"Thank you," he said, his voice deep but not as gruff as I'd expected. It was almost a purr, and it sent an unwanted shiver down my spine that I tried desperately to suppress.
His command of the common tongue was better than I'd anticipated. The stories made the Vandar sound like barbarians who could barely grunt, but this one’s words were measured and calm, almost a caress.
I managed a stiff nod, not trusting myself to speak.
He inclined his head and turned toward the door. Despite his size, despite the axe glinting on his back, despite the reputation of the Vandar, I knew he wasn't a berserker or a barbarian. This was a disciplined warrior. Somehow, that made him more dangerous, not less.
The door closed behind him with a muffled ting of bells, and I finally allowed myself to exhale. My hands were shaking so I shoved them back into the dough, needing something to do with them, needing the familiar comfort of the work.
"Next time you want to pick a fight with a Vandar," Kaya said dryly, tapping one foot on the floor, “pick a smaller one.”
“I wasn't picking a fight." But even as I said it, I knew it was a lie. I'd been antagonistic from the moment I'd opened my mouth, unable to help myself.
"You told a Vandar he had to pay for bread.” Brielle emerged from the doorway, her voice steadier than I'd expected. "While glaring at him like he'd personally insulted, well, one of us.”
I worked the dough harder than necessary, the rhythm helping to calm my spiking pulse. "The Vandar are raiders. Just becausethe colonial council made a deal with them doesn't mean they’re our friends.”
"There's a difference between being besties and provoking someone,” Kaya said.
I was about to argue that I hadn’t been trying to provoke anyone, but my sisters were right. I’d been uneasy about the alliance with the Vandar from the moment the colony leaders had announced it. “Everything has a price. If the Vandar are protecting us from the Empire, what are we giving them in return?"
"Whatever it is," Kaya said finally, "we'll deal with it. We always do. And right now, the Vandar are keeping the Imperial soldiers away, which means we can breathe a little easier and pay less tribute. Besides, the hot aliens will be gone soon enough anyway."
I groaned at my sister while Brielle laughed. “They arenothot.”
Kaya held up her hands. “Maybe your eyes aren’t working properly, but the Vandar who just left was hotter than our bread ovens.”
I rolled my eyes, unwilling to admit how much I agreed with Kaya, but before we could continue our debate, the bell over the door chimed again. I tensed, half-expecting the Vandar to return, but the figure that stepped through the door was smaller, bundled in a heavy cloak against the cold. She stamped her feet and rubbed her hands together, the fog of her breath evaporating in the warm air of the bakery.
Then she threw back her hood, and I sighed with relief to see that it was Skye, my best friend and one of my fellow resistance collaborators.
She put her hands on her hips and leveled her gaze at each of us in turn. “Did I just see a huge Vandar walk out with a loaf of bread?"
Chapter 4
Wrexxon
Istalked away from the bakery, the warm loaf light in my hand but my jaw unyielding iron.
I was furious with myself for letting a female knock me so thoroughly off balance that I'd nearly forgotten who I was. It wasn't just that she was beautiful, though she was. Even covered in flour with her hair escaping its braid in soft curls, she was beautiful in a way that was more seductive than the most ornamented and perfumed pleasurer.
But it wasn't her beauty that had made my carefully constructed control slip. It was the way she'd looked at me.
Most people saw the Qeth’rex when they looked at me. They saw the raider who'd burned Imperial ships and scattered fleets. They cowered or fled or tried to placate. They made themselves small in the presence of something they feared. She had looked at me like she wanted to flay me alive.
There had been no fear in her dark eyes. Not only that, but she’d also snapped at me like I was an inconvenience rather thana threat, like my size and reputation and obvious danger were irrelevant compared to her annoyance at being interrupted.
Remembering the challenge in her gaze made a laugh escape my lips. Gods of old, her defiance had been intoxicating, and it made me want to give her even more reasons to defy me. I bit my lip and swallowed the laugh as my cock twitched. This made her dangerous to me in ways I didn’t want to admit.
The purpose behind taking a female from the colony was strategic. It was a guarantee of the alliance's seriousness and a living bond that would ensure the colonists didn't betray us to the Empire the moment it became convenient. But now it was personal.
I knew that the baker who'd looked like she wanted to murder me was the woman I was going to take. Even if I hadn’t seen a grainy image of her before we’d landed, I’d have known that she was the woman whose name had been at the top of the Zagrath execution list. Every warrior’s instinct would have told me that she was the woman who’d been leading an underground rebellion and enraging the Zagrath.
Tvek,she’d managed to both enrage and arouse me in a matter of moments.
As I stomped back toward the village square, I tore the loaf of bread in half, the crust crackling under my hands and steam rising from the soft interior. I lifted it to my mouth and took a bite, the yeasty warmth and crunch making my eyes flutter shut with pleasure. When had I last eaten bread this good? Not since I’d been at my mother’s knee, which was so long ago it felt like a different lifetime.
A low sound escaped my throat, something dangerously close to a moan. I cut it off immediately, aware of the colonists beginning to emerge from their homes. I forced myself to keep walking, tearing off another piece and chewing it slowly, savoring it even as I attempted to school my features into a fierce scowl.
