She tried to wipe the tears from her face as she jostled and bounced in Havoc’s arms. “Either way, I’m responsible. He did this to hurt me, and he didn’t care who was harmed in the process. I’m the reason this happened.”
His arms tightened around her. “No. That means none of this was your fault. If he did this, he should be punished for it. I will add his name to the list of those who need to pay for their crimes. One day we will find a way off this world. When that time comes, I will make themallpay.”
She heard a darkness in his tone, but for once, it didn’t frighten her. She knew she wasn’t the target. “Ishould tell you not to think such things and remind you that there are better things to think about than getting revenge.” She thought about all the nights she’d lain in bed and imagined ways to get back at Donny for everything he’d put her through. Some of her ideas had been petty rebellions. Others had been outright murderous.
“But you won’t, because you understand. Sometimes, revenge is all we have,” he said with utter conviction.
“Sometimes,” she agreed. “But I wake up each day hoping to find something better. Loris has told me many times that the best revenge is living well.”
Havoc snorted but didn’t comment.
After a while, she asked him a question of her own. “Tell me more about your life before you arrived on this planet. I know you mentioned it, but I want to understand better. What did the verexi want from you?”
“They wanted warriors they could control—a mindless, merciless army. You know about the verexi? They are physically weak. Unable to survive the rigors of space travel. They are so frail they cannot even leave their planet’s gravity well without risking death. They guard the borders of their territory with machines, but they cannot expand further because of the laws.”
That made sense. “You mean the Unified Agreement’s rules about warfare. Only sentient, organic species can be used in military engagements outside of each species’ set boundaries.”
“A set of rules that cripple the scrawnies and ensurethey cannot threaten any of the other species. They despise those limitations and sought ways around them.”
He settled her deeper into his arms without slowing, and then he continued. “We were one of those attempts. They created us using genetic material from various species. At least, that’s what they claim. Bysshe told us he has no record of any species that look like us.”
“Who is Bysshe?”
“Our mentor. The one good thing the scrawnies ever gave us. He’s an android. One of human design, actually. A lot of what they gave us was human-made. Mostly because it was cheap. The sex-bots were human-form too.”
That made sense. The other species had little regard for humans or anything they produced. Her ex made his money by buying up other human companies and selling their key assets. He had almost no dealings with the other races. She suspected that theBountiful Harvestwas one of his attempts to forge connections with them… by selling them human females. If she ever got off this planet, she’d make sure everyone knew what he’d done in the name of profit.
“Bysshe was good to you?” she asked.
“He was kind. That’s something we’d never experienced before. He was assigned as our caretaker once we got too strong and dangerous for our creators to deal with us directly. He guided us and taught us everything we know. When the verexi decided to terminate theexperiment, he was the one who warned us. Without him, we would not have survived the attack that crashed us on this planet.”
Something about this story was familiar. Maddison racked her lust-fogged brain for more information, but nothing came to her.
“How many of you are here?” she asked after failing to recall anything. Maybe more details would help.
“Nine of us are left. We lost several clanmates while we were imprisoned at the research base. Ravage died when our ship crashed. We lost Shatter to a venomous creature that lives in the water. I will teach you what they look like so you can avoid them.” Havoc sighed and went quiet for a long moment. “I miss Rage the most. He was the eldest of us and the strongest. He would sneak out and steal whatever he could and then give it to those who needed it most. He never kept anything for himself. He was killed during an escape attempt. Bysshe told us about it. The verexi were so angry at him for telling us that they wiped his memory. Not long afterward, they ended the experiment and tried to get rid of us.”
Maddison’s brain clicked when he said the name Rage.Nowshe remembered. There’d been all sorts of buzz on the news feeds about an alien with that name, of an unknown species, who had escaped from a research facility and teamed up with the human pilot.
“Rage isn’t dead,” she blurted. It wasn’t the mosttactful way to drop such heavy news, but she thought speed would count more than gentleness right now.
Havoc skidded to a stop. “Say that again.”
“Your brother. Rage. He’s not dead. He escaped on a delivery ship.”
He set her down and then spun her around to face him. His hands gripped her shoulders so tightly she felt the prick of his claws. “Explain.”
She smiled up at him, her hand lifting to rest on his cheek.
“Rage wasn’t killed trying to escape. He did it. He got away. I don’t remember all the details, but it was on the news feeds. He was there the day your ship crashed.” She frowned and then pointed skyward. “I mean, he was here. In orbit. But things went wrong. The verexi closed the space around the planet.” The more she spoke, the more she remembered. It still wasn’t enough, but it was more than he’d known a minute ago.
“He was here. Why didn’t he contact us?”
“I don’t think the verexi let him. This planet is inside their borders, and they had total control over what happened. Then, after the crash, they threw everyone out of their territory. They claimed you attacked the crew.”
He growled and flashed his fangs. “There was no crew. The ship was automated. We were never supposed to reach the surface alive. When you see the supplies they left for us, you’ll understand. Most of it was junk.”
She kept stroking his cheek, offering him whatcomfort she could. She knew he wasn’t angry. Not really. He was simply trying to come to terms with the truth bomb she’d just dropped on his head. “I believe you.”
