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“This is taking too long! We need to find her!” Mariano said.

My spirit growled, agreeing with him. I held up a hand, calming them both. Thirty or so people stood around Zaf and I. Speaking quickly and firmly, I split them into parties, assigning each an area. I expected Yin to remain once xe was satisfied with the plan, but the elder streaked out beside Indaro without hesitation.

It felt like seasons had passed since we stepped into that glade and found it empty, but the shadows hadn’t moved and my muscles were still warm from our run.

When Zaf and I stood alone but for Mariano and Kurz, I raised my head and inhaled, letting the scents speak to me. I spun to the left and plunged into the jungle.

Mariano sprinted beside me, fists clenched. “Do you know where we’re going?”

“Following Revik,” I answered shortly, and leapt into the trees, chasing in my mate’s path. Zaf was a pale shadow beside me, the two of us quickly outpacing Estrayuh’s Hyunan brother. That was fine. Kurz would stay with him and keep them on our trail.

We had to get to Estrayuh. Had to protect her.

When she was safe, I’d pluck the fur from Revik’s uncommunicative hide for going after her alone.

Chapter 36

Estrella

“Time to go home,Little Star.” Arvel sneered.

I whipped around, the world lurching sickeningly at the abrupt motion, and hissed as my back bumped into the cold wall. I wanted to scream at him to never call me that again, but the hijo de puta would only do it more.

Do not antagonize the creep. Scream later. Live now.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Okay, not the most chill response. But, mierda! This was the second time I’d been abducted and woken up on this nasty-ass ship! Was it too much to ask for a little originality?

“You won’t harm any more of my people,tevath’a. Your darkness will not spread. I will see to it,” Arvel said. His eyes shone with a fanatical light.

“So—what? You think you can send me back? Like a defective coffee pot?” A hysterical giggle burst out of me. I gulped, biting it back, and waved my arms. “Look around you. This ship isn’t going anywhere.”

“I can,” he hissed. His claws scraped across the metal floor with a painful screech. “You go back to the sky today. My people will know peace again.”

The delusion I’d been desperately clinging to—that Arvel had some goal that didn’t include killing me—popped like a soap bubble. I plunged into an icy ocean of terror, my body shaking, my mind blank. I didn’t want to die. I was just starting to live again.

“You won’t.” It was a strangled whisper. “Revik will kill you.”

Arvel snarled and lunged, trapping me against the wall. “He willtry. I do not fear him, or Litha.” His teeth snapped on her name, biting it off as if the taste of it in his mouth was repulsive. “And without your darkness poisoning them, they will come to understand. They willthankme.”

He said the last in a whisper, his breath hot on my neck. I twisted my head to the side, swallowing a sob. Any one of my loves would tear him apart, and he knew it. If they came for him together, not even the memory of him would survive. That’s why he’d waited until I was alone, the coward.

He’d even taken my knife. My hip felt wrong without it, as if a part of my body had been carved off.

“I am stronger than them, stronger than Zafett. They fell to your temptation, but I will not.” He was panting now, excited. “It was clever of you to take the son of theRalaytuh Naiset. She is wise, and she sees you for the danger you are, but her love for her son is so great, she cannot bear to hurt his heart—even to save him.”

The snort came out unbidden. I couldn’t help it. For half a second, I thought it was some twisted mind game, but no. The deranged fuckwit was completely serious.

Arvel’s hand clamped around my neck, dragging me up the wall. I choked, my feet flailing for purchase, and he pushed into me, his body crushing me against the unforgiving metal wall.

“It is my honor to take that burden for her,” he purred.

The bulge digging into my fupa hardened, twitching. Oh, hell no.

I didn’t know if he was turned on by me, the idea of killing me, or some fantasy about Saytireka simpering with gratitude when he trotted back to her with my head, but it didn’t fucking matter. I shuddered in revulsion.

Bucking, I beat at him with my fists, clawing at his hand around my throat. I forgot every lesson Revik taught me and every self-defense class I’d sat through back on Earth. My only thought was to get away from him.

He grunted, surprised.

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