“I want this on the lower level,” I said. “Anything legal we can keep in easy reach. I have a few contacts lined up to—” I stoppedwhen I turned and saw Xokat loitering with a few other soldiers, all of them laughing. “Who has eyes on Cora?”
“Xo—Shit.” Nerus cursed, already moving. “Xokat!”
“Yeah?”
“Who the fuck is watching my wife?” I demanded as I charged past him.
Cora first. I’d deal with my brainless soldier later.
“Zoddi,” Xokat started.
“Zoddi’s on leave,” Nerus growled at him, following close on my heels.
“I want him here in ten minutes,” I said.
“She’s probably fine,” Nerus said as we stepped onto a platform that would take us down to the loading docks.
“Of course she is,” I muttered darkly. “If she’s not, someone’s going to die.”
Nerus called for more crew to converge on the docks as we went, but I was still the first one to the ground floor. Across the transfer bay, a daernir male was crossing the dock to the cruiser. Cora stood inside the open cargo hold, shaking her head, her brows pinched. I could just barely hear her words.
“Yiri said to stay here. He wouldn’t send someone I don’t know for me.”
Good girl.
“Not as dumb as you look,” the male said, advancing.
I ran.
“He’s not one of ours,” Nerus confirmed before I ever asked. I didn’t give a fuck if he was. I didn’t tell anyone to go after her. Xokat should have been watching her, and everyone else knew to mind their own fucking business. Blood roared in my ears. If he laid a finger on her…
“You’ll get a good price on Ibaruta,” the male said as I stepped quietly up behind him. Cora’s eyes widened as I braced his shoulder with one hand and grabbed his chin with the other.One second, one lightning-quick motion, and I snapped his neck.
Cora screamed, stumbling back and falling over a box in her path.
“Aneah!” I yelled, seconds too late to catch her. I scooped her off the floor and sat her on a crate, kneeling before her. My hands traveled over every inch of her, from head to foot, checking for injuries. “Are you alright? Where are you hurt,Aneah?Tell me. Where?”
My heart raced as she shook under my hands.
Trying to push them away, she said, “Wait. I… Wait.”
I couldn’t wait. I needed to know she was unharmed. But she kept evading my hands until she finally grabbed them instead of trying to push me away.
“Wait.”
I swallowed, searching her face. “What is it,Aneah? Let me help.”
Cora shook her head. “I need… I need a minute.” Her attention settled somewhere past my shoulder, where Nerus was barking orders at our soldiers. She blanched, all the color draining from her usually blushing cheeks.
“Don’t look at that,” I said, turning her face back to me. Only… I wished I hadn’t. As soon as her eyes met mine, I understood. She wasn’t afraid of him. My hand dropped, and she touched her chin where my fingers had been.
She wasn’t afraid of him.
She was afraid ofme.
“Aneah.” I searched for words, but came up short. What could I say? I thought she understood. I thought she knew what I was. I thought she knew that, despite that, I would never hurt her.
“I just…” Her chest rose and fell with sharp, staccato breaths. “I need a minute.”
