Catching Vi’kail’s eyes, she set her shoulders. “I want you to train me.” They all fell silent, pausing to look at her, but she kept her gaze on him. “During the day, when we can’t move, I want you to keep teaching me how to fight.”
She could’ve asked either of the giants. They would’ve said yes. She knew that. But she wanted it to be Vi’kail. Thegan and Thorn had seen more than a few battles back on their homeworld. Both knew how to fight and weren’t squeamish about killing people. Hell, from what little they’d told her, that was just part of life on their world. But she needed Vi’kail to do this.
He hesitated, staring at her for a long moment in silence, but eventually gave a single, tight nod.
Chapter 2
Vi’kail had spent the last hour scouting ahead, creeping through the slums, plotting the path they’d take that night, and watching the inhabitants of this part of the city skitter about. Every one of them moved fast—heads down, shoulders hunched—as though determined to not see anything or, perhaps, trying to avoid drawing attention to themselves.
It wasn’t uncommon behavior in rough cities for people to keep their heads down and mind their own business, but something about their behavior set off alarms. It took a beat to pinpoint what felt off.
This wasn’t just people minding their own. Something had set the inhabitants on edge. For all that they looked to be hurrying about, keeping to themselves, their eyes were darting about anxiously, and they flinched at any loud noises.
They looked hunted.
He caught a passerby limping, face mottled with bruises, and grit his teeth. He’d hoped it would take longer for someone to find the transport, but from the look of the people here, someone had been questioning them.
It shouldn’t have taken as long as it did for that to click, but he was struggling to slide back into the mindset of the cold, calculating soldier he used to be. He’d been retired for five cycles now, so he could’ve blamed it on being out of practice, but he knew that wasn’t it.
Most of it was worry over Vee and the two males he was coming to think of as not just her other prospective mates, but friends, that kept his attention split. The rest of it could be attributed to the revelation Rellik laid on him shortly before the female Vee had dubbed ‘Catty’ knocked them out and sold them as slaves.
At some point during his time as a soldier in the Federation, he’d been Veiled, chipped with a device that kept him from questioning his orders, kept him from balking at doing the horrendous shit he’d been commanded to do.
They’d turned him into the perfect soldier: cold, murderous, and focused on only the mission.
He didn’t have that anymore, had broken through the suppression sometime after finding Snitch half dead in a lab, by his best guess. Shutting out everything else to focus on the mission was a crik of a struggle, especially when he’d left his Vee, his mate, fast asleep back in that dirty, abandoned building. The giants were there to protect her, but he knew the tight, antsy feeling in his chest wouldn’t go away until he was with her again and could see with his own eyes she was safe.
Having seen what he needed to see, he returned to the building in which they were holed up, unable to stay away any longer, knowing they needed to relocate farther away from the runner and whomever was interrogating the inhabitants.
Finding Vee and Thorn coiled around each other in the cleansing room was an unexpected and surprisingly arousing sight. An image of her body sandwiched between his and Thorn’s, both of them taking her at once, immediately flashed through his mind, setting his blood on fire.
Not at all sure that was something she’d want, he forced his feet to stay rooted and made a quip instead, interrupting them.
Now, staring at her across the table after she’d just asked him to take up her training, sex was the last thing on his mind. He could see in her eyes the request was more than just asking him to teach her to defend herself. If that was all she wanted, she could’ve asked Thegan or Thorn. Both were more than proficient at hand-to-hand and skilled with most any edged weapon.
Competing emotions tightened his stomach. Fierce pleasure that she wanted to spend time with him, that she trusted him to teach her, was foremost, but on its heels came the gut-clenching realization that she would very likely use that time to question him about his past.
At that, he almost said no. Yes, he’d been Veiled, but would his softhearted Vee, who loved people with a depth that both amazed and confused him, understand? Would she be able to forgive the horrors he’d committed? See past the staggering amount of blood on his hands?
He didn’t know, and that scared the absolute crik out of him.
He couldn’t lose her. And, yet, neither could he deny her.
Finally, he nodded, once, reluctantly.
Maybe he could reveal his wretched past a bit at a time, gentle her to it, but hewouldhave to share. He knew that. Because sharing nothing would cost him her heart just as surely as sharing too much, too fast.
By the time they finished eating the little bit of food he’d managed to scrounge, it was fully dark.
“Time to move.”
They all got to work removing any trace they’d been there, scattering trash back over the sections of floor they’d cleared, while he shared what he’d found. Vee paused in what she was doing, looking incredibly upset that someone was beating on the inhabitants because of them. Vi’kail grimaced, knowing he should’ve expected that and wishing he’d kept that bit of information to himself.
Looking like she already knew the answer, she asked, “Is there anything we can do to help? To make it stop?”
Pulling her into a hug, he kissed the top of her head then met her eyes. “The best we can do for ‘em is leave out. Whoever is doin’ this’ll move on when they realize none of ‘em saw anything.”
She didn’t look particularly satisfied with that answer, but she nodded and offered him a smile. It was a sad smile, but it still made his chest swell. Crik, but he didn’t want to lose her smiles. He didn’t want to loseher.