Page 43 of Breed

Lettie shrieks and tries to run after them. I lunge to hold her back as the guards swing around, weapons drawn on her. This is a very bad situation, it goes without saying. I could probably take one, or perhaps two of these three in hand-to-hand combat, but they are armed and we are not, and that means I can’t do anything in this moment that does not put Lettie in danger.

“We have to let them go,” I tell her, picking her up so she can’t go running off after them again. She is much safer while contained in my arms. “Don’t worry. It’s going to be okay.”

“The girls won’t know where I am!” She sobs against my chest. “They’ll think I’m lost. They’ll leave without me!”

“Everything is going to be alright.”

I say the words, and I hope I mean them.

8 STRANDED PREY

Lettie

So this is what it felt like when Sullivan was sent off the Mare and consigned to wander space until she crashed on this planet. We are castaway. We have nothing, and nobody. And we are now absolutely miles from the ship, so far that there’s almost no chance of my crew ever finding us.

“Don’t worry,” Shan says, sounding worried. “I will protect you.”

“And I will protect you,” I say, returning the offer.

He gives me a brief look, then laughs. “Very kind of you, but the types of predators out here are beyond your scope for handling.”

“You shouldn’t have taken my proper suit. It had all sorts of tools and things for survival. We would have been in much better shape. But it doesn’t matter. When it comes to predators, the best protection is avoiding detection, and that’s my speciality.”

“Is it?”

“Well, theoretically. Prior to landing on this planet, I was good at stealth. I haven’t gotten on my feet yet in that way, but I think I will on account of I don’t want to die being eaten by a beast.”

“If I put you down, will you follow me? Or will you run off after the hostile saurians with weapons, who, I assure you, are more than happy to shoot you?”

“I’ll stay with you, but we can’t stay here. We can’t. We have to get back to the city, and we have to find the captains, and we have to get help from…”

“We are going to do what I say,” he says. “This is not the worst thing that could happen. We may very well return to the city, but we need to ensure that whatever we do, we are not entirely predictable. Tonight, we make camp in one of the caves, and tomorrow we make a move.”

“You want to go back to the city too, right? Because I have to find the captains, I have to get everybody together, and I… we all need to get off this planet, because this is awful.”

Shan looks at me with his dark gaze. He is so nonreactive to the situation. It almost feels as though he was prepared for this eventuality.

“Did you know Wrath was going to do that? Why did you come and get me if you did? Why didn’t you leave me safely in the city? I could have been under the alpha’s protection. I could have gathered the captains. Now I’m stuck in the stupid fucking forest…”

“Enough!” He snaps the word. “This is not the time for temper tantrums, Lettie. We are in this situation, and we will survive it. Do not worry. I forbid you to have any concern whatsoever.”

“You can’t stop me worrying.”

I know those words are a mistake as soon as they are out of my mouth.

“I believe I can,” he growls. “Let’s find our first place to sleep, and I will show you just how effectively I can stop you worrying.”

Shan leads us to a cave. I don’t know why he picks the particular cave, and he doesn’t explain. It’s set not quite at the bottom of the hill, but not at the top. There’s a wide, sandy entrance to it, at which he builds a fire. I watch him work, feeling a certain sense of numbness. I want to rage, scream, and cry. I want to make it clear how very unhappy I am with this terrible situation. But I know Shan doesn’t want to hear it.

“We are going to go back, right?”

I risk the question again once he has the fire going and has stared into it silently for what seems like a reasonable period of time. There is something terribly hypnotic about the way the light dances off his eyes, their shimmering black surface giving nothing away. He must be feeling something. We were just abducted, threatened, and stranded. He must be…

He lifts his head to look at me, and his expression alone tells me that I am not going to like his answer.

“We’re not going back.”

“But…”

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