His Human Rebel (Zandian Masters 4)

“Who did you kill? What happened?”

“I left the body in the north corridor.” He laid Cambry down as gently as possible.

“I’m all right.” Her voice still had a terrible raspy quality from being choked. Angry red welts on her neck would soon turn to bruises. Another lump swelled at her temple. Seeing those marks on her made his fists clench all over again. “Go.” She waved him off.

He hesitated, but Rok propelled him out the door. He explained what happened briefly to Rok as he led him to the mess, which—thank the stars—hadn’t been found by any being.

“You should have called for backup immediately. You can’t just leave a corpse like this,” Rok snapped, hauling the body off the floor. “Do you know what this is going to do to refugee relations?”

“I’ll report to Prince Zander and Master Seke now.”

Rok scowled. “Do it. And call in one of your guards to clean up the mess, for stars’ sake!” He stalked away with the body.

“Yes, Captain,” he muttered. Lundric hit his communicator to call both Master Seke and Prince Zander.

Prince Zander’s device answered, but both males’ heads sprang up. They’d been together when he called. “What is it?” Seke asked sharply.

“I killed one of the humans,” he admitted. Guilt at the trouble he’d caused his superiors warred with the remaining anger at the threat on his female.

“What happened?” the prince demanded.

He swiped his hand across his cheek, sensing the human’s blood there. “He forced himself on C—one of the females. I ended it.”

Seke raised his brows. “By killing him?”

His nostrils flared. “Their necks break easily.”

“And the female?” Zander asked.

“Cambry. I want her.” There. He’d said it. He needed to secure the female as his. If he’d done that sooner, she might not have been threatened.

“Excuse me?”

Veck. That had come out all wrong. He cleared his throat, marshaling his manners. “May I take a female slave, as you both have done?”

They stared at him.

“Please, my lord?” he added.

“You are not in a position to beg any favors of me, Lundric,” the prince snapped. “We need the strongest allegiance possible from these humans or they’ll never serve as an army for us. Right now, you’d better be thinking about how to control the damage you’ve done to Zandian-human relations on that pod.”

Veck, of course the prince was right. He’d failed his ruler and Cambry both, this planet rotation. He bowed. “Yes, my lord.”

Zander moved to end the hologram transmission, but desperation made Lundric try again. He needed to secure Cambry as his own—for his sanity and her safety. “What about the female? What about Cambry?”

“I’ve granted you nothing. If you want the human female, cultivate a bond.”

Did he mean to court her like he would a Zandian female—if any of mating age were still alive? Relief poured through him. That meant the prince granted Cambry her own sovereignty to choose. No one else, presumably Prince Zander included, would have the right to take her from Lundric. He need only convince Cambry. He squared his shoulders and nodded, once. “Thank you, my lord.”

~.~

Cambry sat up too fast, forgetting the bruise on her temple. It throbbed, making her wait until her vision cleared to stand up. She’d refused any analgesic from Lily the previous planet rotation but had accepted a cold pack before locking herself in her room to sleep.

Her dreams had been a twisted mix of all the scenes in her life where she’d been in grave danger, except Lundric always showed up, protecting her with the fierceness of an animal. The memory of what he’d done to the male who’d attacked her should make her sick. The level of violence was greater than she’d seen before. And yet it didn’t.

It made her feel safe.

Thoughts of Lundric made her reach for the bottles of cosmetics Lily had given her. She uncapped a lightly fragranced oil for the ski