Hannah's Warrior: Cosmos' Gateway Book 2 (11 page)

Borj smiled as he looked at the innocent
smiling face of Hannah when she was ten. There was a series of
photographs ranging from different animals, to people, to
landscapes. Each was taken with care and the attention to detail
was incredible for one so young. He flipped to the next page. There
was several more of Hannah at different ages. It was when he turned
to the next page that he saw a change. She was no longer smiling
and her eyes were dark and sad. He turned back to the page before
and noted she looked to be about the same age from the one before
to the next but her eyes seemed to have aged a hundred cycles.

Borj growled out in frustration at not being
able to read the printed material. Throwing the blanket off of him,
he stood up moving towards the stairs leading up to Hannah. He
wanted answers and she made it clear she was the only one who could
give them. He took the stairs two at a time on silent feet.

He moved towards the sleeping area. The door
was partially closed but Borj could see just fine thanks to the
lights from the open windows. He walked slowly towards the bed
staring down at Hannah’s relaxed face. Sitting carefully on the
edge of the bed, he let his gaze move over her face memorizing
every detail. Dark shadows from exhaustion still darkened beneath
her eyes even in sleep. Her lips were parted and he could hear the
quiet breaths as she breathed in and out slowly. Her hair had come
undone from the braid she wore earlier and lay fanned out across
the pillows. Borj lifted a hand that wasn’t quite steady and gently
lifted a strand that lay across her chest.

Hannah could feel she wasn’t alone but she
was so tired she didn’t want to wake up. Her breath caught in her
throat when she felt the warmth of the body as it settled on the
mattress next to her. Normally, she would have panicked to have a
male so close to her but instead she felt – protected. She knew
immediately who was next to her. She could feel the heat pooling
lower between her legs and the restlessness of wanting to be held
in his strong arms. Hannah frowned as she felt her body reacting to
Borj.

“Tell me what happened to
you.”
Borj asked silently.

“I can’t.”
Hannah whispered back without ever saying a
word.

Borj looked into Hannah’s dark green eyes
that were now staring up at him in a silent plea for understanding.
There were the shadows again…the pain and the guilt deep inside
begging him to help her find a way to break free from it. As Borj
looked deeply into Hannah’s eyes he realized she really couldn’t
tell him. The anguish, pain, and horror of whatever happened to her
were locked so deeply inside her for so long she didn’t know how to
let it out.

Borj let his hand move to
cup her cheek gently. “
Then show
me.”
He whispered softly in her
mind.

Hannah held her breath for a
moment before she nodded silently. She instinctively moved her hand
up to press it against her cheek so he wouldn’t let her go. Borj
reached out with his other hand and entwined his fingers with the
hand Hannah had laying across her stomach. He squeezed her fingers
to
let her know he would wait as long as it
took for her to trust him. Hannah let out a shaky smile. Never
taking her eyes from Borj, she let the memories come. All of them,
everything from the shy, shared smiles of a young girl being asked
to dance for the first time to the half dead girl who barely made
it through the jungle and the nightmares that followed her for
years.

Hannah never broke eye contact with Borj. Not
even when she relived killing the two men. That was something she
never told anyone about, not her parents, not the authorities, not
the therapists. The one person who knew what she had done was
killed during the rescue attempt and none of the rebels survived to
tell.

Hannah’s eyes glittered with unshed tears as
she stared at Borj waiting for him to condemn her. She should have
forced the girl to go with her even if it meant she might be
captured. She was a murderer. Even if those men were bad and were
doing bad things, she should have found another way to get away
without killing them. But the worse was her feelings. She didn’t
feel any regret or sorrow for killing the men. She would do it
again if she was in the same situation. She felt the same for the
girl. She tried to get her to come with her but she wouldn’t.
Hannah knew deep down she would have been raped, killed or both if
she had tried to force the girl to go with her. She felt sad for
the girl’s death but she didn’t regret leaving her. Did that make
her a terrible person?

“Never.”
Borg said tenderly pulling Hannah up into his arms
and rocking her back and forth. “
It showed
that you are a strong person. You could make the decisions only a
leader can. Because of you, others lived. You are a true warrior
and I am proud to call you my mate.”

Hannah didn’t say anything. She snuggled
further into Borj’s warm body letting her arms slowly circle his
waist and holding him tentatively, like she was afraid he would
suddenly disappear. Borj’s arms tightened around Hannah and he laid
his cheek against her hair. Now that she let him into her mind
fully, he could see other times in her life when she came close to
dying. He didn’t saying anything. He carefully let his mind remain
blank as Hannah’s memories of other close calls; both from animals
and different environments she was photographing to the human
predators she encountered flow through him. He absorbed those
memories, learning more about Hannah’s strength and fierceness.

Borj felt Hannah’s body relax against his as
exhaustion from the emotional retelling and the stress of not
enough sleep finally took hold of her. He continued to hold her
tight against his body even after he knew she was in a deep sleep.
Reluctantly, he gently laid her back against the pillows. Moving
around the bed, he pulled his jeans off and climbed in next to her.
Almost immediately, Hannah rolled over onto her side and burrowed
into him. Borj let a small smile curve his lips. She was beginning
to trust him whether she wanted to admit it or not.

“Am not.”
Came the soft, teasing whisper in his
mind.

Maybe she wasn’t as asleep as he thought.
Another faint whisper caressed his mind before he knew she really
was asleep this time. Borj wrapped his arm around Hannah and closed
his eyes. His last thought before exhaustion claimed him was he was
already deeply in love with his little warrior.

Chapter 8

Hannah moaned as another wave of heat flowed
through her. The rough palm stroking her breast and pulling on her
nipple felt so damn good. Hannah arched her back trying to get
closer and froze. Something very long and hard was poking her in
the butt…a butt that should have been covered by her boxers which
were surprising absent. Surprising because she knew darn well she
didn’t remove them.

“No, I did. They were in
the way.”
Borj whispered quietly in her
mind. “
I thought you were never going to
wake up.”

Hannah bit her lip when she felt Borj’s warm
lips along her shoulder. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“
Why not?” Borj asked curiously as he
moved his lips towards Hannah’s neck. “I can’t think of anywhere I
would rather be.”

Hannah moved her hand up to still Borj’s
teasing one on her breast. Rolling over onto her back, she frowned
up at Borj. “Listen, you are an alien who will be going back to
your world, I am a human who is going to be remaining here. The two
don’t mix.” Hannah tried to explain through a throat that suddenly
felt like it was too dry.

Borj let his hand slide down to Hannah’s flat
stomach. He propped himself up on his elbow so he was gazing down
over her. He could feel the fear beginning to build in him and he
didn’t like it at all. He wanted Hannah to come to him on her own,
like Tink did with his brother. He didn’t want to have to bite her
to make her want him. He wanted…Borj closed his eyes for a moment
before opening them again…he wanted Hannah to want to be with
him.

“
We do mix, Hannah. I plan to take you
back to my world with me. I have to return…today. You will come
with me. There is no other choice any longer. We have bonded. If
you remain here you will die, just as I will die if I return
without you.” Borj said quietly.

Hannah looked up with a mixture of fear and
frustration. She was used to being independent. She could make snap
decisions without blinking an eye. She was so totally screwed.

Borj lifted his hand up to brush Hannah’s
cheek gently. “I do not understand this ‘screwed’. I have no wish
to hurt you if this is what it means.”

Hannah bit her lip. She had two choices: take
a chance or tuck tail and run. Since she had never tuck tail and
run in her life she decided she might as well take a chance.
Reaching up, she pulled Borj down over her. Borj jerked and groaned
as he felt Hannah’s response. Crushing his lips to hers, he poured
all of his love for her into it. This is what it was like, he
thought in a daze. This is what it was like to have a connection to
someone so deep there was no defining where they where they
separated.

“
You are thinking way too much.” Hannah
groaned as she pulled away slightly. “I thought it was the girl who
was supposed to do that.”

Borj chuckled. “Something tells me you are
not a typically female, even for your world.” Borj said as he ran
little kisses along Hannah’s jaw.

Hannah looked up at Borj for a moment. She
stared intently into his flaming silver eyes. “Why do I feel this
way about you?” Hannah asked softly.

Borj pressed his swollen cock against Hannah.
“I feel the same way about you.”

Hannah shook her head slightly from side to
side. “No, it is more than that. I feel…safe. I’ve never felt like
that before. Before, if a guy tried to get too close to me I would
get all weird.” Hannah said puzzled.

“
Oh, you still got all weird, dear. You
just got over it faster because your body recognized your other
half.” Tilly Bell said as she stepped into the room.

“
Yes, it is amazing what your body
knows, isn’t it sweetheart?” Angus said with a slight growl in his
voice. “Might I say it was a most enjoyable experience watching
your delightful rear-end coming up the stairs.”

Hannah gasped, trying to make herself as
small as possible under Borj’s huge frame. Borj looked over his
shoulder at the petite figure of Tilly Bell as she walked over to
the side table and set down a small covered tray. Angus moved up
behind her handing her the glasses of juice he was carrying. As
soon as their hands were free, Angus pulled Tilly into his arms
leaning her over and kissing her hard on the lips.

“
You are absolutely beautiful first
thing in the morning.” Angus whispered softly.

Tilly blushed and grinned up at her husband
of almost thirty years. “Oh, you…”

Hannah groaned. “Can you two go get your own
room?!”

Angus cleared his throat before gently
setting his wife back onto her feet. “Yes, well. We got tired of
waiting for you two to come down. From the looks of it, I can
understand why now. You should really close the door if you don’t
want company. Locking it helps too. Anyway, young man, I fully
expect for you to do right by my daughter or I will have to take
you to task.” Angus said sternly pushing his glasses back up on his
nose where they had slipped down.

Borj looked Angus up and down through
half-closed eyes trying not to show his amusement at the man’s
stern threat. He easily outweighed Hannah’s father but a hundred
pounds or more and was almost a foot taller. Not to mention, Borj
was built like all Prime males, very muscular, where Angus was
obviously not.

“Don’t under-estimate them.
It’s not my dad you have to worry about, it’s my mom. She could
kick your ass while drinking a cup of coffee.”
Hannah warned.

Borj looked at the sweet
looking little woman next to Angus and shook his head.
“
I could crush her with one
fist.”

“Yeah, like you did
me?”
Hannah asked with a raised
eyebrow.

Borj flushed as he remembered how quickly
Hannah knocked him on his ass. He was just about to say something
when Tilly sat down on the bed next to them. Borj tightened his
arms around Hannah who tried to the hide the impossible fact she
was naked with Borj still on top of her.

“
Your forehead is looking much better.
Hannah, you did a good job. I saw the dents in Tink’s frying pan.
How many times did you hit him?” Tilly said totally ignoring both
her oldest daughter’s discomfort and Borj’s as she brushed his hair
back from his forehead to peer at the discolored bruise.

“
Twice.” Hannah groaned. “Mom. Dad.
This is a little embarrassing. Do you think you can leave so we can
get up?”

Tilly peeked down at Hannah with a wide grin.
“Oh, I’d say he was already up.” She giggled.

“Yes, it would seem Borj was
having a bit of a
hard
time with our little girl.” Hannah’s face flamed as her father
joined in on the joke. “Come, dear. I think we have our answer. We
have some packing to do if we are going to be going with them.”
Angus said reaching for his giggling wife.

Hannah let out a deep breath and let her head
fall back on the bed with a loud groan. “Why? What did I ever do to
deserve such weird parents? Maybe I was adopted or found as a baby.
I keep hoping.” Hannah muttered humorously.