3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

" S aKura?" His new agrva, sister-in-law, he reminded himself, called out to him. He enjoyed his brother's mate. She was both funny and fierce and now that she was pregnant, she was extremely territorial. He was proud of her and his brother for attracting such a formidable mate.

"Sister." He walked into the living room wearing the traditional loincloth of his people that showed his rank. Bella's cheeks flushed as she turned away.

"Um, don't you want to put on a pair of pants?"

He knew the consequences of questioning a king. His father had driven it home with his fists and his punishments. His sister didn't know, and she would never know if it was up to him and his brother. Wear pants? Not when the female he came light years to see would finally grace him with her presence. He needed her to know who he was.

"Forget I mentioned it. Come have a seat by me. Rakha will be out soon." She patted the couch, leaving ample space between them. Rakha loved his brother, but now that his mate was pregnant, he was more in attack-first mode and would ask questions later.

"You're an intelligent mate and very good for him." He took a chair closest to the side of the couch, not wanting his brother to have to feel protective of his mate in his domicile from his family.

"You're no slouch yourself potential High King SaKura." He gave her a closed-mouth smile and tried winking. It was such a foreign concept to him. Why would someone close one eye and think it was appropriate? His sister explained that a wink could say many things. One was to let the person you are interested in know your desires. He didn't think her sister would appreciate being winked at.

"I know you said you came to earth to meet me, but I'm on to you."

SaKura sat up. Females were more intuitive than their male counterparts and now that she was pregnant, Bella maybe more so. What did she think she knew?

"Don't get so worked up. I know you came for another reason. What that reason is, I can only wonder. If I were a detective, I'd say that you were a little too fascinated with my sister, but I'd be wrong, right?"

It took his considerable training not to growl. Females were too smart for their own good. Not answering, he tried the wink again. Bella swooned in her chair with laughter.

"It was a hard fight, but I love you guys." She shook her head, her hand rubbing over her baby bump.

SaKura rubbed his chest. After his sisters died and all the females on his planet were killed by the Tan-ge, he never expected to encounter a female who could bring back his emotions. His sister made long-forgotten emotions try to rear their heads. It was a fight to keep them buried. The possibility of one day becoming high king. Emotion was something he couldn't afford to have.

Rakha came into the living room and didn't stop until he was standing in front of his mate. He picked her up and kissed her, not caring that SaKura was sitting in the chair next to her. He ran his hand over her, making sure that she was well before putting her down.

"Brother." Rakha gave a tilt to his head, acknowledging who his brother was and what he might become. SaKura had gone from being the fourth in line for the throne to become the second at the death of his sisters. No one thought that their oldest brother was going to take the throne, not even their oldest brother.

A chime went off, alerting Rakha and Bella, who entered. Thad came out of the kitchen. They gave Jenna and Amela a hug welcoming them.

"Perfect timing. You two, dinner is ready."

"My perfect dinner, Thad's food." Amelia rubbed her stomach.

Jenna stopped in her tracks. Her warm, light brown skin paled as she looked at the male standing in front of her. She knew him, but only from the dreams that haunted her. How many times had she tried to stay awake not to see him? The minute her eyes closed and her head touched the pillow, he was there chasing her.

"Jenna, Amelia." Bella bounced up with a smile on her face. She crossed the room to hug her sister, rocking her just a little before she hugged Amelia. "I want to introduce you to Rakha's brother. This is SaKura," she said, turning to him. "He is the next high king of Diza."

Shouldn't he be on his planet doing high-king things instead of standing in front of her? She'd never say that, but seeing him scared her. She knew him, the shape of his body, and his amazing pecs. The long legs and the claws on his hands and feet. He had two horns on his head, along with shoulder spikes that retracted. Above his wrists, there was another set of spikes on his lower arms. They also retracted. It helped that she had spent time with Rakha and Bella to learn how the retraction worked in the Diza.

Part of her wanted to say that if he were human, he would be a beautiful man. Was she hung up on a person's race? She never was before; hello, when it came to races, she was two in one. It was the best, as far as she was concerned.

"Jenna," SaKura said. He lifted his hand to greet her in the earth custom.

She didn't want to shake his hand, but took it anyway. How could she explain to her sister the rudeness of rejecting her brother-in-law? When their palms met and he wrapped his fingers around her hand, she was thrown into a vision. Maybe it was a remembered dream from yesteryear.

She knew where she was. This was some strange fever dream where she was on another planet, one she swore didn't exist when her eyes were open. It was beautiful, with two moons high in the sky. The night was a darker shade of violet and the day a lighter shade. The stars were beautiful except shaped differently from the stars she saw at night on Earth. They were more of an oval shape.

The land reminded her more of the beach with different colored sand. Within that landscape was a forest of boulders. There was no other way to describe it. They were tall, matching some of the tallest trees she read about on Earth, and they were close, giving a person the opportunity to disappear within them. She could climb to the highest point to use a boulder as a lookout or stay at the base and find a place to hide.

None of this was what she was thinking when she saw SaKura. He was the male that haunted her dreams and now he was here looking at her, and she knew he was coming for her. Her choices were to run or to be caught. Her heart was beating wildly, like drums predicting the future. She could see herself standing close to a fire as the warriors beat a drum around her. They wanted answers, and she was the only one with them.

She swayed with the drum beat as her feet moved without her permission. She looked up and SaKura opened his mouth wide, and she took off. He was coming for her. She knew he wanted to bite her, and she refused to become the slave to a monster who was a would-be king. How did she know that? It didn't matter; she ran.

The black flats she was wearing, because they went with anything, slipped on the sand. She stumbled, almost falling, before she could right herself. The forest of boulders seemed too far away. The thought of giving up crossed her mind as she pumped her arms with the voice of her high school gym teacher shouting at her. "Jenna, you can do this. I swear you won't pass this class unless you pick up the pace!" She picked up the pace even as she panted. When was the last time she ran? She'd always preferred sprints to mile-long runs.

When she finally made the base of the boulders, her heart was beating fast and hard. It felt like it was trying to carve its way out of her chest. She was burning up with sweat rolling down her face and back. It was pooling between her breasts and chaffing between her thighs. The night sky with the two moons wasn't making the air any cooler.

The first boulder she found looked like a human could climb it. She latched on to a hand and foothold and started up. The press-on nails from earlier in the day were being torn off violently as she pulled herself up the boulder. Her hair, which she had taken the time to flat iron, was now hanging around her face in clumps from the sweat trickling through it.

When she reached the top of the boulder, she couldn't breathe, and the sight of the floating city in the distance didn't help. It took the last of her breath away. The city was glorious; the houses were built in multi-angles, which made her jealous of some of the design choices. There were large swaths of flowers and trees planted around. Not like Earth trees, but the monster equivalent.

She looked for SaKura but couldn't find him. How was he blending in with the landscape? Jenna scrambled down, losing a shoe. It didn't matter. She kicked the other shoe off and hoped her feet could withstand the heated rock.

There was a deep sound like a hunter hunting prey that she knew was him. She turned her head and glimpsed his loincloth before it was gone. That meant he saw her and knew where she was. Jenna ran harder. The short miniskirt she wore caught on the sharp edge of a rock and tore. She didn't have time to fix it. When it caught again, she shimmied out of it wearing nothing but a thong and a shirt that ended right below her breasts.

She ran until she needed water. The rising sun in the sky made it harder for her to move, and she felt disoriented. Which way was the city and where had she entered the boulder forest?

Her feet were injured with deep gashes, and her legs had long cuts on them. She was dizzy. The gray and black patterns playing in front of her eyes made it hard to see or focus. Heat stroke, she thought. This was how she was going to die. Jenna pushed on, refusing to go out like this. Her life hadn't started yet, no matter her age. She wanted a job to prove she was worthwhile and that she mattered in the grand scheme of things. She slammed into a boulder and started climbing it.

It was high. How high? She didn't know since she was climbing it blind. Why did she care? Shouldn't she have sat down, admitted defeat and started crying? There was no warrior inside of her, not like her sister, but she didn't give up. No matter what she went through, she never gave up and she wouldn't this time. Kill her. It was the only way she would admit defeat. In death, there would be victory. Never again would she be a puppet, a plaything for men.

When she reached the top, she knew she was screwed. It was a fortunate coincidence that she couldn't see how little room there was at the top. Going to her hands and knees, she slowly padded around. Scurrying back when she got too close to an edge. She moved to another edge as a gust of wind came pushing her just enough to send her tumbling over the edge.

She tried to remind herself that there was victory in death, but decided that was hogwash. A pair of muscular arms caught her. She couldn't see who it was, but her mind knew it was SaKura. His face came close enough for her to see a large pair of fangs. She fought, knowing he was going to bite her.

"No!" she yelled, feeling his hot breath on her shoulder.