Page 89 of Command

He leaned in close and grabbed her chin, forcing it up. She looked downward, lashes sweeping her cheeks as she refused to meet his eye. No matter.

“You can think me a monster,” he said, his fangs inches from her mouth. “And it will not change a thing.”

He snarled as he nudged her face aside and pushed past her to the door.

Threxin

The first thing Threxin did upon returning to his quarters that night was instruct his cohort to scour the ship for undetected passages between the decks. They found one soon enough, in a black hall that had appeared to be a nonsensical dead end. The passage was swiftly blocked off at Threxin’s command, and the uhyre originally responsible for his failure in finding it appropriately punished.

Two days later, Renza showed up at Threxin’s quarters in the morning as he was dressing to meet with his jump drive engineers.

“I know when something is wrong with you, brother,” Renza said as he swooped in with his disgusting caffeine cup in one hand and sprawled on his sofa. “In the last two days you have been both late and early for your duties, and even more insufferable than usual. Insufferable, I get. But you are nothing if not prompt. You need to tell me what is going on.”

“Ineedto tell you nothing,” Threxin said calmly as he worked the clasps of his shirt. He traced an absent finger along the uneven circular scar forming on his chest before clasping the collar shut.

“I have been watching your female.”

“She isnot—” Threxin closed his damn mouth, realizing the trap. “I do not know who you mean.”

The smug smile on Renza’s face made Threxin want to cave it in. He took a deep breath.

“You are doing this cohort no favors by denying yourself, brother,” Renza said. “Nor by deluding yourself into thinking I am blind.”

Renza was right—he had long since noticed something going on between Threxin and Alina, and Threxin’s blatant attempts to pretend otherwise were well into illogical territory.

“Until she comes to her senses, I have no time to deal with her,” Threxin’s voice was a flat line, devoid of emotion, but his spikes bristled.

Renza huffed out a short laugh. “You have been around these creatures enough to know sense is not their strong suit. If you intend to mate one?—”

“I havenotmated her,” Threxin whirled on his brother.

“—yet you are developing a vaccine which will help you allow yourself to do just that.” Renza’s brows drew back. “And surely you know by now humans’ questionable sensibilities require some… special handling.”

“She demanded something I cannot give, Renza,” Threxin growled, his limiter pulling him down. His brother was speaking of things he knew nothing about.

“Such as?”

“Such as giving humans on the common deck food and medicine wedo not have. Such as allowing humans back in their Heaven rig—just trusting that two-way communication is indeed impossible.”

Surely he would see now how impossible this was. Threxin’s hands were bound, and Alina’s stubbornness would not unbind them.

Renza hummed and leaned forward, elbow on knee, and brought his cup to his mouth, taking a slow sip. “She is not wrong that the situation down there is not sustainable.”

“I need to rid myself of half the humans regardless,” Threxin flicked his talons. “Culling the unfit makes perfect sense.”

“It does indeed,” Renza agreed. “If reaching your target human quantity is your only consideration. But you are smart enough to know there are always other options to consider, Commander.”

Threxin had to bite back a retort, knowing he would now be arguing with his brother purely out of stubbornness, not reason. He had not even considered any other options, discarding Alina Argoud’s ultimatum outright. They physically did not have the rations to spare, and risking exposure by permitting Upload was unthinkable. It was far too easy to think the problem impossible.

But therewerethings to be done, if Threxin truly valued the female and the effect she had on him. When he was near her, he felt like the Threxin he’d been before Koruth killed his family and molded him for his own purpose. She made him vulnerable in a way he hated, and yet she had never betrayed that weakness.

He’d lied and told her it did not matter if she thought him a monster. She may as well have grabbed a firedagger and stabbed him through the chest all over again. Worse than that, he had seen how distraught the sight down in the CRD had made her. He wished he could wring the neck of whoever had brought her down there.

Threxin sighed, eyeing his brother, who for all his stupidity was wise beyond his age. He needed to fix her, and he loathed himself for how invested he had grown in this female. Thishuman. But the thought of her never speaking to him again unless by force made him sick. She had come to him so many times, and opened her soft arms when he had come to her. She’d treated his wound after watching him kill two of her kind, and worried about him when she should have worried about herself. She had shown him, even if she didn’t know it, just howhisshe was.

Now, it was his turn to show her that he was there with her.

Shoq.Threxin clamped his palm to his spikes. Never had he imagined getting himself into such a mess when he came to claim hisColossal.

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