Page 20 of Hunted

He didn’t follow. Over all the sounds of the battleship, from the low vibration of the engines to the clinking of dishes in the cafeteria on the floor below, I could hear Quinn. His breathing, the slow beat of his heart. He hadn’t moved.

Down the hall, I pushed the button for the lift not knowing where I was going. I just needed to get away, to get control again. The closer I was to him, the less I had of it. Damn him!

“You can run, mate, but I will catch you.”

My eyes fell closed at the sound of his voice, my entire body coming painfully, vibrantly to life with the need to run. He was still in the ReGen room. His voice was not much more than a whisper, for he didn’t need to speak loudly for me to hear. A whimper escaped me at the idea of him catching me. I’d done the one

thing, the only thing, that would guarantee this wasn’t over. Instead, it was just beginning as I’d tempted the male in him with a challenge he would neither deny nor resist.

I’d fled. To a Hunter courting his female, I’d thrown down the ultimate challenge. I had run, dared him to catch me…no, demanded he catch me, prove himself worthy.

He would follow.

Clenching my thighs together, I realized my instinct to flee was a female Everian’s instinct to challenge a potential mate, require him to prove himself worthy. Force him to dominate in the hunt.

It was a mating dance of sorts. I’d called to Quinn’s inner beast, if he had one. I was his mate. I was here. I was fleeing. And he would find me and claim me and make me his.

He had not been able to do anything a mate would normally do when I’d transported to the Hive controlled base. He’d been imprisoned. I’d saved him. I didn’t doubt he was thankful for it. But now that he was safe, and the ReGen pod healed him entirely, he was taking over. Taking control.

And I’d given it to him.

The chase gave him power.

And on a battleship? It was like child’s play. I had nowhere to go. I couldn’t run. I couldn’t hide.

He would find me.

I wasn’t sure if I should be eager or annoyed.

When the lift doors slid open and I stepped within, I was both.

“I don’t want a mate,” I said. Thankfully, the lift was empty or people would wonder why I was talking to myself. But I wasn’t. I heard Quinn’s chuckle, which had me practically growling in frustration.

“You were tested. Only Atlans in Mating Fever are forced to submit to the matching test. You are definitely not an Atlan.”

The lift doors opened and I stepped out. Based on the color of the blue stripe on the walls, I was on the engineering floor. I went right.

“My job is at the Academy. I run the place. I will not quit.”

I heard his heavy footsteps, knew he was now on the hunt. For me.

It was like Hide and Seek and he’d given me a count of one hundred before he started his search.

“I can live anywhere, female. Anywhere you are.”

His words pleased me and a smile came to my face without permission. Damn him for being so charming. I came to an intersection of two corridors. I went left. My pace quickened. “Stop trying to charm me, Hunter.”

“I saw your hard nipples. I know you are aroused. Run, mate. Hide. I will find you.”

The testing came back to me and I imagined I was in a forest, the wind in my hair, my body on fire as the male I needed got closer and closer. As he caught me, whipped me around, filled me with his…

I whimpered. Quinn laughed.

That sound had me pushing on. He might be able to track me, but I wasn’t going to make it easy. Two Prillon warriors came out of a room and I slid in past them, the door closing behind me. I looked around. Mechanicals of some kind. The room was lit by a blue glow, the rows of components covered everything from floor to ceiling. It reminded me of a library—the non-fiction section. Here, there were no books, but units of data storage that made the battleship run. A forest of machines.

At first glance, this was nothing like the testing dream, the one where the female was chased through the forest. But in every way that mattered, it was identical. She’d enjoyed the pursuit, reveled in it. Had wanted to be caught.

Did I?

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