Page 87 of The Hunter

“We felt the same,” Lacey said. “We thought we were the only ones who survived. We didn’t know if other parts of the ship crashed here too.”

“Do you know what happened? When I woke up, there was no power, and everyone was…”

Dead.

Though Sophia hadn’t spoken the word, Lacey felt it hanging in the air, heavy and oppressive. She’d seen the remains in many of the cryochambers when she’d woken up, and she’d known those were just a fraction of the ones who hadn’t survived.

Lacey shook her head. “All we know is that something struck the Somnium and our compartment fell here.”

Prompted by his unusual silence, she looked at Cole to find him sitting there, staring at Sophia, his food untouched. Smirking, Lacey leaned over and nudged him with her elbow.

Cole started and cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah.”

Sophia grinned as her eyes moved over Cole, who blushed before stuffing his mouth with a piece of meat.

Lacey could see why Cole was so out of sorts. Sophia was a beautiful woman with large, sultry brown eyes, full lips, and thick, arched eyebrows. Her long, dark brown hair was twisted up and pinned atop her head, with shorter wisps framing her face. There was even a small cleft in her delicate chin. She wore a slitted, yellow skirt and a bra-like top, which showed off her slim belly and toned arms.

“You said your compartment had no power. How did you wake up?” Lacey asked.

Sophia shook her head. “I don’t know. A glitch when the power went out, or maybe some kind of failsafe? All I remember was jolting awake in pitch black darkness, gasping for air like it had all been sucked from my lungs.”

Cole cringed. “Fuck. And I thought we had it bad.”

“It was an experience I’ll thankfully never have to repeat.”

Lacey couldn’t imagine enduring that kind of terror alone. Heck, she couldn’t even imagine what it had been like for Ivy, who’d first regained consciousness outside the wreckage, in the arms of a spider alien carrying her through an immense jungle.

Slipping a slice of fruit into her mouth, Lacey turned her head and scanned the crowd until she spotted Telok. He stood on the outskirts of the gathering, beyond the light of the fire bowls the winddancers had lit, leaving his green markings to glow in the darkness. His arms were folded over his chest, and his gaze roved ceaselessly, ever watching.

He’d often skipped occasions like this, but whenever he was present, he always seemed to take it upon himself to stand guard so others could relax and enjoy themselves.

His eyes met hers and halted. The change in them was immediate and staggering—they lit up like eight green flames, infernos of barely contained desire. Lacey’s heart and breath quickened. The whole world fell away under the intensity of that blazing stare, which seared her with Telok’s consuming, raging need.

Lacey had caught glimpses of that need when it slipped through the cracks in his composure, and her body never failed to respond. Over the last couple of days, her thoughts kept returning to their time at the stream. To their kiss, to how intimately he’d touched her, how close they’d come to…

If there had been no one else near, would Telok have touched her pussy?

Would he have taken her?

Lacey’s core clenched.

Not the time or place, Lacey…

Damn it.

Though warmth suffused her cheeks, Lacey smiled and raised her hand, wiggling her fingers in a wave as she fought her growing arousal.

Telok’s mandibles shifted up subtly.

“You survived by yourself in a wreck with no power for two months?” Cole asked, calling Lacey’s attention back to the conversation. “That’s amazing.”

Sophia chuckled, dropping her gaze. “I don’t know about that. It was…hard. Really, really fucking hard. Thank God I remembered the emergency supplies, or I never would’ve made it. I had to pry the door open to get out of that room, and everything else…was just gone. All that was left was jagged metal overgrown with vines. And then a freaking alien jungle outside. Took me a couple weeks to work up the courage to leave the ship, but I knew the supplies I had wouldn’t last long.

“So I started to go out a little at a time, exploring. It was terrifying, but it was kind of exciting too. I found some fruit and used the scanner thing to check it, but I hesitated even though it said it was safe. Obviously, I didn’t die, and I didn’t get sick after eating it either. I managed to set up some simple traps and catch some small animals, and I even took a few down with my spear…which was just a knife tied to the end of a stick. The emergency supplies dwindled, but I was learning not to rely on them.

“I won’t lie… There were a lot of times that I thought about giving up. What was the point? Why should I keep going when everyone else was dead? When there were so many pods filled with the bones of people who just...never woke up?”

Sophia looked to the side, brow pinching as the corners of her mouth turned down. “When my brother, Damián…” She drew in a deep breath and let it out heavily. “He died in the pod right next to mine while I was in stasis. He died, and I just slept.”