Emma's Heart (Brides of Theron 3) (23 page)

“Hi, is anyone sitting here next to you?”

Emma smiled and said, “No, but you are welcome to sit here.”

The woman
pulled out the cushioned green chair and said as she sat down, “I’m Avery.”

“
Hi, I’m Emma.”

“
You are Brylon’s mate.  It’s great to finally meet you Emma. You live across the street…across the…across whatever you want to call it, from me. I am Zeb’s mate. I have seen you a couple times through the windows. I know that I should have come over and introduced myself, but I have been so tired lately.” Avery rubbed her eyes as she spoke.

Emma watched and listened to Avery as she spoke. Avery was now
the second female she knew on the planet. “Do you have any idea what this meeting is about?”

“Zeb told me it
has something to do with what Gracie is presenting to the council, but I am not exactly sure what it is,” Avery replied.

“Who is Gracie?”

“Oh, she’s Dr. Zane’s mate. Have you met Dr. Zane?” Emma noticed that Avery tended to speak with her hands.

“You don’t remember Grac
ie from the holding room on the ship? Oh…oh…please forgive me! I just remembered who you are. Laura had told me you weren’t doing too well at the time. She had given you her mp3 player. Are you alright now with living here?”

“I am a lot better than I was on the ship
, but it’s still going to take some time to adjust to this. I just wish I had someone to talk to. I only know Laura and she is so busy working with Zane in the hospital, that I haven’t seen her since we left the ship.” Emma spoke the truth about how she felt. She had been a bit lonely, even though her relationship with Brylon had improved tenfold.

“
I tell you what. After this meeting, you are coming back to my house and we are going to have some girl talk. I haven’t been out too much either lately, but it would definitely be nice to have another woman to talk to.”

Emma ha
d a smile plastered on her face. “That sounds like a great idea.”

The sound of the door opening again drew both women’s attention. Emma watched as Avery waved to the woman who had walked into the room. This must be Gracie, she vaguely recognized her face
and her dark auburn hair.  Everyone in the room watched her as she set her belongings down on the table and began to speak, “Hello everyone.  My name is Gracie Abernathy and I want to thank you all for coming today.  I just wanted to let you know that the council has made me an advocate for the women of earth.  I also put into place a backup plan to provide for us all if we must return to earth.”

Emma listened closely to what Gracie had to say. Her plans made a lot of sense to her and the other women in the room. Several women made their own comments or suggested
ideas to Gracie who listened intently to each of them as each one spoke. Just about all the women had a turn in speaking except for her so when Gracie asked if anyone else wanted to say anything, she decided to go ahead and speak her mind as well, “I’m Emma, Brylon’s mate. I had and still am having a hard time adjusting to life here on Theron, but things are getting better with each passing day. Gracie, I would like for you to address the way that we were taken. Being abducted isn’t good for anyone much less good for a race that’s looking for mates. We should have had a choice if we wanted to leave our homes or not. It shouldn’t be just up to the warriors to snatch a woman that appeals to them. It is no less horrible then their females being killed or abducted by the Drylons.” She felt really good now that she had gotten that off of her chest.

The meeting
didn’t last much longer after that. Gracie spoke a bit more to the women and then handed out a card with her contact information on it to each of the females in the room. Emma felt really good about what Gracie was planning to do. It definitely wasn’t right how the Therons had stolen them from their homes, and it seemed that all of the women agreed that they wanted to prevent that from happening again. Any future scouting trip for women should allow the women to have a choice of leaving their homes and families.

“Hang on a minute Emma, I want to go and tell Gracie goodbye.” Avery jumped up from her seat and left Emma sitting alone.

Some of the other women started to leave the room with their mates. Brylon walked through the door while he was talking with Zeb. He spotted where Emma was sitting and motioned for her to join him.

“The number two engine is still in need of an overhaul before the ship can go out on another mission. I planned to get my guys to start on that in the morning,” Brylon spoke to his commander and best friend, Zeb.

“Hello Emma! I hear things are better since you have been on Theron.” Zeb smiled down at her.

“Thanks Commander. Things are definitely looking up.” She came to stand next to Brylon who wrapped his arm around her waist. She smiled up at his face when he looked down at her. She felt the heat of a blush spread over her face when Brylon winked an eye at her then placed a kiss on her temple.

Avery came to Zeb’s side as the group was talking. “Zeb, Emma is going to come over to the house. We both are in dire need of a bit of girl talk.” She stood on her tiptoes to reach Zeb’s lips as he bent towards her.

“That is wonderful Nea hela. That will give Brylon and me a chance to beam up to the ship and check on the progress of a few matters on the mother ship.” Zeb addressed the group.

Emma looked shyly up at Brylon, “Is that okay with you Brylon?”

“My love, you do not need to ask me for permission to visit Avery. They are our neighbors and Zeb is one of my closest friends. Go and enjoy yourself and your girl talk. I just ask that you two do not attempt to venture into the market alone. I will bring you back to the house then you can go over to Avery’s.”

“I’ll see you in a little while Emma,” Avery said as she and Zeb left the room.

Emma and Brylon left the meeting room behind them and headed back to their house. The drive back was quiet but the view was different. The hue of the sky was darkening even though there were still several hours of day light left.

“I think I will drop you off at Avery’s house, little one. There’s a storm moving in and I don’t want you to get caught in it. The storms on Therons can be rather extreme so just make sure you stay at Avery’s until it passes by. Do not go into it for anything.” He spoke as he guided the hover vehicle down the road.

“Sure, that’s not a problem. How long will you be up on the ship?” 

“Oh
, I would guess a few more hours. I need to show Zeb the number two engine and let him know what needs to be done to it. The mother ship can’t go out on any more missions until it is fully repaired. That damn Drylon attack really messed up the ship’s engines. If I ever get my hands on Lars, I am going to kill him for that alone.”

Emma glanced his way. “Lars…he is the warrior who took Avery right? Does anyone have a clue what happened to him?”

“The only thing we know is that he was trying to escape from the base on UV-49 before the fighters went in and destroyed the Drylon base. We don’t know if he succeeded in getting off the planet before the bombs went off, but if he did, he had better not ever show his face on Theron again.” He pulled the vehicle into the driveway in front of Zeb and Avery’s house. “Here you go, my love. Enjoy your time with Avery. She’s really nice.” He pulled her to him and he placed a kiss on her lips that sent little shocks of pleasure all the way down to her toes. He pulled back after the kiss and rubbed her cheek, “I will see you tonight, my love.”

Emma pecked him on the cheek then exited the vehicle. Avery must have heard them pull up because she was standing in the doorway motioning for her to come in.

“Emma! Come on! It’s girl time. I asked Gracie if she wanted to come over, but she had other plans, something to do with presenting to the council. So it’s just going to be us.” She shut the door behind them then led Emma into the living area of the tree house.

“I still cannot get over the fact that we live in trees in now. I would have never believed it if someone would have told me I would be living in tree.” Emma took in her surrounding and made mental comparisons to Brylon’s house. All the walls and floors were pretty much all the same design and color but it was the layout of the furniture and placement of the rooms that made them each different.

“Let’s go sit out on the balcony. It’s one of my favorite spots in the house. It’s through Zeb’s library.” Avery led the way up some stairs, then through a room that had every wall in it covered with books.

Emma took in the room they were passing through with interest. It looked a lot like Brylon’s except that in Brylon’s study, there was a large over-stuffed sofa that lined one of the walls underneath a large bay window. The view out on the balcony was much the same as hers was, but it was still very beautiful.

The two women seated themselves in the comfortable wooden chairs that faced the stream running behind the house. The flow of water could be heard over the noise that was coming from the canopy over their heads, as small birds and animals went about their daily lives.

“It is just so pretty here,” Avery sighed as she sat. For the first time Avery appeared to be nervous for some reason.

“Are you okay?” Emma wasn’t sure what to make of her new friend.

Avery smiled at her, “Oh yes, I am fine. My stomach is a little queasy. I think the baby didn’t like what I ate for breakfast.” She laughed as she patted her flat stomach.

Emma was taken aback in shock. This was the first time she was hearing
the news that Avery was pregnant. “Did you just say you are pregnant?”

Avery laughed even harder at the look on Emma’s face. Not all the Earth females knew that she was pregnant, “I sure am. Not very far though, I found out that I was pregnant on the ship right before the Drylon attack, when I was abducted by Lars.”

“Oh wow, how do you know so soon? We’ve only been on the planet for a week now.” Emma wondered how she found out that she was pregnant so soon.  On earth, pregnancy tests didn’t tell you if you were pregnant for at least a couple of weeks.

“Zane gave me a pregnancy test that is able to detect a pregnancy as soon as the baby is conceived. Can you believe that? It also tells you the sex of the baby. Turns out I am having a girl.  I about fainted when Gracie had convinced me to have Zane bring one to my quarters when she came to stay with me as we traveled through the worm holes. It is such a neat little thing. You don’t even have to pee on the stick. You just put your finger on this yellow dot and it will change colors if you are pregnant.” Avery’s eyes were filled with excitement as she told Emma about the incredible little device.

“But how can you know that the baby’s a girl. Isn’t it much too soon to tell?” Emma was confused with what Avery was telling her.

Avery reached over and patted Emma’s hand, “That’s the unreal part too. The yellow dot you press your finger against will turn red with a star in the middle of it if the baby is a girl.”

“And what if the baby’s a boy?”

“The yellow dot just stays a solid red. Mine had a star on it! Zane looked at it after I took it so it’s been verified.” Avery leaned back into the chair, “Did you know that a Theron warrior, if he wishes to, can actually tell the exact moment that conception occurs?”

Emma’s eyes widen to the size of saucers and her mouth hung open. “You are kidding me! You can’t be serious?”

“I am dead serious. Just ask Gracie. Zane told us that when I took the test.” Avery looked over at Emma then burst out laughing again. “Emma, honey, you might want to close your mouth before something decides to fly in and take up residence.” Avery continued to laugh until Emma finally joined in. A large red bird flew over their heads and squawked angrily at them as if to tell them to quiet down.

“Nothing anymore is ceasing to amaze me. Everything is so different and strange,” Emma said after they stopped laughing.

“What do you mean?” Avery asked.

“Well, my life for instance, it’s has taken such a drastic turn.  Sometimes I’m not even sure if I’m awake or dreaming. I went from being alone, unwanted, and struggling just to survive, to being a mate for a hot looking alien who has vowed to protect me for the rest of my life. None of it seems real.” She was hesitant to tell her anything else about her life.  After all, she had just met Avery.

“Did your parents die?”

Emma shook her head, “I’m really not sure. My mom said she didn’t know who my Dad was, and she took off when I was, like two. I went into foster care when I was four, and I stayed within the system until the day I turned eighteen. Needless to say, I didn’t have a great childhood.  So you can probably imagine how it felt when I had spent pretty much most of my life being on my own, and overnight everything changes and I have this great big gorgeous alien guy claiming me as his mate and trying to take care of me.” She shrugged her shoulders when she paused and then glanced at Avery.