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“Wrin.” First name? Surname? Only name? Did I care? Asking anything not directly related to escaping would only give him more information about my ignorance of this world.
“I’m Vivian.”
“Vivv-Ee-Aan,” Wrin repeated, with added emphasis on every syllable that made my name sound beautiful. “It is a complex name. It suits you.”
My eyes narrowed. Had that been a compliment or an insult? “Wrin. Sounds kind of simple.”
“It is a warrior’s name, famous among my people. And I assure you—” His eyes caught mine, full of heated promise. “—I’m far from simple.”
My heart skipped, my traitorous body reacting to him again. I barely stopped myself from squirming, only this time it might not have been to get away. I had a sneaking suspicion part of me wanted to get closer.
Another flight overhead had Max crawling underneath the edge of the fabric to climb onto my lap. God, he weighed at least twenty pounds, if not more. But his size shoving in between the two of us broke the tension. The big ball of fluff settled onto my chest with a loud, ratcheting purr that dissolved the last of my anger.
“Friend better?”
“I am, thanks,” I whispered into the soft fur of his cheek as he stroked it against my chin. Even though there was now less empty space under the fabric, I could handle it. My claustrophobia wasn’t one of small spaces as much as a feeling of being overwhelmed by other people or feeling helpless. The ARK Program’s psychologist had told me it was why I liked being in charge of things, that the mantle of leadership allowed me to establish “a certain social distance from others.” I’d certainly distanced myself from the psychologist as soon as possible.
The big alien’s fingers flexed every time Max’s tail brushed across his face, and I bit my lip to keep from laughing.
An annoying beep came from somewhere on Wrin. His head tilted to the side, his horns sliding against the fabric. His expression hardened. “We must go and quickly.”
“What is it?”
“It’s an alarm I set. They’ve found my ship.”
Max jumped down as Wrin surged to his feet, me still in his arms. He took off at a run, moving away from the direction we’d been going.
“It’s a minor setback, right?” And was there even a ship? Was this pretend ship suddenly lost to give an excuse for us to stay together longer so he could pump me for more information? Deciding to see how far he’d take this rescue scenario, I asked, “Where’s the closest place to find another?”
“There isn’t one,” he growled, the muscles in his jaw jumping. “We just lost our only escape plan.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Wrin
Frek! If a worse thing could have happened, I didn’t want to know about it. I suppose I shouldn’t be too shocked. TheDartwas excellently designed for stealth… in space, where scanners were used to help asses the vast distances involved. Its special coating still blocked scans on the ground, but the matte-gray color did little to hide it from visual detection in the blue and purple foliage of the forest. There weren’t that many clearings in the area to check. They must have found it on one of the first flyovers.
I’d have to see if Tark and Ell-Laa could make the next stealth shuttle with some kind of color-changing ability. Because there would need to be a next one. I’d not only set a proximity alarm on theDart. I’d also set the self-destruct. No one could be allowed to get their hands on Tark’s proprietary material and designs. Offering others stealth tech was one of the perks of getting them to join us in the fight against the Grug. If they got their hands on it for free, we’d lose a large chunk of our leverage.
The timer counted down in my mind as I ran. We were far enough from the blast zone to avoid injury, but the explosion would bring the authorities to this area. It was only a small consolation that the illegal lab facility would be found.
We needed to be as far from here as possible to not get caught in their net. I didn’t intend to face a death sentence now that I finally had something to truly live for.
My forehead tingled, my whole body painfully aware of Vivv-Ee-Aan’s nearness. I’d just spent the last fifteen minutes in the most awkward of crouches, torn between my need to protect her by remaining still under the stealth cloth…
And my rampant need to throw her to the forest floor and start the mating heat and knot that would bond us together forever. Zaarn were not made to wait—the mating pull drove us to consummate upon meeting our mates—but humans… humans were trickier with such things.
I had not lied. My soul’s breath was a complex person. She would require all of my diplomatic skills to win over. I cursed the people of the lab facility. I hated that they had mistreated her. And I despised that said mistreatment made her look upon me with suspicion, even though I understood it. In fact, if she had accepted me readily after what they’d done to her, she wouldn’t be the fierce creature I held in my arms. I admired her bravery and resilience and wouldn’t have her any other way.
The timer ticked closer to the end, and I said, “Tell your kreecat not to be scared. There’s going to be a loud sound.”
She repeated my words, and the animal meowed. Then her brown eyes turned to me. “What kind of loud sou—”
A ragingboomechoed through the trees behind us. Wind beat against my back for a few seconds as the shock wave caught up to us, flapping the sides of the fabric until they snapped in the wind. A resounding silence followed the blast for several seconds—even my footfalls sounded muffled as my ears rang. Then the high-pitched squawk of panicked stevroebirds and multiple wing beats filled the air. They covered the sky overhead in a dizzying mass of movement.
“Oh, god, there really was a ship,” Vivv-Ee-Aan said, her eyes wide.
I frowned down at her. She thought I’d lied?
