Hide to Stay Alive (Club Release 1) (34 page)

Halfway down the trail
I’ve been given, I inhale Hallie’s unique aroma. Relief soothes my
soul and slows my heartbeat. Fear taints her sweet scent. The smell
breaks my heart. Needing to relieve her stress, I hurriedly follow
her scent.

Another rush of relief
courses through me when I see a suspiciously thick hugmar trunk.
Needing to hold her, I run up to the trunk and plunge my hands into
the leaves. I moan when my hands touch her precious skin. She’s
everything to me.

She screams in surprise at
my touch. I know better than to laugh. The hugmar vines concealing
her slide away as I pull her to my chest. She only struggles for a
split second.

The warmth of her flesh
pressing to mine has me shuddering at the sense of rightness. I
feel whole again with her in my arms. I inhale her sweet scent and
glory in the feel of it circulating through me.

I don’t know what I’d do
without her. Hallie Mead is more than a fascination to
me.

I love her.

I shudder as I realize
that I need her by my side forever. Hallie belongs to me. As my
kesdy. My zaphinian wife.

My heart flips and expands
in my chest. Love for her fills every cell in my body. The need to
conjoin her to me consumes me. Soon, I’ll mark her as
mine.

CHAPTER

36

~
Hallie ~

♥

Footfalls growing steadily
closer ramp up my fear. I remain totally still. I feel a presence
near the hugmar tree. A silent scream lodges in my throat. I can’t
go back with those stinking males.

A scream rips from my
mouth when large hands suddenly grip my shoulders. Zyf! I’ve just
blown my cover. To my horror the vines fall away and I find myself
being crushed against a wide chest. I struggle for a second. Then
Zar’s masculine scent fills my lungs.

I relax but only for a
moment. We are too exposed. The bad guys could come upon us at any
second. I can’t let them hurt Zar. He’s my world.

Reaching out, I grab up a
few of the leafy vines and try to put them around both of
us.
Come on hugmar, don’t fail me
now
, I silently beseech the tree. I don’t
understand why the tree is no longer protecting us. Does it dislike
my warrior for some reason?

Holding some of the vines,
I nudge him in closer to the tree and look up into his curious
eyes.

“
There are bad guys in the
jungle,” I whisper, hoping only Zar hears me.

A gleam enters his intense
eyes. “We’ve already taken care of them, little one. It’s time to
go home where we belong.”

I’m stunned but I
shouldn’t be. Din Zar has repeatedly proven that he’s capable of
taking care of himself and me as well. Pride in him fills my chest
to overflowing.

He places his hand on the
tree’s trunk. “Thank you,” Zar tells the tree. The leaves shimmy
for a moment in response. I’m glad the tree doesn’t hate my
warrior.

I place my hand on the
trunk as well to relay my own thanks. A warm pulse comes from the
trunk. I smile at the wonders of my new home. A home I wouldn’t
want without Din Zar TocGar.

I love him.

It’s about time you
realized that
, my logical side points out.
She’s right. I truly fell for him the moment I laid eyes on
him.

He pulls me away from the
tree and looks me over. “Are you hurt, little one?”

The concern in his gaze
heats my heart and points out another reason why I love him. “No.”
I look him over and see a few drops of orange blood on him. “How
about you?”

A chuckle rumbles up his
broad chest. “I’m not injured.” His eyes take on a merry gleam.
“Later I want to hear all about how you escaped three
clocpinians.”

He looks at my hands and
his lips twitch at the sight of a little bit of orange blood on my
right hand. He turns me around and I feel his hand sink into my
hair. My shorter hair. It has to look bad. But at least I’m
alive.

I’m whirled around and
then pressed into his chest. I inhale his scent and let it fill me
with love and happiness.

“
You are the most amazing
female I’ve ever known, Hallie Mead.” He cups my cheeks and tilts
my head up right before his lips press hungrily to mine. I
thoroughly enjoy his devouring mouth and kiss him back
enthusiastically to show him how much I love him.

The sound of a throat
clearing stops my tongue from exploring Zar’s mouth. He groans and
pulls back. He then takes my hand and turns toward the sound of our
unwelcome company.

Din Von is grinning
wolfishly at us. “I see you found her, brother. As tempting as she
is, you are needed back at home. Transport just took Glip, Stil,
and Mocso away. We have statements to prepare while your house is
being taken care of.”

“
How did you find them?
What happened?” I ask as we start back to the house. The feel of
his hand wrapped around mine comforts me in so many
ways.

I yelp when he suddenly
picks me up.

“
I can’t have you walking
back with bare feet, little seema,” he whispers into my
ear.

“
Thank you, Din Zar,” I
whisper back and snuggle into his strong chest. He is easy to
love.

I listen closely as Din
Zar and Din Von tell me what happened. That they are not brutal
killers when in warrior mode makes me respect them even more. Being
bought by Zar TocGar was definitely the best thing that’s ever
happened to me. A new blast of love for Zar bursts through my
heart. He sniffs the air and smiles down at me.

I long to tell him how
much I love him. Since we aren’t alone, I don’t say the
words.

A short while later we
arrive home. He gently releases me as he looks around. Our house is
full of activity. I can’t tell him anything at the moment. Warriors
from Club Release, plus some people I’ve never seen before are
cleaning up the damage the invaders did.

This world is so different
from Earth. If someone breaks your stuff on that planet nobody
helps you out. I look around in wonder. This is what it’s like to
truly be a part of a family. Blood ties or no, these people are
family.

With my heart near
bursting, I’m ushered down the corridor by a small group of Din
Zar’s closest warrior friends. Once inside his office all eyes turn
to me.

Tairin comes over and
raises the ends of my hacked off hair. A proud gleam fills his gold
and dark purple eyes. “Do tell us how you escaped three
clocpinians. I’m dying to know.”

Din Zar presses my hand
between his large warms ones. The pride in his eyes has my heart
leaping for joy.

“
Don’t leave any details
out, precious one,” Zar says and several of the others loudly
agree.

I suppress a laugh at
their eagerness and begin telling them exactly what happened. With
each word I say, the feeling of being one with the warriors grows.
They are all my family now.

~ Zar ~

After our house is secure
and all of our friends have left, I finally have Hallie all to
myself. Pride in her fills my mind, body, and heart.

She’s amazing. As she
moves around our bedroom, I think of how much she’s grown since she
came here. She’s no longer hides every time something spooks her. I
smile as I think of the ardop that she called a zaphinian
woodpecker. Seeing that bird was good for her.

Yes, she has grown a lot.
Tonight proved that she’s smart enough not to trust every person or
being she encounters. Hallie Mead no longer lets fear stop her from
living yet she’s not so trusting that she totally drops her
guard.

The pride I feel for her
once again swells within me. The strong emotion overflows from my
ribcage and sinks into all of my bones. I’ve got it bad for
her.

Her uneven hair sways as
she straightens from fluffing our pillows. Wanting to help her out,
I cross to the dresser and pull out some of my sharpest stars. The
metal practically sings when I touch it. I remove two of them and
turn to Hallie.

“
Come. I’ll straighten out
your hair.” I hold back a smile when her gaze lands on the shiny
stars in my hands.

“
Can you do it with those?”
The doubt in her eyes is clear.

“
You wound me, little one.”
I hold up my stars and mimic cutting her hair by turning two of the
blades toward each other. “See, it’ll be easy. This set of stars is
a gift from my grandfather. They are one of the sharpest sets I
have. Come. Let’s get you evened out.” I gesture to the spot in
front of me and watch as she walks over. I kneel behind her so I
can better reach her hair.

As I start evening her
soft strands, I can’t help but be happy about her fighting back.
She’s my little warrior. Pride in her once again threatens to
overwhelm me.

I think back on her
telling us what happened. She chose her battle well. Fighting at
the wrong moment can get you killed. I suppress a shiver and push
away the thoughts of what could have happened if she’d tried to
retrieve a weapon earlier and attempted to take on all three of
them. But she didn’t, she’d waited until the odds were in her
favor. She’s perfect for me.

Finishing the task at
hand, I stand and run my fingers through her silky strands. Giving
in to temptation, I turn her around and give her a loving kiss.
Before things can get too heated, I retrieve the floor cleaner and
let it suck up the trimmed hair.

Hallie looks up and smiles
at me. “I still think that floor cleaner is the neatest thing.” She
pulls her hair over her shoulder and inspects the ends. Her dark
brown irises fill with appreciation. “Looks like you’re good at
everything. I’m one lucky girl.”

The look of love in her
pretty eyes has need coiling in my groin. After coming close to
losing her I need to feel her, to connect with her as only lovers
can.

“
I love you, Hallie Mead.”
The confession slips easily from my tongue. Even though it’s the
first time I’ve said the words to a female lover, it feels
right.

The smile she gives me
livens up her beautiful eyes in a way that steals my breath. My
heart feels like it’s doing a set of spin kicks followed by a
thousand star throws.

“
I love you so much. My
need to see you again is what drove me to get away from those awful
men.” She pauses and searches my soul with her expressive eyes.
“I’ll always fight to get back to you, Din Zar TocGar.”

The passion in her tone
has desire pulsing through me. “I’ll always come looking for you.”
Lust flares through her eyes. I inhale the heady scent of her
arousal. With a low growl, I take her hand and lead her to the
shower. “Let me show you how much I love you, little
warrior.”

As I remove her sheer
uniform, I breathe in the sex drenched air around her and know I’ll
be doing more than washing her, I’ll be making love to my future
kesdy.

CHAPTER

37

~ Zar ~

♥

The music pulsing through
my veins frees my spirit.

This is just another
reason we created this club. After yesterday’s brush with those
prelling clocpinians, we all need the sweet release our club
offers. Wild adrenaline has been coursing through me since the hunt
yesterday evening.

I close my eyes and let
the good energy of the club seep into my soul. I need this as much
as I need to make Hallie my kesdy. Tonight she will become
officially mine forever.

A smile curls my lips as I
think of the blisbom I had my brother run by our house after we
left to come here. Hallie loves that sweet confection and I love
watching her eat it. Definitely a win-win situation.

Hallie squirming in my lap
followed by a groan from Din Ryk has me opening my eyes. The air in
the club changes from a playful goodtime one to an erotic one. My
erection rouses instantly at the smell of Hallie’s
arousal.

Sure enough her sweet
cheeks are flushed. I can feel and smell her embarrassment. Tonight
her scent is interestingly mixed with determination. Her gaze moves
over to Ryk who is sitting in the chair next to ours in the dance
lounge area. Several of the guys are playing and Ryk is no
different.

I watch as Tling By raises
up and swivels her pink hips. She groans as she drops back down
taking in all of Ryk’s hard erection. With confidence and pleasure
rolling off her, the pink petrokian rides Ryk hard and fast. The
multiple shades of blue lights in this section are bouncing off of
everyone and everything. I like the soothing shades.