Chapter 45
I had to find him.
There was no way I was going to let him hide from me anymore.
I still didn't have a map of the ship, but that didn't matter.
It wasn't like it was a vast forest that I could wander and get lost in.
It was a self-contained, fully enclosed shell flying through space.
The past several weeks had given me a mental map of the place, and I felt fairly comfortable traversing it.
Now all I had to do was move in a pattern that he couldn't slip away as easily.
I wove back and forth quickly through the ship.
Past the kitchens, past the random lush tropical forest in the center of the spaceship.
I moved towards the sounds coming from the training room.
I had avoided going in there. I'd peeked in there a few times, just enough to see the mass of sweating soldiers working at the various stations.
It was similar to the one in the tower, but with a larger central space.
I had left after my initial glance the first time and never returned. It made sense that Zale would spend his time there, so it was the first place I needed to look. I couldn't just peek. I had to make absolutely certain he wasn't in there before I continued searching.
I moved towards the door.
It slid open, and I stepped into the large training room.
The room was both noisy and silent at the same time.
It was silent as the vast majority of soldiers in that room had all stopped their activities and were watching one specific fight. It was noisy because of that fight itself.
I watched as the Emperor stumbled backward out of a set of temporary walls, twisting to turn his backward stumble into a deliberate dive roll that took him farther away from the three soldiers pursuing him.
He faced them, a snarl on his face, his claws out.
He was shirtless.
There were red marks all over his exposed skin as if they had been beating on him, and his translucent fur was wild. The three soldiers that stepped towards him all had full armor on.
What was going on?
This was not a fair fight.
Why would he train shirtless against armored men?
My heart rose in my chest as anxiety gripped it.
I didn't want to be here with the Emperor, but I absolutely didn't want to lose him.
He had been kind to me. Cold, but kind. I was safe, healthy, and not expected to put out in exchange for it.
His delicate care of me had blossomed a small bud of affection in my heart for him.
Losing him would mean losing the only one who wanted me here, who had shown himself to be dedicated to taking care of me - even when I wasn't banging his brains out like I'm sure he expected I would in this sort of situation.
He was a good guy.
A good, handsome, wealthy, physically attractive guy.
Right now, the fight didn't look like a training fight.
It looked like he was actually under attack.
I searched the room with my eyes, spotting a weapons rack.
I moved to stand next to it.
Just in case.
I returned my attention to the fight.
One of the soldiers lunged forward, swinging for his head. The Emperor ducked under and rushed towards him, letting the first one swing past him with his momentum. He stayed low as the next soldier swung down at his head and back.
The Emperor landed a fist in his gut, but the dull thud of flesh on armor made it clear that those sorts of blows wouldn't get him very far. The soldier's fist connected with the Emperor's back, wringing a grunt from him.
No one noticed when I picked up one of the guns.
I glanced at it, found the safety and the trigger, and stood with it pointed at the floor.
This had to be a training exercise.
The Emperor was going to be fine.
I didn't see exactly what happened, but the man who hit him on the back was suddenly up in the air, colliding with the third.
Then the first one who had swung past him grabbed the Emperor's tail, hooking his foot behind the Emperor's ankle.
In one swift motion, he managed to drag backward and up, yanking the Emperor's hips off the ground as he knocked his support structure out from under him.
The Emperor went face first towards the ground,.
He on his hands and feet.
He immediately tried to get back up, but all three men had surrounded him.
They were kicking and hitting him, keeping him down.
Why weren't they stopping?
Someone had to stop them.
They were going to kill him.
The other males watching the fight didn’t move.
My anxiety swelled up like a wave, and my arms lifted with the crest of it, pointing the weapon at the man in the center of the three. I flipped the safety off. If I warned them, they could come at me. I couldn't warn them. I had to stop them.
"STOP!" I screamed as I pulled the trigger.
The gun was not a normal gun.
The recoil caused me to stagger backward as a strange blast launched from the gun.
It caught the three assailants in the chest and backs, throwing them backward. The Emperor was caught by it as well, rolling to the side as he was thrown.
Everyone in the room looked at me, shock going through them in a ripple, heads turning towards me as they noticed me for the first time.
Those who had weapons turned them to point at me.
"Hold your fire!" the Emperor snarled.
I lowered my weapon along with everyone else in the room.
Shit.
I had misinterpreted the situation.
They were training.
"Lorelei, what are you doing?" he asked as he stalked towards me.
I turned and set the gun down on the rack carefully before turning back to find that he had crossed the remaining distance between us and was right next to me.
Heat radiated off his body, a product of his exertion.
The exposed skin on his body had a slight sheen of sweat while his fur remained dry.
The glistening shine highlighted every ridge of his cut abdominals and strong pectorals. Heat rose in me as I breathed in his scent, rich and delicious with the tantalizing musk of a man who had been working his body hard.
I wrenched my gaze back up to his face.
I lifted the translator from where it hung around my neck and typed into it.
"I thought you were in danger," I typed. "I'm assuming now that I was wrong?"
"You thought I was in danger, and you picked up a force pistol and attacked my attackers in a room full of soldiers?" he asked.
"I realize I should have assumed you were fine by the fact that none of your soldiers seemed upset," I typed. "But it didn't look that way to me. I'll do better to try to learn about your culture."
"Don't apologize for that," he said, his words sharp, even as he sang them out. Then he reached past me, his body moving even closer to mine as he picked up a different weapon from the rack. "Apologize for grabbing the wrong weapon."
He stepped back to hand the heavy thing from me, and I let out the breath I'd been holding when he moved closer.
Just having him that close to me set my body on fire.
He put the full weight of the weapon in my arms, and I tensed to receive it.
It took both my hands to support it.
"This one would give you a better chance of taking out every soldier in the room," he said.
"At least it would if it wasn't one of the non-lethal training models.
Take it to the other side of the room where the range is and practice firing it.
When you are done, I will show you where the armory is and give you access to the real weapons.
Next time you think to put yourself in danger by joining a fight, make sure you will be the one to end it. "
“The gun I fired hit you too,” I pointed out.
“My life doesn’t matter next to yours,” he snapped.
The words hit me like a tsunami, the breath sucking out of me like the ocean pulling back to expose a barren sea bed before the massive crash of deadly force.
What did he just say?
He was the Emperor, he had been avoiding me - how could he feel that way about me?
His ears pinned back and he turned and stalked away from me.
I watched him walk back towards the soldiers he had been fighting.
What was I doing?
Didn't I want to get away from his dominating presence?
The heat still radiating through me told a different story, one I needed to ignore.
I was attracted to him, and it was more than his wealth.
I was attracted to his body, for sure. I already knew how good he could make me feel, so there was no guesswork if he would be a good bed partner or a shit lay.
I was also mentally attracted to his wealth, as I knew what that meant in terms of my long-term security and safety.
I was definitely attracted to his fighting prowess and dedication.
He was training himself in an intense way.
It wasn't just his body, determination, or wealth.
It was the fact that, just like Zale, he saw that little darkness inside of me and didn't flinch away.
I acted out on that part of me that I'd always seen as not right, not okay, and here it wasn't a problem.
Instead of hating me for it, he handed me a weapon.
Instead of tearing me down, he pointed me in the direction of the shooting range.
He was just like Zale, so much that it hurt.
I took another shuddering breath, swallowed that pain, and walked across the room towards the shooting range.
I couldn't sit around waiting for Zale to decide to show himself to me.
I needed to take care of myself. I'd already been working on my flexibility, maneuverability in zero g, and general overall strength, but that wasn't enough.
It was time to keep up with my weapon training.
Every eye in the room followed me as I walked across the room.
I had to improve myself so I could keep my baby safe, no matter what.
If the Emperor was going to give me access to real weapons, I damn well was going to take that.
I still didn't know how he would react if it turned out the baby wasn't his.
But now, at least, I knew that if I played my cards right, I could be armed when he found out.