Page 41 of Third

It was the look in theireyes.

Desperation. Hunger. The feral awareness of cornered predators willing to risk everything for akill.

The instant Tor’Vek spotted the threat, he pivoted sharply, shifting Anya behind him with a force that brooked no argument. His body snapped into a defensive stance, arms wide, muscles locked, shielding her as the rage within him roared to life, placing his body between her and the danger.

The moment their contact broke, the bond inside him bucked violently. Rage exploded through him unchecked, aflood of primal fury that tore through the fragile dam of his restraint. His body coiled with lethal purpose, instincts snapping free of the last chains of civility.

A snarl ripped from deep in his chest—aharsh, savage sound no human throat could have made. It rolled out over the clearing like a thunderclap, primal and raw, awarning and a promise.

The hominids faltered.

But they didn’t retreat immediately. They circled, warily, their shoulders hunched, clubs twitching in their grips. One bared his teeth in a silent, desperate challenge, abroken snarl that exposed jagged, yellowed fangs. Tor’Vek answered in kind, peeling back his own lips in a cold, deliberate display—his sharp gold-capped canines flashing like molten daggers in the smoke-heavy light. The other hominid let out a high, nervous yip, trying to summon courage that dissolved before it reached his tremblinglegs.

Tor’Vek didn’t move. He let them see him. Really see him. The cold, unrelenting force barely held in check beneath hisskin.

The bond between him and Anya pulsed frantically, her terror a rapid drumbeat against his mind, fueling the rage snarling beneath his skin even as it connected him to a single, brutal purpose: protecther.

He could feel her standing behind him, frozen, too afraid even to breathe. And through that bond, something sharp and agonizing twisted deep inside him. He would not let them reachher.

Tor’Vek let the rage uncoil fully within him, letting it bleed into his posture, his bearing. His hands flexed slowly at his sides, the long bones of his fingers curling into claws. His violet gaze locked onto the nearest attacker, burning with a feral light that dared them tomove.

One took a hesitant step forward. Foolish.

Tor’Vek lunged a single step—fast, awhipcrack of motion that snapped a brittle branch underfoot—and bared his teeth, muscles rippling beneath his skin in a flash of brutal warning.

The creature shrieked and stumbled back, the stink of its fear flooding the clearing. Sweat and unwashed flesh and terror clung to the heavy, stagnant air, filling Tor’Vek’s nostrils, feeding the beast that still clawed inside hisribs.

They hesitated, the first snarling and lifting its club half-heartedly, the other beginning to backaway.

Tor’Vek bared his teeth wider, letting a low, rumbling growl vibrate from his chest, asound meant for creatures that understood dominance by instinct, not intellect.

With a strangled cry, the first broke and ran, crashing back into the underbrush. The second hesitated—abreath from death—before following, stumbling in its panic.

Tor’Vek didn’t pursue. He could have. Every muscle in his body screamed to give chase, to dominate, to obliterate any threat to what was his—apossessiveness so fierce it twisted against his instincts, aflicker of resentment cutting through the hunger, questioning if he had become more beast than warrior. His limbs trembled with the restraint it took not to hunt them down, not to spill blood on the earth and silence the primal hunger once and forall.

But he stayed rooted where he was, fists flexing uselessly at his sides, the rage snarling unchecked inside him. Only the knowledge that Anya waited just behind him, vulnerable and trembling, gave him the tether he needed to hold theline.

He stayed still until the stench of fear faded into the acrid haze that still clung to the clearing.

After a moment, breathing hard, he turned back to her. The instant his hands closed around her waist again, the rage bucked and recoiled—still wild, but caged once more by her touch.

He stood there for a long moment, his forehead dropping briefly to hers, the brutal tempo of his heart hammering against her skin. The bond between them crackled with wild, chaotic energy—terror, need, relief—all tangled into something neither of them couldname.

Slowly, methodically, he bent and scooped Anya into his arms, yanking her against his chest with a ferocity that bordered on desperate. Her softness slammed against his body, the frantic hammer of her heart syncing with the raw, uneven pounding of hisown.

He clutched her closer, so close she could barely breathe, his fingers digging into her waist as though imprinting her into his flesh. The bond between them roared to life, surging hot and wild, drowning out the rage still thrumming through his blood. He pressed his forehead to hers, breathing her in like she was oxygen and he had been suffocating withouther.

For a long, searing moment, he simply held her there, reveling in the jolt of connection, the wild, reckless need that gripped him tighter than any logic ever had. Only then did he turn and stride toward the ship, her body shielded withinhis.

Anya hadn’t said a word the entire time, her hands trembling where they clutched at the fabric of his shirt, her white-knuckled grip betraying the terror she refused to voice.

She didn’t needto.

He could feel the way her heart pounded against his chest, the way her fingers dug into his shoulders, the way her body vibrated with a cocktail of fear, awe, and something darker. Something needier.

Tor’Vek didn’t slow. He crossed the clearing in long, ground-eating strides, the battered hull of the ship looming larger with every step. The hatch slid open at his approach, afaint hiss escaping as the systems engaged.

He carried her inside.

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