the base of her neck. Her heart beat sure and steady.
He sucked down a shuddered breath. Plenty of subjects had fainted on him during an interrogation, but he usually saw it coming.
She moaned, twisting in place, her legs falling wider open.
Lust returned with a vengeance. He fought it. It wasn’t as easy as it should have been with her spread on the ground before him. A fucking fantasy of submission and surrender. Just the way he liked his partner.
But that wasn’t what she was. Not at all.
He splashed some water on her cheeks. Then he lifted her head and forced small sips between her lips, tracing the edge of her tiny fangs with his thumb. Up close, they were almost adorable. Fierce, to be sure. But so tiny and delicate. Like the rest of her.
He’d crossed off warrior princess as a possibility. She just wasn’t fierce enough. Her inability to conceal her worry for the feathered creature also indicated a definite lack of training. Same with her inability to hide her desire. He’d never come across anyone who seemed to get so easily lost in her need.
Jury was still out on some kind of priestess, but if she was a novice, then shouldn’t she be safe in some temple? Not out on her own trading metal for food and humans, or tied up in his ropes guarding her secrets from an opponent three times her size?
She just seemed…vulnerable. In need of safeguarding rather than punishment.
That kind of gray was not comfortable for a man like him.
“Grif! You there?” The shout came from outside the cave, but it was loud enough to echo through the space.
He bit back a curse. His captive never stirred.
A surge of something that felt a lot like protectiveness ran through him.
He told himself to get a fucking grip.
A quick loop of her wrist in a double column tie. Another quick check to make sure the rest of her restraints were in place, and he stalked to the rock that blocked the entrance, grabbed an ax, and slid the boulder open just enough to slip through. He had no interest in spectators while he worked.
“What are you doing here?” He stood in front of the rock, arms crossed over his chest, ax held loosely on one hand.
“That’s a nice greeting.” Ryker, his superior and second-in-command—for now—was the first to speak.
“I’m working.”
His teammate Malin surveyed him from head to toe. “At least today’s work doesn’t mean being covered in dirt.”
Could the shaved-headed fucker get any more patronizing? “I was digging pits then. I’m not anymore.”
Malin and his thick neck were gunning for the second-in-command position, too. They’d never been close, but the tension between them had definitely ratcheted up recently.
“We were patrolling.” Ryker said at last. “Thought we’d say hello.”
The other three teammates who’d come: Bain, Zale, and Quil, nodded as one, expressions blank.
Grif called bullshit.
They were here to check up on him. Probably sent by the commander.
He got it. He did.
First, he’d screwed up and let the enemy get the drop on him. Then, he’d returned from the slave camp with headcase written all over him. He was no shrink, but he suspected his less-than-pleasant stay with 223’s gang had brought up some unfinished business from his past.
Second, his ability to fake charming had taken a hit. Then he’d lost the skill to sleep. Then conversing and just generally passing for a human being had eluded him. Even Melody and Hope had stopped seeking him out whenever he returned to the settlement for more supplies.
Good news was he didn’t feel on edge now. The opposite, in fact. He was hyper focused. And disinterested in wasting any time that didn’t include his captive.
He was also looking forward to shoving his teammates’ worry up their asses.
“You can tell the commander I’m fine. The situation is almost in the bag.” He looked at Malin and winked, “and I’m suddenly feeling pretty damn good about my chances of a promotion.”
Malin’s lips flattened into a line. The others laughed. Hey, even his charm was coming back. How about that?
He flashed a smile. “Yes. It’s true. I captured the target. As expected, she does have knowledge of the missing females’ whereabouts.” He didn’t even pause to let that sink in. “I’m in the middle of extracting the location now. Best of all, I am coming to strongly suspect the majority are still alive.”
“What?” Ryker’s shout was the loudest, but all of them stared at him with new intensity.