Page 37 of Tortured

I close out my phaser and sigh, running my hand over my eyes. I’m exhausted. And the worst is yet to come because I’m going back and she’s going to be gone.

“We’ll meet you back at home base, ” Ren and the others say. “We’re almost out of fuel.”

I nod and check my own, surprised to see that I’m running low as well.

Zaycor growls. “We better head back as well. Even though that granthing female will probably attach herself to me as soon as I get back on the ship.”

I groan. “They will probably be gone. Except for maybe Jenna. Gardon has her.”

“What do you mean, they’ll be gone? Alex is supposed to go on the next mission with me. I’m looking forward to besting her multiple times,” Varnak grunts.

“I talked to the council leader and she was talking to the females about whether they would prefer to be moved to a planet that is more like their home planet. She was going to make the offer.”

“Who told you that you should do that? Just because your mate hates you doesn’t mean that you need to get rid of them!” Zaycor growls and whips his ship around, his ship immediately hyper-jumping.

“He doesn’t realize that you’re doing this to punish yourself not her.” Varnak’s voice is slow and solemn. “Don’t you think that she might have missed you? She might regret what was sad and wish that she hadn’t pushed you away as well?”

I snort but it’s broken and I huff out a breath. “I doubt it. She’s so angry I think she’d rather see me dead than see me.”

“Considering her history, do you really think that’s the case? Her family died. She’s still fighting the pain from that. Do you really think that she wants to go through that pain again?”

“I…don’t know.”

“I think that she’s gonna be waiting for you when we get back and I think that she’s going to be very unhappy that you left without talking to her. I hope that you protect yourself because we both know she fights dirty. She gets that from Alex,” he growls but he sounds happy about it.

“So are you ready to go back and find out that I’m right and quit hiding from her?”

I nod my head and he sighs. “I know you just nodded your head but you’re on a ship. I can’t see you.” He turns his fighter around and I can see the thrusters warming up. “Let’s go home.”

And his ship takes off in a flash of light. I breathe deep and then pull my mask off. Did I make a mistake?

Considering the way our meeting went and every day since, it’s very vrecking possible.

I hit my thrusters, letting them warm and then I punch that down and slam back in my seat, smiling like an idiot.

Because I might have someone waiting to beat me when I get back but as long as she’s talking to me, I don’t vrecking care.

Hope wells in my chest and I suck in a breath, letting it out slowly.

I’m coming home, mate.

I just hope that she’s as happy to see me alive as I am to see her at all.

I step off my ship and immediately feel the frisson of heat in my chest and the burning in my mating marks that comes with my mate’s closeness. It arrows straight down to my cock and I’m hard in one quick click.

Vreck! I mutter to myself.

“Koehn!” I hear her beloved voice shout and it feels like my heart finally comes back to life. My eyes search the crowd in the shuttle bay but I don’t see her at first, she’s so little.

Then her body hits me full-tilt. I manage to get my arms up to catch her and pull her up into my chest. My whole body feels like it lights up as soon as she touches me.

“Lacey,” I groan and pull her higher until her lips meet mine. I devour every tortured emotion that I’ve felt, missing her this whole time since I left her and knew that she’d be gone when I got back. Fear, anger at my own stupidity and the shame of pushing my mate away melds into a fiery inferno that washes over the both of us.

All of a sudden she pulls back and raises her hand, slapping me across the face. I can see the pain in her gorgeous brown eyes and it wrecks me even as I celebrate having her here with me. I’m even more confused by her reaction than mine.

Earth females are very hard to understand. At first she seemed happy to see me and kiss me and now she’s physically attacking me.

“Dammit, Koehn! Why did you leave me?” She yells. “Did you know they wanted to send me to another planet?”

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