"I still haven't seen her."I didn't know why I was talking to him, except I couldn't handle being in my own head anymore.
"Maybe they haven't arrived yet.Adak was traveling on foot and carrying your friend."
They'd had a headstart, but I doubted even a turoch could run faster than I could drive.Still, the thought of Penny being alone out there for two nights with Dargo's friend filled me with anxiety.Anything could be happening right now, and as much as I was starting to like Dargo, I couldn't take his word that his friend was a good male.
I didn't trust myself to know if a person was good, let alone someone else's opinion.
Fuck, I felt useless.I couldn't drive around looking for Penny in case she really was in camp and needed me, and I couldn't just stay here if she was out in the wilderness somewhere and needed me.
I wasn't going to cry.No matter how bad things got, I didn't cry, ever.Sucking in a violent breath through my nose, I stomped around to the cab of the truck and dug through the backseat, trying to look busy and not like I was hiding from Dargo's prying eyes.
By the time I gave up rifling through a stranger's junk for the answer to all my problems, I felt a little more in control and the tears I'd blinked back had retreated.I could do this, I knew I could.Penny needed me, Hope needed me and I refused to fail them.
A little piece of me hoped that Dargo was telling the truth about his people treasuring females.I didn't intend to abandon Penny to his friend's clutches, but if she was safe and comfortable, at least I didn't have to imagine her suffering while I fumbled this rescue.I shut the door of the truck and yelped when I turned around and ran right into Dargo.
He loomed over me, crowding me against the truck as he searched my face.
"I can smell your tears, little Firebrand."His voice was a low rumble, the normal lilt of seduction missing.
"I wasn't crying."I set my jaw and glared up at him, refusing to let him see how spooked I was by his sudden appearance.A quick glance between us told me his hands were still tied, so he hadn't escaped.But I'd gotten too used to his presence and treaded into the range of his leash.
It was a stupid mistake, and one I didn't know how to get out of.Bound hands or not, I was no match for Dargo, and my trusty cattle prod was out of charge and laying next to my crumpled camp chair.
"Back off, Dargo."He had me pinned to the truck and there was no way I was going to try and muscle past him and prove how physically weak I was compared to him.Watching those two males duking it out in camp had reinforced just how pointless fighting him would be.
Instead of moving away, he leaned in, until his chest was plastered to mine and I could feel his breath ruffling the hair at the top of my head.I met his gaze, desperately trying to ignore the sudden flutter of awareness growing in my middle the longer he stared into my eyes.
It felt like he was trying to look into my mind and I didn't want that.He needed to stay firmly in his place, as my prisoner and a means to an end.
"You have no reason to fear for your friend, Taz.Adak is an honorable male, he's saved my life countless times and he will keep your friend safe."
He had no idea how badly I wanted to believe him.But experience told me good people were few and far between.And even if you thought you knew a person, they could betray you so fast your head would spin.How could I trust his word, an alien I'd met a few days ago, about a male I'd never spoken to?
"I can't take your word on that," I said, hating that my voice trembled as I spoke.It wasn't even fear for Penny making me all wobbly, it was the intimacy of having Dargo pressing against me.He didn't look away from my eyes.
"You can trust me, Firebrand."He dipped lower until we were eye to eye."I plan to make you my mate, and a turoch never deceives his mate."
I wanted to laugh at that, I really did.People lied, they just did.They lied to their boss, their friends, their loved ones, hell they lied to themselves.It'd be a cold day in hell when I believed that Dargo wouldn't lie to me just because we were together.
Which we weren't.And we weren't ever going to be.
"I don't want to be your mate, so stop asking."
He smiled, a slow, blatantly sexual grin that scorched my resolve and made me bite my tongue not to return.
"Oh, I wasn't asking.Turoch's don't ask, we claim.And if a female doesn't return the feeling, she can deny us, but if she does want us, she fights her male every step of the way."His voice lowered and he dragged his lips across my temple, trailing a line of heat down to my ear.
I was frozen, caught between dread and excitement as he trapped me against the truck and slowly, gently nipped my earlobe.No matter how much I told myself he didn't affect me, I knew it was a lie.
Especially when he chuckled and whispered in my ear.
"And you, little Firebrand, you fight me every chance you get.I've chosen a mate to do battle with, and I look forward to conquering you."
I swayed, dizzy as his heat and his strangely spicy scent invaded my space.His hands were tied, but I was the one that was trapped.By the truck, by his words, by the fucking look in his eyes as he leaned closer and brushed his lips over mine.
I pressed my hands against his chest, telling myself I was going to push him away, but instead, I was distracted by the feeling of his heart pounding under my palms and the sensation of smooth skin marred by rough-edged scars.
It was his rapid heartbeat that did me in.
