Page 104 of Fractured Souls

Something about her was different now. She radiated a sense of calm. He could hear it in her steady heartbeat. He could feel it in the rhythm of her breathing, in her stillness.

She’d been like this ever since she’d let go of the Tharian.

The storm in her mind was gone.

But she was still giving him that mildly disapproving look, as if he had done something terribly disreputable.

“What?” Nythian raised one eyebrow innocently as he reclined back in his chair, unable to keep his eyes off her.

“What was the point of putting me through all that training on the Fleet Station? I get the feeling you guys would have had the situation under control with or without me.”

“Ah.” He smiled, feeling an emotion he hadn’t experienced much at all in his life—happiness. “But do you remember how you were at the start, when we first met? Punching walls? Breaking bones? Our training isn’t just physical, my love.”

“What are you now, an alien head-doctor?” She leaned back in her own chair, one arm slung over the side, her legs stretched out in front of her. He indulged in the sight of her body; her toned legs, the luscious curves of her thighs, the tempting roundness of her breasts.

Nythian chuckled. He was tempted to beckon to her, make her come and stand before him so he could slowly strip away the layers of armor and clothing from her body until she was naked in his arms… but he sensed she needed her space right now.

So he simply stared, just because he could.

Even if he stared at her for a thousand revolutions, he would never get tired of looking at her.

And… just like that, he was hard again.

It didn’t take much to set him off when he was with her.

Nythian leaned forward, his senses heightened as he drank in her presence. “Maybe experience has taught me a thing or two about chaotic mind-states. We’re all a bit insane, Alexis.” Funny how it was so easy to admit these things to her. “Me, Lodan, Enki, the boss… all my First Division brothers. You know how we keep from becoming unhinged homicidal maniacs? We train. We fight. We weren’t taught how to be honorable, so make these artificial boundaries for ourselves, and over time, they become real.”

“Ah.” Her eyes narrowed as understanding dawned. “I see what you did there. You’re right. I was a total mess when I first met you. The discipline and exercise certainly helped with the chaos in my head. I’m not perfect, but I’m functional.” She snorted. “And to think I busted my ass because I actually thought I’d be useful to you guys.”

“But you were. If it wasn’t for your accurate shooting, the portal would have been destroyed.” His smile widened. His mate was too beautiful, even with the smattering of glittering blue scales on her cheeks.

She didn’t know it yet. As she’d released Anuk into the afterlife, the scales had emerged through her skin, a sign that she was no longer entirely human.

Not that he cared.

He would be obsessed with her even if she grew a tail and three horns.

This human… he was addicted to everything about her; her toughness, her imperfections, her pure untainted heart.

How selfless she was.

The thought that someone could have harmed her… it stoked his anger so quickly, so easily that he could just end up doing something crazy if anyone tried to touch her.

He was usually pretty good at keeping his volatile side under wraps, but she had the power to undo all that in an instant.

Did she realize what she did to him?

As he watched her through a half-lidded gaze, trying to contain the fury building inside him, a familiar voice came through his comm.

“Nythian. I need… backup.”

“That you, Ash?” He was tempted to throw in a little jibe—Ashrael sounded like he was trying to swallow blades; the Silent One didn’t like asking for help from his old enemies—but he held his tongue. He could actually hear the strain in Ashrael’s voice. That meant something was very wrong. “What’s up?”

“I encountered an unexpected… problem. I am injured. I had no choice but to escape on the support cruiser. There was a Xargek.”

“Xargek?” Nythian cursed under his breath. What kind of morons would keep a Xargek onboard? Now he really wanted to kill them. “Where can I find them?”

“We are tracking them from a distance. You have to go in and finish them. There are at least five left. Two are ordinary fighters. At least two are advanced, probably ex-military. And there is one, who I wanted to take for interrogation... the leader. I do not know how it is possible, but he uses the same technique as your mate. The neurotoxin. Caught me off-guard.”

---