Emma's Heart (Brides of Theron 3) by Rebecca Pond, Rebecca Lorino Page A

was the burning sensation in her nose. It felt like she was about to shoot fire out of her nose. She swallowed the burning liquid then took a deep breath, and when she did the burning sensation was much worse. She coughed to try to get the liquid to either move down her throat or back out her mouth. Her eyes watered as the burn slowly faded away and settled into the pit of her stomach which was empty because she hadn’t eaten in over two days.
    “Holy crap, that’s some strong stuff!” She took a much smaller sip this time. The pink liquid actually had a good flavor. It was just the burning sensation afterwards that got to her. She continued to search through the refrigerator for food to eat. She pulled open a drawer that contained a square wrapped up in something that looked like a cheese cloth.  Taking it out the drawer, she opened up the wrapping then smelled it.  It smelled pretty good to her so she broke off a piece of the creamy stuff and chewed it up.  It was soft and light blue and had a creamy texture.
    “Oh my God, that is so good! I have no idea what it is, but I am going to eat this.” She shut the door of the refrigerator with her foot since her hands were full with the food she was holding. She went back to her spot behind the curtain and put down her dinner, but before she sat down on the floor she grabbed one of the cushions that were on the sofa. Positioning herself to where she could see docking bay, she laid on the floor drinking her pick alcohol and eating whatever the creamy light blue stuff was.
    She racked her brain for a way to get off the ship. There had to be some kind of a way to get to one of those small ships and drive it back to earth. It couldn’t be too complicated to fly one since these guys seemed to be so technologically advanced. First though, she would need to be able to sneak out of Brylon’s rooms with no one seeing her. She was quite confident that she could manage at least that task because she became an expert at running away when she was in foster care. One time she ran away and was gone for a week before the social services finally caught up with her, it was a week of pure freedom.
    Now she was facing a completely different scenario, being so far away from home, but she had to at least try. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she didn’t at least take a chance. What did she have to lose anyway? Her only other option was living her life with an alien on a different planet?  She had nothing to lose.
    She had no idea how long she laid there watching the ships come and go, but after a while her eyes got very heavy. She fought to keep them open because she really found the view of that the window had to offer very soothing.  However, it soon became too much of an effort to resist and she let her eyes drift close.
     
     
    Brylon returned to his quarters much later than he had originally planned. When he left Emma a few hours ago, he was only planning to being gone for about an hour. But, once he arrived at the engine room, someone had informed him that one of the air systems was not functioning properly. If the problem was serious enough, part of the ship would have to be sealed off until the repair was made. Luckily, after spending the majority of the time looking for the cause of the problem, it turned out to be an easy fix. One of the wires in the outtake circuit had worked itself loose and just needed to be soldered back in position.
    Once he returned to his quarters, he quickly glanced around to see if Emma was still awake. Not seeing her anywhere, he went into to the bedroom and came to a dead stop. The bed was just how he left it. Where the hell was she? Did she go through with her threat and decide to find a way back down to her planet? He was starting to become frantic. Anything could happen to a female on ship filled with unmated warriors, not to mention, the several other species that lived and worked on the mother ship at present. Could he trust any of