Page 67 of Fallen from the Stars

His strength?Theo asked.

“Not just that, but how effortless it looks for him. Probably best to stay close to Vasil if this Dracchus doesn’t fully trust you.”

“Good idea,” she muttered.

“What happened to this?” Dracchus asked, turning his head to look at Theo.

“Debris from the explosion.”

“What explosion?”

“I was a crewmember of an IDC battlecruiser, theCSC Agamemnon. There was an evacuation alert. I boarded one of the maintenance-level escape pods and was jettisoned into space, and the ship blew up behind me.” Theo folded her arms across her chest and held Dracchus’s gaze. “You want my full name, rank, and serial number, too?”

Dracchus lowered the pod onto the sand and moved around to its front. “Do you have more than one name like the other humans?” He stopped at the open hatch and grasped the edge of the opening. Rather than pulling himself up, he pulled the whole pod down, angling it to see inside. Some of Theo’s belongings clattered and clanked within.

She hurried toward him. “Hey! Be careful!”

Dracchus glanced at her over his shoulder, holding the pod in place — with one hand — for several seconds. Then he slowly released his grasp, returning it to its prior position. He turned to face Theo fully, his face a neutral but surprisingly intimidating mask — likely because she had to look so far up to meet his gaze.

“You have no contact with them?” he asked.

Theo rolled her eyes and looked at Vasil as though to sayreally?

Vasil’s expression fell into something darker and more frustrated than she’d seen from him yet. “I already told you, Dracchus.”

“I want to hear it from her.”

Theo glared at Dracchus as she climbed into the pod. Once she was inside, she turned to face him, bracing her hands on the edge of the opening. “SinceVasil’sword doesn’t seem to be good enough for you, I’ll give you mine. I havenocontact with the IDC. If I did, I would have already called them for a rescue a long time ago. There are no satellites near this planet, and I don’t have a signal strong enough to reach them. Happy?”

Dracchus held her gaze unflinchingly; he certainly didn’tlookhappy.

Vasil moved up next to Dracchus and put a hand on his arm. “I trust her, Dracchus, as I have told you. She is my mate.”

Theo turned her attention to Vasil, eyes flaring. Warmth spread through her chest at the sound of that word —mate— and were Dracchus not present, she would have leapt upon Vasil and had her way with him that very moment.

“You made her change color, Vasil,” Dracchus said. Though his tone was as flat as ever, the corners of his mouth tipped slightly upward.

Theo chose to ignore his comment, as though that would somehow ease the heat reddening her cheeks. “Oh my God, youcansmile! I was afraid your face was permanently stuck like that.”

Dracchus grunted, and his mouth returned to its prior state. He turned to Vasil. “She is spirited. I have decided I do like her.”

Vasil frowned. “I was not seeking your approval, Dracchus.”

“And yet you have it,” Dracchus replied.

Shaking his head, Vasil collected one of the containers and carried it to the pod, where he held it up for Theo to take. She set the container on the pod’s floor, opened it, and pulled out the child-sized diving suit.

“You’re wanting me to change into this, right?” she asked.

“Yes,” Vasil replied as he raised his body to fill hatch opening. “You cannot wear any clothing beneath, or it will not function properly.”

Theo grinned at him. “You just want to see me naked.”

“Of course. And I want to make surehedoes not see.”

The possessiveness in his voice produced a flare of heat in her core.

“I have my own mate,” Dracchus said from outside.

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