Page 21 of Commander's Slave
She glanced at the lights in the darkness. She was in Vermont, so close to the refugee camp. But she knew she wouldn’t make it. Not on her own. Terror clutched her and she tried desperately to wiggle her toes, trying to fight off the impending frostbite.
“As I said, you are no daughter of mine.” Her father shook his head slowly, his face wrinkling with a deep frown. “And when the Kall find you, I will not help you. Trust me, they will find you, and you’ll be at their mercy. You’ll be lucky if they don’t execute you for breaking the treaty.”
Frozen tears clung to Betsy’s cheeks as she watched her father fade into the night, disappearing into the darkness like a ghost. She made one last attempt to stand up, to escape the snowdrift, but she all at once became very tired.
“No!” she screamed, fighting the fatigue that pulled at her. In the midst of her shivering, her skin flushed with abrupt warmth, confusing her. “No, no, no! Dad, come back! Please help me! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
She screamed into the cold night, pleading for her father’s forgiveness. If anyone could help her, it would be him. There was no one else. No one with the power he still held. She’d done a foolish thing and he was her only hope. Please, Dad, come back.
“Betsy! Betsy! Wake up!” A deep Kall voice drifted through her mind, and she felt strong hands gripping her and shaking her.
Her eyes popped open and she gasped. The rest of her memories quickly fell into place. The trial on Earth. The journey to planet Kall on a slaveship. The auction. She peered into Edek’s concerned gaze.
A nightmare. She’d only been dreaming. Oh thank God. A tiny amount of relief warmed her insides. At least she’d already endured the trial and the auction.
“Master,” she said, her tone apologetic. Shame heated her face. She’d woken him up. Had she been talking in her sleep? Given the very personal nature of what she’d been dreaming about, she certainly hoped not. “Um, I’m sorry if I woke you.”
He rested a hand on her hip, underneath the covers, and shifted closer to her. The look of concern in his eyes surprised her. She’d clearly woken him in the middle of the night. Shouldn’t he be angry with her?
“You were having a nightmare,” he said, his deep voice rumbling to her core, comforting her in an unexpected way. “You need not apologize, little human.”
She realized she was shaking when her teeth suddenly clanged together. Oh no. Not a shaking fit. Not now. Not while she was in bed with him. She started taking deep breaths but panicked further when her vision blurred, and that frightening prickling sensation soon affected her limbs.
In a distant, clinical and completely detached part of her brain, she wondered if she had some form of PTSD as a result of her near-death experience in the snow. She’d sustained beatings and witnessed terrible violence, yet the time she’d almost perished in the snow haunted her worse than anything else she’d endured since the Kall first attacked Earth.
“The bed is quite warm and the fire is still blazing,” he said, “but you’re shaking.” He moved closer to her, close enough that the heat of his body radiated onto hers. He kept his hand on her hip, and she felt the burn of his touch through the thick fabric of her nightgown.
“I-I’m fine,” she said. “This just happens sometimes. It’ll pass eventually. I would be happy to sleep on the floor, Master. At least then my shaking wouldn’t bother you or keep you awake.” Maybe this was her ticket out of his bed.
“Your shaking doesn’t bother me, little human, but I would like to know the reason for it. Are you anxious right now? Are you truly so frightened that you cannot help the tremors taking hold of your body?”
She stared at him, startled by his question. He sounded as though he cared, though she dared not allow herself to believe it was true. No one cared about her. Well, no one except Draken.
“Betsy?” he prompted.
“There was a snowstorm on the night I tried to reach the refugee camp where I planned to hide from my father and my-my Kall fiancé. A trucker dropped me off a few miles away, so I followed the signs pointing to the camp. I almost made it there, I could see the lights in the distance, but the storm grew stronger and the snow became deeper. And I was very, very tired and hungry. I-I collapsed in a snowdrift and didn’t have the strength to get back up.”
She paused and took a few deep breaths. Her shaking was starting to lessen. Why was that? Surely not from Edek’s nearness. Surely not because she was sharing this dark secret with him. She’d never told anyone what had happened that night, not even Draken. And Draken had asked her several times. Well, he’d asked about her missing toe.
“What happened then?” Edek removed his hand from her hip, but only so he could stroke her hair. His touch comforted her. It shouldn’t, but it did.
“I woke up in a medical tent some time later.” She swallowed hard and blinked against the burn of tears. “The first thing I saw when I woke up was a metal tray that held my toe and a scalpel.” Shit. A tear had escaped to trickle down her face.
Edek caught the tear with his thumb, gently wiping it away.
“And now you shake sometimes, and you must wait for the shaking to pass on its own?” he asked, his tone patient and inquisitive. She didn’t like that he was trying to understand her. Or rather, she didn’t like her reaction to his attempt to understand her. His concern warmed her heart and fuck if that didn’t cause another tear to escape her eyes. He caught this tear with his thumb as well, damn him.
“Yes,” she finally answered, her voice cracking. “Yes, that’s what happens. Usually when I’m nervous or afraid, but sometimes when I get a nightmare, I’ll wake up shaking too. I-I don’t like to be cold.”
“Turn around, little human.”
Her heart sank. He was dismissing her. She nodded and turned over on her side, scooting as far to the edge of the bed as she could manage, putting distance between herself and Edek.
Distance was safer, wasn’t it?
So why did his dismissal sadden her?
Before she could ponder her confusing feelings toward Edek further, he reached for her and tugged her flush against his muscular chest. He rested his head atop hers and wrapped a heavy arm around her, holding her tightly to his warm body.
