Page 25 of Victoria's Discovery

There was only one way to find out and to do that, he’d need to escape with her before they were sold off.

Which brought him back to the giants.

Vi’kail had become used to only being able to depend on himself and only having himself to worry about. If it was just him, he wouldn’t have had any doubts that he could escape, but fleeing with her and then living on the run on what would most assuredly be a dangerous, uncivilized planet? Their help might mean the difference between freedom and enslavement.

The paler one was obviously entertaining similar thoughts, else he would not be assessing who amongst them held interest in her.

The question was, were they males he could see as packmates? Because he could see clearly that she was amenable to their pursuit.

Most importantly, would she be interested in him? He wasn’t what anyone would call a catch, not with his shadowed past. Nor was he what most would refer to as a good male. If he was, he’d be making plans to free everyone instead of just her and, maybe, the giants. But, if it was a choice between him and slavery, even he was the better choice.

Regardless of his questionable suitability, he planned to put everything he had into pursuing her. He’d never met a female that called to him the way she did, and he wasn’t about to let her slip through his claws, not without a fight.

Crik, maybe she needed a male like him. Someone who was capable of doing whatever was necessary to keep her safe. Someone ruthless.

Someone to bear the stain survival often left on a person’s soul.

It wasn’t that Vi’kail didn’t have a conscience. He wouldn’t have left the military if he didn’t, but if the Federation had taught him one thing it was how to turn that off when needed, to do what had to be done. Crik, they taught him that lesson so well it stayed turned off for rotations and took some truly heinous shit to turn it back on.

Staring at Victoria, at the light in her eyes only the untarnished had, he decided then and there he would be as ruthless as she needed him to be and carry the burden of being the one to make the hard choices, so she didn’t have to. His soul was already black. What difference would a few more stains make? Unlike his time in the Federation, at least for her, he’d be doing bad shit for a good cause.

That didn’t mean his motivations were altruistic. She was as close to goodness as he was likely to get, and he had every intention of bathing in that light.

At the almost imperceptible whisper of air moving, Vi’kail let his hand drop to the absorption pebbles covering the floor. Snitch was back, finally. Knowing the shapeshiftingfírlarkwould be camouflaged, Vi’kail didn’t look, just opened his hand and smiled slightly when he felt the slight weight of his pet crawling onto his palm.

“Did you find a way out?” he asked quietly, barely moving his lips.

A sullen chitter answered him. He’d expected as much but still sighed in disappointment. Even slavers as shitty as the Gaulik wouldn’t have subpar cages.

“They’re gon’ to knock us out again soon now that we’ve eaten. Wait until the Gaulik return to the flight deck and follow ‘em up. See if you can find some mischief to get into.” Glancing down at his currently invisible pet, he gave it narrowed eyes. “But don’ destroy anythin’ too important. I’ve no desire to die on this blasted ship.”

Snitch gave an excited trill before it changed to a decidedly wheedling chirr. Vi’kail knew that sound all too well. Snitch wanted something he knew he wasn’t supposed to have.

“What do you want now, you little menace? I already gave you all my treats.”

Because he was already looking, Vi’kail saw his pet briefly shift the scales of his face to become visible and show that he was staring at Victoria across the way. When Snitch glanced up at him entreatingly, Vi’kail saw the unmistakable glint of avarice in his large, black eyes.

“Oh, no. No. This isn’t the time,” he insisted a little desperately. A low growl said that Snitch very seriously thought otherwise. “Crik me. Can’t you wait until we’re free?”

In answer, the little beast gave a short hiss then returned to staring possessively at Victoria before becoming invisible again.

Fírlarks were a strange species. Because of their extraordinary intelligence, their ability to shapeshift to mimic most anything they wanted, and their unmatched ability to camouflage so well they became almost undetectable to most any scanner, they’d been poached and experimented on almost to extinction. That was actually how he’d found Snitch.

A little over six rotations ago, he’d been on a mission to shut down an illegal weapons lab and found the little fiend half-dead in a cage. Even as cold-hearted as he was back then, he hadn’t been able to leave him behind. They’d been together ever since.

Aside from their unique skills, fírlarks were well known for their obsession with shiny things and their propensity to wreak havoc, but what most didn’t know was that they, on occasion, became irreversibly fixated on other beings. Sometimes it was people, but usually, it was other animals they kept as pets of their own.

The last time Snitch became fixated was a couple of rotations ago. They’d been onJrrlie-Land came across a littleheshwallawith a broken hind leg. Snitch got the same look he was aiming at Victoria now and decided the little critter was his.

He nursed it back to health, cared for it tirelessly, and even grew a little pouch on his belly so he could carry it around with him. Unfortunately, heshwalla had a short lifespan. Snitch was devastated when it died, fell into a depression that took a long while to come back out of.

That he’d very clearly become fixated on Victoria wouldn’t have been an issue… if they weren’t currently trapped on a slave ship. Crik, Vi’kail was happy to see his companion ready to bond again, and he completely understood why he’d picked Victoria as his new obsession. The fire-female was damned alluring. The problem was that Vi’kail needed him to focus on freeing them, not obsessing over her.

“Crik me.”

Sighing again, he rubbed his chin and considered solutions. If Snitch visited her now, that would only solidify the bond and intensify his draw to her. Vi’kail wasn’t sure he’d leave her again if that happened. Perhaps a bit of manipulation would do well here.

“Look there, the sedation hose approaches. She’ll be unconscious and safe in the cage. Would the wisest action not be to free her, and the rest of us, so she can’t come to harm later?”

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