Page 30 of Victoria's Discovery

He didn’t open his eyes right away, but the corner of his lips lifted in a small, sleepy smile and he made a thrumming noise in the back of his throat.

Lightly shaking her hand on his chest, she leaned farther forward and coaxed, “Come on, Grumpy, it’s time to wake up. Rise and shine, Valentine,” she finished in a sing-song voice.

Finally, he opened his eyes to slits, his gaze immediately landing on her.

“Vee.” He blinked hard, she thought to bring her into focus. “Øt kalaus?” he rasped gruffly, scanning her with a frown.

He’d kind of barked it at her, but she could hear the concern in his voice and smiled. “I’m okay. Are you?”

He released a breath she hadn’t realized he was holding and grunted dismissively, asking, “Vera atThegan?”

“He’s right here. Seriously, though, are you okay? Er, kalaus? You scared the hell out of me. I thought you were in a coma or something. Maybe you were, but Thegan gave you, and me, a magical chocolate nut which made us better, so you’re okay now, right?”

He smirked briefly, looking a little amused at her nervous rambling, but she was just so relieved he was okay.

“Kalaus,værling,” he mumbled before something about what he’d said seemed to stun him. Thegan, too.

Frowning sharply at Thegan’s surprised grunt, Thorn gave him a warning look then pushed himself into a sitting position, gently guiding her away from him as he did so he didn’t knock into her.

Confused about that little exchange, but more concerned about Thorn’s health, Victoria shrugged it off as aliens being aliens and sat back on her heels, watching him closely for any signs he was still hurt. Thankfully, he seemed perfectly recovered. Thinking he might appreciate a sip of water, Victoria snagged her torn sleeve off the pellets and headed to the trough while he and Thegan spoke.

“Kinda wishing I was an alien right about now,” she mumbled under her breath as she dipped the sleeve in the little puddle. “Not only do they have wicked cool abilities and awesome pets, they’ve got magical nuts. I want magical nuts. And a tiny, flying, squirrel-dragon. And to hypnotize people with my voice. Ooh, and a tail. Damn, a tail would be cool.”

Sighing enviously, she returned to where the giants were now standing in the middle of the cage and offered Thorn the dripping sleeve. He took it with a surprised but appreciative look and squeezed it over his mouth.

Victoria watched as a few droplets missed, following them with her gaze as they slid over his jaw, down his tattooed neck to his muscled, blue pecs. Forcing herself to look away, she glanced around at the other beings while she listened to Thegan and Thorn talk back and forth, enjoying the cadence of their deep voices.

The people and animals that she could see looked a lot calmer now that a bit of time had passed, which was good, but they were still trapped, and she hadn’t seen any sign of their abductors. She also hadn’t been actively searching for them, but she didn’t think she would’ve missed their arrival.

That was worrying.

“Hopefully, we landed somewhere with nice, helpful people who will come find us and free us,” she whispered, knowing that was unlikely but trying to stay optimistic.

Chapter 17

Victoria and the giants spent what felt like an hour trying again to get out, hoping against hope the crash had destabilized the cage enough for them to break free.

It hadn’t.

They’d been sitting against the wall in frustrated silence for maybe five minutes, having finally admitted defeat, when Thegan tensed suddenly, sitting up to look around like he’d heard something.

“What? What is it? Are the fishes back?”

He quickly pushed to his feet without responding, not that she would’ve been able to understand him anyway. A second later, Thorn jolted slightly on her other side before he, too, jerked upright and began scanning the hold just as intently as Thegan.

Grunting, Thorn turned and stared hard off to the left, eyes narrowed. He didn’t look like he was staring at any of the cages in that direction but seemed to be looking through them.

They’d definitely heard something. She just hoped it was a good something instead of anything bad or deadly or horrible.

She followed Thorn up when he got to his feet and didn’t fuss when he reached out and guided her to stand between him and Thegan. Tense and nervous, Victoria laid her hand on Thorn’s back and anxiously scanned the hold with them.

Her heart began to race as the seconds ticked by, the suspense spiking her adrenaline.

Because her nerves were already on edge, she thought it was perfectly understandable when she screamed as Vi’kail’s pet suddenly appeared, hovering in the air not two inches from her nose.

The giants reacted immediately, lunging for the sneaky animal with matching growls.

“No, no, wait! It’s friendly!” she gasped.

---