He took a deep breath and then another. “Thank you.” He turned his head to kiss the palm of her hand.
“You’re welcome. I’m sorry I don’t have any more information. The last I heard, your brother was alive. But then the news cycle moved on to the next story. I don’t know where he is or what he’s doing.”
Havoc nuzzled her hand again, his lips brushing her skin. “I can guess. Rage would never give up. He’s out there somewhere, trying to find a way to free us.”
“If it helps, there’s an ongoing investigation into what the scrawnies did. There have been a few trials, too. The verexi broke some pretty important Gal-Leg laws. The other races aren’t happy about it.”
“Good. The Galactic Legion should beveryunhappy. If we had been what the verexi wanted, the galaxy would be at war by now.” He raised his head and growled. “But they will still pay in blood for what they did to us. We will have our revenge.”
“That also explains why they are so desperate to kill you and your brothers. They want to hide the evidence. Especially since they never intended to let you live in peace.”
“That will not happen. Anyone who sets foot in our territory will die,” Havoc declared. Then he released hershoulder and lifted his hand to stroke her hair. “Unless they are from your ship.”
“I appreciate you making an exception.” She tried to smile, but the stark reality of their situation bore down on her. The fa’rel were being hunted by an enemy with enough money to fund a thousand mercenaries. Why is there so much violence in this galaxy? All she’d wanted was to live a quiet life where she could do some good. Now? People had died because of her, and Havoc had every intention of increasing the body count. Not that she blamed him. The verexi had wanted warriors, and that’s what they’d created.
“We should go. The river isn’t much farther,” Havoc said.
She nodded and caught him by the shoulders, hopping into the air as he lifted her back into his arms. “How can you tell?” she asked once they were moving again.
“The ground is level and the trees are larger.” He pointed to one side of the path. “See?”
She realized that, yes, she could see. A quick glance above showed her the reason. Moonlight spilled through the gaps in the canopy. The massive trunk of a tree rose in the direction Havoc had indicated. It seemed more like a tower than a tree.
“That’s huge!”
“It is smaller than the ones near our home. Those are so large we built our homes in the branches.”
“You live in a tree house?” She’d assumed they lived in caves of some kind, which made her wince. Havoc might have looked like a dangerous beast, but he was so much more than his appearance suggested.
“We each have our own home, but yes. The trees have deep roots and are not affected by the floods that come with the rainy season.”
“That sounds sensible. I always wanted to have a treehouse growing up. My father would never allow it. He was always afraid I’d hurt myself.”
One day she’d get over the irony of her overprotective father being the one who arranged her marriage to Donny. As always, he thought it was the best decision—one that ensured she wouldn’t need to take on the stress that came with running the family business. She’d insisted she was ready, but he couldn’t see it. To him, she was still his little girl. Instead of trusting her, he’d given both his business and his only child to someone else to protect before the cancer took him.
They didn’t speak again. Both of them needed time to think. Not that it was easy to keep her thoughts straight when he was so close. She wanted to kiss him again, but she resisted the urge and buried her face in the crook of his neck instead.
Cradled in his arms, with his soft fur against her face and his scent in her nose, she felt safe and comfortable in a way she’d never experienced before. Not even with Loris, whom she trusted with her life.
That’s when it hit her. She trusted Havoc, too. Completely. She didn’t expect their bond to last, but while it existed, she was safe.
Too bad it wouldn’t last. She could get used to this.
Chapter Eight
It occurred to Havoc that he’d never been this close to another being for so long without someone getting punched. Maddison was an exception to every expectation he had. She was smart and insightful. Her gentle demeanor hid a quiet determination to survive whatever life threw at her.
How had she endured the abuse without losing her softness? He didn’t have an answer to that question. If he’d ever been gentle, he’d lost that part of himself so long ago he could not remember it. Yet when he’d lost his mind and touched her that first time, it was because he wanted to comfort her.
Him. Comforting this female despite the risks. What had possessed him?
He knew the answer, but he still played that moment over and over in his memory. Attraction was part of it. She was female, and it had been more than a year since he’d spent time with a pleasure unit. His hand was a poor replacement even for an artificial sex partner. Fucking Maddison would be better.
His cock throbbed just thinking about it. He’d pullher down on top of him and let her ride him. He could already feel her tight pussy sliding down his length. Soon. They’d reach the river soon. Then he would make her understand what he already knew.
She was his. He’d make those marks appear on her wrists, and then everyone would know who she belonged to.
What surprised him was the discovery that he felt more than lust for this female. He had already noticed little details about her that pleased him. He liked the way the lines around her eyes deepened when she smiled and the way she touched him so gently but without fear. Despite everything she’d gone through, she wasn’t afraid of him. No verexi had ever shown that much courage.
