Page 42 of Victoria's Discovery

“Ugh, I’m a terrible friend,” she sighed.

Apologizing when someone bumped into her at her abrupt stop, she fell to the back of the group where she could lament her ineptitude without getting in anyone’s way.

What was worse was that shewantedhim to flirt with her. Well, she wanted him to like her. She didn’t think she’d ever learn how to handle flirting, let alone reciprocate it. Hell, greedy cow that she was, she wantedallof them to like her. And not just as a friend, either.

She may not know them as well as she wanted to, yet, but what she did know, she liked. As the minutes passed, Victoria fell farther and farther behind the group, glancing repeatedly over her shoulder in the hopes that the guys were trying to catch up to her.

Soon, she and the Gaelli were the only ones left, everyone else having already retreated into their assigned rooms, and there hadn’t been any sign of the guys.

Shoulders slumped and feeling like a real asshole, not to mention neurotic as all hell, she glanced back one more time before accepting that they weren’t coming after her. Facing forward again, she offered the Gaelli staring at her expectantly a polite smile and took the hand they were holding out.

“You will find the room stocked with everything you might need,”they hummed gently in her mind as they showed her the code to open the door.“If you require anything further, let us know. We wish you an enjoyable rest. First meal will be served in the Rishe Canteen come sun dawning or, should you prefer seclusion, you can create a meal from the fabricator. You only need input your desired cuisine,”they finished, waving their free hand at the screen set in the wall next to what looked like a small food prep area.

With that, they turned and left, leaving her standing alone in the doorway, staring in at the empty room in front of her.

Chapter 23

“Can we trust this Aria’s word about the world we are on, or do we seize Vee and find a way to leave this place?”

Thegan stopped eyeing the shiny doors behind which Vee had disappeared long enough to look at Thorn when he spoke. His friend was right. Now was not the time to get lost trying to understand the strange and baffling ways of females. They had more urgent worries to consider.

“I’ve been to planets like this enough to recognize ‘em. It’s what she says and her orders to remain in this complex are sound. Vee can’t go outside the walls for any reason.”

“Well heard. But a single truth can live in a field of lies,” Thorn countered. “Vee trusts the leader because of familiarity, but she could easily be hiding black intentions to become one of these masters you speak of.”

“If Aria proves untrustworthy, I’ll escape, steal a ship, and get Vee off planet.” Vi’kail paused in his constant sweeping of the beings lingering in the room to give him and Thorn a glance. “I could drop you off on your homeworlds.”

At the mention of his home, images filled his mind of his clan’s sprawling village. He could almost smell the scents of burning wood, hot metal, and the mouthwatering smell of stew and freshly baked bread that always filled the air. And, yet, the pang of longing he felt was unexpectedly faint.

Instead of lifting his spirits, the idea of going home sparked an instant feeling of reluctance. Thegan had duties to his people, his clan. His family. But he could already feel theThygjerr—the Pull—forming for Vee, that quickening in a hark’s spirit, the knowing when he finds hisværling.

He was no fool. He knew their differences went beyond what was plain to see, but he found her differences captivating instead of off-putting and her unpredictable reactions both fascinating and, at times, alarming.

One moment she was nervous and uncertain, sparking feelings of such protectiveness in him he felt like he could simultaneously take on an entire horde of monstrousríkkrmsláttand expire from fright at the prospect of protecting such a small hess from such a large world. The next, she was shielding him and Thorn with her body like some tiny, stout-hearted shield maid and sending him into a fit of both alarm and pride. Take into account her bold, unique beauty, kind heart, and charmingly curious nature and his downfall was complete. He was heels over horns for her.

And, yet, the path to their joining was fraught with obstacles.

His sire, his mother’s second mate, spoke often of his own quickening when he laid eyes on her. He’d known instantly that he was meant for her and her him from the way she swung her sword and beheaded an enemy in battle. The fact that that enemy was his sire’s Chieftess, and that his sire was from a feuding clan, was problematic. But ifhewas willing to abnegate his fealty to his clan, why then should Thegan see Vee being a different species an insurmountable obstacle? Or their current lodgings on a slave planet? Or his duties to his people, even if the idea of abandoning them left him heartsick?

He would not.

An unforeseen bonus to her being alien was that she did not know of and, therefore, would not ask him to endure the Trial of the Six Hells as his mother did his sire to prove his loyalty. Poor Dinnvékin never did look the same after that, but he wore the appalling facial scars with pride.

Leaving Vee was not something Thegan was prepared to do. But if this place proved treacherous, would she live on his world? Would his clan accept her? He was not sure but feared the answer to both was no.

As though Thorn could hear Thegan’s thoughts, he rumbled, “So we stay here, for now. If it becomes unsafe, we leave and go… where?”

Thegan eyed Thorn askance. The fact that he had not assumed she would return to her planet and them theirs was quite telling. He spoke as though them staying together was a given. But, searching his friend’s expression, something there told him Thorn was not even aware he’d spoken of them as ‘we.’

Perhaps he, too, felt the Pull and had just yet to admit it. Ever since the tragedy with his family, he'd been a cautious male, hesitant and reluctant to let anyone close, and damned quick to dismiss Thegan's assertions anytime he tried to tell the taciturn male a hess was eyeing him.

“That’s no worry. There’re many planets that accept colonists without peerin’ too closely at their background or origin,” Vi’kail assured, then muttered under his breath, “or what they're runnin’ from.”

Thegan caught the low-voiced words and wondered at them but kept his curiosity to himself.

“But,” Vi’kail added, giving him and Thorn a meaningful look, “we must consider that Vee’ll want to stay here with her people if she doesn’t want to return to her home planet or live her life on a foreign world that’ll be as rough and dangerous as this in its own right.”

But will she want to stay with us? In either place?

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