Dragon Lords of Valdier Boxset Books 1-3

Chapter 5-1

Chapter 5

Abby was just setting the table when her strange guest appeared. She let out a sigh of relief when she noticed he was dressed. The clothes hung on him, and the pants were more like long shorts than pants, but at least he was covered.

Abby smiled and motioned for him to sit down at the table. “I hope you don’t mind something simple. I don’t have any meat in the house. I’m a vegetarian. I made you one of my special veggie burgers with some chips. Would you like iced tea? It’s unsweetened, but I have sugar if you want sweet tea, milk, water, or coffee?”

Zoran frowned as he listened. He understood part of what she said. He wondered how she could not have meat in her home. Was she too poor or did she not have a man to hunt for her? He watched as she stood looking at him with wide, nervous eyes. His eyes were drawn to her lips. She was biting her lower lip as she stared at him. He moved slowly toward the table and sat hiding a smile when she suddenly let out her breath.

“I would like what you drink,” Zoran replied in his language, waiting for the female to respond.

When she frowned at him again, he felt a flash of frustration. He was able to understand her perfectly, but she seemed to not understand him. He pointed to the glass in front of her and then to his. Understanding lit up her face as she smiled at him showing off a set of dimples in each cheek that had Zoran groaning with pleasure as her face transformed. She was breathtaking when she smiled. Her eyes lit with an inner light, and she seemed to glow. Reaching over, Abby poured iced tea into his glass.

“It really is very good,” Abby said hesitantly, nodding to the sandwich on his plate. “I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Abigail Tanner, but everyone calls me Abby. This is my home.” Nodding toward Bo, who was sound asleep on the rug, she added, “That is Bo. He is the one who found you. He is visiting me for a few days while a friend of mine is visiting her family.”

Zoran watched as Abby spoke softly. He liked the sound of her voice. It was soft and husky and made him think of wild things and warm sheets.

“I am called Zoran,” Zoran said, pointing to himself before he picked up the sandwich. He took a sniff of it before taking a bite. His eyes widened, as he tasted the blend of spices. It was unlike anything he had ever eaten before but was very good. He took another bite nodding his head as he chewed.

Abby smiled again. “Zoran. Welcome to my home,” Abby said softly.

They spent the next hour trying to communicate. Abby was puzzled how Zoran could understand everything she said, but she couldn’t understand him. When she asked about it, he pointed to his ears and said a word. Abby finally figured out it was some type of device that translated what she was saying. When she pointed to the gold bands around his wrist and the one around his neck, he said something else she couldn’t understand.

Abby felt like she was playing a one-sided game of charades. It was very frustrating for her and she felt for him, as he wanted to ask her questions, but she didn’t understand what he was asking.

Bo finally decided it was time to go outside, and Abby got up from the table to let him out only to be pinned to Zoran’s broad chest again. Abby looked up into the dark gold eyes, wondering what she had gotten herself into. Abby flushed when she saw the dark look of warning in Zoran’s eyes.

“It’s okay. Bo needs to go outside, and I need to check on Gloria. No one else is here. I live alone. Would you like to see where I found you? We still have plenty of daylight if you would like to go up to the meadow where your ship is.” Abby stared up at the man who held her so tightly.

“Zi.” Zoran was confused. Why did someone as lovely as Abby live alone? Surely it was too dangerous for her to be left unprotected. Who took care of her? Who made sure she had food and supplies?

Abby pressed her hands against Zoran’s chest until he loosened his hold on her. Turning, she called out to Bo. Abby opened the door to the cabin, pausing briefly to give him a reassuring smile, before walking outside.

Zoran gazed around at the lush vegetation surrounding the cabin. He followed Abby over to a small fenced-in area watching as she called to a dark brown creature. He watched as Abby held out a small fruit to the creature that swept it out of her hand and crunched on it lazily.

“This is Gloria. She belongs to my friend Edna. She helped me bring you here from the meadow. She’s such a good girl, aren’t you Gloria? Yes, you are,” Abby murmured as she scratched the creature behind its ear.

“I’ll show you the meadow first. I’m sure you are worried about your ship. It’s strange but I swear it seems like it is alive. I could feel it responding to me when I touched it. It was worried about you.” Abby flushed as she looked up at Zoran, thinking he was going to think she was nuts. “I know that sounds stupid, but it was just a weird feeling I got.”

Zoran had no way of explaining to Abby that his ship was, indeed, alive and was a part of him. He could feel it every time she would gently stroke the symbiot on her wrists. It was like she was stroking him. He felt her doing it several times inside her home, and she was doing it now as they walked along the path. He shivered as her fingers gently ran back and forth over the gold bracelets.

Reaching down, he grabbed her hand, preventing her from doing it any longer. If she didn’t stop, he wouldn’t be able to prevent himself from taking her right there on the path. Abby looked up, startled, but kept her hand in Zoran’s larger one. They walked in a comfortable silence along the path. When they reached the meadow, Zoran released Abby’s hand and marched over to the gold ship, murmuring to it as he ran his hand over it. Abby watched in wonder as steps formed on the side and Zoran climbed into the ship. It was like something out of a science-fiction movie.

Abby stood, unsure of what to do. She didn’t feel like she could leave him and didn’t feel right climbing into the ship. She decided she would find a nice dry rock to sit on and wait. She still needed to go into town. If she left within the next hour she would be back before it got dark since it took so long to drive to town and back. Otherwise, she would have to leave early tomorrow morning. She still needed to finish the piece she was working on and between the storm and her unexpected visitor, she was behind her self-imposed schedule to have it done by the time Edna got back.