I snarl, my grip on her rump tightening as though I can protect her from the monster in her past.
“We were in the kitchen when he came to pick her up for a visitation. All…all I could hear was Willow crying for me to help her. I couldn’t take it. I saw red, Draven.” Her eyes flash with fierce protectiveness. “I stabbed him.”
“This Randy deserved to have his skin flayed from his bones,” I hiss out. “Males do not strike females or mortlings. That is insanity.” Even maddened by The Rades, I would’ve never hurt someone weaker than me. Randy is like Aria’s monster, Kevin. And we morts are not Kevins.
“It was meant to stop him temporarily,” she mutters. “How was I supposed to know I’d nick a main artery in his neck? All I wanted was to get him off my baby girl.” Her eyes grow distant. “There was so much blood. But Willow was safe. That’s all that mattered.” She bows her head in shame. “They took my daughter after that. I was sentenced to life on Exilium. He died, Draven. I killed him. A man I once loved enough to have a baby with.”
Since we are safe from armworms, I sheathe my magknife and slide my other hand to her rump. It feels right to hold her here. With our suits on, touching her is easy.
“You were brave, my mate.”
She shakes her nog. “Brave? It was the ultimate sin. Murder. They took my daughter and sent me away. I am never going to see her again. My future was to remain in a cell like the ones you guys have until the day I died.”
“Your planet sickens me,” I snarl. “They punish those who protect the weak?”
“I’d do it all over again if it meant saving my daughter from that monster’s abusive hand,” she tells me in a fierce tone. “Hearing that baby crying just makes me think about my sweet Willow and it hurts, Draven. It just hurts.” She lets out a ragged sigh that rasps through the comms system. “I bet you guys wish you wouldn’t have intercepted that ship now, huh? Took a bunch of bad girls and saved them from doing life in prison. What did the other two do?”
“Aria remembers nothing about the ship. I’m not sure Emery does either.”
“Unfortunately, I remember everything.”
I give her rump a comforting squeeze that feels right in this moment. “We must tell the others. The commander will want to know this information.”
“I’m sorry,” she utters. “If you want to put me in one of your cells, I’ll understand.”
Shaking my nog, I find her sad stare. “You’re my mate, and I will not allow anyone to lock you away in a reform cell. This is my promise to you.”
“Thank you,” she breathes. Her arms wrap around my middle, and she rests her head against my chest. I’m tense at the affectionate gesture, but I don’t push her away.
No, I give her rump another two-handed squeeze.
This feels right.
This feels right.
This feels rekking right.
7
Molly
“Will you stay with me? I don’t want to be alone, and this is hard enough as it is.”
Draven’s hands still as he helps me out of the over-suit—or zu-gear as he refers to it—and mask that I’ve learned is called a rebreather after a rigorous, decontaminating cleansing. “Of course, my mate. I won’t be going anywhere.” He sheds his own suit and stores our gear, before turning to me. “We must speak with Breccan and Aria at once. Any information you may know about you and the other aliens is vital.”
I nod and barely notice as he tugs me back to the corridor where Breccan and his mate, Aria, are resting with their newborn. Well, I barely notice anything other than the warmth of Draven’s hand clasped securely around my own. When I told him about what I’d done, the kind of person I am, he’d looked at me like…he was proud of me. No one has ever been proud of me before. No one has ever looked at me like he did.
No one has ever made me feel safe.
Draven may be big and scary and probably crazy, but he is mine now.
Before I know it, we’re at the door. Draven waits for an announcement to come in, then swipes his card, and the door slides open. I hesitate in the doorway until Draven turns with a curious look and tugs me forward. This time, I go inside and meet the authoritative commander once more, under better terms, and finally his human wife, Aria.
Breccan hovers over Aria, who is curled up in their bed. He turns when he sees us. “You said over the comms that you had news about the females. Come in.”
The baby squalls and Aria soothes him with a low hum. My throat turns to dust, and my knees lock. Draven glances back curiously, notes my distress, and comes immediately to my side. I could get used to having him around.