Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
QUIN
Iwoke slowly, drifting up through layers of unfamiliar comfort.
Warmth surrounded me. Not the brittle heat of fear that had become my constant companion on this world, but substantial and safe.
For a precious moment, I lingered in that perfect half-aware state where nothing existed but the simple pleasure of rest. No danger.
No void weavers. No planet trying to kill us.
Just peaceful, quiet, and the gentle pressure of steady breathing against me.
A sound, or not quite a sound, but more a low and rhythmic vibration like a purr.
It resonated within me in a way that made every anxious, coiled thing inside me go loose and soft.
I didn't know what it was. I only knew it made me feel safe in a way I hadn't since before the nebula swallowed our ship whole.
Full awareness returned in fragments as my lids lifted only a fraction.
A spicy musk enveloped me, and the rhythmic sound of two heartbeats was beneath my ear.
Pale light filtered through the broken viewport, confirming what my body already knew.
Dawn had come. I considered keeping my eyes closed, holding onto this impossible moment a little longer, but reality had other plans.
My arms tightened against something warm and solid, and I froze.
I wasn't lying on the cold floor of the crashed ship.
I was curled against a wall of living heat, head tucked into the hollow of a throat, cheek pressed against flesh like suede.
My fingers had wound themselves into the silken fall of hair where it spilled over a massive shoulder, clinging without my permission, as if I never intended to let go.
Vennox.
I'd fallen asleep while the silver-tongued devil had kept first watch.
Now I was cradled in his lap, my side against his chest, his arms, massive and impossibly strong, curled around me with careful restraint.
One hand rested at my hip, the other at my shoulder, both positioned to shield rather than claim.
His grip had the perfect tension, secure enough to anchor me but gentle enough that I could break free if I wanted to.
But I didn't want to. And that was a real problem.
The low vibration in his chest eased as I stirred. "You're awake," Vennox's deep voice rumbled beneath my ear, the sound rolling through me like thunder. "You slept well."
I nodded without looking up, still processing how I'd gone from sitting next to him to being cradled in his arms. "How long was I out?"
"The entire suns-fall," he said. "I was beginning to wonder if you would wake before it was time to leave."
The entire night. My stomach dropped. "You didn't sleep at all, did you?"
His arms tightened almost imperceptibly around me. "No."
I pulled back just enough to look up into his face. His silver gaze met mine without flinching, showing no sign of fatigue despite a full night without rest. "Any unwelcome guests?"
He shook his head. "Nothing significant. Several small predators, but nothing approached the ship directly." His expression remained controlled, but I caught a flash of something in his steady gaze. Pride, perhaps. "I made sure you were never in danger."
"Because you stayed awake the entire night,” I said, unable to keep the concern from my voice. "And you're recovering from recent injuries."
"A few lost hurs are a small sacrifice if they allowed you to get the rest you needed."
I stared at him, at a loss for how to respond. The simple statement hung between us, loaded with meaning I wasn't ready to examine too closely.
The casual confidence with which he'd handled my most valuable tool should have bothered me more than it did. Instead, I found myself impressed with how he'd known which readings to trust.
"I should get up," I said, reluctantly pulling myself from his lap.
My body protested the move, already missing his warmth and the solid reality of his presence.
I placed a careful hand on his shoulder to steady myself as I stood, pointedly ignoring the ripple of color emanating from where my palm rested.
"Thank you for keeping me safe while I slept," I said, meaning the words more than I wanted to admit. "You didn't have to do that."
"It is my honor to keep you safe," he said simply, without further explanation.
I stepped away, putting necessary distance between us. All around, the others were already awake and preparing to move out. Mara crouched beside Brunnex, helping him sit up, her long dark curls falling forward over her shoulder as she leaned in to check the dressing on his head wound.
Brooke chatted quietly with Truxxet, her blonde bob tucked behind her ears, her movements animated despite the tension evident in her shoulders. Vala and Ruze spoke in low tones near the shattered viewport, while Tyrk donned a well-worn pack that settled against his back.
Tyrk's pack stopped me cold. Worn canvas, straps darkened with use, the kind of bag that had been everywhere and survived all of it.
I'd had one like it at the University of Arizona.
Carried it every semester until the seams gave out, convinced in the irrational way of a chronically sleep-deprived student that abandoning it would tank my GPA.
As if six years of straight A's, four undergrad, two for the masters I'd nearly lost my mind finishing, had anything to do with the bag and not the caffeine.
I checked the bio-analyzer Vennox had handed back to me and brought up the sweep, watching the screen populate with data.
I needed something concrete, quantifiable, something that had nothing to do with the warmth still lingering on my skin where his arms had been.
I focused on the readout and ignored the tide of tender feelings blooming in the region of my heart.
"The immediate area is clear," I reported to no one in particular. "No unusual movement for at least a mile in any direction."
"You look refreshed," Brooke observed with a wink. "Better than some of us, anyway."
My face heated. I'd slept an entire night tucked against Vennox's chest while he'd kept watch.
I looked back at him, genuinely concerned about how he would manage outside on such a dangerous planet after spending the night protecting me.
But he showed no sign of weakness. No tightness around his eyes, no slowness to his movements.
If anything, he seemed more alert than he had the day before, his silver gaze tracking every movement in the room with predator focus.
"Everyone, finish packing your essentials," Vala called out, straightening from where he'd been checking the makeshift stretcher they'd assembled for Brunnex. "We need to be ready to move in five minutes."
The ship immediately filled with purposeful activity. The last of the supplies was gathered, and wounds were examined. I fell into the familiar rhythm of preparation, checking my gear. Bio-analyzer secured at my hip. Comm device snug around my wrist. Everything where it needed to be.
Except for the strange tug toward Vennox that I couldn't quite banish, a lingering awareness of his presence even when I deliberately looked away. My body kept track of him, noting each shift of his weight, each subtle change in his breathing. It was infuriating and, if I was being honest with myself, a little terrifying how quickly I’d grown infatuated with him.
This planet was dangerous enough without adding complications. I needed to focus on survival, not on the way a single glance from him sent heat curling through my belly in a slow burn. He'd offered protection. I'd accepted it. That was all it needed to be.
"Before we move out," Vala said, his luminous gaze sweeping the group, "our new companions need a briefing." He looked at me. "Quin."
"Stay off the crystalline formations," I said. "Don't touch them, don't brush against them. The void weaver nest near the ridge is still active, and the ground around the crash site isn't stable. If the analyzer spikes, we stop. No exceptions."
Vala nodded once. "Everybody got it?”
A round of nods answered him. Truxxet grunted under his breath, sounding like agreement.
Tyrk muttered, "Wouldn't be the first time I've had to dodge something with too many legs," while Ruze just shifted his pack higher on his shoulder and said nothing, his expression saying he'd survived worse with less warning.
Vennox said nothing at all. He simply looked at me and nodded once, like a vow.
We left the Moktian craft, stepping into that narrow window of relative safety when the planet's predators had retired to their dens and the carnivorous flora hadn't yet unfurled to full hunger.
The air hung heavy with morning dew, catching the strange light of the twin suns in droplets that scattered colors across the ground this world wore like armor.
I kept the bio-analyzer gripped in one hand as I fell into position behind Vala, its familiar weight anchoring me to reality after the disorienting intimacy of waking in Vennox's arms.
The others followed in tight formation, taking cues from Vala's lead.
Tyrk and Truxxet carried Brunnex on the makeshift stretcher between them, moving with careful coordination despite their burden, Tyrk's pack riding against his broad back with each step.
Ruze took the rear, his nutrone blaster raised, eyes constantly sweeping the tree line.
Vennox remained at my side, never more than a step away.
His proximity unsettled me in ways that had nothing to do with how deadly he'd shown himself to be as a warrior.
We climbed to the top of the ridge, going back the way we'd come.
We crested the top, and the dense forest closed in around us.
I kept the analyzer sweeping in slow arcs, watching the readout for anything that didn't belong.
It stayed clean. The ground was firm beneath my boots.
The air hit the way it always did on this world, sweet and metallic, and my skin drew tight against my bones.