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I squashed a surge of erotic curiosity and frowned at myself.
Show a little self-control, girl. Goddamn.
I was probably going to walk away from him no matter how fascinating he was, disregarding all my weird, too-soon, too-little-trust feelings for this alien. I had to do my duty to those captive women no matter what.
If I wanted to avoid that, I was going to have to talk him into doing things my way.
And it seemed like tonight was the night for that.
CHAPTER13
NAXER
My Wulfaen was moving in me again. Not like before.
I was at no risk of suddenly shifting and becoming violent and had no urge for bloody meat. I hadn’t even bitten the slavers beyond the necessity of ending their lives. The beast in me, nostrils filled with the scent of our mate, was making a pest of himself.
My female was right there, talking to me, smiling at me. She had seen my beast form and hadn’t run, though with no idea what was going on, she had been understandably wary. She was brave and forthright as well as beautiful. And the primal part of me was now in my ear again, undercutting everything with a soft, animal rumble.
Both Gladiator and Wulfaen wanted to mate.
To spend the next few days rutting until her belly had our pup inside.
Just looking at her made me want the same. But unlike my Wulfaen, I knew that these things would have to wait. Not just on her better health but on her better state of mind.
She couldn’t get her mind off the plight of her sisters-in-hardship, who were still captives. She talked about it again as we practiced with one of our confiscated blasters. Her aim and poise with the weapon she had just barely picked up for the first time was amazing. But I struggled to sort out what to say about her predicament that would really sink in with her.
“You’re too wounded to make the journey,” I insisted. “Even on Chaser’s back, it will take days to return to sector seven.” That had seemed to get through to her before, but now she shook her head.
“I’m healing fast. By tomorrow morning, I’ll be ready to go.”
“And we go in that direction. But I will not divert from our path, and I will not rush to catch up. Not in the shape you are in. You need a true medic to look you over, and I need to retake my role in my pack so that they can help us with this.”
“There will be more women dead by then.” She shifted restlessly, her gaze skating away from mine. I could tell how much this bothered her, and I truly hated it.
“I am sorry,” I said as evenly as I could manage despite my growing frustration. “I’ve already explained what must happen for us to succeed. You understand that we alone cannot overcome a force that size, even with my powers and both of our training. We need backup or we will endanger those females further and likely get ourselves killed. We need my pack, and for that to happen, I must retake my Alpha position.”
She looked back at me, then took aim at one of the whipvine plants at the far end of the clearing. It convulsed as she hit it, vines lashing like a sea creature’s tentacles. “And how long would that take?”
“Not long provided that there is no contest to my retaking my place—and I don’t expect that, as my Beta and best friend, I recommended him for the position.”
“If we’re late getting to your sector, the slavers will leave with the women sold to sector one. Those women can’t afford to wait an extra few days, Naxer.” Her dark eyes flashed, and though her voice was low, it shook with such intensity that Chaser whined nervously.
“We will follow their trail to sector one,” I said. “Any woman who’s left behind, we can find and treat.”
“If we get to them in time. I’ve seen them eaten off the trail by something more than once.”
By the four moons. Traumatized and desperate, she was determined to make right a situation that had already gone so wrong. Understanding that was easy, and my sympathy toward her made me reach for all the patience I could muster. But she was giving me a headache.
“How do you plan to take on such a large force with only the two of us?” I demanded, tone a little sharper than I had intended.
“Take out their leaders with surprise, pick the rest off from the tree line.”
“And when they and their dogs attack?” I replied.
The blank look she gave me didn’t help my faith in her plan. She was smart, and she had a right to be confident in her skills, but right now she was not thinking rationally. She had been through too much.
“What about getting ahead of them on their way to your sector and setting a trap?” she shot back.
