“No, I don’t remember that part.” The big male was lying. They’d all heard her warning.
Havoc opted to call him on it without inflaming thesituation further. “She said to be gentle, like Menace was with her.” Then he cracked a joke. “I don’t think that word translated correctly. Our brother is far from gentle.”
The jest worked. They all laughed. He’d learned that trick from Bysshe. Every member of the clan was different, but they had some things in common, especially their short fuses and aggressive tendencies. Bysshe had worked tirelessly to keep them from killing each other after they’d crashed and were forced to live together in the relative safety of the ship’s wreckage.
When the laughter ended, Risk spoke again. “Hope also said that if we were lucky, one of the females might choose to bond with us.Might,” he repeated. “We shouldn’t assume we can simply lay claim to one of the females.”
Vengeance growled at this but didn’t argue. Havoc agreed with his brother, but he doubted that many of the clan would manage that level of restraint. He wished he could have talked to Bysshe about the situation before leaving, but at the time, he’d shared the same sense of urgency as the others.
“I like my plan better,” Vengeance declared.
Havoc grinned, turned, and shoved his brother in payback for his earlier abuse. “You would. Simple minds like simple plans. Risk is saying I’m right. We need a real plan.”
Risk bristled, his anger palpable now. “That’s not what I said!”
Instinct took over, and Havoc snarled back, one hand raised with claws extended and his teeth bared.
Vengeance growled and turned to scowl at Risk.
Tension crackled around them as they glared at each other. This was what Havoc had tried to avoid. If they hadn’t already been together for so long, it wouldn’t be like this. They needed time apart, and it would have to be soon.
To his surprise, Vengeance stood down first. He took off his pack and shoved his hand inside, looking for something. “If we’re going to stand around here for a while, I’m eating. You two do whatever you’re doing.”
That was all it took. Everyone relaxed, and soon all three of them were eating and talking as if they hadn’t been at each other’s throats a few minutes before.
This was something else Bysshe had taught them. Holding on to anger wasn’t useful. It was better to let it go and move on. It mostly worked.Mostly.
While they all talked, Risk spoke the most. In the end, Havoc saw the logic in his ideas, even if he didn’t like most of them.
Risk’s suggestions were less reckless than Vengeance wanted but didn’t let Havoc spend time assessing the situation before they moved on.
Part of him wondered why they even bothered with a plan at all. Their clan-brothers would find any survivors long before the three of them arrived. Talking about what to do and when to do it was more to pass the time than anything else. Still, Havoc preferred to knowwhat to expect, and now he knew what both of his brothers had in mind. It wasn’t ideal, but independence was important to all the fa’rel. They’d spent most of their lives under threat of punishment for any action that didn’t align with the scrawnies’ expectations. No matter what, they’d never accept that kind of control again. Each of them was free to make their own decisions. Even if they were wrong.
They headed out again, this time at a faster pace than before. That didn’t bother Havoc. No matter how fast they ran, they’d need to stop once it got dark, which meant they wouldn’t reach the crash site until tomorrow at the soonest. Even Vengeance wouldn’t risk traveling across unknown territory at night. It was too dangerous.
The light changed as the sun moved lower, and even the shadows had a deep golden glow that matched the gold and orange leaves forming the canopy overhead.
They raced onward, their tawny coloring letting them blend in to the landscape. This was what he loved most about their new lives—the freedom to be a predator, unconstrained by rules or threats. The verexi had made them too well. They were stronger, faster, and more cunning than their creators. He knew that because he’d been the one who helped Bysshe plan their escape.
The scrawnies gave them the opportunity and then were surprised when the fa’rel took it. The scrawnies claimed that the experiment had been deemed a failure. That much was likely true. What they’d lied about was what would happen to them. They claimed that they’dfound a suitable planet for them and would deliver them there to live the rest of their lives without interference. That was never their creators’ intention. They wanted them dead, gone, and buried so deep that no proof of their existence would remain.
They’d planned to destroy the ship and claim it was an accident. The fa’rel had only survived because Bysshe had risked deletion to uncover the real plan and warn them. Then, the android had led the effort to break out of the cargo hold and take over the ship. Crashing on the planet hadn’t been their intention, but with the controls partially locked down and no one trained as a pilot, that’s what happened.
That wasn’t the end of it, though. The void-blasted scrawnies hired mercenaries to exterminate them. Some of them were arrogant enough to broadcast their intentions over the airwaves, complete with confirmation of who hired them and what they were there to do.
They had all died.
Havoc had no illusions. He knew the verexi would keep trying to kill them. The only way to stop them was to get off this planet and go after them. That’s what Havoc wanted the most. He wanted revenge more than anything else. Even a female.
At least, that’s what he told himself as he raced his brothers through the woods.
CHAPTER 3
Maddison’sunhappy marriage had taught her some painful lessons, but occasionally they included useful life skills. With klaxons blaring and the ship in obvious distress, she was able to control her emotions and think clearly. She’d slung her bag over her shoulder, taken a few centering breaths, and walked out into the corridor to wait for Loris.
It didn’t take the other woman long to retrieve her things and return. She flashed Maddison a tight smile despite the hard set of her jaw and the look of fierce determination in her eyes.
“We’re going to the bridge. I need to know what happened, and it’s the safest place I can think of.”
