“Rebecca, let me explain.”
“You took me into outer space?” She clenched her hands into fists at her sides as she stared out at a sight all to familiar to me. Blackest night sprinkled with stars. Planets that twinkled light years away. Emptiness. Loneliness. Cold, black nothing.
“You carried me to your little spaceship, stuck me in that pod and took me into outer freaking space?” Her voice grew louder and higher pitched with each word.
“The criminals from Siren legion remain on Earth. I could not protect you and hunt them at the same time. I am taking you home. Once you are safe, I will resume my hunt.”
“What?”
“There is that word again.” I truly must check in with the NPU techs once back on Everis.
“Taking me home?” She pointed outside the ship to what lay beyond the energy shield protecting us. “Does that look likehometo you?”
It did. I’d spent years out here hunting. Tracking. Killing. I’d never truly felt alone until I met her. Now that emptiness made a mockery of the expanse outside this ship. Inside me, a yawning pit grew in my gut, twisting and pinching my insides until I fought to breathe.
I stared at her long legs, the tops of her thighs barely covered by my shirt. I loved seeing her wearing nothing else, covered in my scent, her hair in total disarray from the wildness of her passion. Her breasts were full and round and tempted me to lift the garment, kneel before her and take them into my mouth. To rouse her passion so that this conversation could be forgotten and begun anew.
“Well?” She put her hands on her hips, an oddly adorable huff passing her lips. “What were you thinking?”
I had only one answer. “Youare my home now. I cannot lose you, and I could not protect you on Earth, not the way I should.”
“So where are you taking me?”
“Home, to Everis.”
“Mmm-hmm.” She stared out into deep space for another few moments before lifting her hand to the sensor and closing the door. “You, Elite Hunter Stark, are going to take me home. To Earth. To my house. Right now.”
“I explained this to you. I cannot protect you there.”
She turned to face me, hands still on her hips. She tilted her head to the side and glared at me through a fall of dark curls. “And I can’t protect my kids from up here.”
“Kids? You have children? A mate?” A dagger-like pain stabbed through my chest but I kept my face calm, expressionless.
“Oh, no.” She shook her head and my heart began to beat again. “I take care of the neighborhood kids down at the youth center. Well, I did. Yesterday was my last day.”
“Yesterday?”
“Yes. Before the whole aliens almost killing me incident?”
Dread chilled my blood to a sluggish crawl in my veins. I stepped close enough to reach her but did not pull her into my arms as I wished. “Mate, your injuries were extensive. You were in the ReGen pod for more than one day.”
“How long?” She wrapped her arms around herself as if she needed someone to hold her. I reached out but she stepped out of reach and Lilah growled a warning.
Protective beast. I no longer approved of her behavior. My mate’s pet would need to be taught that I was never a threat—
“Stark. How. Long?”
I stopped glaring at her pet and looked my mate in the eyes. She deserved the truth. “Five days have passed on Earth since you were injured.” Five days of hell as I waited, worried that my mate would die, would disappear from my life before I’d had a chance to know her. I could not hunt and leave her unprotected on my ship. An even greater weakness I now must confront? I did not wish to leave her side, not even to hunt.
“Five days?” Rebecca twisted her hands in front of her and muttered to herself as she paced back and forth in the small corridor. “This can’t be right. Five days? Shit. I need to call the cops.” She stopped pacing and looked up at me. “Do you have a phone on this thing?”
“If you are referring to a communication device capable of contacting humans through your primitive technology, then yes. However, I was not on Earth to speak to humans. I was sent to hunt.”
“Well, I need to call the cops and turn those guys in. They are still out there selling that awful drug to my kids.” She looked around the corridor as if something new might appear in the barren space. “Where’s my purse? I need my cell phone.” She looked up at me. “Can I use my cell phone? Will it work with your ship’s…whatever?”
“No. And I cannot allow you to involve the humans. They are no match for what they will face. Every human you send after those responsible will die.”
“Five days.” She lifted her hands to cover her face. “Oh, god. The movers. I was supposed to meet them.”
