I know I should still want to leave. I know I have to try to save the other women.
But now…now I’m not so sure if I want to go home at all.
I’m not even sure I want to know what’s going on back on my planet. Somehow…some way, I ended up in one of those cryotubes and was jetting through space. Asleep. The idea is terrifying. Especially since I don’t remember a thing. Was I kidnapped? Was I forced away? Now that my mind has found some clarity, questions continue to plague me of how I came to get myself in that position anyway. And if someone put me there, why would I be in any hurry to get back?
I wouldn’t.
Not living in a constant haze is nice. I’m beginning to want things for myself again. Stirrings of purpose flitter inside of me.
I’m more than Aria Delaney, actress.
Fierce. Resilient. Tough.
I’ve lived through some daunting trials in life and yet here I am. Stuck on a creepy planet with sexy albino vampire giants with elf ears and it doesn’t totally suck. Nope, it doesn’t suck at all.
Perhaps the more I get to know these guys, maybe I’ll feel more inclined to stay. Maybe I can help them. On my own terms.
Maybe we’re not so different after all.
9
Breccan
Avrell applies a medicated wipe to the biggest sore on my chest. I let out a roar and puncture the bedding with my claws. “Rekk! Are you trying to burn a hole right through me?”
Aria comes up beside him and regards me with narrowed eyes. “That was reckless.” Her nostrils flare and her lips press together in a firm line. It’s as though she’s chiding me too. “You passed out.” She motions at my chest. “And look at you. You damn near cooked!”
“Do I smell rogcow?” Hadrian questions, sniffing loudly as he strolls into the medical bay.
“Calix cleared you, I see,” I bark out, changing the subject. “Did the sabrevipe’s claws get you?”
Hadrian unzips his minnasuit and peels out of the top half to show me his wounds. His pale white skin has been scratched and bubbles up red but it has not been punctured.
“How big was this thing?” Aria utters, shock in her voice as she inspects Hadrian’s marks. Her fingers flit up as though she wants to touch him but she keeps her distance.
“Don’t worry,” he whispers loud enough for me to hear. “I don’t bite…unless you want me to.” He waggles his eyebrows and bares his double fangs, causing her to giggle.
Giggle!
That rekking mort gets on my every last nerve most solars now that he’s come into his own, but right now I want to hug him and thank him for bringing some genuine joy to my mate.
It strikes me as I watch her appraise his battle wounds and chatter with him that she’s not happy. Not happy like I am. She’s the best rekking thing to happen to me in my entire existence.
But her?
We essentially took her from somewhere.
My mind throbs with questions. About her family. Her duties. The things she enjoys doing or holds dear to her. I know nothing.
“What is it?” Avrell asks as he listens to my heart with his device. “Your pulse is thumping erratically. I’m worried you may have some UV poisoning.”
“It was bigger than this room!” Hadrian boasts, stretching his arms to describe the baby sabrevipe.
Aria shrieks in horror. “No! And you took it down by yourself?”
“While everyone watched,” he agrees. “You’re talking to the future commander when my old man kicks it.”
She laughs again and my heart thumps in my chest. Avrell panics and rushes over to his medicine cabinet.
“Av,” I grunt. “It’s not UV poisoning.” My eyes trek over to Aria. It’s her.
Avrell’s gaze follows mine and we watch as Hadrian pretends to run and battle this giant he’s made up in his nog.
“You’d make a great actor,” she tells him, her giggles echoing in the room.
“I don’t know what that is but I do know I’d make a great everything.” He grins like the empty-nog little rekk he is.
“Go help Galen cook this massive beast that you single-handedly destroyed,” I order dryly.
He flashes me his rogcow horns and saunters out of the medical bay like he’s the mortarekking king of Mortuus. Avrell lets out an amused chuckle as he returns without the medicine for UV poisoning but instead an electrolyte booster. I toss the tablet into my mouth and crunch the chalky pill. As soon as I swallow, I can feel my strength returning.
“Why did those monsters attack the facility?” she asks, fear flashing in her brown orbs. “Can they get in? Will they eat us?” She shudders and rubs her arms.
I climb off the table, no longer dizzy, and pull her slight frame into my arms. At first, she is stiff, but then she leans against my chest that is still far warmer than normal. It prides me knowing I can comfort her. Even if it is only to make her stop shivering.