Page 48 of Rok's Captive
“I guess this is goodbye then, Rok. And…” Her shoulders slump. “Thank you.”
Her tone. The resignation. The disappointment. The touch of sadness. It all cuts deeper than any sandfin could. She intends to leave. To walk into death, alone.
I will not allow it.
She huffs and begins walking again, her stride stiff. I let her take three more steps before I move, closing the distance between us in just two strides.
I catch her easily, lifting her off her feet and into my arms. Her body is lighter than it should be, fragile bones wrapped in soft skin, nothing like the dense, armored forms of the Drakav. She fits against my chest as if made to be there.
Her vocalizations turn sharp, piercing. I do not need to understand her words to know she is not happy with me. Her small hands push against my chest, ineffectual but insistent.
I ignore her protests. I will bear her anger, her resentment, her futile struggles. I will bear anything if it means keeping her alive.
I turn away from the deadly ridges, carrying her toward the safety of the eastern caves. She will not understand. She will fight me. But she will live.
And perhaps, in time, she will understand that I could not let her walk to her death simply because she could not hear the warnings in my mind.
Chapter14
DESERT RAGE IS JUST HOTTER KIDNAPPING
JUSTINE
“Put me down! Right now! This is the second time you’ve kidnapped me, you giant glowy asshole!”
I’m pounding my fists against his chest, which is about as effective as hitting a brick wall with a marshmallow. My knuckles are going to be bruised, and he doesn’t even seem to notice.
“I said put me DOWN!” I kick my legs, which just results in his arms tightening around me. “Don’t you dare squeeze me like a tube of toothpaste—I swear I will bite you!”
Rok—because apparently that’s his name—continues striding across the desert as if I weigh nothing at all. His face is set in that same impassive expression, golden eyes fixed on the horizon, completely ignoring my tantrum.
Because that’s what this is, if I’m being honest. A full-blown, toddler-level tantrum. And it’s getting me exactly nowhere.
“You know what?” I say, finally going limp in his arms. “Fine. Take me wherever you want. I’m not wasting any more energy on this.”
He glances down at me, one eyebrow raised in what might be surprise or skepticism.
“Don’t look at me like that. I’m conserving my strength for when you finally put me down and I can run away properly.”
He makes that rumbling sound again—definitely laughter—and continues his relentless march away from the direction IthinkI need to go in. Because let’s face it. I’m lost. And Rok here, doesn’t seem interested in helping me get back.
I let my head fall back against his arm, staring up at the yellow sky. It’s starting to really sink in that I’m on another planet. Actually, legitimately on another planet.
“This is fine,” I mutter. “Everything is going to be fine.”
I’m just about to close my eyes and resign myself to my fate when I catch a glimpse of movement out of the corner of my eye. Not Rok’s movement—something else. Something under the sand.
I jerk upright, suddenly alert. “Did you see that?”
Rok keeps walking, but his stride changes slightly, becomes more measured, more cautious. So he saw it too.
There it is again—a ripple beneath the surface of the sand, like something large moving just below. Like a shark, but without the fin.
“What the fuck is that?” I whisper, my fingers digging into Rok’s arm without me even realizing it.
Another ripple appears, closer this time, and suddenly I’m very, very glad I’m not the one walking on the sand.
“Okay, so maybe you had a point about not wandering around out here alone,” I admit. “But you still didn’t have to kidnap me. Again.”
