was like a magnetic pull. Impossible to resist.
"I don't know," he said hoarsely.
"I'm glad you did"." I smiled, meaning my words. And not because I was about to get the story of the century but because of him. God help me, but this alien barbarian was getting to me in ways no human man ever had.
An arrogant line rose from the corner of his right lip. I smacked his arm. "No reason to gloat."
He laughed. His hand snaked around my waist and pulled me flush against his chest while walking me backward until my back hit the boulder behind me. "Rachel"," he rasped.
His hand moved a strand of hair from my face, and his eyes bored into mine with an intensity that left me breathing hard.
"Ghan-Zahr," I replied.
"Say you're mine."
The word was at the tip of my tongue. I wanted to say yes. I wanted to cry, yours . But the repercussions of those simple words made me turn silent. It wasn't as simple as saying, sure, let's give this a try . We were worlds apart, literally.
Was I willing to give everything up on Earth? It wasn't like I could just hop on a plane and visit my family whenever the need to see them became too great. I couldn't even pick up a phone to see how they were doing. Not to mention my career. A career I had worked so hard on.
He read the answer on my face with a sigh, and his forehead leaned against mine. "Rachel." His voice sounded tortured, and I hated being the reason for it. Had we been on Earth, I would have cried, yes , a thousand times. But I couldn't, not here.
I leaned up and pressed my lips to his. He didn't need much more of an invitation; his tongue moved into my mouth as if he were a conquering army, and I allowed myself all too willingly to surrender to his demands.
My hands clung to his shoulders to keep myself up as he supported my waist with his hand. His other still palmed my face, heating my skin underneath it. Such a simple touch, and yet it meant the world to me. I felt the brute strength of his muscles underneath my palms, and yet he was being so tender with me. I felt the callouses on his skin, and yet they didn't even scratch me. Everything about him screamed warrior. He could have easily taken me and forced me to stay by his side, but he wasn't doing either. He was only taking what I gave him.
Well, besides the whole kidnapping thing , a sarcastic voice reminded me. If he hadn't taken me, I would have followed him , another part of me whispered. The truth of that hit me. I would have followed him. Not because he was gorgeous but because of the story. I wasn't one hundred percent sure I would have stepped through the portal of my own accord, but a small part inside me recognized that there would have been a good chance of me doing just that.
He broke our kiss first. Heavily breathing, he pulled back. I leaned forward, but he stopped me, shaking his head. "Not until you mine."
What?
Dumbfounded, I stared at him. Wasn't that supposed to be my line? Not until you've committed? Fuck!
"Say you're mine."
Fine, two could play that game. "Not yet."
"My tent is yours." He acknowledged my answer with a bitter twist to his lips. Still, he took my hand and pulled me back to camp, not leaving me out there in the wild by myself, a fact I very much appreciated even though anger churned in my stomach and, yes, my pussy. My stomach was mad at him, and my pussy was mad at me. Go figure.
I didn't go to the tent first because, besides churning in anger, my stomach was also rumbling for food, which I had eaten little of all day while I had been burning plenty of calories with… various activities, one of them walking, the other… I very much wanted to repeat in his tent.
Wordlessly, Ghan-Zahr handed me a plate courtesy of the creature he had slain, filled with meat and veggies and his waterskin.
"Thank you." I pressed out, taking both items into the tent, unwilling to spend more time in his company or his warriors', who were already giving me curious looks. Not to mention Carl, who sat glaring by his tree.
I bit into the meat and chewed it with a vengeance to appease my stomach. There, hope you feel better now! Truth be told, I wasn't sure who I was mad at. Ghan-Zahr for acting… childish— he wants to marry you, or whatever being his entails . Come on, it's been what, two days? my brain snarked sarcastically.
I sighed and tried a piece of the vegetable, which tasted like potato.
The thing was that I knew Ghan-Zahr wasn't playing a game or some power war. This was really this simple for him, all or nothing. It just wasn't that simple for me.
Exhausted, I finally managed to sleep until the tent became lighter from the rising sun outside. With a start, everything came back to me. Ghan-Zahr's ultimatum. The army coming down the mountain. Carl. Being on Vandruk. Most of all, though, the realization that I had been alone in the tent all night. Again.
The moment I stepped outside, Ghan-Zahr was by my side as if he had been waiting for me. "I'm sorry."
Surprised, I looked up.
"I should have… you have family on Earth?"
I nodded. "A brother, Brian, and two sisters, Natalie and Patricia. They're actually twins too."
His warm smile told me that I was referring to his lost twin sister. "Your parents?"
"They're both retired in Florida"." I sighed. None of those words would make any sense to him. "Happy in another state… part of the world… Earth."
"I've seen maps of your world. It's big."
"How big is Vandruk?" I asked, the first thing popping into my mind having nothing to do with his apology or our conversation.
"It takes a male six months to walk the edges of the water around Vandruk"," he said proudly.
"Is there only one continent? What about islands?"
"We haven't explored… Vandruk like you humans. We have not boats or planes."
"Oh"." Yeah, there was that.
"It doesn't matter. I want to tell you, I honor request for time, Rachel. I'm not pressure you. I want you to say you mine, but I don't ask, all right?"
"Th-Thank you?" I managed. Why was a rock of disappointment weighing me down? Wasn't that what I wanted?
"Khadahr," one of his warriors called, pointing at the army that had gotten closer to us yesterday. I estimated it would only take a few hours to run into them. Ghan-Zahr didn't seem to think the army meant us any harm, but it was still a terrifying sight to behold having that many armed barbarians marching toward us.
"You ready?" He offered me dried meat, and I took it gratefully as I had woken hungry despite the full portion of food I had eaten the previous night. I had also noticed that my pants were looser, nothing like a good old walk through an alien planet to lose weight.
Two of the warriors untied Carl from his tree and prodded him along. Nobody had made him any boots, and his leather loafers looked worn after all the walking they weren't meant to do. He probably sported a few blisters, but somehow, I couldn't muster sympathy for him. I tried to puzzle out why that was. I didn't have any proof of him doing anything wrong, only suspicions, and yet, there was something about him that screamed cruelty and a merciless drive for power. Men like him would do anything to get to the top.
Innocent until proven guilty , echoed in my mind, but even that reminder didn't call up any empathy in me. No matter how hard I tried, how wrong it was, I was convinced Carl was being served what he deserved. And that so far it only was an appetizer.
As we came closer to the army, my excitement grew when I noticed several human women among the warriors. We were still too far away to make out their faces, but it didn't take that long to recognize Gwyn, the woman who had opened the portal, Doctor Dawn Wayland, and Doctor Jenna McKenzie. I had memorized all their faces, as well as the brides , of which I saw a few. Alexia ‘Lexi' Summer, Noelle DuPond, and a few others.
A handful of men, wearing the same scars as Ghan-Zahr, fanning my curiosity walked ahead of the large group.