Page 58 of Owned By the Hvrok

Because he was holding her.

And despite everything, despite all the reasons she had to despise him…

She let him.

CHAPTER 31

He couldn’t believe what he’d just done.

With a single whispered command in the ancient tongue, his armor had begun to retract segment by segment, folding into itself like fluid steel. The system whirred softly, powered by the kinetic charge stored from flight and combat, the plates slotting away with quiet precision into the compact node at the base of his spine, just above where his wings connected.

It was instinct.

Stupid, reckless instinct.

And now…

His bare skin was pressed against hers.

He could feel her.

Reallyfeelher.

Soft. Warm. Fragile.

Sofragile.

The fur coat he’d brought was draped over her shoulders, but the front of her body—save for that thin, supple dress—was bare. And that small barrier meant nothing to him. Her warmth, her tremors, her heartbeat… they all came through.

His body, always running hot, adjusted naturally, rising slightly as he cradled her. He was certain his internal baseline temperature exceeded hers. She needed heat. He could give it.

But still she shivered.

Still, she trembled against him like a leaf in a storm.

Why?

He adjusted his hold, trying to steady her, to absorb the cold from her skin into his own. He had no biological imperative to do this. This was not survival protocol.

This was… something else.

He tightened his arms around her, cradling her with care he hadn’t even known he possessed. She was sosmall. His body could crush hers without effort. But right now, every fiber of him was tuned to protect. Tosoothe.

He’d never felt this way. Not even with his kind.

She shifted slightly in his arms and tapped him, her hand soft against his chest.

Then she pointed down.

He followed her gesture.

Her feet. Bare. Pressed against the freezing floor.

Of course.

The ship’s internal climate regulators had entered low-energy mode, diverting power to critical systems. And she, being what she was—delicate, fleshy,human—was paying the price.

Without hesitation, he adjusted his hold, drawing her up higher into his arms. He wrapped the fur coat down over her legs, tucking her feet beneath its thick folds and pressing them close to his side.

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