Karac: Kaldar Warriors #1 (5 page)

Ashley

“Nathan!  What do you want for supper?”  I yelled down to him while I was in the kitchen looking at my options.  He was downstairs in his room, changing clothes I think. 

“Doesn’t matter, whatever you want.”  He yelled back.  I huffed in frustration.  This happened often enough I should have known better.  I’d ask what he wants, he says whatever, and I end up making whatever I can think of.  He hadn’t complained yet so I guess that was good.  I pulled out a package of hamburger and decided on tacos. 
Haven’t had those in a while.
  I moved over to the counter, grabbed a knife, and started to cut the packaging.

“What’d you decide on?”  Nathan’s voice came from directly behind me.  I jumped about a foot.

“Holy shit, Nathan!  Don’t do that!” I dropped the knife, whipped around and pushed him in the chest.  He only took a small step back.  The frustrating man was grinning from ear to ear.  I scowled up at him.

“Aw, come on.  You have to admit that was funny.” 

“If I would have kept that knife in my hand, you wouldn’t think it was funny,” I warned.  I turned around before he could see a smile trying to emerge.  I reached for the knife as I felt Nathan’s body move in on my back. 

“Are you saying you would have stabbed me?” He breathed by my ear and I froze.  I shivered slightly from the closeness of his body.  Nathan had become increasingly more comfortable with me in the house and sometimes I would say he was almost flirting with me. 
But this was Nathan, he didn’t flirt.
 

“Never know.  Better keep one eye open when you sleep.”  I said as I cut the package open, trying not to show that I noticed how close he was to me. 

“You mean keep both eyes open, all the time.  Someone has to keep you out of trouble.”  He stepped back just in time as I swung around with the knife in my hand. 

“Hey it wasn’t my fault you were in the shower when the phone rang!”

“You should have let it go to voicemail.”  He pointed out with arms crossed. 

“It was your parents’ number.”  I said frustrated.  We had this conversation more than I’d care to admit.   

“Still, it could have been someone looking for you.  You shouldn’t have picked it up.”

“I told you I was sorry about that.”  I sighed, knowing he was right.

“I’ve also had to stop you from answering the door when the UPS guy stops, or when the dogs are barking and you want to go ‘see what’s out there’.”  He raised an eyebrow to make his point.   And he did have a point.  No one was supposed to see me or know where I was. 

“I only slip up when you’re around.  I’m blaming you.”  I pointed at him with the knife.

“Hey, watch the pointy end.”  He raised his hands in surrender.  “And you probably wouldn’t tell me about the times during the day even if I asked.”

“No seriously, it’s only when you’re here that I don’t think.”  I glanced away as I said that, not meaning for the words to slip out. 

“Why’s that?”  He cocked his head to the side, dropping his hands to his side.

“I don’t know.”  I hedged, but I could see he was waiting for an answer.  “I just don’t feel like I have to be on guard, then.  It feels almost, normal, when you’re here.”  I didn’t look at him during that last part.  It sounded too close to a confession to me.  I enjoyed his company and knew we were turning into close friends.  With him in the house, I could almost forget why I was there in the first place. 

It was quiet for a second and I couldn’t resist, I had to look up in his direction.  He was looking at me with a smile on his face.  It was a cute smile.  Like he was thinking “you’re adorable” kind of smile.  He stepped closer to me, pulled the knife out of my hand, set it behind me, and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me into him.  I was startled at first, not sure how to take this out-of-the-ordinary contact.  But it felt really good to be close.  I wrapped my arms around him and leaned my head against his shoulder.  This felt like home.  I sighed and couldn’t help the smile that came to my lips.  He leaned his head against mine and rubbed one of his hands up and down my back. 

“This should feel normal.  I know I’m not family but you should feel comfortable here, Ashley.”  He kissed the top of my head before pulling back to look at my face.  “But we do have to curb your unconscious need to put yourself in danger.”  He smirked down at me.  I glared back at him and pushed off his chest. 

“I do
not
have an unconscious
need
to put myself in danger.”  I turned back to the meat before continuing.  “Will you get the taco shells out for me?”  He chuckled but did as I asked.  We moved around the kitchen well together.  We never ran into each other and Nathan usually anticipated anything I needed.  Surprising what 3 months of living together would do to a couple. 
Not that we were a couple.
  I shook my head and focused on preparing supper. 

Just as we were setting the table with all the food, the front door opened.  I froze and Nathan leapt in front of me so whoever it was couldn’t see me. 

“What the hell, Jesse?”  Nathan yelled.  I sighed and relaxed.  Jesse was Nathan’s older brother by two years, four years older than myself.  He was the same height as Nathan, just a little stockier and usually had some scruff going on.  You could tell they were brothers because they had the same hair and eye color, besides the tell-tale facial features. 

Jesse discovered I was living at Nathan’s by accident when he stopped late one night and found Nathan and I watching a movie together on the couch.  Not that we were snuggling or anything.  A good two feet separated us, but Jesse still made assumptions.  We set him straight and since there was no stopping him from just popping over whenever, he did have a key after all, we both came to accept it.  Although, Nathan did ask that Jesse give us a heads up if he was stopping by, just to avoid stressful situations like the one we were currently in.  I peeked around Nathan and saw Jesse grinning as he walked toward us.

“Oh, right.  I’m supposed to text or call.  My bad.”  He was totally unrepentant.

“Whatever.”  Nathan rumbled.  Sighing he asked, “What do you want?”  We watched him as he grabbed another plate, cup, and silverware (all of which were courtesy of my apartment) and sat down at the table.

“Food of course.  Ashley cooks better than I do.”  He gave me puppy dog eyes before ruining it by smirking.  I smiled at his antics. 

“You could have asked.”  Nathan said heatedly.

“Could have.  But you have all this food.  I wouldn’t want it to go to waste.”

I rolled my eyes and pushed Nathan towards his seat and I followed suit.  “There is a thing called leftovers, you know.”

“Never heard of them.”  Jesse said as he piled his tacos with toppings.  Sighing, I had to laugh internally at Jesse’s playfulness. 

“So you stopped by just to eat all the food?”  Nathan asked as he filled his plate. 

“Thought I’d share what I heard in town today.”  I froze, knowing that I wasn’t going to like this train of conversation.  Jesse looked at me, concern finally breaking through.  “There’s talk of the aliens courting the women who registered.  Some say a few of the women have even gone to the ships with them.”

“What do you mean courting?”  I asked.  “I mean, there’s proof of them coming down here to take women on dates and stuff?”

“I guess.”  He shrugged.  “The alien guys are trying to play by human etiquette.  They apparently think this will win over our women faster.”

“Anyone we know?”  Nathan asked as he continued to eat.  I looked down at my untouched plate and started eating.  Had to keep my strength up after all, right?

“No, most are from the bigger cities.  Higher population and all that.  Probably better odds for them.”  He sighed and added, “Some are saying that they took some against their will to the ships.”

“That’s just rumor though, right?”  I asked nervously, looking between Nathan and Jesse. 

“Who knows?  We can’t really trust them.  They aren’t sharing the technology they said they would simply because not enough of our women registered.”  I looked down but Jesse hurried to say, “Which is bullshit.  If they have the technology to save lives they shouldn’t withhold it.  That’s just cruel.” 

“I agree,” Nathan said around a mouthful of food.  He swallowed before adding, “If that is the kind of creatures they are, we shouldn’t have anything to do with them.” 

“The government doesn’t even know what to do.  Since they brokered a deal saying they would get a certain percentage signed up, and failed, they can’t even do anything about them not giving up any information.”

“What would they do?”  I asked incredulously.  “Those guys have mastered space travel.  You think anything we have would do any damage or be a threat?”

“No,” Nathan sighed.  “Probably not.” 

“It’s freaky how much they look like us though, you know?”  Jesse commented.  “They could probably pass off as a human if they weren’t freakishly large and sporting large swords strapped to their backs all the time.”

“Have you heard from my parents?”  I asked, changing the subject.  I didn’t want to dwell on the aliens any more than I had too.  Especially when one in particular kept popping up in my dreams…nightmares, I mean. 

“Not lately.”  Jesse shook his head.  “It still feels weird to be the messenger when you only live a few miles from them.”

“I know.”  I bit my lip before adding, “I’m sorry for that.”

“Nah, I don’t mind.  Just is different.” He shrugged.  “Last I heard your dad was done with the first cutting of hay.”

“That’s good.”  I nodded.  It was sad how starved I was for news of my family.  But, it was my choice to hide.  I had to live with the consequences.  We spent the rest of the meal talking about farming or nothing in particular.  When the table was cleared and dishes washed, it appeared Jesse wasn’t in any hurry to leave.  Not that I minded.  It was nice to see another face once in a while.  I settled in to my favorite chair with my laptop.  While I didn’t use the internet, I could use the time to write my stories.  I had to have something to fill my time.  Nathan and Jesse joined me a few minutes later and watched baseball on TV while continuing their conversation.  I smiled thinking that this felt almost…normal. 

Karac

Karac was going insane.  Or very close to the definition of insane.  He had been on or above the planet Earth for six months.  SIX MONTHS!  And still there was no sign of his mate.  He’d gone through countless photos, filtered down the database to match his requirements, and still he couldn’t find her.  He could sense that she was down there.  Too bad the “sense” didn’t act like a homing beacon.  That he could have used.  He glared down at the planet from his office in frustration. 

The database, in theory, was a genius idea.  Every warrior had a code written into their DNA that made matching their blood with possible female matches easier to narrow down the search.  With a blood sample from the female, they could let the computers do the work by filtering out non-compatible codes and show only ones that could be mates.  This, along with pictures made the warriors’ job easier to search from the safety of the ship rather than being planet side. 

At first, the humans balked at requiring pictures of all the females, claiming that the aliens would be discriminatory based on looks.  Karac scoffed.  As if their dispositions were so shallow.  He went on to explain that the Kaldarhns would be able to recognize their truemate by sight, even if it was still picture.  The bond would be confirmed when the Kaldar approached the female in person and they made eye contact. 

Luckily, a few of his warriors had been successful in matching their code to their mate and seeking her out.  Most of them were still in the courting stages of the bond while there were a handful that were accepted as mates.  Those warriors brought their females back to the ship as quickly as possible as a precautionary measure.  Karac didn’t want anything happening to the females who had accepted the bond.  No telling how the human males would react when they knew their females were bonding with the Kaldarhns.  Suddenly the door chimed, bringing Karac back to his surroundings and current problems.

“Enter.”  Karac growled out, still facing the window. 

“Karac, we may have found something.”  Karac whipped around at that news and faced Darrok, his lead tech, at the door. 

“About damn time,” Karac growled.  Darrok didn’t hesitate as he made his way across the office.  Karac’s moods didn’t affect Darrok as they had been friends for a long time and Darrok knew just to ignore the vibes coming from his friend.  Darrok was built like the rest of them.  Tall, muscled, and good looking.  His only exception to the warrior life was his hair.  Darrok insisted on keeping it much longer than acceptable as a warrior.  However, Karac didn’t see the point in reprimanding him when he was damn good at his job.  If he was in battle more often rather than behind a computer screen, then things might be different.  Although, knowing Darrok, he would just tie it back and call it good. 

Getting back to the matter at hand, Karac asked, “What did you find?”

“The Americans have an organization called the Red Cross.  The humans volunteer to donate their blood for those that need it.”

“The point, warrior.”  Karac ground out. 

“Ah, yes.  Well, what the general population doesn’t know is that the government processes and records all aspects of the blood before shipping it off to some medical hospital.  They stored this data, sir.”

“You mean you have a whole database of blood donors?”  Karac asked eagerly.  This could be the break they were waiting for. 

“Exactly.”  Darrok smiled before continuing and looking down at his hand computer.  “We cross referenced their data and the requirements of our warriors and are coming up with a number of matches.  We are finding females who didn’t register.”  Darrok looked up from his hand computer and looked straight at Karac with a smile.  “Only one matched you.”

“Show me.”  Karac demanded. 

“I’m sending the file to you now.”  Darrok pushed a few buttons and swiped his hand.  Karac pulled up the wall screen and selected the file sent by Darrok.  The first thing he noticed was her eyes.  A deep midnight blue that was almost black.  Scanning out, his heart clenched as he took in the lovely features of his mate. 
HIS MATE!
  He had no doubt that she was his.  She was absolutely stunning.  The file said she was 5’9” with dark brown hair.  Weight 150 pounds, which in those terms still put his larger frame over hers by 100.  Reading her file he found she was 23 years old.  Under current information, he saw no activity in the past five months.  No place of address.  No forwarding address.  Closed bank account.  No car.  Frowning, he realized his little mate tried to jump ship.  With no records, she must be hiding somewhere.  He growled at her audacity to run from him. 
His little mate could run but the chase had just begun.
 

“Have you contacted the other warriors with matches?”

“No, I wanted to tell you first.”  Darrok said nodding at the file still on the wall. 

“Thank you.  Send out the notice to all males with a match.  Let them know they can begin their search for their unregistered mate.  Your unit is to assist in any way.”

“Sending out the notice now.”  Darrok swiped his hand across his computer and looked up with a hesitant smile.  “It is her, isn’t it?”

“Yes, she is my mate.”  Karac stated with certainty. 

“Congratulations, Karac.”

Karac couldn’t help but grin in return.  “It is only a matter of time now.”  His smile slipped as he looked to his friend in concern.  “Did your mate come up?”

“No, not this time.  But I haven’t stopped looking for a way to find her.”

“You will, I know you will.”

“What are you going to do now?”  Darrok asked changing the subject.

“Find my mate.”  Karac stated matter-of-factly. 

“I know that,” Darrok chuckled.  “But where are you going to start?  She hasn’t had any recent activity in the past five months.”

“That’s where you come in, Darrok.”  Karac said with a smug smile. 

“How did I know you were going to say that?”  Darrok shook his head and chuckled.  “All right, where should we start?”