Beyond My Stars

Tremor

            “I thought this was supposed to be a dinner with just a few people? This…is a lot of people.” I whispered the last part.

            All around were Kajians. Males, females, and it reminded me of the Heta market with how everyone was pressed up against each other on the large gathering room.

            “Were going to have to leave you here, luvana.” Kit said as he sighed.

            I nodded. “Go. Before your father gets suspicious.”

            “We’ll be watching over you.” Koryn said, jaw clenched me dropped his head down and moved into the crowd.

            I felt like a piece of myself just disappeared. “s**t…”

            “I won’t be far.” Kit went in the opposite direction.

            I felt something inside me stir and wither in pain. It took me a moment to regain myself before I moved through the crowd.

            I easily found the drinks and got one, downed it, and then got another. I was doing my best to keep from remembering that my guy’s, my Maité’s, were not by my side. All I wanted was them, I didn’t care about any of this other crap. I Just wanted this night to be over with. I leaned up against a wall and sipped at my drink, watching everything around me. I was doing my best to be invisible, but apparently that was too much to ask for.

            Keldon caught sight of me and it was over. He came over with a wicked smile on his face, dragging his eyes over my body. I watched as his gaze moved up the slit in my dress then to the v cut out between my breasts. The easy way to describe how he looked right now, was hungry.

            “Good evening, sir.” I said as he came up, extending out his hand for me to take.

            Keldon nodded. “It is, especially now that you are here.”

            “You flatter me too much. I’m just a human.” I said, trying to find a way out as I placed my hand in his.

            He put my hand to his lips and slowly kissed the inside of my palm. “Any Kaji pales in comparison to you. Come, you’re with me tonight.”

            f**k.

            For two hours, I’ve been paraded around by Keldon. He showed me off to the other Kajians like I was some prized poodle. All I wanted to do was sit down after finding the boys, instead I was smiling and being a good girl for all Keldon’s friends and tribesman. I felt like I was back on Earth, partying with the model reps and doing my best to get people to hire me. At first it wasn’t so bad, but as Keldon kept drinking, it got worse.

            He would make passes at me when he thought no one was paying attention. Sometimes he would squeeze my ass and laugh about it, other times he would lean in and try to kiss me anywhere he could. It was becoming too much. I felt the brother’s watching, and I wondered how long the tree of us could take this. I caught sight of Koryn once, and for a moment I thought he was going to slaughter everyone in the room. I didn’t know if Keldon saw him or not, but I was desperate to find a way back to the boys.

            “Sir, I’m starting to get a little tired. I think I’m going to go sit down for a few minutes.” I said to Keldon, trying to pull away from him.

            He chuckled a little. “Alright, but I’ll be there in a few minutes to check on you. Wouldn’t want you sneaking off anywhere.”

            I nodded. “Okay, sir.”

            As soon as I was away from him, I let out a deep breath. I didn’t care, I was getting the hell out of here. Without a glance behind me I headed for the door that lead to the outside. I wasn’t going back in there. I don’t care what happens, I won’t be subjected to Keldon’s behavior any longer. Outside the air was brisk, making me feel like I was okay. At least for a moment.

           “I thought you were going to sit down?”

            I spun around to see Keldon standing there with an evil glint to his eyes. Oh, no. Why did I leave the safety of the crowded room… “I needed fresh air. I was feeling suffocated.”

            “Understandable, unless that was a comment about me.” He said taking steps closer.

            Without realizing it I was stepping back away from him. “Have you seen Koryn or Kit? I need them to take me back to their vehicle for something.”

            He shrugged. “I’m not concerned about my boys. Why are you backing away from me?”

            “Please…” I was trying to be strong against Keldon, but my fear was winning. “Let me go find them.”

            His low chuckled sent chills down my spine. “You’re not going anywhere right now. It’s just you and me.”

            f**k.

                        Thinking quickly, I kicked off my heels. “Sir, don’t do this.”

“Do what? It’s your duty to obey the Chief, ambassador.” He said smirking.

            I shook my head. “I am only supposed to follow orders listed by the High Commander and his Lieutenants.”

            Keldon shrugged. “That may be true when you’re in Circle City, but you’re in my home now. My domain, and if I want you flat on your back, there you will be little human.”

            “Not without a fight.” I growled. “I’m not going to give you anything.”

            I watched him yank off his belt. “We’ll see how long you can last then.”

            f**k.

            He came for me, and I expected it. With a fluid movement, I ducked and was running for the crowded party. For a moment, I thought I was home free, but his hand caught my hand and yanked me backwards to the ground.

            I cried out as my leg scraped against the asphalt. He was quickly at my side trying to seize my wrists, but he was going to have to fight me first. I yanked my right out of his grip and landed a solid hit to his cheek. In return, it earned me a hard slap across my face that busted my lip. I took it and leaned forward to jab my fingers as hard as I could muster into his left eye. Keldon yelled out Kajian curse words as I tried to crawl to my feet. He grabbed a hold of my foot and yanked me back, I kicked out with my left foot, catching him in the chest. Not enough to get him off though. He sat on my back and wrapped his hands around my throat. Luckily for me, the choker cuff was keeping him from being able to choke me. I reached up and clawed down his arms. I could feel his flesh ripping beneath my fingers as he tried his hardest to strangle me. It was then he realized that the necklace was keeping him from choking me out, and his hands moved to fumble with the clasp.

            With him on my back there was nothing I could do. I felt the choker being yanked away from my throat, and him push my head down into the ground. I was able to tilt to the side so my face wasn’t flat against the asphalt, and that’s when he saw it. My mark.

           “What in the damn moons? You’re marked?! Who owns you, cornala?” He hissed in pure anger.

            I huffed as his weight was crushing my chest. Cornala was Kajian slang for w***e, and it wasn’t appreciated. “None of your f*****g business!”

            He swung down, hitting me across my face again in my vulnerable position. “Tell me now! This isn’t possible! You humans are toys to be used and thrown away when us Kajian’s get tired of your existence.”

            “Whatever.” I groaned out, if he put any more weight on me I was positive my ribs were going to start breaking. “No one cares about your opinion.”

            Keldon yanked my head further to the side, examining the mark further. He noticed the connection twine and forced my head in the opposite direction. “By the death of the moons, there are two…you have two marks? Who the hell are you?”

            I coughed as I tried to keep the air in my lungs. “A human, you idiot.”

            “I asked you a question. I can have things done to you to make you wish you were dead, now tell me what I want to know.”

            “f**k you.”

            He leaned forward to press his forearm on the back of my neck, cutting off my air supply. My eyes felt like they were going to pop out of my head and the pain from my neck was excruciating. With no air, my vision was starting to get blurry. Then before I passed out he leaned off me.

            “Tell me, cornala! Which Kaji own you? I want to be able to rub it in their face that I took you under me when I’m done with you.” Keldon shouted as he yanked my head by my hair again.

            “Fine, I’ll tell you.” I said as I groaned form the pain. He leaned down to be closer to my face. “It was your mom.”

            Keldon growled sitting up off me so he could flip me over onto my back. I swung as hard as I could at him, connecting with his nose good enough to bust it open. He grabbed my hands and pinned them above my head with one hand, while the other went to check his nose as blood dripped from it. I laughed as he glared down at me.

            “Oh look, you can bleed like a human.” I smirked.

            He used his free hand to wrap around my throat again, and as he leaned down to my face he put his weight into the choke. “I’m going to rip you apart from the inside out and send you’re broken pieces to your Maité’s.”

            Keldon let up the choke so he could work on hiking my dress up and unbuttoning his pants. I scoffed at him, causing him to stop what he was doing. “God, you really are a damned idiot.”

            “And why’s that?” He hissed as he slapped me again, making my lip truly bleed.

            I shook my head. “Because you haven’t put two-and-two together yet.”

           Keldon sat there for a moment, and then I watched his face change. Bingo.

            Before anything else happened, a body slammed into him, sending him toppling off me. I sat up and began to push myself away until I saw Koryn sitting on top of his father, connecting punch after punch to Keldon’s face. I felt arms under me and flinched.

            “It’s okay, luvana.”

            Kit. I turned and wrapped my arms around his neck as he picked me up. I inhaled his piney scent in before whispering to him. “Koryn’s going to kill him.”

            “I want him too.” Kit’s voice was dark. I’ve never heard him like this.

            I swallowed hard. “Set me down.”

            He listened to me without question, knowing I was doing what was best for them. I went over to Koryn and grabbed his face in my hands, leaning in and pressing my lips to his to distract him from his father. In an instant, he was up and I was in his arms. As he carried me away I could see the mangle heap that was their father, but for his sake at least he was still breathing.

            “Did he…” Kit started to ask, but trailed off.

            We were next to the vehicle, and both brothers were looking me over from head-to-toe. Koryn was gingerly wiping the blood from my chin, the anger swirling around in his beautiful eyes. He wanted to go back and kill Keldon, it was obvious, but I want going to have them responsible for killing a Chief.

            I touched the side of Kit’s face gently. “No, he didn’t get the chance too. I knew you two would come for me.”

            “We should have been there sooner.” Koryn muttered as he let his arm fall away from me.

            “You had fine timing. Don’t blame anything on yourselves. Blame Keldon.” I sternly said, placing my hand on his chest. “Where were you two all night?”

            Kit sighed. “We couldn’t stand to see Keldon touching you and harassing you the way he was, and in a haze of anger we left to go punish that Kaji that has been going around the females and violating them. Koryn went a little…overboard, not that I really care. When we were down with him we decided that it was enough and we were taking you away from this hellhole, but we couldn’t find you. So, we figured Keldon was trying to…” 

           “It’s okay.” I was trying to calm them down before they went back and finished what Koryn had started.

            They both shook their heads. “No, it’s not. We were trying to keep the peace and told ourselves that you could handle him at the party, but we shouldn’t have put that on you to begin with. Never will it happen again.”

            I smiled at Kit while Koryn looked down to his bloody hands. “No, the next Kaji to touch her will be dead.”

            “You can’t go around killing anyone who mistreats me, boys.” I said as I moved to use my dress to clean the blood off his hands.

            In unison, the brothers stared right at me and said with pure conviction. “Watch us.”