Page 19 of Guardian's Soul (Space Guardian's Mate #2)

HANNAH

The simurunner had freaked me out enough to stay away from it for a while. I wasn't going back inside that thing again anytime soon. The chances of me going back were even slimmer without Thrax around. Without him, I would have ended up on the ground with a split open head the first time I was inside.

Speaking of Thrax… I didn't like how I had reacted to him calling out her name. Suahaana . Not one bit. I had no rights to this man. I didn't even want to have rights to this man…

Liar!

I wished that damn annoying voice in my head would shut up. Unfortunately, it was right. The more time I spent with Thrax, the more he… grew on me. Not just because he was a very attractive man. He was, but the side I had seen of him last night had brought us closer and had driven it home to me that he was a person . A person with emotions, vulnerabilities, and a story of his own—one I had barely begun to understand.

And one that somehow, inexplicably, seemed interwoven with mine. No, there was no logical explanation for me feeling that way, but I couldn't simply dismiss our mating marks or the weird thing that had happened in the simurunner. I still tried to convince myself that the machine must have somehow read my mind and projected the images I had conjured up in my head to the wall. I felt a whole lot better assuming the machine had entered my mind than the alternative, which was that somehow I had known where I was and had recognized that alien planet. I could also not simply dismiss my reaction to the name Suahaana . It, too, felt oddly familiar.

Pulling my mind away, I found myself working out on one of the other machines. It wasn't as satisfying as running, but the newness and technological advancement of the machine were enough to occupy my mind and distract me from my confusing thoughts.

"You want to go over some simple hand-to-hand combat skills?" Thrax's voice startled me. I had been so absorbed in my own mind I hadn't heard him enter.

"Do you think I'll need them?" I asked evasively. I had picked up a thing or two from Danny, but physical conflict was still something I didn't feel very comfortable around.

"If it's up to me, you won't be in any danger, but I would feel much better bringing you along if I knew that you could handle yourself if you needed to," Thrax replied.

"All right," I agreed, disentangling myself from the machine. "What are we going to do?"

He tapped on one of the wall monitors, and to my utter amazement, the entire fitness equipment vanished into the floor. Replaced by black mats.

"I'll leave the setting for soft," Thrax explained.

"What other settings are there?" My curiosity got the better of me.

"Anything you like, rocks, water, space…"

Yeah, these aliens were definitely several levels ahead of us humans in technology .

"Okay," I said lamely, shaking out my arms and legs.

"What are you doing?" Thrax watched me, amused.

"Getting limber," I shot out defensively.

"Okay," he drew the word out but started hopping where he stood and shaking his arms and legs out, copying me. "Hey, that's not bad."

I grinned. "I do have a few things I might teach you."

"All right," he said after we did some warmups, to which he let me take the lead. "I'm going to?—"

He stepped toward me, his hand up in the air, about to grab my throat. Muscle memory is a funny thing. One moment, he was coming at me. The next, he found himself flat on the ground, staring at me with surprised, wide eyes. "What in the seven suns just happened?"

"I think I just sent you flying on your ass." I laughed. His expression was just too much.

I held out my hand to pull Thrax up, and to my surprise, he allowed it.

"You didn't tell me you were already trained in hand-to-hand combat." He accused with a small hurt expression on his face.

"Not exactly trained," I elaborated. "I helped a self-defense instructor teach other women. I might have picked up a thing or two."

"Well, let's see if you can do this again," he challenged.

I couldn't.

The only reason I had been able to do it in the first place had been because I had taken him by surprise. So what followed were a couple of grueling hours where I found myself more often dead than I liked.

"Dead again," he said accusingly as his hand pressed into my stomach with an invisible knife.

Panting, I lay there, ready for him to filet me. I was done. Dead. Deader than dead .

"Mercy," I pleaded. "I need a shower, food, and some chill time."

"Chill time?" He rose, helping me up.

My legs were spaghetti. Overcooked, buttered, soft spaghetti. Great, now my mouth was watering.

"Yeah, you know, like watching a movie, playing a game or something. A time where you don't think. You're just there, recharge, chill." I shrugged.

"Chill." A small grin spread over his lips, creating a dimple on his right side I must have missed so far and making him look incredibly sexy.

"Chill." I nodded, grinning. "Come on, I'll teach you."

We showered separately—he used one of the other quarters—and then we ate in the break room.

"So you guys don't have any movies?" I asked, playing with the comm he had handed to me. "What do you do for entertainment?"

"We have bars," he said, "and pleasure houses."

I shuddered, thinking it was one of those pleasure houses where he had rescued me from. "Okay, let's say you have kids, a wife, a girlfriend, whatever. Where would you take them for fun?" I elaborated.

He stared at me as if I had spoken a different language. Well, I suppose I had, but that was what we had the translators for.

"I never had a family," he reminded me.

Right. I wanted to slap my head. Memory block, loss, whatever.

"Okay, so let's say you're out in space all by yourself," I hastened to add, not wanting to dwell on this short, uncomfortable moment. "You had a rough day. What would you do?"

He lit up a little. "Watch a holovid."

Okay. I had no idea what a holovid was, but I felt we were getting somewhere. I handed him the comm. "Pretend I'm a human from Earth and have no idea what you're talking about. "

He looked at me funny before he quietly chuckled. "I like it when you make jokes."

I stiffened. For a moment there, I had felt like my old self again. At least partly. It was a good feeling.