Chapter 7
She was insane. That was it. The stress of the crash and everything that came after had broken her brain. That had to be the reason she was standing in a dark forest, surrounded by unseen dangers, and kissing an alien who looked like a demon and kissed like a god.
Nothing made any sense. The harder she tried to think rationally, the more fragmented her thoughts became. His fur felt like warm silk beneath her hands, and his touch left a trail of fire everywhere he touched her. It felt too good to be real. She craved him. His taste. His touch. His cock.
The thought shocked her, but it was true.
She hadn’t been a virgin when she got married, but nothing before or after her wedding day could hold a candle to the fire blazing in her right now.
Erotic images danced through her brain, forgotten fantasies and new desires blending into a string of dark, carnal cravings.
“Maddison,” he growled her name without breaking their kiss. The word buzzed against her tongue and sent a fresh flood of cream to coat her already wet sex.
“Call me Maddi.” She managed to tear her lips from his long enough to make the request.
“Maddi,” he said her name again. “My little star. I am going to fuck you soon. Very soon. But before I do, we need to reach the river. It’s not safe here.”
Safe. Right. That was a good point. They were supposed to be fleeing into the woods to avoid being found by…
someone. She had to focus for a few seconds before her brain kicked into gear again.
Mercenaries. The scrawnies would send mercenaries to kill any survivors because they didn’t want anyone to know what they were doing here.
“We should go.” She withdrew her hands from his body and tried to step back, but he didn’t release her.
“We should. Yes.” It was hard to see his face, but she could just make out his rueful smile. “But it’s hard to think when I can smell how much you want me.”
Her cheeks heated. Oh stars. Could he smell that?
“Don’t be embarrassed. I like it.” He took her hand and drew it down to where his kilt bulged. “Feel that? That’s how much I want you.”
She pressed her palm to the leather and felt the thick bar of his shaft twitch. The temptation to drop to her knees and take him into her mouth hit her so hard she was partway down before she stopped herself.
He didn’t seem to notice. Maybe he’d never done that? Stars. Had he done anything? He said the verexi had made them and then imprisoned them all here.
“How many females have you been with?” The question was out before she could activate any of her filters. Not that they seemed to be working right now. Whatever was happening to her, it had lowered all her inhibitions.
“The scrawnies provided us with sex-bots sometimes. That is the only experience I have.” His lips split into a cocky grin that made him look more like Vengeance. “You will be my first real female, but I promise you will have no complaints.”
Stars above and below, not only was he younger than her. He was technically a virgin. She expected to feel guilty about that.
She didn’t.
“I can’t make any promises, but I will do my best to make sure you don’t have any complaints either.”
He chuffed softly and rolled his hips so his cock bumped against her hand. “I won’t.”
They stood like that for a few more seconds, her hand on his cock, his arms still wrapped loosely around her body. Finally, he grunted and moved away. “We go.”
“You lead. I’ll follow.” She held up the hand with the cord still tied around her wrist.
“No.” Before she knew what he intended, he leaned down and scooped her into his arms, holding her body across the broad expanse of his chest. “I’ll carry you. It’s faster.”
“Then I can take this off.” She went to remove the cord that linked him, but he stopped her with a low growl. “Leave it. I like the idea of your being bound to me.”
She gave a slight nod of understanding, not trusting herself to speak without letting him hear the moan she was holding back. She liked the idea of being bound to him, too.
Was this the same thing Loris and Joy were experiencing? It had to be. If so, she imagined none of them would be getting much sleep tonight.
Havoc was right. Carrying her allowed them to travel much faster. He loped through the woods, leaping over obstacles that she would have had to climb or navigate around.
It stunned her how easily he moved despite carrying her extra weight. His breathing hardly changed at all. His endurance was all the more incredible when she considered that he and his brothers had run for most of the day before their arrival at the camp.
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed before he spoke. It had to be at least fifteen minutes, but it could have been longer.
“Why were you out here? The others, I understand. They were seeking mates. But you said you weren’t doing that,” he said.
“I wanted to get a firsthand look at the business I received as part of my divorce package. The Harvest was that business. Now…” She swallowed hard. “Now I don’t have anything. All because of a damned navigation error. We were never supposed to be in this part of the galaxy.”
His next question hit her like a hammer, pounding each word into her brain.
“Do you think your former mate arranged for that error? You said he was cruel. Was he the kind who could sacrifice a ship and everyone on board to hurt you?”
Maddison gasped, and something tore in her chest. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she’d already considered that possibility.
She just hadn’t had the strength to face it head-on.
“Yes. That would be very like him.” Another idea dawned, even more terrible than the first. “Or he might have known I was on board. This might have been his way of getting rid of me for good.”
She tried to wipe the tears from her face as she jostled and bounced in Havoc’s arms. “Either way, I’m responsible. He did this to hurt me, and he didn’t care who was harmed in the process. I’m the reason this happened.”
His arms tightened around her. “No. That means none of this was your fault. If he did this, he should be punished for it. I will add his name to the list of those who need to pay for their crimes. One day we will find a way off this world. When that time comes, I will make them all pay.”
She heard a darkness in his tone, but for once, it didn’t frighten her.
She knew she wasn’t the target. “I should tell you not to think such things and remind you that there are better things to think about than getting revenge.” She thought about all the nights she’d lain in bed and imagined ways to get back at Donny for everything he’d put her through.
Some of her ideas had been petty rebellions. Others had been outright murderous.
“But you won’t, because you understand. Sometimes, revenge is all we have,” he said with utter conviction.
“Sometimes,” she agreed. “But I wake up each day hoping to find something better. Loris has told me many times that the best revenge is living well.”
Havoc snorted but didn’t comment.
After a while, she asked him a question of her own. “Tell me more about your life before you arrived on this planet. I know you mentioned it, but I want to understand better. What did the verexi want from you?”
“They wanted warriors they could control—a mindless, merciless army. You know about the verexi? They are physically weak. Unable to survive the rigors of space travel. They are so frail they cannot even leave their planet’s gravity well without risking death.
They guard the borders of their territory with machines, but they cannot expand further because of the laws. ”
That made sense. “You mean the Unified Agreement’s rules about warfare. Only sentient, organic species can be used in military engagements outside of each species’ set boundaries.”
“A set of rules that cripple the scrawnies and ensure they cannot threaten any of the other species. They despise those limitations and sought ways around them.”
He settled her deeper into his arms without slowing, and then he continued. “We were one of those attempts. They created us using genetic material from various species. At least, that’s what they claim. Bysshe told us he has no record of any species that look like us.”
“Who is Bysshe?”
“Our mentor. The one good thing the scrawnies ever gave us. He’s an android. One of human design, actually. A lot of what they gave us was human-made. Mostly because it was cheap. The sex-bots were human-form too.”
That made sense. The other species had little regard for humans or anything they produced.
Her ex made his money by buying up other human companies and selling their key assets.
He had almost no dealings with the other races.
She suspected that the Bountiful Harvest was one of his attempts to forge connections with them…
by selling them human females. If she ever got off this planet, she’d make sure everyone knew what he’d done in the name of profit.
“Bysshe was good to you?” she asked.
“He was kind. That’s something we’d never experienced before.
He was assigned as our caretaker once we got too strong and dangerous for our creators to deal with us directly.
He guided us and taught us everything we know.
When the verexi decided to terminate the experiment, he was the one who warned us.
Without him, we would not have survived the attack that crashed us on this planet. ”
Something about this story was familiar. Maddison racked her lust-fogged brain for more information, but nothing came to her.
“How many of you are here?” she asked after failing to recall anything. Maybe more details would help.