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Ash didn’t mind him being here, so long as he protected Georgia and didn’t turn on her with those wicked sharp fangs.

“Move out, everyone,” Cleo said. “Let’s bring these white tails home.”

The group split into their pairs, while Cleo and Hunter remained on the ship.

Ash and Georgia were tasked with investigating a cave in the western quadrant of the planet. It was a twenty-minute walk through this barren, foul-smelling place.

Ash stayed close to Georgia as he studied the scanner readings on his handheld device.

“You don’t need to keep looking at me,” she muttered. “I’m not going to mess up.”

“I never said you would.”

The banty chittered a warning at Ash. It was like the thing could read Georgia’s moods and sense when she was snapping and pissed at someone.

“You think I won’t do my job properly because of my past with the Siblet.”

Ash wasn’t going to lie to her. “It crossed my mind. I bet it crossed yours, too. You can’t tell me you haven’t thought about blasting the head off every Siblet we see.”

She let out a soft sigh. “It has.”

“And have you got plans to do anything about those desires?”

Georgia raised her weapon and stop walking.

The banty growled, and his fangs appeared.

Ash also stopped walking. “Did you see something?”

“No, but I thought I heard a noise.”

“I didn’t catch anything.” And with his enhanced hearing, he’d know if anything was tracking them.

Georgia lowered her weapon. “It’s nothing. I’m just uptight.”

They continued walking in silence.

“Is this the first time you’ll encounter a Siblet since they took you?” Ash asked.

“Yep.”

“How do you plan to handle it?” Georgia wasn’t a scream and run kind of fighter, but the shit she’d been through would mess with the toughest bastard.

“I’ll handle it like a professional.”

“Like a professional who was captured and tortured for weeks? That leaves a mark. It screws with you.”

She sped up. “Would it have screwed you up?”

“Most likely. I’d want to rip the head off every Siblet.”

“Then you know me better than I thought you did,” Georgia said.

“And I’ll keep on getting to know you. But to do that, we both need to stay alive.” The scanner in Ash’s hand vibrated. He’d set it on silent mode so they wouldn’t alert anything on the planet to their presence.

“Have you got something?” Georgia took a look at the scanner readings.

He nodded. “It’s a signature for the white tails. They’re definitely on the planet. The signal isn’t so screwy now we’re on the ground and there’s less interference.”