Page 45 of Fractured Souls

Earth’s diverse environment had been programmed into the training room’s database a while back. Alexis was bound to find something she liked.

Surely she would find something she liked.

“I really don’t think it’s possible to ignore you,” she said, and Nythian was glad for his exo-suit, because his cock was stirring again, pressing up against his armor-plate.

Ah, shit. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He wasn’t supposed to become attracted to his captive.

Because that’s what she was, really. Until they were absolutely confident that the Tharian inside her posed no threat, Alexis would be monitored, guarded, enclosed in an invisible moving prison, the walls dictated by him.

Her captor. Her protector.

And she’d just made his task a hundred times harder.

Twelve

“I’m going to sleep now,” Nythian said gruffly, folding his arms as he leaned back against the wall. “You run to your heart’s content. Don’t worry, I sleep lightly. I’ll wake if there’s a problem.”

Alexis didn’t doubt that one bit.

He sat in the corner of the room, his seamless armor blending with the dark background. Against the blackness, his silver features were startling, his white hair a shock of unexpected softness against his hard face.

He was tough and brutal and beautiful, and Alexis had difficulty equating this man with the vicious Kordolians that had nearly killed her on Earth.

She pulled her robes around herself and fidgeted, desperate to get moving. She was full of pent-up tension… despair, grief, anger, fear, even excitement. Such a weird mix. It made her restless. All those emotions knotted up inside her without any outlet.

So she returned to the one thing that had always kept her sane.

Run. Just run.

It’s what she’d done as a kid, disappearing into the thick jungle around her home, her bare feet digging into the soft volcanic soil.

She’d run when she’d just come off a difficult case or when she was trying to solve a problem. The endorphin high always cleared her thoughts.

She’d seen some terrible things in her time at the Agency. When the bad juju took over her thoughts, the only thing that helped was a brutal workout, or shooting furiously at something until bolt-charge after bolt-charge ran dead.

She was pretty sure these Kordolians weren’t going to allow her to shoot up their ship, so running it was.

“The sim will keep generating terrain until you tell it to stop,” Nythian explained, his eyes never leaving her face. “The floor moves. It’ll feel strange at first, but you’ll get used to it.”

“Story of my life right now,” she muttered, drawing an ironic smile from him. “Uh, Nythian…”

“What is it, Alexis?” Nythian’s voice was a low baritone drawl, sometimes hoarse and rough, sometimes smooth like velvet. Now it was loaded with a raw, primal edge she’d never heard before. “Is there a problem?” His gaze wound its way right into her soul.

“I can’t run in this.” Beneath the robes, she was almost-naked and barefoot—the latter didn’t really matter; she ran without shoes occasionally—but she could really do with something a little more concealing than what she wore now. The garments Zharek had given her for the procedure consisted of little more than a tight stretchy black bandeau across her breasts and a pair of low slung briefs.

She didn’t really understand why she had to be almost naked when she went into stasis. Zharek had tried to explain it, but for someone who was supposed to be a medic, he wasn’t really the best communicator. The way he described things was too fast, too complicated. Something to do with temperature regulation and nanite penetration and unimpeded access to monitoring points, apparently.

A strange expression crossed Nythian’s face. “Why not? It’s only me here. I’m not going to let anyone else enter.” A devious smile curved his lips. “But if it’s a big deal, I can have something suitable brought over. Anything you want, Alexis.”

Her breath caught in her chest. God, she was loath to admit it, but he actually looked very sexy right now.

A few days ago, he’d been surly and indifferent. What had changed between them?

“W-will it take long?” She tried to slow her racing heart and failed miserably.

“Nah.” He grinned. “I’ll get Abbey to find something for you. She’s a little crazy, but she’s efficient.”

“Th-thanks.” Impatience bubbled up inside her. Alexis was overcome with the sudden urge to move. She craved that post-workout euphoria; tired body, aching muscles, sweat drying on her skin, heart pounding…

---