Riv's Sanctuary - A.G. Wilde Page 0,43

her.

Very badly.

But he’d rather lose all eight of his fingers first. If staying away from her was causing him trouble, he couldn’t imagine what his life would be like if he went closer.

Sohut shrugged. “You could have asked her, you know.”

Didn’t occur to him.

He hadn’t wanted to converse with her. He’d only been forced to and something told him that even if he’d tried to lay down the rules with her, it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.

She’d have still followed him around the Sanctuary…still found her way next to his sleeping cushion in the middle of the phekking dark-cycle.

"His name is Grot." Riv forced his attention from Sohut back to the female. "Doggo" just sounded…weird.

He didn't like this female…

His entire Sanctuary felt different since she'd arrived.

Grot let his tongue hang out of his mouth and bumped his head against Sohut, who finally relaxed enough to pat the tevsi on the head.

"Hey, Grot," Sohut smiled at the tevsi. "You weren't really going to rip me apart, were you?"

Grot made a low rumble before lying flat on his belly. All the while, the human stood behind him, watching Sohut with guarded eyes.

Sohut lifted his gaze to the female.

“I am Sohut,” he said. “This is my brother, Riv.” Sohut jerked a shoulder in his direction. “I am sure he hasn’t introduced himself. He’s not very…good at this.”

The female looked his way, shooting a dagger with those brown eyes of hers.

Turning back to Sohut, she placed a delicate hand on her bosom. “La-rehn.”

Her name.

That was her name.

He didn’t need to be a dark matter physicist to understand that.

La-rehn.

Grudgingly, he decided he liked it.

He could like her name. He didn’t have to like her.

Shifting uncomfortably, he watched the exchange between the two.

Sohut was so much better at this than he was.

That’s why Sohut was the one who went off-Sanctuary on contracted jobs.

He couldn’t deal with beings the way Sohut could.

He didn’t want to.

“La-rehn,” Sohut turned the name over on his tongue and Riv stiffened.

Hearing her name come from his brother’s lips made an illogical bolt of irritation shoot through him.

“Greetings, La-rehn. Welcome to the Sanctuary.” Sohut reached out and put a firm hand on the female’s shoulder in greeting.

The female jerked but didn’t move away. She stood her ground and met Sohut’s gaze.

Riv barely heard what she said to his brother, not that he would have understood anyway.

His eyes were fastened instead on Sohut’s hand on the female.

He was touching her.

Something ticked inside of him and a growl rumbled deep in his throat before he could stop himself.

“Don’t touch her.”

It was only when he realized they both snapped their necks to look at him that he caught himself.

His breath stilled within him.

Phek. He’d spoken out loud.

The phek was wrong with him?

Clearing his throat, he softened his tone. “Don’t touch her. And don’t welcome her.” He frowned. “She isn’t staying.”

Sohut’s brows rose. "She’s not? Where's she going? Better yet, start with where she came from."

"Doesn't matter." He didn’t know how he was even managing to speak with a level voice. Right now he felt like raging and taking a quiet walk all at the same time.

His eyes were on the female, watching as she placed the blaster on the sleeping cushion.

He needed to put the weapon out of her reach. She was trigger-happy. "She's leaving today anyway."

"Why?” Sohut leaned against the wall. “And who's going to stay here with the animals?"

That caught Riv’s attention. "You."

"Can't." His brother crossed his arms over his chest, his gaze going distant.

They were just two orbits apart but Riv noted just how much younger Sohut looked. Younger, happier, less stressed.

He had no frown lines etched into his frons, no dark hole of sadness behind his eyes.

It made him relieved the struggle of their past hadn't affected Sohut as it had affected him. He'd worked hard to prevent that.

"I'm just stopping by for my gear," Sohut continued. "Kezna zoo has word of a strange new animal that escaped during shipment. It's in the Koznia Jungle. They’ve been trying to catch it for over an entire orbit. They need someone with experience to retrieve it."

Riv crossed his arms. It was rare for them to get such contracts but whenever they did, it always yielded good credits. He hated people but Sohut thrived on these jobs.

"Do you know what type of animal it is?" Depending on the species, he’d have a good idea of how long it’d take Sohut to capture the animal. Some species were more elusive than others.

"Something from some Class Four planet,"