Kenzie (More Worlds Beyond Book 3) (13 page)

    
“Give her time.
 
When she cools down,
she’ll
come back.
 
That’s what Eliana did.”

The Beach

    
Dar and Kenzie arrived at his beach house
early the next morning.
 
The darkness
still surrounded them, but they still had time to get some rest.
 
Dar knew that Kenzie had silently cried most
of the way here.
 
She had not spoken one
word and he was greatly concerned about her.
 
He cared for her very much, as they had spent
a long time together on the vessel from Earth.
 

    
He walked over to her side of the
transport and held out his hand.
 
“Come
on Kenzie, let me help you inside.”
 
She
looked up, and the pain that stared back at him tore at his heart.
 
She placed her small shaking hand in his as
he helped her up, and into the house.
 
Leading her with one hand while carrying her small case in the other, he
led her into the bedroom.
 
Kenzie
immediately laid down with her knees drawn up to her chest.
 
Dar covered her up, and as he turned to
leave
he barely heard her whispered words.

    
“Please don’t go.”
 
Kenzie said, weakly.
 
She did not want to be alone right now.
 
Her heart felt like it was breaking apart,
and she did
not
want to be by
herself.

    
Dar walked back to the bed, leaned over
and said, “What did you say?”
 
He was
happy she was talking.

    
“Please don’t go.
 
I don’t want to be alone.”
 
She said in a whisper, but he had heard.
 
Dar quickly undressed, pulled on his sleep
pants, and then climbed in behind her.
 
As he lay on his back, she turned toward him, and laid on his arm.
 
He wrapped his arms around her, and she
sobbed with her head turned into his neck.
 
Dar wanted nothing more than to kick
Tolan’s
ass right now as he comforted her.
 

    
Kenzie woke with her arms wrapped around
Dar.
 
She needed to use the bathroom and
eat something.
 
She eased out of his
arms, and quietly made her way to a bathroom.
 
She’d
forgotten what they were called but they
were similar enough.
 
She
hadn’t
even been on Sukara a full day yet.
 
She snorted at the irony of it all.
 
She left Earth and moved to another planet
only to find another cheating asshole.
 
Well, she was finished with being a doormat.
 
She could move to
Santar
with her family and raise her baby by herself.
  
She knew her family would help and support her in anything she
decided.
 
They were close that way.

    
Walking into the kitchen, she found some
cafa
and decided to have a cup.
 
It was hot like coffee, but it had a sweet
hazelnut taste to it.
 
She
didn’t
care as long as it was steaming.
 
She made a cup and headed for the porch.

    
She sat there in amazement as she watched
the wave’s crash down on the beach.
 
However, the black beach and lavender colored water just screamed
‘you’re not on Earth anymore.’
 
The sight
of it made her feel relaxed, as it felt peaceful just sitting there watching
it.
 
She heard the door open as Dar came
out and sat down beside her.

    
“Good morning.”
 
Dar said as he sipped from his own cup of
cafa
.

    
“Good morning.”
 
Kenzie leaned into his side as his arm went
around her.
 
She needed him, needed his
support and warmth.
 
“Thank you for
bringing me here.”

    
“You’re welcome.
 
I thought you’d like to see the beach, it’s
very peaceful.”
 
Never really looking at
each other, they just sat sipping
cafa
and watching
the peaceful scene in front of them.

    
“How long can we stay?”
 
She said, thinking to herself that she would
love to live here.

    
“We can stay as long as you want to.”
 
Dar said with sincerity.

    
“Really?”
 
She turned to look at him.
 
“How can you take off that long?”
 
She said, excited for the first time.

    
“I work and live at the palace, and have
more credits than I will ever need.
 
I
told Zahin and Tolan I would be on vacation, and they said to take as long as I
want.”
 
He noticed the pain that briefly
appeared at the mention of
Tolan’s
name.

    
“Good, thank you Dar.”
 
She said as she turned back to watch the
waves.

    
“You’re welcome.”
 
He hesitated and then asked, “I think I know
what happened last night, but would you like to tell me anyway?
 
Sometimes it helps to talk about these
things.”
 
He never once looked her way.

    
“I’m not sure I can.”
 
She whispered.
 
After a short time of silence, she blew out a
breath.
 
“At dinner, I mean third meal,
Tolan asked me to come by his rooms.
 
When I got there, I watched as two girls, females undressed him and
rubbed their hands up and down his body.
 
I was too stunned to move so I just stood in the doorway and watched.
 
The same two females came to medical yesterday
to warn me away from Tolan.”
 
She took
another sip of
cafa
.
 
“So I stood there and watched as the one in front,
Ginni
,
bent over and Tolan stuck his dick in her while the one in back grabbed his
balls.
 
Before I turned to leave, Jada
looked over her shoulder and gave me a triumphal grin.”
 
She thought
she’d
cried out the night before, but a small tear slipped out and ran silently down
her cheek.

    
“I’m sorry Kenzie, I should have warned
you.
 
I knew something like this would
happen eventually and that’s why I had already made plans for vacation.”

    
“It’s not your fault Dar, although a heads
up would have been nice.
 
I knew you and
Tolan didn’t tell me everything, but it’s my fault for not asking.”

    
“We are a promiscuous race.
 
The males share females and the females will
share a male.
 
Even when we take an
Ardhangini,
or wife as you call it, the male will
still be with other females.
 
The
Ardhangini
will take her males mark on
her arm, which tells all others that she is off limits…most of the time.
 
He will only give his seed to her during the
fertile time, which is once a year.
 
The
male will protect them and take care of his young, but will still seek out
others for sex.”
 
He glanced at her, and
noticed she seemed whiter than normal.
 
“Are you Ok?”
 
He asked, but she
just nodded.
 
“I didn’t tell you because
I hoped things would change before we reached home.”

    
“What does that mean?”
 

    
“When Zahin found Eliana, it didn’t take
him long to realize that he loved her.
 
Oh, they had their share of problems, but they had worked them out
before arriving home.
 
When Eliana found
out that only the female takes the mark, she flat out refused to be Zahin’s
Intended.”
 
He smiled as he remembered
how out of sorts Zahin had been.
 
“When
they arrived home, the King and Queen were not nice to her, and Zahin’s sister
and best friend plotted to separate them.”

    
“Did he betray Eliana?”
 
She asked quietly.

    
“No, he never betrayed her.”
 
Silence filled the porch as the waves
continued to crash.

    
They sat there, both lost in their own
thoughts when Kenzie said, “I’m pregnant.”
 
She never looked his way so she
didn’t
see the
confusion on his face.

    
“I’m sorry
Kenzie,
I don’t know what that means.
 
It sounds
familiar but I can’t place where I’ve heard it.”
 
He said while she smiled.
 
She sipped more
cafa
,
thinking she would soon need a refill.
 
It really did taste good.

    
“I’m going to have a baby.”
 
Dar startled.
 
He had heard Eliana call Destiny baby many times.
 
He turned his whole body around to face her.

    
“What do you mean you’re going to have a
baby?
 
When?”
 
Kenzie noticed his tone sounded anxious,
maybe even panicked.

    
“It means I’m going to have a baby, and I
don’t know when.”
 
She said with a calm
sure voice.

    
“We need to go back, you need to see
Cadas!”
 
Now she knew
it
was panic she heard
.

    
“No.”

    
“What do you mean ‘no’?
 
Kenzie, we need to make sure the young is
Ok.
 
We also need to know how far along
you are.
 
We have to go back!”

    
Finally turning toward Dar to look him in
the eyes, she said, “No, I am not going back there.
 
Every man or male that I have been with has
cheated on me.
 
This time I think
I’m
finally broken.
 
I
don’t
know what’s wrong with me, why I’m unlovable,
but I’m finished.
 
I’m
finished crying.
 
I’m
finished worrying, and I’m definitely finished with men.
 
If you will let me,
I’ll
stay here until I have my baby, then we will go live with my family on
Santar
.
 
I’ve
been a nurse long enough to know that babies deliver
themselves.
 
If something does happen to
me, I trust you to take
my
baby to my
parents so they can raise him.”
 
She said
with finality.

    
Dar tried to remain calm on the outside,
but he
couldn’t
deny he felt shaken by her admission.
 
He knew last night had been bad, but he heard
the truth in her voice, she had given up…on everything.
 
He knew he could never leave her here alone,
even if she
wasn’t
with young.
 
A plan was forming in his mind.
 
He could stay here with her for a while, and
then he would contact Zahin and tell him
he’d
decided
not to return.
 
Kenzie and her baby would
need a guard, as she was carrying a Prince’s son, but he also realized that she
mentally
couldn’t
handle seeing Tolan right now.
 
“Ok, we’ll stay here.”
 
He hugged her up.
 
“But you must let me care for you.
 
You need to eat and rest often.
 
Understand?”
 
She nodded.
 
“Now we need to have
first meal.
 
You must be starving.”
 
He said as they went inside.

    
They were eating when Dar finally ask,
“How far along do you think you are?”
 

    
Kenzie looked up at him, scrunched her
nose, and said, “I’m not sure, three, maybe four months.
 
I tried to remember when I needed to change
my birth control, but I had it wrote down in my calendar back home.”
 
She noticed he glanced down at her
stomach.
 
Every day she it grew bigger,
and knew it was not normal.

    
“Can I see?”
 
He asked with concern.
 
He knew what months meant.
 
Hell Eliana hated their measuring system and
was doing her best to teach everyone hers.
 
Dar now knew what morning, night, hours, days, months and years
meant.
 
Of course, he was one of the few
that saw Eliana frequently while she was with young.