Page 59 of Victoria's Discovery

“Just listen. You confronted her about it during last meal. In front of the whole clan. And she turned purple with rage, threw her mug at your head so hard it chipped your horn, then climbed over the table and tried to stab you in the eye with her fork. It took five cycles before your horn healed.”

Thegan’s eye and forehead both twitched in remembered pain. “I remember it well. But why do you bring this up now?”

He was almost dancing in place with impatience.

“And do you recall the time you asked that hess from theFjorliclan why the base of her horns was so swollen during trade talks, and she tried to cleave your head off with her father’s sword?”

“Yes, yes! But I still do not-oh.”

“Precisely. If we remark upon her… ailment, who is to say she would not try to murder us in our sleep?” Thorn murmured sagely, cutting his gaze to Vee.

Narrowing his eyes, Thegan sighed, “I will never understand females. By the gods, how was I to know her horns were swollen because she was having her first fertile cycle? But, well thought, my friend. We will not acknowledge her shrinking lest she become irrationally offended.”

“Exactly. We will just feed her. Often. Keep close eye on her size, and… send Vi’kail to speak with her clanswomen about this affliction and how to reverse it.”

Thegan blinked at his friend in surprise. When Thorn had gotten so sly, he did not know, but by the gods he definitely approved. By sending Vi’kail, they would take no chance of being caught speaking to rival females and potentially causing Vee to doubt their loyalty but would still gain the knowledge they needed from her kind.

“You, my friend, are brilliant.”

“You speak true,” Thorn grunted and nodded in agreement, his expression utterly serious… if one failed to notice the sparkle of mirth in his eyes. Which Thegan did not.

Scoffing, Thegan shook his head and hurried to Vee, but some of the tightness in his chest relaxed at his friend’s teasing. Thorn played at being the gruff stoic, but if one was patient, they would catch glimpses of the mischievous male he used to be peeking through his forbidding exterior.

It had been a while since his friend had shown any lightness. So long, in fact, Thegan had begun to worry any that survived that night his family was slain had finally finished its slow death.

He did not need to wonder at what brought it forth. The answer was as obvious as her bold hair.

Vee is good for him. For all of us.

Chapter 31

Three days later and Thorn was, again, out searching the halls, still hunting for a human to question. Skittish little hess kept running away from him. Thegan said it was because his scowl was fearsome, but what was he to do about that? He was nottryingto scowl. That was just his face. And when he tried smiling, they appeared even more alarmed.

Thegan had succeeded in convincing Vi’kail to do the questioning, but between the job he’d been assigned helping transport and care for the various beasts on the ship and his own menacing appearance, he’d had no luck. Thegan worked alongside Vee all day—the bastard—and had yet to have opportunity to question anyone without her knowledge, though he continued to look for an opening.

So, it fell to Thorn.

He’d been assigned to the team building houses in the arena field—a brilliant idea Vee devised to address growing complaints about living in such close proximity to hundreds of other beings. But, most of that work was done by the construction robots which left him as the only one with the free time to hunt down a human.

Thankfully, Vee had not shrunk further while he continued to fail at the task. That was, of course, due to their combined efforts to stuff food in her mouth at every available opportunity.

She did not appreciate their efforts, at first, but they’d learned what foods were her favorites and which she could not refuse. Just thinking about the expression she made when they presented her with the sickeningly sweet confection called ‘cupcakes’ had a low growl building in his throat.

The way her lips parted and her eyes brightened with hunger so intense it bordered on lust never failed to make him hard. Gods’ save him, but she was driving him mad.

Damned irresistible female had cut through every layer of numb detachment he’d painstakingly built around himself until she found what was left of his damaged heart and claimed it for herself. The worst part, and what was directly contributing to his descent into madness, was that she didn’t even know it was hers now.

He’d tried to resist her, to hold tight to the apathy in which he’d become comfortable. He failed. Utterly. It didn’t matter how many times he told himself not to, that you cannot be gutted by losing what you did not have.

She won him with one bright, open smile, one glance, one heart-wrenchingly casual touch at a time.

He blamed those touches the most. People did not touch him. Not after his family was slain, and damn sure not once he’d become the cold, scowling male he was now.

But Vee was made of sterner stuff than most.

He could not stop thinking about her. It was becoming unhealthily obsessive, not to mention dangerous. Hells, he’d almost lost a hand earlier that day to an overzealous male with a laser cutter, because he’d spotted her talking to someone across the way and forgot what he was doing.

Groaning, he scrubbed his hands over his face and blew out a hard breath. Njorl’s balls, but he was tired. Between his almost perpetually hard cock, aching balls, and staring at her sleeping form in the dark of night like a rabidskrellkirdriven to the brink of delirium by starvation, he hadn’t slept worth a damn in days.

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