Chapter Five

Steele

"No! No! Please, no, "Zaya cried in her sleep.

I immediately woke as Zaya struggled in my arms.

"Zaya, wake up. You're alright. It's me, Steele. You are safe now. Zaya, wake up."

Her hazel eyes flew open, and she glared at me, blinking several times. "Steele, it is you. Oh my God. It was a dream."

I rocked her in my arms. "Yes, sweetheart. It was a dream."

Zaya reached up and caressed my face as if to reassure herself that I was indeed real. "You saved me," and then she kissed me, turning to press against me.

I kissed her back, only meaning to comfort her, but the feel of her body against me and her sweet scent made me rock hard. I couldn't help that any more than I could refrain from kissing her seeking lips. Zaya didn't seem to want to hold back as she rubbed her crotch against my erection.

I let myself enjoy the feel of her for a couple of minutes before I forced myself to pull away from her. Although she seemed willing to continue, this was not how I wanted to breed with her for the first time. I did not want to take her on the heels of a nightmare about her captivity with the Mesaarkan rapist.

But as I pulled back, Zaya's eyes filled with tears. "Don't you want me?"

"Oh, baby, don't cry. I want you more than anything, more than my next breath. Just not right after you've had a nightmare about that Saark torturing you."

Despite my discomfort, I hugged her close again, rubbing her back and stroking her hair, hoping I was doing the right thing. When Zaya hugged me back, nodding against my chest, I knew I had.

"I just want to give you a little more time to regain your equilibrium." I kissed the top of her head. "We have time before our transport arrives. Would you like to take a shower while I order some breakfast?"

Zaya sighed, "Yes, I would like that, but you will have to show me how to work it."

I smiled. "It's very simple. You just tell it what you want. It's voice-activated."

After a moment, I pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear, then rolled out of bed and offered my hand to help her out. She took it and then headed to the bathroom, looking a little embarrassed. I regretted making her uncomfortable, but I felt certain I'd done the right thing.

While she showered, I ordered a breakfast of eggs, toast, and juice. Zaya emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, looking refreshed just as our food arrived. I removed it from the auto cart and put it on the small table by the window.

"Come eat while the food is still warm." I gestured to the chair across from where I was about to sit. As we sat, I reached out and rubbed my hand down her upper arm to reassure her that I understood.

"While you were in the shower, I ordered some supplies, including food for your animals and us. I also ordered a warm coat for you as temperatures will soon be getting colder in Montana. We could get a frost any time now, even snow."

"So, on top of everything else, I missed the whole summer." Zaya shook her head. "I'm glad you killed him."

I nodded grimly. I, too, was glad.

Zaya

Just over three hours later, we arrived at my ranch house. I was pleasantly surprised to find the temperature mild and the sun shining. While the supplies were unloading, my dog Bruno came running and barking until he recognized me. Then he yipped and jumped up on me, wagging his tail.

"Oh, Bruno. You are so thin," I crooned when he settled down so I could run my hands over him. His fur was so thick; that was the only way I could assess his body condition.

"Don't worry, Zaya, we have food for him, too," Steele assured me.

"Bruno, where are the goats?" I asked. "Minnie, Jackie, Billy, Lucy, where are you?"

Beyond the yard, the rest of the land was so grown over with tall grass that even my full-sized goats would be easy to miss. Shortly, I heard the familiar sound of goats responding to my calling them. Soon, they emerged into the yard where Steele's friends had cut the grass in the front yard with a pathway to our barn. They surprised me with two small baby goats emerging from the tall grass behind them.

"Oh, my. Billy, you've been busy." Apparently, the babies belong to Minnie and Lucy because Jackie was still heavily pregnant. Where Bruno was thin, the goats seemed to be in prime body condition.

Hearing a rooster crow, I walked over to the barn and peeked around the corner to investigate. I could see five of the seven chickens the cyborgs had mentioned after their visit to check on my ranch. I decided to check the chicken coop, preparing myself in case the other two were gone. That's when I heard the peeps. Two hens were inside, keeping a small flock of chicks warm under them. A couple were walking outside the clutch, and I couldn't resist picking one up.

"Zaya?" Steele softly called when I'd been out of his sight for several minutes.

"Over here, Steele," I called back.

I turned as he came around the barn and smiled at him, holding a tiny chick cradled in my hands. "They're all here, and they have babies, too."

"I am glad because it makes you happy," Steele said with an admiring glint in his eyes. "Now that we have located all of your animals, do you think we should check the inside of the house?"

"I'm almost afraid to look. It wasn't locked because I was just in the garden. I don't even remember if I closed the door."

"Raven and Trinity said it was closed. Apparently, no one had been there since you were taken," said Steele.

He stopped me outside the kitchen door and seemed to stare at it for a few seconds. "No one is here," he assured me.

"How do you know?"

"I scanned the building."

"Of course you did." I nodded, smiling at him.

When we entered, I led the way straight to the kitchen. I'm sure Steele only let me because he had already scanned the house.

Inside, there were mouse droppings on the kitchen counter. The loaf of bread and some cheese I'd left there were gone. Funny, I remembered that. I was probably planning to have that for dinner with some fresh greens I picked almost daily in the spring. Most of my dry goods were kept in sealed containers to keep the mice and bugs out of them. Those were still intact.

"Well, it's not as bad as I feared. It still needs a good cleaning before I prepare food here."

"I can help you with that. I will get the cleaning supplies from the load outside."

"Can you bring the dog food as well? Bruno is so thin he needs to eat," I asked.

Steele nodded. "I will move all of the supplies for the house by the door until we decide where they all should go."

Meanwhile, I went from room to room, checking for evidence that anything had been disturbed. I didn't notice anything out of place. It would have been easy because I kept the house neat and clean. I was glad no windows were open because it was still fairly cool outside when I was taken.

I went to the bedroom to get some rags for cleaning, picked up several, and then returned to the kitchen. I got a pot from the cupboard and went to the sink to fill it with water.

Setting it on top of my wood cook stove, I took some kindling from the small wood bin beside it. Adding a small wad of dried grass, I used a flint striker fire starter to light it. As the kindling started to burn, I added a couple of logs to heat the water.

By then, Steele had returned with a plastic box of cleaning supplies. "I have the dog food on the porch. I'll bring it inside so wild animals don't steal it."

"Oh, good. Bruno's food pan is by the kitchen door." I headed in that direction, with Steele following.

He went out onto the back porch, got the huge bag of dog food, and carried it inside. I showed him the pan, and he filled it from the bag. Then I called Bruno to come in and eat. He apparently found it palatable because he happily started eating it immediately.

As we went back to the kitchen, Steele said, "I notice that you have solar panels on the roof, but you said you have no power."

"I don't. As far as I know, the panels have never worked since I was alive. I remember somebody saying the batteries were worn out. I am just happy to have running water, thanks to the windmill outside. It provides water to the house and the barn."

Steele put the box of cleaning supplies on the kitchen table opening it. "I will look at the solar panels to see how they're connected. It may be possible to retrofit your windmill to provide power to your home in addition to pumping water."

With Steele's enthusiastic help, we finished cleaning the kitchen in just a couple of hours. Afterward, we ate two of the prepared meals from the supplies Steele had ordered.