Karac: Kaldar Warriors #1 (15 page)

“Let me go down and say goodbye in person.”  I suggested, knowing it would get shot down in three…two…one.

“Out of the question.”  Karac cut his hand through the air in denial.  “You are not leaving the ship until we are mated.”

“Why would that make a difference?”  I argued. 

“It is one of the rules I have for my warriors so I too must follow them.”

“But I thought we couldn’t communicate with family and yet you allowed me to.”

“Yes, I allowed you that privilege.” 

“You mean there are other women onboard that haven’t talked to their family since they left?”  I asked, outraged on their behalf.

“Yes, most likely.”  He answered carefully. 

“That’s insane!  You have to change that.”  I rose to my knees in front of him with my hands on my hips, glaring down at him.  He regarded me slowly before answering. 

“I don’t have to do anything.  The rules were set forth for security purposes.  I can’t run the chance of the females slipping something about us that the Earth governments do not need to know.”  His logic was sound and some of my outrage faded as I fell back to the couch.  But it still wasn’t right that the women were not allowed to talk to their families. 

“You cannot expect them to just give up their family.”

“Regardless, those are the rules.”  His face was as unreadable as stone.  I didn’t think I was going to get anywhere, but then I remembered who he was.  What he was. 

“So change them.”  I said with a spark of excitement. 
Ha!  I had him now!

“What?”  He frowned in confusion. 

“You’re the Prince, or whatever you call it, heir to the throne.  Change the rules.  Set guidelines of what is not allowed to be talked about and have the women’s warrior be present at the call.”

“No, it is too risky.”  He said stubbornly. 

“Ugh!  Really?  You won’t even consider it?” 

“No.”  His one word response had me throwing my hands up in the air. 

“You are a stubborn, pain in the ass, you know that?”

“Call me whatever you like, but I will not allow the females to contact Earth.”

“Whatever.  I’m obviously not getting through to you.”  Sighing, I stood up and paced to the window.  A chime at the door had both of us turning.

“Enter.”  Karac growled.  Apparently he wasn’t happy how our “conversation” had turned out either.  A warrior, whose name I didn’t know, strode through the door.  He was big, and decked in battle attire, but who was I kidding?  That was normal around here.  As he approached us, he bowed before addressing Karac.

“Karac, you are needed in Command.”  His gaze didn’t waver in my direction at all.  As I studied him, though, I thought he was familiar.  I must have seen him earlier in the day. 

“Fine.”  Karac looked back to me.  “We will finish this conversation later.”  He stood up and motioned the warrior closer.

“Ashley, I’d like to introduce one of your guards, Merrik.”  I walked over to join them.  “He will be with you today should you decide to venture elsewhere in the ship.”

I held out my hand to Merrik.  “Nice to meet you.”  He looked at my hand, then up at Karac.  Oh, right, no one else can touch me.  Internally, I rolled my eyes.  “Sorry.”  I pulled my hand back.  Merrik bowed in my direction instead, before addressing me.

“It is an honor to be your guard.  Should you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Thank you.”  I nodded in return.  I paused before adding, “Have I seen you before?”

“I was with the recovery team last night when you were brought up.”

“The recovery team.  Is that what you call it.  I would have gone with kidnapping or something similar but whatever floats your boat.”  Both Merrik and Karac ignored my sarcasm.  Karac stepped up beside me and Merrik slid a few paces away.  I turned my attention to Karac.

“I will be gone for a little while.  I’m not sure why I’m needed.”  He looked down at the com device I had attached to my hip before looking back up at me.  “You can contact me any time through the com device.  It doesn’t matter if I’m in the meeting.  I will answer if I can.”

“Okay, fine.”  Before I could step back, he pulled me into him and I was surrounded once again by his presence.  Unconsciously, I found my arms circling around his back to complete the embrace.  This was getting easier which scared me more and more.  Karac pulled back and kissed my forehead before I had a chance to step away. 

“I’ll see you as soon as I can.”  I nodded in return at a loss for words at his soft promise.  Karac gave me one last, long look before striding through the door.  I turned back to Merrik. 

“So, looks like you are stuck with me.”  I gave him a small smile while making my way to the couch to sit.

“It is an honor to protect Karac’s mate.”  He replied as he followed and stood to the side of the couch. 

“Is that my status now?  Karac’s mate?”  I asked a little miffed.  I had a name, and I expected people to use it. 

“I do not understand.”  I looked back to Merrik and found true confusion on his face.  I sighed.  Again, my fight wasn’t with him but with the warrior that just left me. 

“I’m not totally sold on this whole truemate thing yet.  Would you still protect me even if I wasn’t Karac’s mate?”

“Of course.  All females must be protected.”  He stated matter-of-factly. 

“So, the fact that I’m Karac’s mate…” I asked leadingly.

“Means that you need more protection than most.  You became a target to any adversaries we have the moment he claimed you.”

“Wonderful.”  I muttered.  On Earth I was a nobody.  Now I was on a hit list that spanned galaxies. 

“If you do not need anything, I will stand guard outside.”  Merrik turned to leave.

“Wait!”  He turned back with a questioning look.

“I…I want to call my sister.  I haven’t had a chance to talk to her.  Darrok didn’t show me how to work the com device.”  Merrik walked over and picked up the device that was still lying on the small table by the couch.

“You push this button on the side, and a list of names will come up.  You can search through them until you find the one you want.  Select that one, and the call should go through.  Someone will have to activate the call from the other end.”

“Well, I hope someone told her how to work the damn thing.”  I said under my breath.  I scrolled down until I came to Anne’s name. 
How did Karac have all my family’s contact information anyways?
  I selected her name and set the device down on the table.  I waited a few seconds before Anne’s image was floating above the table.

“Ashley!  There you are!  I’ve been worried sick.  Mom and Dad told me that you were taken but they didn’t know any more than that.  Then those warrior guys show up at my door and give me this thing saying that I can talk to you through it.  This is crazy!  How are you doing?”  She sat with her legs crossed, hands clasped, as she leaned into the device in front of her.  Yep, at least I knew one thing.  I could always trust my family to react the same no matter what life threw at them. 

“Okay.”  I assured her with a small smile.  “Things are a little strange but seem to be going fine.”  I looked up to notice Merrik had moved near the door, giving me some privacy.

“Are you there alone?”  She cocked her head to the side, waiting for my response.

“No, I have a guard with me.”  My eyes strayed, again, to where Merrik stood off to the side.

“What for?”

“He was showing me how to use this thing too.”

“Oh.  So, you’re safe?  They didn’t try any experiments or anything on you, did they?”  Merrik’s low growl came from the other side of the room.  I talked above it.

“No, nothing like that.  They showed me around a little.  It’s like nothing you could imagine.”

“I bet.  Nothing like Star Trek, huh?”  Anne teased. 

Chuckling, “Not quite.”

“I heard Nathan was pretty upset about the whole thing.”

“Yeah I feel bad about that.  Karac just blindsided him and knocked him unconscious.  I hope he’s doing ok?”

“Jesse took him to the ER but they released him this morning.  Said he just needed to rest and heal.”  Anne assured me.  I still felt horrible about the whole thing. 

“Jeez…I should call him and apologize.”

“He’d probably like to hear from you.”  Anne said smirking. 

“We are not getting into that again.”  I said firmly. 

“What do you mean?”  She asked a little too innocently. 

“Ever since I decided to hide out at his place you’ve been hinting that we should date.”

“Well, you have to admit the guy had it in for you.”

“Well, maybe.”  I hedged.

“Oh wait, you have to tell me this.”  She giggled.  I smiled, shaking my head.  I noticed that Merrik had stepped out into the hall so I took that chance to recap the last week, especially the whole marriage conversation, and how Nathan and I seemed to be getting closer.  At least up until last night. 

“I told you he liked you!”

“Yeah, well not much I can do about it now.”  I pointed out. 

“Dad said it was Karac, the guy from TV, who snatched you?”

“Yep.”  I answered with a pop. 

“What’s he like?”  Anne asked eagerly.  I was starting to get the feeling that she was less worried about my wellbeing and more concerned about all the men in my life.  Could just be me though. 

“Well,” I hedged.  How much do I tell her?  “He’s stubborn, a pain in the ass, and won’t let me go anywhere without a guard.”  I paused and could see the worry reappear in Anne’s face.  “But he also has his moments where he’s caring and nice.  He bought me flowers.”  Anne was grinning again.

“Looks like you met your match.”  She laughed. 

“Oh, thanks, that’s helpful.”  Anne grinned in response.

“So when can you come back?”  She asked, all serious again. 

“I don’t know.  Karac keeps saying I have to stay on the ship until we are mated.”  There was a long pause before Anne responded. 

“Does that mean what I think it does?” 

“Yeah, I think so.  From the sounds of it, it’s a permanent bond, like marriage to us.”

“Holy shit, you’re serious?”

“Yep.”  Again with the pop. 

“Well, I knew they were taking women but I didn’t really think they would practically kidnap you until you caved.”  She fell back into the couch shaking her head. 

“Yeah, but that looks like where I am.”

“This isn’t right.  You should have a choice.”  She crossed her arms across her chest in frustration. 

“He’s giving me time.  He says he doesn’t want to rush me.  Apparently he’s going to butter me up to the idea.” 

“So you can still say no?”  She leaned forward, asking. 

“I think so.”  I wasn’t going to tell her that Karac wasn’t giving me up, ever. 

“Well, just call me whenever you need to talk. K?”

“Same for you.  I think this thing works both ways.”

“I will.  Oh and enjoy all the man meat up there.”

“Anne!”  I said in mock outrage. 
She did have a point.
 

“What?  I’m serious.”  She laughed before continuing.  “I haven’t seen even one of those warriors who weren’t ripped.  Just saying.”  She said with a shrug.

“You are married you know.”  I pointed out good naturedly. 

“Doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a fine looking man.”  She said amused. 

“Right,” grinning, I looked up as Merrik walked through the door with a tray and brought it over to the table.  I glanced back at Anne.  “I should be going.  I’ll talk to you soon?”

“Yeah, keep in touch.”

“I will.  Love you.”

“Love you too.”  I leaned forward and pushed the button on the side of the device and the image disappeared.  Looking up to Merrik, I stood and walked over to him. 

“Whatcha got there?”  I eyed the tray he had sat on the table. 

“Your lunch.”  He pulled the cover off as I took in all the food. 

“You don’t expect me to eat all of that, do you?  That would feed me for days.”  While I couldn’t identify everything, I could tell there was enough food here to feed four people. 

“I wasn’t sure what you liked so I ordered a mixture.”  I sat down at the table and noticed that Merrik was moving back towards the door. 

“Where are you going?”

“I was going to wait in the hall.”  He said with a few more steps in the direction of the door. 

“You’re not eating?”  I questioned. 

“I will eat when my shift ends.” 

I looked down at all the food, then back at him.  “Would you care to join me?  I’m not going to be able to eat all this.”  When it looked like he was going to hesitate, I added, “Besides, I might need you to identify some of these things.”  I poked a blue-purplish looking potato. 

“We call that a denska,” he said as he approached the table and sat across from me. 

“Denska.  Looks like a potato that’s been dyed.”  I eyed the strange looking veggie.