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She kept running until she became hopelessly lost. There were no straight lines and narrow curves with the trees and the boulders. There wasn’t even the gentle curve of the driveway. She wasn’t sure what direction she was facing. She couldn’t see Bella and Rakha’s house. Was she even on earth? There weren’t two moons in the sky. The night had shifted to day. The sky had taken on a hue of blue and purple that she’d never seen before. Jenna would think she was hallucinating, but she knew that growl.
It was the sound of a monster, a predator stalking her. Not today, never again. She ran faster. Her breath caught in her chest and came out sounding like a dying train. Her thighs cramped as she ran. She shimmied over a tree branch and ran to a boulder. If she could scale one in her visions, why couldn’t she do it in real life? Note to self just because you can fly in your dreams doesn’t mean you can do it when you wake up.
Her fingers caught two depressions in the boulder, but she couldn’t pull herself up. She found two footholds and used her legs to push her up with her arms helping. She made it halfway up the boulder before her first shoe went tumbling down.
Fudge! She couldn’t stop now, even though the sensitive bottom of her foot wasn’t happy to be on hard rock. All she had to do was get to the top of the boulder, find SaKura, and head away from him. The clouds in the sky all seemed to desert it at the same time. The beating sun landed on her head and shoulder, making her sweat. Perspiration dripped down her face, getting into her eyes, making it hard to see.
She crowed when she got to the top. She did this, no one else. Who wasn’t street-smart? If she weren’t standing on top of a boulder, she’d dance, maybe even twerk, to show her mad climbing skills. It took a moment for her to remember why she was standing up there feeling like the queen of the world. Jenna looked around and didn’t spot SaKura until a low growl worked its way over her nerves, igniting her fight-or-flight senses.
She looked around again, this time paying more attention to the trees. There, lying in a tree not too far away, was SaKura watching her. The leaves on the tree were a greenish purple. How was he almost blending in with them? If he hadn’t wanted her to see him, she knew she wouldn’t. Jenna eked and started scrambling down the boulder, losing her other shoe along the way. No, heck no, she knew how this game of hide and seek ended. He found her and then abused her for his pleasure.
She ran harder than she had ever run. Her muscles were tired, and her feet hurt. Sweat covered her from head to toe. When her skirt caught on to a branch and wouldn’t come loose, she unzipped and unbuttoned it, stepping out and continuing to run. Her worst nightmares went through her head. She fell into a natural depression on a boulder with her hand in her mouth, trying to hide the sound of her ragged breathing and her tears.
SaKura was getting closer. She could feel him. She couldn’t allow herself to be caught. The thought of belonging to a monster horrified her. She’d been there and done that. The beatings and rapes. Jenna survived, but she wouldn’t survive going through it again. No way was she going to do it again. Death seemed preferable, but that wasn’t her. Jenna might not be a fighter, but no one was going to make her take her life. She got up and ran until her calf cramped. She couldn’t see SaKura, but she could hear his low growl like he was circling her. A whimper came from her, the first sound that wasn’t her frantic body trying to breathe.
When her other calf cramped, she knew that her chances at victory had dwindled to nothing. She kept limping along until she was in a wide-open space. The harsh sun beat down on her head, leeching precious fluid from her. SaKura stepped out from the trees not that far in front of her. He looked strong and in charge. His skin wasn’t flushed or drenched with sweat. That’s when she knew he’d always been one step ahead of her. Was he watching out for her, or did he want to show her that he was the ultimate threat? The dominant one who would finally make her yield, break her, the way the others couldn’t. Turns out he didn’t need the government to corner her, he was monster enough to do it for himself.
“No!” It was a cry of self-preservation. Jenna went for a shoe to throw but her feet were naked. All she was wearing was a thong and a crop top that held her breasts in place. She looked as primal as SaKura, who dressed in a loincloth.
“Run sweetness.” The words were alien, but they translated into sweetness. Her sluggish mind made note of that even as she tried to plan her escape. She wanted to run just like he dared her to do. Another part of her mind, the part that dealt with the voices and the visions, wouldn’t run. It said they were tired and the only thing to do was stand and fight.
Fighting wasn’t for her. Even as she said it, she knew better. Her mother was a warrior. How many times had she told Jenna that it didn’t matter whether you were a warrior, a healer, or a mystic, there would always be a time in life when you would have to fight your own battles? Jenna went down to a start position like she was about to run a race. She waited patiently. Waiting had been a significant part of her life, and a few more minutes wouldn’t cause her trouble.
“Run!” That’s what she was waiting for. That dominant monster’s voice barked at her. She ran, more like limped toward him. Taking her small fist, she beat his chest and then hung onto his arm as he raised it. Somehow, later, she would ponder how it happened. Her legs went around his neck. She grabbed his horns and pulled herself onto him before she took a hand and started beating him in the head.
“No one,” she screamed, “is going to control me.” Her thighs tightened around his throat, but she couldn’t put enough pressure on his thick neck.
SaKura placed his hands around her waist and plucked her from his neck, holding her in front of him.
“No!” she screeched. She kicked and beat him with her fist. It was like hitting a rock with a layer of warm skin over it.
“Worthy.” The praise tumbled from his mouth, sounding like a rock slide the bass was so deep. “Persistent, beautiful, and mine.” Her eyes went wide. When was the last time someone praised her who wasn’t family? She was never called beautiful.
A cry tore from her throat when he came at her with an outstretched claw. It tore down the front of her shirt, cutting it in half but leaving her skin blissfully intact. He grabbed the back of the shirt and tore it from her body. Now all she wore was a thong. For a minute she felt like a woman of yesteryear. Pride in herself swamped her. Then his mouth latched onto her shoulder. Before she could protect herself or scream no, he opened wide and sank his teeth into her shoulder. She felt the blood flowing and the muscle tearing before his teeth met.
Dizziness became her friend as she tried to sway in the hands gripping her. Her eyes went from seeing gray blurs to blackness before she passed out.
SaKura cradled his mate bridal style as he began the journey to their home away from home. His brother provided a different perspective on the belief that Earth females were fragile. He had been ready to treat Jenna the way they would treat the young females on his planet who weren’t old enough to take a mate, but she had proved the males on her planet wrong. She was strong, like her sister and the other females who mated a Diza male.
Her stormy gray eyes were closed, but he could still see them as she stared him down. Defiant eyes looked at him, daring him to take one more step or to claim her as he wanted to. It served to tell him that he’d been right all along. Seeing Jenna solidified the fact that she was his mate.
He thought, and his father said the royal line was dead. Royal mates with fyra, which translates into Seer who is a psychic with fire in their blood on his planet. He never thought to meet a female who was as strong and fiery as his mate.
SaKura walked past his brother’s house and the one he put up for Jenna. Farther back on land that butted against his brothers was a domicile Madame President gave to him. As the crown-elect or the king in waiting, the terms were ever-changing but meant the same. His Papan expected him to one day ascend the throne. There were several miles between his land and his brothers. Walking it meant nothing to him. He’d never expect his mate to do the same. She’d need one of those vehicles the earthlings liked to shut themselves away in.
When he reached the domicile called a house on this planet, it reminded him of the one his brother showed him and the pictures Bella had taken. According to her, she liked her alien domicile more than the human house. He took Jenna inside and up to their bedroom. He stopped when he was standing beside the bed. One look at Jenna told him she wasn’t going to be happy to wake up with the sheets stuck to her body.
Turning, he went into the bathroom and started the shower. He was sad to strip that small piece of cloth covering her female attributes. Quickly, he washed her hair and then washed and dried her. Then he took her back to the room and laid her on the bed. His mate. He didn’t anticipate life being peaceful, not in the beginning. He smiled as he thought of the matches to come.
He slid into the bed with her and held her close. Tomorrow will be another day.
Chapter Six
Jenna woke up, slowly. Her mind was scrambling for what happened and how she was in a bed that wasn’t hers. The bed she usually slept on had become lumpy, and she needed a mattress upgrade pronto. The only reason that hadn’t happened was because she didn’t know when she would have to run and leave all her things behind. Leaving a brand-new bed would suck. There was no mattress upgrade needed on the bed she was currently lying on.
Images came to her from a broken movie reel. Some of them were crystal clear, but most were torn and ragged at the edges. They told the same story. Jenna being chased down like a deer fleeing a lion and then she’d become its meal. She sat up quickly in bed, dislodging the cover over her breasts. Why was she naked from the chest down? The question was fleeting as the rest of the night’s activities slammed into her brain. She was going to need ibuprofen.
She took stock of how she felt. Her arms and legs felt like she’d run a marathon. For all of that, she felt better than anticipated. The only way she would be sure was if she opened her eyes and she was refusing. Thoughts of children pouting and refusing to do what needed to be done ran through her head. She felt like one of those children.
