Page 44 of Command

He wants this,Alina realized with horror.

Did Orion Halen wish he were the one to do it?

Eyes were averted on her side of the dock. All of them save for hers, Orion’s, Kaia’s, and one more person she couldmake out. Isabelle, the pilot, stared straight at the scene, a little glassy-eyed as Threxin unholstered a weapon from his belt. A firedagger.Thefiredagger, from the looks of it.

He wasn’t just going to pull his teeth out like the uhyre…

As Threxin activated the sizzling blade and kneeled to grab the girl by the back of the head, pulling up to expose her throat, Alina realized this wasn’t just about punishment. Threxin drew the weapon quickly across the white skin, letting the girl’s body drop and spill crimson into black.

“Next,” Threxin commanded, motioning to Renza.

The nausea hit Alina like a punch in the gut. She doubled over and shoved through the people crowded around her, barely making it to the door before she was sick. She wasn’t alone by the surrounding sounds.

Punishment… thelesson… was only part of the point. This wasn’t only about the risks of cross-species relations. The firedagger was a symbol. For anyone who may have been working with Peter to attack Threxin and had the idea to try again, it was a warning.

CHAPTER 20

THREXIN

Threxin stood beneath the shower in his cabins, letting the water wash the human blood and uhyre exorin from his body as best it could without aggressive scrubbing. He could not move—not safely. After washing, he stood before the mirror and examined his weeping wound in the reflection.

He did not think it was infected. But the last plaster the female Alina had applied had peeled at the edges and was now dangling futilely. Threxin rummaged in the cabinet beneath his sink and pulled out a medkit, sticking the edges down with an added layer of what the label calledsynthskin. But his attempts, though delicate by his own account, only contributed a sticky coat of thickening substance to the one already there.

Threxin would need to remove the plaster and start from scratch. He could not read the labels well enough himself, but recognized some of the tubes and bottles as those same ones Alina had used. He would guess. Renza had had more training with medical equipment on theElysian, but he had not been pleased with Threxin’s punishment for his cohort and Threxin did not want to deal with his brother’s disapproving presence.

Renza argued that punishing his cohort for “natural tendencies” was fighting a losing battle against something that could not be stopped.

Threxin simply had much more confidence in his cohort’s ability to see the obvious complications fraternizing with the aliens—but more so in his cohort’s ability to recognize his authority. It was his job alone to lead them all to a better life, and he would do it by force if need be. One would think logic would make Renza see the situation, but Threxin had long since learned how easily one could twist their logic to their own wants.

Threxin gritted his teeth while pouring some substance onto his exposed wound. The sutures, which had appeared straight and undisturbed when he first removed the old synthskin, now appeared melted at the edges. He’d done something wrong—and the wound was starting to sting and bubble.

“Shoq.” He could not afford to further injure himself now. He had only one full day left before the jump, and would not let himself be out of commission.

He brought his wrist to his mouth to call on Renza, but hesitated.

Alina Argoud had more experience. Her hands were nimbler, more delicate, and she was more used to the equipment… Of course she was the best-suited to fix him up now. It would also be a good test of whether she could still be trusted after witnessing him dole out his punishment in the dock. She had gotten ill after, like some of the others. Humans had weak stomachs for violence, even though they inflicted it so easily themselves. He needed to see where he stood and if she was still of use to him. Yes, the female was the most logical choice.

Her hall was unguarded, which made sense. Sulky Renza had mentioned he had to follow up some leads for Orion Halen’s sire, and Threxin had not yet assigned anyone back to a post in this part of the ship. There were not many residential quarters filled here regardless, so he thought it safe enough to leave this passage clear for him precisely should something like this come up. Not that he wasexpectingto find himself back here.

Threxin straightened his spine and rolled his shoulders before authenticating and entering Alina Argoud’s cabin.

The gasp as his boots sank into the crunchy-soft surface of her ridiculous carpet was not unexpected. He noted the wetness of her face and redness of her eyes as she lifted her head from between her curled-up knees on the bed. The punishment had clearly been an emotional experience for the humans. Good. That was the point.

But her words, coming thick and strained from her seizing throat, made him halt. “Is it my turn?”

He cocked his head, spikes flicking. “Your turn?”

“Are you going to kill me next?” She hiccupped. Her gaze was fixed on his chin.

She is afraid to look at me.

He’d done it again, back at the dock.Ithad no name. It just happened. The sight of all that exorin and of that human female craving it so completely had drawn his attention to Alina, and when she found his eyes, he latched on without a second thought. In his gut, there was a certain yearning. He’d wanted her to be down there, and for that exorin to be his, and for her to drown in it.

A sound from Renza had drawn him back to the job of delivering his lesson, and that was bad enough. Renza had seen what happened.

Now it was clear Alina thought he was there to deliver another punishment, for the night before. It would makesense to cut the rot at the foundation. But she was still useful, and she hadn’t had a taste of the exorin. He just needed to make sure it stayed that way.

“No,” he said gruffly. She drew back against the wall as Threxin stepped further into the cabin to stand at the bed. He reached up and pulled apart the edges of his shirt, in too much pain to care about the clasps. He hissed as fabric peeled from the weeping wound.

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