“Have you met Menace’s mate?” Vicious asked. “Because she definitely would.”
Terror didn’t even try to smother his laughter at the image of Naya traipsing through the woods with a scowl on her face and two feral beasts at her side.
“Am I wrong?” Vicious asked.
“Not at all,” Terror replied, still smiling.
Grim didn’t seem the least bit amused. “Domesticated or not, they’ll make noise if we get too close. We should be cautious.”
“Too bad your tracking skills can’t tell us if she’s friendly or not,” Lethal remarked, his gaze fixed on the woods behind them. He had been watching their flank the entire hike and seemed to be in his element. Like many of their brethren, Lethal had been born on a colonized planet to a warrior and his Grabbed mate. He had spent his youth in the forests and hills and seemed now to be almost homesick among the familiar smells and sounds of his long-gone home.
“Even I have limits,” Grim answered. “This way.”
With a wave of his hand, he started walking again, and they fell in line behind him. Up above, the sky opened up, dumping torrents of frigid rain and making their slog up the mountain even harder. Winded and fatigued, Terror couldn’t imagine how tired Maisie was by now. Was she starving? Was she sick? Had she collapsed somewhere? Gotten hurt?
And what about the woman tracking her? Was she friendly? Was she dangerous? Pro government? A Splinter sympathizer? If Maisie was lucky, the woman following her would be someone like Brook or Hallie. Someone kind and helpful who would take her in and keep her safe until he could find her.
Of course, once he did find her, decisions would have to be made. He couldn’t let her stay here on this planet. He had to get her back to the Valiant and get her straight to medical. After that, he wasn’t sure what would happen.
Keep her.
It was a thought that wouldn’t leave him. He hadn’t ever been the type of man who wanted a mate. He hadn’t ever seen the appeal or the need for a woman of his own. If he wanted sex, he visited a poppy. He didn’t need someone to cook or clean for him, and he didn’t see children in his future so what use was a mate?
You won’t be alone anymore.
Terror shoved that thought aside. He was alone, but he wasn’t lonely. He was perfectly happy in his life and his situation.
Liar.
Since his rescue, he hadn’t been able to shake the feeling of emptiness. He had always found great satisfaction in his work and in fulfilling his duty. Now, it seemed lacking. It wasn’t enough. He wanted something more out of his life. He wanted his sacrifice to mean something. He wanted someone to fight for.
Collar her.
It was tempting. So tempting. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but from her first visit to his cell, from her first shy touch and kind smile, he had craved her presence. It wasn’t her natural beauty or the innocent timidness with which she approached him that left him yearning. It was something else, something in her eyes. It was the glimmer of understanding. She hadn’t seen all the things he had, but she had seen enough to understand what he had survived.
It was why he trusted her when she had tapped out her plan to help him escape. It had been the afternoon before everything went bad. Something had happened between Maisie and Devious that spurred her into action. She had come to his cell with such determination on her face. She was going to break him out and get him back to his ship.
Later that night, his captors had dragged Devious into the cell. Bloody, bruised and barely conscious. Clinging to life. Someone had betrayed Devious, and from the sounds echoing in the hall outside his cell, they had betrayed her, too
Hearing them beat her, hearing her broken cries, had damn near broken him. That was the last time he heard her. Until receiving the intel that led them to this mountain, he had feared her dead.
But she was alive. She was fighting for her survival. She wasn’t giving up.
And he wasn’t going to give up on her.
Chapter Three
Panting to catch her breath, Maisie stopped her seemingly endless hike and dropped down in front of the closest tree. Her tired legs trembled,