hand down, to the back of my knee. My skin inside my suit tingled from the warmth of his palm. Suddenly, I knew what about his touch was so incredible—the gentle reverence with which he treated my body—even when he had touched me for the entertainment of others. I always sensed that, for him, every moment with me was special. He had made it intimate, even when we’d been surrounded by hundreds of sex-starved males.
I hovered my hand next to his face then gently placed it on his shoulder instead.
“I like you, Vrateus,” I confessed. “I tried not to. I didn’t believe it was right for me to have any kind of sympathy or attraction for you. But I ended up having both.”
With a long exhale, he pressed his forehead to my belly.
“You can’t imagine how good it feels to hear that from you. I’ve sensed your animosity with my skin.”
“It wasn’t for you, Vrateus, but for this entire situation. I dislike being put on display for your crew. For me, the intimate touch between two people is not supposed to be shared with anyone else. If the intimacy is real, it shouldn’t be for the entertainment of others. That was probably why it felt so exceptionally wrong—because with you, it did feel real.”
“You should have told me that sooner.” He gazed up at me.
“I’m afraid I couldn’t have properly explained it before.”
“It won’t happen again.” Determination flashed in his eyes.
“But it has to.” I cupped his face, gently tracing the sharp ridge of his cheekbone with my thumb. “I understand now why you did it. It’s survival, Vrateus. We both need to do what we have to do to survive.”
Chapter 19
INSTEAD OF GOING BACK through the doors, Vrateus used the tool to cut out an opening in the back wall of his weapon storage room. We exited into a narrow tunnel behind it then climbed through the crumpled bowels of the Anomaly.
I held up a piece of the thin rope he’d cut from the coil in the bag. As soon as he’d cut it off, the piece glowed bright blue, lighting our way.
Using the tool and consulting the map from time to time, Vrateus cut through the walls that blocked our way, opening a section of a ship or a sealed tunnel between two hulls, allowing us to keep going.
“We should be close,” he muttered under his breath, setting the tool down and taking the bag off his shoulder.
“Close to where?” I asked since he still hadn’t shared our final destination with me. The habit of being on his own and doing everything alone obviously wasn’t that easy to shake off for him.
He pointed at the map. “I slept in this space often when I was younger. It’s just behind the library. We’ll need to turn here.”
He folded the map, then picked up the bag and the cutting tool.
After another turn, we squeezed between two wall panels into a small room with no doors or windows.
No one must have used it since Vrateus. It was empty and clean of any garbage.
“You’ve slept here?”
“Sometimes.” He tossed the tool aside then took the blanket out of the bag. “There was no library back then. Just a storage room full of stuff looted from ships. Right behind here.” He splayed his hand on one of the walls.
“How old were you?”
“Eight, when I first got to the Dark Anomaly.”
“That small?” My breath caught in my throat. “What happened to the rest of those who were on your ship? Did anyone else survive the crash?”
“Some. But not for long.” His jaw flexed. “I’ll need to go out, now,” he changed the subject. “You’ll wait here—”
“Wait, what?” I grabbed his arm. “You want me to stay here, while you’re out there alone? Facing hundreds of hostile aliens?”
He widened his stance.
“The aliens you’re talking about are my crew.”
“Doesn’t mean they aren’t hostile. Didn’t some of them nearly cut your head off back there?” I gestured toward my room. “Listen, let me come with you. After all, why dress me up?” I gestured at the weapon holsters strapped to my waist and thigh. “If I don’t even get to use these?”
“The weapons are for your protection,” he replied, somberly. “In case someone finds their way here.”
“Come on, I can be useful, Vrateus.” The thought of him going out there on his own filled me with dread. “You never know, you may even enjoy having someone watch your back.”
“I...” He raked his claws through the soft curl of