Her Mate and Master (Zandian Masters 6)

Except he wasn’t an asshole. And that made her all the more bitter at not being able to trust him. She’d wanted to trust him.

She ran until her legs gave out and a twist in her side made her stop and double over, wheezing. She’d run three times as far as she could have back on Stornig. Thank you, Zandian crystals.

She straightened and gasped. In the curve of the valley below stood the rubble of a bombed village. Metal and stone twisted together in an unnatural heap. Goose bumps prickled over her arms as if the ghosts of all those murdered by the Finn stood up to be counted.

It was horrible, what had happened on Zandia. How could the Finn kill every inhabitant? Females and young alike?

An animal skittered by her feet, making her lurch backward. She fell into giant leaves—a bush of some sort—except the leaves snapped closed.

Her scream punctured the air before she could stop herself. Tight bands of giant leaves cinched her, squeezing her very breath. She struggled to free herself but couldn’t even wrench an arm free from the terrorizing flora.

Excrement, excrement, excrement! Zandia had carnivorous plants? This was not the death she foresaw for herself. Not even close. She screamed again, once more willing to signal her self-appointed rescuer, Tomis, the lesser evil in this situation.

Like before, he appeared at top speed, a mixture of fear and fury on his face. His eyes widened when he took in her predicament, and the alarm in his expression did nothing to relieve her.

“Get me out of here,” she whimpered like a complete tool. She’d just bashed his head in with a rock, and now she begged him to save her? But he would. She knew it without a shadow of a doubt. Tomis was hero material, through and through. He identified as an honorable warrior. His duty was to rescue her.

He tore at the banded leaves, but it was as if they were made of steel. They didn’t budge.

“Hurry, please! It’s getting tighter.”

“Stop struggling,” he bit out as he picked up a large, sharp rock and hacked at the base of the giant greenery.

“Your gun! Use the gun. Please, Tomis—it hurts.”

“If I use the gun, I risk detection by the Finn,” he grated. But he wasn’t getting anywhere with the rock.

The plant squeezed her ribs. “I can’t breathe.”

“Veck.” Tomis pulled the gun from his belt and knelt at the stem, pressing the nozzle right up against the plant’s flesh. He shot into the aggressive vegetation.

She screamed as electrical surges charged through her limbs, making her teeth buzz and her hair stand on end.

It did the trick, though. The plant loosened its hold on her.

“It worked. It worked.” She freed one arm and reached for him. “Pull me out. Please.” She ought to add an “I’m so sorry I tried to concuss you,” but he’d already clasped her hand in his mighty palm. The muscles in his chest and arms, even his neck, bulged as he leaned his weight back and pulled her.

She moved an inch. Then another. Then she came flying out, landing on top of Tomis and knocking him back to the ground.

“Thank you,” she breathed. “I—”

He threw her off him and surged to his feet. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her up. “Come. We have to find water to wash that acid off your skin before it eats you alive.”

Stars, what was the sound that came from her lips? It resembled no word in any language she’d heard in the galaxy. It was more like a pitiful, animalistic wail.

Acid off her skin?

Yes. Yellow-green slime covered her body from the neck down. And it was starting to burn. No, that was just the power of Tomis’ suggestion. Hell, either way, she needed it off before she lost it. She took off running, trying to keep up with Tomis.

He seemed to know where he was going, his long strides sure. “Watch the hole,” he barked, pointing to the danger as his feet flew along. She did her best to follow but she soon reached her limit again, a cramp twisting in her side like a knife.

“Wait! Sl-slow down...I can’t go on,” she panted.

Tomis turned, eyeing the slime on her body with disgust before he swung her up in his arms.

“No, you shouldn’t—” she protested, but he already had. The massive warrior took off running once more, even faster than before. Unbelievably, he carried her straight to water. Somehow, he’d known where to find a river. He plunged in, lowering her body into the cold water. Reeds choked the banks, tiny colorful waterbeasts swimming in and out of them.

She gasped at the temperature but used her hands the way Tomis did, rubbing the goo off her skin with a brisk motion. She shucked his shirt and wrung it out in the water. Tomis continued scrubbing her skin, his large palms working her body. The goo washed off, but her skin tingled where it had been.