The Highseer's Mate

Vera Phoenix
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 CONTENTS

Title Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Epilogue
About The Author

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 CHAPTER 1
PAIGE

YEAR 3024: FIRST ALL-FEMALE

I
’m dead to the world, or rather, the universe. Nestled in my pod like a
comfy little caterpillar, snoozing until the autopilot on our ship gently
wakes us up with the good news.
Congratulations. We have arrived on Mars!
Except, that’s not how I wake up.
A bone-rattling shake yanks me out of an unconscious state and I
suck in a deep breath. My eyelids weigh a thousand pounds and my body is
stiff from the trip. God knows how long I’ve been in my pod. A few days? A
week?
Another massive shake rattles the very delicate technology
surrounding me and I realize something is very wrong.
I yank open the latch from the inside of my pod and push the glass
door open. It’s an effort to drag myself from the comfortable linens and
force myself up on shaky legs. My senses are on overload. Sensors are
blaring, ringing in my ears from the autopilot command center in the front
of the ship.
I look around the passenger chamber. Six pods. All still closed.
We’re nestled in the back portion of the ship in a rounded room
attached to the corridor that takes us to the command center. Our elongated
capsule pods line the wall in two rows of three facing each other. I’m the
last pod on the left and I check each pod as I pass to check on my friends.
Cristina.
Melina.
Lara.
Nicole.
Ryan.
They are all still asleep and I blow out an easy breath. Maybe I was
making up all the commotion.
It’s only the six of us on the ship. Six women chosen from hundreds
to help start civilization on Mars. We have no pilot, just the promise of
scientists far smarter than us that we wouldn’t need one. If everything went
to plan, the next time we were supposed to wake up, we would be nestled
safely on Mars and ready to meet our new neighbors.
The ship lurches and I nearly fall onto the steel mesh flooring. Two
of the medical monitors start to beep, Melina and Ryan. This is definitely
not normal.
My heart races as I head down the corridor to look around the ship.
Red alarm lights are flashing where the walls meet the ceiling. I head to
control to see what’s going on, not even sure if I know what I’m looking
for.
Another pod opens behind me and I still. Melina.
“What’s happening?” The obnoxious alarms almost drown out her
soft voice. Her dirty blonde hair is teased around her head like she was
thrashing in her sleep. She clears her throat and stretches like a house cat.
“I’m not sure,” I answer. I wobble a little on the bridge to the
autopilot command center, gripping every solid surface as I go. “I’m going
to check it out,” I call back to her.
Inside the command pod, buttons are blinking and the radar is all
jumbled, showing little dots scattered around in front of our ship.
Everything is flashing, blaring and I don’t need to know how to fly a
spaceship to know something is wrong.
Very wrong.
The entire ship lurches to the side and I hear another pod open in the
passenger chamber. I run back, gripping the wall as the entire ship works to
stabilize itself.
 Ryan and her fiery red hair pops up from her pod, her ever
grimacing face searching mine for answers.
“What the fuck?” she calls out.
My mind whirls, processing everything.
We weren’t on Mars yet. We’d been sleeping long enough that we
probably weren’t even close to Earth either. I nearly go flying as the ship
takes a hard left turn.
“What is going on? Why did we wake up?” Ryan asks again.
I shake my head. “I think autopilot is trying to avoid something. A
meteor shower maybe?”
“A fucking meteor shower?” Ryan lays back down in her pod.
“Wake me up when we’re really there.”
She slams the glass cover on her pod closed just as Melina joins my
side.
“W-what should we do?” Melina’s big green eyes meet mine and I
wonder if she can see that I have no damn idea.
Autopilot is supposed to navigate us. Even if there was a manual
option to the ship, not a single one of us aboard would have a clue how to
use it. Not to mention, I have no idea where we are.
The ship shakes again and this time Melina and I are thrown off our
feet onto the metal grates below.
Everything is shaking as the ship seems to slam into something from
the outside. I drag myself to my feet again and we awkwardly make our
way to the command center, arms locked to help us stay upright.
Something flashes across the radar and my heart stalls.
“What is that?” Melina asks the question as if she read my mind,
pointing a finger at the strange shape in front of us.
I shake my head, a lump forming in my throat.
On the left side of the map, a circle appears. It grows and then
lengthens like a cornucopia, traveling at us faster and faster.
My eyes go wide as I process what I am looking at. My fingers grip
the edge of the command board as a chill tears down my spine. Melina
looks at me, her chin starting to quiver like she’s seconds from bursting into
tears.
“It’s a…wormhole.”
I’m no expert, but I read enough about outer space travel to know
that wormholes aren’t a good thing.
 As soon as I say the word out loud, I spring into action. I grab
Melina by her shoulders and push her down the corridor back to the
passenger chamber.
“Get back in. Shut it tight and brace yourself.”
Melina shakes her head furiously as we get to her pod and I try help
her in. She pushes me away and points to my pod. “You get in too.”
I have to check everyone else’s. If Ryan opened the latch on her pod,
there’s a chance it was still partially open. Maybe someone else’s rattled
free. I need to make sure everyone will be safe.
“Go!” I shout at Melina.
I look over each pod as quickly as I can and then run for my own.
Melina is halfway inside hers when a shattering, screaming sound echoes
through the ship. The walls shake as the floor tears from underneath my feet
and a second later I’m airborne.
Melina screams as I slam into something hard. The air surges from
my lungs as I try to hold onto something, anything. The ship is flying at a
pace that feels like my organs are going to shoot out of my body.
We jolt again and I land on something softer. Melina screams
underneath me and I realize it’s her.
“Oh God. Hold on to me!” I shout at her, but my voice is drowned
out by the crashing and cracking. The metal around us sounds like it’s
bending and morphing, seconds from being obliterated by the pressure.
I blink as a heavy weight pushes on us, harder and harder until I
can’t move my muscles. Everything hurts.
Another massive jolt and I’m slammed into a wall, pain shooting up
my cheek and flaring at my temple. I reach up and feel blood trickling down
my face, my strength fading as I curl into a ball on the hard ground.
It’s too loud.
It’s too violent.
I can’t feel Melina anymore.
I can only pray that the pods will save the rest of them.
As for me?
I swallow against the nausea and surrender to the throbbing pain in
my head, the clutches of exhaustion that makes all the noise fade away.

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 CHAPTER 2
PAIGE

M
y head is splitting apart. Nausea rolls my belly into knots before I
even realize I’m awake.
The sensors are quiet. No more alarms echo through the ship.
I feel a soft touch on the right side of my face and I wince.
“Sorry,” Nicole says softly.
I struggle to open my eyes and see her dabbing some blood off my
face. Her pouty lips are pinched into a frown as she focuses.
“You got a nasty cut above your right eye. It definitely needs
stitches,” she says. “Look at me?”
It’s an effort to focus on her as she moves her finger from side to
side. Her hair is longer than mine, probably down to her butt if she let the
gorgeous brown waves hang free. It’s wrapped up in a bun with some loose
curls framing her face.
“You may have a concussion. Anything else hurt?”
Oh, yeah. Nicole is a medic. Or at least she was back on Earth.
Thank goodness for that.
Slowly, everything is coming back.
I glance around me and realize I’m on the ground, stuffed between a
pod and the wall. Debris is everywhere. Wires hang from the ceiling
sparking as they short circuit. Half the pods are knocked off their bases, and
one of them is completely shattered on top.
We crash landed somewhere.
At least we’re not hurtling through space anymore.
“Does anything else hurt?” Nicole asks as she offers me a hand.
 I roll my neck and stretch my arms. Yeah, everything hurts. I shake
my head no and take her hand. She pulls me up and I hang on to the pod for
support.
I spend a second bending and taking stock of my body. Luckily, our
blue protective body suits are thin, but surprisingly strong. It covers our
arms and legs with a zipper in the front meant to allow for quick changing.
I’m barefoot–I mean I would have pulled my boots on if I’d known we
were going to crash–but the rest of my body doesn’t seem too damaged on
the outside.
“Good. Melina needs me.”
Nicole hurries across the small passenger chamber to Melina who is
still lying on the floor limply. Her leg is folded in a direction it definitely
shouldn’t be and my chest grows heavy.
“Is she?”
“Alive.”
I lock eyes with the youngest of us, Cristina, as she obsessively
wipes blood off her forehead. Her green eyes are haunted and distant as she
perches against the opposite wall. Her short, pixie blond hair is stained with
blood by her temple. I take in her injuries and realize it was her pod that
was shattered.
“We’re all alive,” Ryan bites. She kicks a hunk of metal that must
have fallen during the impact. “Not sure if that’s a good thing.”
“Ryan!” a short, black-haired firecracker shouts at her. It takes a
second to bring her name to the forefront of my mind. Lara.
Man. Maybe I do have a concussion.
Ryan throws up her arms, her red wavy hair tumbling around her
like a burning flame. “What? I’m just being realistic. What the hell are we
going to do now?”
Another wave of nausea guts me and I double over, unsure if there’s
anything even left in my stomach to throw up. My muscles ache and every
inch of my body feels like a bruise.
But I do feel lucky—to be alive. I for sure thought I wouldn’t be.
That none of us would have made it out of that wormhole.
But Ryan is right. What the hell are we going to do now?
Where are we? And what is there outside the battered walls of this
ship?
 I shove down the queasy and brace myself against the wall. I stagger
down the corridor, focusing hard on each step before I finally make it to the
autopilot control center. Thankfully, everything is still intact.
Lights flicker as I look through the buttons and the options on the
main screen. “Guys,” I call out. Ryan and Lara keep fighting.
“Shut up, Paige!” Ryan shouts back. “You have no idea either!”
“I’m trying to figure it out over here,” I call back. That technically
isn’t true. Right now I’m trying to locate the emergency contact line.
The command base on Earth needs to know what happened to us.
I flip through the settings, the general radio showing no connection,
and find the emergency satellite communicator. I suck in a deep breath and
put in my traveling code to unlock it. There’s a short dial tone and then the
line is open.
I yank the mic free and crush the button to connect.
“Hello? This is Paige Jackson aboard the TM 7612. We came into
some debris and we were sucked through a wormhole. Do you copy?”
The bickering behind me falls to silence as we all listen intently.
My heart pounds in my chest as we wait. My palms sweat around
the mic.
Seconds tick on.
I smash down the button and repeat the message, keeping my voice
steady.
I have to hold it together. Command center won’t be able to
understand me if I’m a crying, blubbering mess.
Down the corridor and on the other side of the ship, I lock eyes with
Cristina who is wringing her hands in her lap. Fear is plastered on her
battered face.
I look around as the rest of my friends wait with bated breath,
leaning around the corner to see me from the corridor.
It’s on all of their faces. Fear.
I clear my throat and repeat the message. “Can you hear me? Can
anyone hear me?” I ask.
We wait. The silence sucks us into a reality that is almost too
heartbreaking to face.
I want to sink to the floor when Lara shakes her head, realization
setting in. “We’re out of range.”
“No shit,” Ryan says.
 “Keep trying,” Cristina says softly.
I wave her over and hand her the microphone. “Keep repeating the
message every thirty seconds. If you hear anything let us know.”
She nods and I’m back to looking at the autopilot control. I click
through the settings until I see a safety check. I run it, biting the inside of
my cheek and praying that it does what I want it to.
Everything fails.
The exterior walls are breached. The electrical systems are almost
completely down. The pods are offline, along with our medical monitors.
“Yeah, we’re fucked. We get it,” Ryan says.
“That’s enough,” Nicole snaps back at her. Our resident doctor is
still hunched over Melina, slowly tugging her leg in the right direction and
using the linens to wrap it to a metal pipe stint.
Cristina talks into the mic next to me, sending out an SOS when the
system finally gets to the checks I was hoping for.
Atmosphere air quality: breathable.
My lips part slightly.
Wherever we are, the air itself won’t kill us.
I set my hands flat on the control panel and shut my eyes,
processing everything.
We’ve landed somewhere that isn’t Earth or Mars. We have no idea
where we are. The ship is wrecked and control can’t hear our calls.
We’re doomed.
We’re in way over our heads.
I’m in way over my head.
But I have to figure this out. None of us are thinking clearly and it
will only take a few days before the resources on board will run out.
“We need to look at all of our options,” I say, my eyes still shut.
“Talk things out and figure out what to do before we make any rash—”
Suddenly, the door to the locking chamber rattles to my right. I
whirl around to see the metal shaking as if something from the outside was
trying to get in.
Cristina screams and drops the microphone, running back through
the corridor into the hold of the ship to get away from the commotion.
“Get in your pods!” I order in a muted, hushed voice.
If the thing outside is sentient, it would have heard Cristina’s
scream. It would know there was at least one living being inside.
 “Now!” I whisper and wave as Ryan stands rooted in place. Nicole
abandons Melina on the floor, covering her up with some tattered linens and
hopping in her pod.
The door rattles and a bang from the outside nearly stops my heart.
Ryan gives me a pained look and then turns. She’s the last to get
into her pod when the door to the locking chamber is torn completely off.
It’s dark outside, but even amongst the shadows, there’s no way to
miss the massive, hulking creature that steps inside the ship.
Fear claws into my belly and I can’t breathe, but I can’t look away
either.
It’s huge. Tilted, amber eyes appraise me as I take a step back and
nearly trip over my own feet. A strange, guttural grunt erupts from its mouth
and I still, every hair on my body raising up in this thing’s presence.
It takes another step in my direction and I realize that I’m the only
thing stopping this thing from getting the rest of the girls. My teeth chatter
as my entire body shakes, running on pure adrenaline as I take a hesitant
step forward and reach for a metal pipe rolling around near my feet.
If I’m going down, I’m going down fighting.
And I’m saving the rest of the girls from whatever this creature is.

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 CHAPTER 3
PAIGE

I
take another quick step forward and raise the pipe.
“Get out of here!” I shout.
My voice shakes. The alien thing doesn’t make a move. Its chest
rises and falls with a deep breath as it watches me, its catlike eyes raking up
and down my form.
It’s seven, maybe eight feet tall—hunching slightly to fit inside the
ship. Dark gray skin stretches taut over a chiseled, muscular body. Short,
straight black hair frames a stern face. My gaze lowers down its broad chest
and tight stomach to the dark leathers that cover thick thighs.
It’s a male. I don’t know how I know.
But I definitely do.
“Leave us!” I find my voice again, but even to myself, it doesn’t
sound convincing.
My heart is pounding, roaring in my ears as the alien cocks his head
as if trying to understand me.
He takes another step forward and my heart nearly stalls. He’s cut
the distance between us in a single, graceful step. My fingers tighten around
the pipe as I act like I’m going to swing it.
“Stop!”
He doesn’t.
“I said stop!”
He takes another step and he’s in my space. Too close.
He smells of light rain and upturned dirt. And something else with a
little decadent spice.
 Unconsciously, I take in a deep breath and my muscles ease. The
scent is… intoxicating.
What the fuck?
All of a sudden, the thing grunts and groans—a sound so deep and
guttural I swear it shakes the floor beneath our feet. Across its chest, a
pattern appears. Bright, shining green circles tear through the gray skin
across his pecs like scars. He sneers, showing his teeth as the patterns
stretch and unfurl, lighting up the skin of his chest and down his biceps.
It’s luminescent and something about it calms me. Draws me in.
I watch as the patterns—almost like tattoos—grow and shine
brighter as I take a hesitant step forward. They are… beautiful.
I’m so entranced that at some point, I dropped the metal pipe and
am now reaching for this strange alien being. I want to touch him. I want to
feel him.
He’s…
Like a switch flips, the alien throws his head back on a roar that
sends chills down my spine. I curl back on myself as he dashes for me,
wrapping a long, muscular arm around my midsection. I scream as he yanks
me into the air and tosses me over his shoulder as if I weigh nothing.
“No! No! Oh my God! Let me go!” I scream and bash my fists into
the thing’s back.
It doesn’t seem to mind.
I reach for something, anything to hold onto. My fingers slip past
the hanging wires and broken wall panels as he turns and heads for the
gaping hole where the door should be.
“Let me go!” I scream again, kicking and scratching at this thing’s
back. His gray skin is soft and down the line of his spine is a build-up of fur
standing on end like an angry dog. I shout like a banshee and fight against
him but he doesn’t seem to mind. He ducks and walks us both out of the
door frame and into the mystery planet our ship landed on.
The sky is gray. Cloudy—dreary. We’re surrounded by thick jungle
underbrush, a deep green covering every surface. I look around and see a
line of trees off to the right but the rest of the landscape is flat. Marshy.
With no trees to protect us, the ship sticks out like a massive target.
I brace my hands on the alien’s back and look back at the ship
through the tears brimming my eyes.
 Suddenly, Ryan peeks around the corner of the open door, watching
me with a horrified look on her face.
My stomach drops.
I shake my head.
Stay.
Her brows furrow and she peeks out a little further like she plans to
come after me.
I shake my head again, my fingers digging into the alien’s skin so I
don’t lose eye contact with her. I need her to see me..
I’m the only one he’s taken. Maybe he thinks I was the only one on
board. If the girls stay put and protect themselves on the ship, maybe they
will be safe.
It’s a long shot, but I have to cling to something.
I want to call out to her, to demand that she stays inside the ship.
That she’s strong for the other girls and that I’ll return as soon as I can, but I
can’t risk this alien knowing that I’m trying to communicate with anyone
else.
I shake my head again, mouthing the word no as clearly as I can.
I lift my hand and show her my palm as if to say stay.
Ryan slowly nods and heads back inside, disappearing behind the
view of the battered, smoking ship.
They’ll be safe.
I tell myself the lie over and over again as I try to calm my
breathing. I squeeze my eyes to fight back the tears as we move further and
further away from my only tie to my old life. My only tie to humanity.
The alien is sprinting. My body shakes on his shoulder and the
nausea is back, rolling through me and reminding me just how violent our
entry onto this planet was. Everything hurts as he readjusts me across his
shoulder, hoisting me on a grunt.
I hiss as pain shoots through my midsection and he slows.
Another grunt and he’s pulling me forward, sliding me down his
chest and nudging my arms around his neck. He smacks the back of my
thighs and then grabs them, forcing my legs to spread around his midsection
to hold on.
I freak out a little and try to jump down but he uses one arm to pin
me to his chest. His hold on me is firm but no longer painful. We lock eyes
and for the first time since I woke up from the crash, I take in a deep breath.
 The air is cool. Misty. Raindrops flutter around us and fall from the
sky, clinging to my wild brown hair. His gray skin is slightly damp, but the
pattern across his chest is as bright as ever.
So bright it nearly burns to look at.
As if satisfied that I wasn’t going anywhere, he resumes his
punishing pace away from the ship.
I cling to him because there’s nothing else to do. He stole me.
Kidnapped me from the ship and I can’t imagine he plans to take me back. I
have no idea where we’re going but the further we go, the heavier my chest
feels.
The more reality is setting in.
I’m on an alien planet and I’ve been kidnapped.
By a massive, gray, shining male that doesn’t seem to want to let me
go.

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 CHAPTER 4
PAIGE

H
e keeps running. I can’t tell if it’s only been twenty minutes or an
hour. He doesn’t seem to get tired and his arms around me haven’t
loosened.
But I stopped thinking about him a while ago.
All I can do is take in the gorgeous landscape around us.
The further we run, the stranger this place is.
Once we got out of the marshes, the stagnant puddles of water
dissipated and the horizon changed. Trees—or rather, trunks—thicker than
anything I have ever seen on Earth stretch high into the air. On each side,
the trunk grows out with a flat top where smaller trees grow. Little nodules
of bright light nestle in the branches that twist and braid into the massive
trunk all the way up to where it touches the clouds. Moss covers almost
everything and even under the soft gray light of the sky, everything is
vibrant.
It almost hurts to look.
I arch to see where he’s taking me and realize he’s running straight
to the side of a tall cliff that stretches on both sides nearly as far as the eye
can see. A mountain.
Is that where we’re going?
Where is he taking me?
The ship is gone. The girls are safe—at least for now—but where
does that leave me?
My training kicks in.
Being a wilderness guide comes with a lot of helpful knowledge
about what happens if you get lost. Stay where you are. If you have to
move, look for a river and follow it downstream. Change your voicemail
greeting to your last location and what time you got lost.
The basics.
But as a woman, I also know that if you’re ever kidnapped, you
almost never want to get to the second location. That’s where the true
danger lies.
On those long hikes, when I trained to get my wilderness guide
license and explored countless national parks, I spent too much time
listening to true crime podcasts for that little tidbit not to sink in.
I need to fight. I need to get away from this alien before he gets me
to whatever hovel he’s taking me to. To eat me, to torture me. I shiver in his
arms as I shove the thoughts out of my head.
As if he felt me tremble, he slows a bit and lowers his gaze.
This is my chance.
I rear back and launch my fist forward into the front of his throat.
My fingers smash into his corded neck and my alien kidnapper drops me
instantly, choking and coughing for air. My bare feet hit the damp ground
with a thud and I scramble to get away, my heart pounding.
Do I run back to the ship?
No, I can’t go back there and put the other women in danger.
The alien is still coughing, doubled over trying to catch his breath
when I take off. I sprint toward one of the massive trees, my heels pounding
across the soft, slightly mushy ground. There’s nowhere to go. I’m lost. I’m
disoriented. My head is pounding and as I turn around to look behind me,
my alien is sprinting after me with a speed and grace that steals the breath
from my lungs.
I can’t run from him. Especially not without my boots.
I can only hope to delay my fate.
I keep sprinting, pumping harder and harder. My muscles are
screaming to stop as his footfalls grow nearer. I’m struggling to breathe as I
get closer to a tree. If I can just get there…
If I can just make it…
A strong arm wraps around my waist and yanks.
I scream as I’m torn off my feet but my legs tangle with his and
suddenly we’re sideways. I squeeze my eyes shut and prepare for impact,
but it doesn’t come. All I feel are his arms around me, protecting me as we
hit the ground.
 A deep, guttural grunt sounds from his chest and my stomach
flutters in response.
I open my eyes and he’s there, looking me over with his head
cocked. His amber eyes are wide with curiosity, his full lips parted as he
speaks to me in a language I can’t understand.
It’s too aggressive. Too rough for my ears. But something in the
look in his eyes makes me wish I could understand him.
He hovers over me, the patterns on his chest shining brighter than
I’ve ever seen them. His scent hits me again as he breathes me in, leathery
and delicious.
Wait. What the fuck?
With all my strength, I shove at his chest but he doesn’t move a
damn inch.
Then, his expression changes. His brows pinch on a frown as he
pulls me up and lifts me again, this time with one arm under my back and
the other holding my legs like a baby. Like he can’t trust me.
I scoff.
How embarrassing. He’s literally the one who kidnapped me!
He maintains a firm hold on my body as he takes off running again,
heading straight for the mountain. When we get close enough, I realize he’s
taking me toward a slit in the cliff wall, a crack just wide enough for his
broad shoulders.
We duck inside and things are completely dark. I blink over and
over again to try and acclimate, but it’s no use. I’m blind down here. Soft
noises fill around us—voices maybe?
We walk further and finally, little nodules of luminescence like the
ones on the massive trees flicker to life. The bright green balls of light are
like chunky little energy sources stuck within the very rock of the walls
around us. Soon, the entire walkway is lit up in soft lighting—as if I turned
on a floor lamp. Or a calming LED light.
My heart aches.
I had said goodbye to my apartment in Chicago, dropped off my
keys at the front desk with the excitement of a new life in the terraform
community. Life on Earth wasn’t full of life for me and I was looking for a
change, but as we walk further into the caverns, I realize I wasn’t expecting
a change quite like this one.
 At least when I boarded the ship to Mars, I was choosing my future.
I was in control. I knew that the Mars colony would offer similar luxuries
and quality of life.
This alien isn’t giving me a choice.
And this place is…
Tears brim my eyes as the walkway widens and he slides through
this place with ease. It opens up as the cavern ceiling lifts. Little skylights
appear allowing misty beams of light to trickle down and cast shadows
across the dirt floor. I choke back the emotions threatening to swallow me
whole as we arrive at an archway with a leather tapestry hanging down like
a makeshift door. He slides the leather aside and enters, setting me down in
what appears to be a private room.
Is this… his room?
Does that mean there are other aliens down here too?
I wrap my arms around myself, a chill settling in my bones.
My alien kidnapper steps further inside, outstretching a long arm
and pointing from wall to wall. I follow his movements and then he points
to his chest.
The luminescent pattern across his dark gray skin flares bright.
He points to me.
I suck in a deep breath.
He’s trying to tell me something.
This room is his. But now it’s also… mine?

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 CHAPTER 5
VAREK

M
y female is standing there shivering. Is she cold?
Her eyes are wet—little blobs of moisture leaking down her
beautiful cheeks as if she’s sad.
How could she be sad at a time like this?
I palm my chest.
She’s my mate.
A sense of pride swells through me as I take her in. She’s small. Too
light when I hold her. Her dark brown hair falls just past her sharp shoulders
and her skin is a creamy shade. She is not a Vrut, for I have never seen a
female that looks like her.
But I have never seen anyone of her kind either.
As a council member, I should have observed her and kept my
distance. It’s our way. I was planning to learn about the ship and report back
until I felt the intense pull to her. My very bones ached to go to her, to touch
her, to bring her home.
Even before I had laid eyes on her.
I couldn’t understand it until the glows chose her.
My mate.
My lips twitch as I stare at her. I want to comfort her. To tell her
she's safe, but the little troublemaker doesn’t understand my tongue. She’s
afraid of me and it makes me physically ill.
“Draxel,” I bark out.
I need to present her to the council. Normally, we would all vote
against getting involved with something like this—an alien—but a mate is
something very different.
 Draxel grunts as he steps inside. Our best hunter, he’s shorter than
me, but he’s quicker.
My mate ruffles, sucking in a sharp breath as she takes in the male
at my side. She mumbles something and takes another step away. I grit my
teeth.
“Varek? Is this a—”
“A female. Mine. Go find the council and bring them here. Now.
And speak of this to no one.”
Draxel nods and sees himself out.
The sooner I present her to my fellow Highseers, the faster I can
help her.
She has a nasty cut on her forehead, with a strange dark red liquid
dried on her perfect skin. Is that her blood? My need to protect her is too
strong to deny and I take a step toward her, ducking under my hammock.
She hurries away from me, pressing her back against the wall. Her
hands raise and her mouth opens, a soft, melodic voice filling the room. I
can’t understand her and it makes me want to bring down the walls around
me.
My mate. My woman. And I can’t even tell her.
She doesn’t seem to know what she is to me. If she did, she
wouldn’t fight it. Being chosen by the glows like this is something of
history. Of destiny. It is the most precious part of life.
I’ve spent years preparing for the day—if I were ever lucky enough
to be blessed—when the patterns emerged. Now that it is here, it feels
tainted.
In Vrut tradition, the first night is for bonding. For taking the official
mate bond.
But this female doesn’t even want to be near me.
“I will not hurt you, woman,” I say.
Her head cocks as she hears me, watches me intently.
“But you are mine now and this is our home.”
Her throat bobs on a swallow and another streak of liquid falls down
her cheeks. My chest flares bright green and constricts, squeezing out all
the air in my lungs.
I hear others approaching my leathers and turn to greet them, giving
my woman my back. It’s risky, but she seems too afraid to strike like she
did out in the marsh. I reach up and run the spot on my throat that she
punched.
Feisty little thing.
Mydros, Elyra, and Kylor duck under the leathers and enter my
quarters, their eyes immediately landing on my woman. Each Vrut startles,
their spinal bristles flaring as they realize what I have done.
“Varek,” Kylor asks. “What is the meaning of this?”
The oldest of us. The wisest. The softly glowing pendant adorning
his neck indicates his status among us.
“Where have you been?” Elyra asks. Wrinkles deepen around her
black eyes as she takes in the state of my female and then regards me again,
her stare dripping with disapproval.
I serve as the fourth Highseer of the council, but right now, I am on
trial.
“I went to explore after the loud crash. I found something past the
marshes.”
“Clearly,” Mydros barks, his shoulders shaking with fury.
“You were not to go,” Elyra reminds me.”
I know. I was there when we decreed it. But something forced me
out there, and now I realize it was the luminite.
“I realize. But I found her,” I say.
“You should have left her in the marshes.” Mydros lips pull up as he
looks at my mate in disgust, but I will forgive him for this disrespect. He
still does not know.
I eye her, terrified and making herself small against my wall. I want
her in my arms. I need to comfort her and heal her. The glows across my
chest flare bright and the council gasps in unison.
“A mate?” Mydros asks. His eyes widen as he watches the
luminescence spread across my chest, beating and brightening in tandem
with my heart.
Elyra shakes her head. “But she is not a Vrut nor a Thachien.”
I shake my head. No. My woman is not of our people, nor of our
enemies.
I suspect she is lost. As though she was never meant to find our
lands in the first place.
“I wouldn’t have taken her if we weren’t chosen. She is mine and
the council must accept it.”
 All three members eye my woman and then, after a moment of
silence that makes my blood boil, they bow their heads.
It is done.
The mating bond is too important. It is the highest law among us.
Our numbers are dwindling and only mates can keep us alive.
My woman’s face is pinched in confusion, but soon it will all be
over. Soon I will be able to go to her.
“She can stay,” Kylor confirms again.
“Were there others?” Mydros asks.
I shake my head. “None that I could see. Though I was more
worried about taking care of my mate than finding others.”
Elyra nods. “Send Draxel to investigate. If there are others, there
could be a chance for more bonds to appear.”
Or trouble.
Mydros is thinking the same thing by the way he whirls around,
glaring at Elyra. The youngest among us, he is still too impulsive. Too
quick to anger.
I bow my head to the council, acknowledging the decree. As they
leave, I call in Draxel and give him the order.
“Past the marshes you will find the ship. Search it and ensure there
are no others. If there are, we will decide what to do.”
Draxel bows and leaves.
Suddenly, the silence swallows me whole. I turn to see my woman,
her eyes blinking heavily as she stands sagging against the wall.
She is dirty, damp, bloody, and hurt.
Scared.
Of me.
But I will not allow her to continue in this state. It is my job to
protect her and I will do it whether she accepts it, or not.

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 6
PAIGE

T
he other aliens just left and now I’m alone with him again.
It’s nice to not feel like a monkey in a zoo anymore, but the
way my captor is looking at me is even more terrifying.
Like he wants to keep me. Like there isn’t a question of who I
belong to.
Myself! That’s who I belong to.
My eyes feel like they weigh a thousand pounds and this headache
won’t quit. Thankfully, the nausea has subsided but I feel like death. I miss
my bed back in Chicago. Hell, I miss the damn pod with those soft linens.
My alien takes a step toward me and I can’t help but step away. I
slide across the rocky wall to the corner of the room, squeezing myself to
get away from him.
He stills. His face contorts. The masculine, strangely human-like
features—his strong jaw and full gray lips—harden like he’s annoyed with
me.
Instead of coming closer, he reaches for the strip of leather that cuts
the room in half, the hammock hanging just off the soft ground. With his
massive hands, he slides the material apart, spreading the weaved material
out like a mat and holding it open.
He says something deep and low, the sound calming all the tension
in my exhausted muscles.
I swallow hard.
He says something else, his lips tasting the words I still can’t
understand.
 I shake my head and shrug my shoulders. I have no idea what you’re
saying, dude.
He grunts and shakes the hammock, forcing me to look at it.
Does he want me to get in it? Hell no, I’m not about to climb in and
get comfortable with the alien who kidnapped me. He’s out of his mind.
But then when he shakes it again, his expression changes to one of
almost concern.
His amber eyes soften and so do I.
Seemingly annoyed with the fact that I’m not moving, he drops the
hammock and cuts the distance between us.
“No, no. No!” I say as he gets closer. His chest lights up bright
green and he leans down and picks me up again, carrying me to the
outstretched leather. With one hand, he spreads the hammock out and then
gently lays me down.
I twist and push away from him but the hammock tilts and I squeal
as I almost tumble out.
My captor grabs hold of the sides and steadies me, shaking the
leathers a little so I look at him.
He speaks—something like a command, I think—and then removes
his hands from the edge of the hammock.
I don’t dare move. Mainly because I don’t want to fall and hit the
soft dirt below, but partly because I don’t want to look like an idiot either.
My alien is kneeling beside me, watching my every move with such
attention that my cheeks start to burn.
Why does he keep looking at me like that?
“Okay,” I say, knowing he can’t understand me but needing to say it
anyway. “I’m comfortable now. You can go.”
His lips twitch at the edges like he’s amused.
I look at him closer. His hair is dry now and the curls look soft.
When I stare at his face, I could almost fool myself that he was human if it
weren’t for his dark gray skin. His other features are somewhat human, but
the rest of him? He’s too tall. Too strong. A thin layer of fur covers his body
with a thicker mane of it sliding down his spine.
Despite all the ways he’s different, he’s still kind of handsome.
I nearly kick myself as I shove the thought away.
My alien cocks his head and watching me closely as I relax into the
comfortable leather. It doesn’t take long before exhaustion clings to me,
begging me for a rest. It’s been a long day and to be honest, I don’t really
want to be awake for more of it.
I breathe out deeply, sleep already taking hold of me when my alien
reaches out. His hands are rough, but I don’t have the energy to pull away
and he touches my face. He runs his finger just below the cut on my face
and I realize he’s checking it.
I let out a breathy laugh. “Oh, I almost forgot about that.”
He says something low and I close my eyes, not quite leaning into
his touch on my face, but not shying away from it either.
When I open my eyes again, his expression looks painful. He stands
and backs away, leaning against the wall across the room from me. The
lights on his chest flare and he rubs at the pattern, cringing like he’s in
physical pain.
I wish I could understand him. Beg him to let me go.
I wish I was strong enough to run away.
But sleep has its hold on me and I’m fading fast. Before I realize it, I
drift off into a comfortable, but fitful sleep surrounded by strange, bright
green lights and a deep voice whispering things I can’t quite understand.
I cling to that voice anyways—letting it wipe everything else away.

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 CHAPTER 7
PAIGE

I
’m pulled from the dark depths of a dream by the softest of touches to
my forehead. It’s like a feather, brushing lightly across my sensitive,
slashed skin. Another touch and I feel something cool and slimy on my
skin.
My eyes flutter open and I lock eyes with a gray-skinned alien
woman hunched over me.
Her dark hair is long, coiled and braided well past her delicate
shoulders. Delicate for an alien, I suppose. Her cheeks have a rosy tint to
them and her warmth is contagious.
Wait.
I jolt upright, nearly tumbling out of the hammock again. I throw a
foot down to steady myself as the woman takes a few steps back, startled by
my reaction.
“I mean you no harm.”
“I know,” I snap. “It’s just that I’m not used to all this and I—”
Wait…
I stare at the female in front of me, her hands covered in a
luminescent poultice. She watches me with wide eyes as I process
everything.
“Did I just understand you?” I ask.
Yesterday, I couldn’t understand anything my alien captive was
saying. Or any of the other gray beings for that matter. Everything was like
guttural noise in one ear and out the other.
But this female… her words are as clear to me as if she were
speaking English.
 “Are you… human?” I ask her before she can respond to my
previous question.
It’s silly, I know. She’s definitely not human, but I can’t wrap my
head around any other alternative.
She shakes her head, easing back down and kneeling next to me.
“No. I’m Vrut.”
“But I can understand you. I mean, why can I understand you and no
one else?”
She shrugs.
“And how can you understand me?”
Her lips press into a firm line as if she hadn’t thought about that
either. “I’m not sure. I just can. You said something about hu-man. Is that
what you are?”
“Yes. I’m not supposed to be here. Our—” I trail off, realizing the
girls are still back at the ship and I need to keep their existence a secret.
“My ship got sucked through a wormhole and I ended up here.”
“And then Varek found you.”
Varek. I tumble his name around my head and nod. “He stole me.
Took me from my ship.”
I shake my head, my temples throbbing as I process everything. “I
couldn’t understand him yesterday. All his words sounded like garbled
sounds and now, with you, everything makes sense. How is that possible?”
She purses her lips. “I do not know.”
That makes no sense. Magic? Is it something in the air?
The woman smirks a little bit and hesitantly reaches up to touch my
forehead again, spreading more of the poultice on the gash. It instantly
eases the soreness and after finally getting some sleep, I have a bit of my
strength back.
“What’s your name?” I ask her.
“Selvara.”
“Selvara,” I repeat her name, practicing the syllables. “I’m Paige.”
The woman smiles as she finishes with my cut. “Leave that on your
skin. It will help with healing.”
“Okay.”
She wipes her hand off the inside of an animal hide, placing the jar
of luminescent poultice back into a pouch around her waist. Her clothes are
similar to Varek’s, leathers wrap around her torso into a dress that leads
down to her knees. Maybe she’s some kind of healer. Maybe she can help
me escape this place.
“So, I was brought here against my will,” I say softly, eyeing the
entry arch to Varek’s quarters. I half expect him to come bursting through at
any moment. But as of right now, Selvara is the only one who can
understand me. She’s my only hope. “Can you lead me out of here? I need
to get back to my ship.”
Selvara stills.
“I mean, I don’t even know where I am but I don’t belong here. I
just want to go home.”
She slowly shakes her head. “This is your home now.”
I hold back a scoff, biting the inside of my cheek to play nice. “No.
It’s not. I don’t even know what planet this is and you guys definitely are
not my people.”
“This is Nyxara and we are your people now.”
“Why?” I snap back at her. “Because one of your males kidnapped
me and dragged me here? That’s a crime where I’m from. He doesn’t just
get to keep me!”
Selvara stands, her hands squeezing tight around the pouch of her
supplies. She frowns down at me as if I’m being a petulant child and my
blood boils.
“Please. I don’t belong here. Can you just point me in the right
direction? I’ll find my way out.”
“No. And I suggest you do not ask this of anyone else.”
Selvara turns to leave me alone but I stand, feeling restless to get out
of these four rock walls. Suddenly, I can’t breathe and I need answers.
“Why?” I call out after her.
Just before she dips below the leathers forming the door to the room,
she sighs. “You will have to ask Varek. It is his place to tell you.”
And then, she’s gone.
“What?” I whisper to myself. What the fuck is going on in this
place? Am I still dreaming?
Will I even be able to understand him?
A second later, Varek is ducking inside, his shoulders sagging as he
looks for me. The second our eyes meet his chest and upper arms light up
bright green.
 He takes a step in my direction but I back up. “Don’t come near
me.”
Varek’s brows knit and his lips part.
Oh no, did he…
“Say something else,” he commands in the deepest, most delicious
voice I have ever heard. A flutter settles low in my belly.
I do understand him.
“Um,” I stutter. “You can understand me?”
He licks his bottom lip, the movement sending a surprising thrill
down my spine. “I can.”
“How is that possible?”
His brows knit. “I don’t know. Tell me your name.”
I scoff. Um, can we focus more on the fact that I’m understanding
an alien language for a minute?
He cocks his head, pressing me for an answer.
“I’m Paige.”
“Paige.” He tastes my name. When he says it again, it rumbles from
deep in his chest as the patterns there glow. “My Paige.”
“Your Paige?” I ask, taking another step away from this alien. A Vrut
as Selvara called herself. “I’m not yours.”
Varek’s hand finds his chest, his long fingers spreading out over the
glowing lights. He closes his eyes and says my name again, this time like a
prayer like he’s giving thanks.
I watch him, struggling to make sense of all this. I just want to
leave. I want to go back to the ship with the rest of the girls and find a way
home. To hell with Mars. I’ll go back to my boring life in Chicago and I
won’t complain for a single second.
I just can’t stay here.
Varek’s eyes open, the amber depths pulling me in.
“You are mine, Paige. You are my mate.”
My heart stalls in my chest. His what?
“And I am y0urs.”
I shake my head. This can’t be happening. I seriously have to still be
dreaming.
He takes a step toward me and I throw up a hand to stop him. “No,
Varek.”
His lips twitch into a smile. “Mmm. Yes. I am your Varek.”
 “No, that’s not… Don’t come closer,” I order him. “And I’m not
your mate.”
He points to his chest, the glowing thrumming as fast as my own
heart. “The glows have chosen us. Honored us. It is fated. You are my mate,
Paige. And sooner or later you will be begging me to come closer.”
My cheeks burn as his eyes rake over me, his leathers tightening.
“But for now, I must bathe you,” Varek says casually as if the
suggestion isn’t wildly inappropriate. “And no more punching my throat,
little troublemaker.”

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 CHAPTER 8
PAIGE

A
nger bubbles inside me. I’m not a troublemaker. I was fighting for my
life.
And I’m not his.
I puff out my chest and am seconds away from tearing into this
arrogant alien when the leathers covering the archway move and another
male steps inside. He’s the same one from yesterday, the first one I saw
other than Varek.
He’s not as tall as Varek but he’s still way bigger than any human
I’ve seen.
They have similar builds. Strong, lean. Muscles ripple and flex with
each of their graceful movements.
“Draxel,” Varek says. “Do you have news?”
Draxel? I watch as he bows his head like a sign of respect for my
captor. He doesn’t have glowing marks on his chest like Varek does. Does
that mean he doesn’t have a mate?
I shake myself for the thought. I need to get a grip. As soon as I get
the opportunity to escape, I’m taking it. Learning the ways of the Vruts is
not high on my priority list.
Draxel nods. “There are more females.” He eyes me and then looks
back to Varek waiting for a response.
My legs nearly give out.
Is he talking about…
“How many?”
“Five.”
The air surges from my lungs. No.
 Draxel found the other women. Varek must have ordered him to go
back and explore the ship. Now that the Vruts know they exist, and that they
are basically sitting ducks waiting to be kidnapped. It’s only a matter of
time before Varek and Draxel make their move.
Cristina’s terrified face flashes in my mind. And Melina, is she
okay? Draxel says there are five women, so she must be alive, right? With
her injuries, she’s probably in no condition to fight back.
And Ryan would do nothing but fight back.
Draxel stays silent as if waiting for an order from Varek. I have to
do something. I didn’t let myself get taken just for the other women to get
taken a day later. And none of this makes sense. No, Varek hasn’t hurt me,
but he hasn’t let me go either. Maybe I’m only unharmed because he thinks
we’re mates.
The other women might not be so… lucky.
My stomach hardens as tears threaten to well up.
“No,” I mumble, unable to form a coherent thought.
Varek’s brows lift as he gazes at me, folding his long arms across his
chest.
“No?”
I meet his eyes, clinging to the way he’s watching me like he’s
dying to hear my next words. It’s the only thing tethering me to this
moment as the world feels like it’s spinning out of control.
“Please,” I say, my body moving on its own. I walk across the room
to Varek and stop a foot from him, looking almost straight up at those big
amber eyes. “Don’t go after them.”
He cocks his head.
“Leave them alone. Leave them at the ship.”
Draxel grumbles something behind me but Varek lifts a hand to stop
him. “Go on, mate.”
I shake my head, the tears brimming my eyes as I imagine the chaos
of the Vruts attacking the ship, dragging out the other women. I can hear
them screaming—terrified. There’s a chance that after I was taken, they
were able to get in contact with control on Earth. Maybe a rescue team is
already on the way. They just need time.
“We’re not supposed to be here. Our ship was sucked through a
wormhole. We were scared and some of us were injured. Please, don’t go
after them.”
 Varek’s jaw clenches hard as he stares down at me.
“Leave them out there. Protect them. I’m begging you.”
His eyes narrow. “You are begging me?”
I huff. He’s being smug. Throwing it in my face that he holds the
power. He’s held the power since the moment he tore open the door to the
damn ship. But yes, I’m begging him.
“Yes,” I admit.
“Why?”
Emotion chokes my voice as I wait until I know that I can get my
words out without making a fool of myself. I’m worried about them, but it’s
only because deep down, I’m terrified too. I’m waiting for the moment I’m
going to wake up from this nightmare and I don’t want this to happen to
anyone else.
I gather myself and answer him. “I don’t want more of your kind to
take them like you took me,” my voice shakes. “I want them to be safe.”
The muscles in Varek’s shoulders bunch as his nostrils flare. He
looks above my head and barks at Draxel to get out. The other male quickly
obeys.
A bead of sweat slides down my spine at the anger in his voice.
Varek crowds me, backing me up until I hit the rocky wall. I suck in a deep
breath and try to make myself small but he’s right there, towering over me
and pinning me to the wall with his body.
“Mate,” he growls. “You want me to consider your request when
you offend me?”
“Offend you?” I ask. “How? I just—”
“You think of me as some monster who stole you away. I saved you.
Brought you back to my people to heal you. Shelter you. And you believe
this to be a grave error?”
The anger slices through his voice as he fumes in front of me. The
patterns on his chest flare bright. I shut my eyes from the light but he grips
my chin, forcing me to look up at him.
“Answer me.”
“I never wanted this!” The words tumble out of me. “I didn’t choose
this. I don’t have the stupid glows or whatever. I’m a human! Things don’t
work the same for me. So yeah, this was all a grave error.”
Varek’s jaw clenches, his grip on my chin tightening but still not
painful. He shakes his head. “And yet you ask a favor of me? Beg me?”
 “Yes,” I breathe. “Please. Don’t put them through what you are
putting me through.”
Varek leans in close, his face inches from mine. He’s all around me
and I’ve never felt smaller. Less powerful.
“If this is your wish, then I will grant it, mate. But under a
condition.”
My heart is pounding in my chest, but I cling to the flare of hope.
“Never,” he growls, “you will never consider me your captor again.”
His lips twitch as he watches me.
“You will never call me as such.”
Varek’s throat bobs as his grip on me loosens, his rough fingers
brushing across my cheek. He tenderly touches me from temple to
collarbone, his brows knitting with something I haven’t seen in him before.
Not anger. Not confusion.
Pain?
My chest tightens. The luminescence glows as he touches me, a soft
green I’m beginning to find enchanting. With him this close, his scent is all
I can process. Rain and spice.
Maybe he’s not the monster I want to make him to be. He sure
doesn’t seem to want to be called one.
But I think about what he’s really asking. He doesn’t want me to call
him my captor, but that’s what he is. I didn’t choose this, he did. I’m here
against my will. But his request isn’t just about the technicality of names—
captor and captive—Varek wants me to try and accept him. He wants me to
open my heart to whatever bond he thinks there is between us.
Can I?
Do I have it in me?
I hesitantly meet his gaze, looking at him through a different lens.
He’s… handsome. Not in the traditional, human sense, but there is
something beautiful—alluring—about him.
He’s been kind, hasn’t he?
And if this mate bond is as much of an honor as he says, then I
won’t be in danger with him, right?
I bite the inside of my cheek.
“Okay,” I whisper.
Varek nods, his eyes searching mine. “Then I will honor your
request. Draxel,” Varek barks out for the other male.
 Draxel joins us again, waiting for his orders.
“Take provisions to the women. Food, water. Leave it outside the
ship and do not approach. Keep me updated on their movements and do not
speak of this.”
Draxel stills for a second. He blinks back at Varek and opens his
mouth as if about to disobey, but nods instead. He leaves us alone again and
I finally feel like I can breathe.
Varek glides his rough fingers across my cheek again and a little
shiver rolls down my spine.
He smirks as if he saw the way my body responded to his touch.
“Now. It’s time for that bath.”

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 9
PAIGE

V
arek leads me through the dimly lit caverns, pointing out places as we
walk. He shows me a common area where other males sit around and
eat. They all stare at me as we walk by but bow their heads in respect
to the male with his hand on my lower back.
“Are you like, their leader or something?”
Varek lifts his chin in pride. “I am on the council of Highseers.”
“Does that mean yes?”
“The Highseers on the council make all decisions for our people.”
Ah. I nod.
He pushes me forward, weaving us through the extensive tunnels.
From the many skylights and funnels that go straight up through the rock, I
can see little pockets of the sky. For a cave, the place doesn’t feel nearly as
cramped or claustrophobic as our ship did.
We walk until Varek points to a little crack in the wall and he pushes
me through. He follows close behind, one hand touching my shoulder to
guide me forward. I should shrug him off—I want to—but I can’t.
For as much as I hate him for making me give something up, for
making me bow down to him and accept that he’s something other than a
criminal, he did what I wanted. He is saving the others. Ryan, Lara,
Cristina, Melina, and Nicole. They are safer this way.
They have a chance to be rescued and I would want that chance too
if I was in their position.
They wouldn’t have that chance without him.
We walk a little further and the sound of burbling, bubbling water
echoes in the tight space. The air warms and each step is lit up a little more.
Green crystal-like nodules light the way, sticking out of the rock and
burning bright.
“What are those?” I ask.
“Glows,” Varek answers behind me. “They are our source of
energy.”
I take a few more steps and the path opens to a large room with a
deep blue spring in the middle. The water softly trickles down from an
opening high in the rock and once again, the water seems to shimmer.
“Why is everything glowing?”
“It’s the luminite. We mine it from the rocks for energy, but it flows
through everything here. The water. The animals. Luminite is all around
us.”
I lock eyes with him as the patterns on his chest light up with a soft
green.
“Like there?” I ask, pointing at his body. “That’s luminite too?”
Varek nods. “Luminite isn’t just energy, it’s living. It keeps us alive.
It’s the beginning and end of life here.”
Oh. That’s somewhat confusing but also kind of beautiful. I look
around the cavern, the luminite dancing under the light of the sky.
It does look like it’s alive.
I can almost feel it.
I turn back to Varek just as he reaches down and pulls the tie to his
leathers.
“Whoa,” I mumble, my cheeks burning. “No, no, no.”
He doesn’t seem to mind as he slides them down his thick thighs
and kicks them onto a protruding rock.
I avert my gaze, looking at anything else but his now naked form.
“Come here, Mate.”
I shake my head. There’s no way I’m going up to him now. I mean I
was already dreading this whole bathing idea but now I know exactly
what’s about to happen.
He plans to get in with me.
“You wish to undress yourself, then?” Varek asks.
I stumble over my words. “Um, I would prefer to not do this in front
of you.”
Varek clicks his tongue. “I must see to your cleanliness. I also wish
to check for any other injuries.”
 No, that’s totally okay. I’m fine, thank you very much!
Suddenly, he’s in front of me, his rough hands reaching out for the
fabric of my travel suit. It’s lightweight and pretty comfortable and the idea
of having it taken off me right now has my stomach in knots.
“No, no. That’s okay. I’ll just freshen up with my clothes on.”
“Paige,” Varek murmurs. He fingers a lock of my dark hair and
leans slightly, enough to capture my gaze. “Let me do this, yes? It is my
duty to care for my mate.”
The sincerity in his words and the question in his eyes have my
body warming up. He’s asking, he’s not forcing. He doesn’t want me to see
him as my captor, so he isn’t acting like one.
At least in his strange alien brain anyway.
I nod and reach for the zipper down the front of my suit. I drag it
down slowly and slide the suit off my shoulders. Varek’s brows knit.
“What are those?”
I look down at my bra and panties. “My undergarments.”
“Undergarments?” He sounds out the word as if it’s completely
foreign to him. “What is the purpose?”
I shrug. “Extra support. Protection.”
I clear my throat as he eyes my body from head to toe.
“Modesty,” I cough out the word. Oh, the irony.
He waits patiently and I know he wants me to completely undress,
but I just can’t. I’m not ready for that. “I’ll go in like this,” I suggest.
Varek seems displeased, but he leads me to a shallow point in the
spring anyway. He slides in first and then turns, grabbing my waist and
pulling me in after him. I gasp as the warm water welcomes us in,
shimmering and sparkling around our bodies. Varek wraps a strong arm
around my waist to anchor me to him and I squirm in his hold.
This is entirely too close proximity for my liking.
“The water is too deep for you,” he says softly. He walks us across
the spring to an area where form has built up beneath the trickle above. The
salty, fresh scent tickles my nose as Varek gathers a bunch of the foam in
his hand. “This cleanses our skin.”
“Like soap.”
His brows raise before he uses his free hand to rub the foam along
my shoulders. Immediately, his touch soothes the muscles and I almost
groan from the light pressure as he massages in the soap. He works up my
neck and down my arm, easing the soreness from slamming into everything
during the crash, then switches his hold on me to get my other side. I decide
not to fight the big alien. He seems set on doing what he wants.
And also, the attention feels too damn good.
Those rough hands are gentle. He’s powerful, stronger than any
human could be, and yet he chooses to touch me, rub me with such care.
His eyes never leave my skin as he washes every inch.
Varek rubs the soap across my collarbones and down the middle of
my chest. He moves to the right and his fingers brush across my nipple
through the fabric of my bra.
I suck in a deep breath and bite my bottom lip.
“Paige? Did I hurt you?”
He tugs me closer as my body reacts to his, humming a melody I
haven’t experienced in a long, long time.
I shake my head. “No.”
Varek grabs more foam and slides his hand to the other side of my
chest. His touch is so delicate that I arch into it, my nipples hard and achy
for the attention to continue.
“You are sensitive,” he says deeply, the words coming from deep in
his chest. Varek grabs another handful of foam and focuses on my back,
lifting me slightly out of the water. I’m still tender, but his touch is gentle
enough that he’s not hurting me. I wrap my legs around his torso as my
head goes fuzzy.
I can feel him. His manhood, hard and ready, drags across the thin
fabric of my soaked panties.
I wrack my brain for anything to change the subject. Anything to get
my mind off the flutter in my belly every time he touches me.
“So you’re a Highseer.” I clear my throat. “How did you get that
position?”
Varek’s lips twitch slightly. “It is an honor from my people for my
prowess in battle. My wisdom. My strength.”
“Battle?” I ask. “Who do you battle with?”
His eyes darken and he stills. “We have not in a long time.”
Varek’s attention on my body resumes. He scrubs down my back,
lower and lower until he hits the top of my panties.
“I cannot reach you fully with these undergarments on,” he
emphasizes the new word. “May I remove them?”
 I blink at him. He’s right. I won’t get clean with them still on and I
hadn’t realized how good it would feel to clean up. I untangle my legs from
around his waist and reach down, sliding my panties off. I toss them toward
the rest of my clothes.
Varek nods, pleased. He pulls me close and when I wrap my legs
around him again, his erection rubs deliciously across my sensitive clit. I
bite the inside of my cheek to keep from moaning as he resumes his work
cleaning my backside.
How does this feel so good when it’s pure… insanity.
It’s happening so fast–him, me. This bond? I shouldn’t want him
like this, shouldn’t melt into his touch so easily.
“So, this mate thing,” I mumble. My skin is on fire as he massages
the soap into my soft flesh. I hate that it feels amazing to let him touch me
like this, but it seems to be affecting him in the exact same way. “What
exactly does it mean?”
Varek watches me intently as he moves down the length of my legs,
cleaning my outer thighs. “It means we were born for each other. Our souls,
our bodies. We are made to love one another.”
Wow. That’s intense. “We don’t have anything like that on Earth.”
“Earth?”
“My planet. Where I’m from.”
He nods. “So what do you have there?”
His hands move down to my calves, massaging and cleaning gently.
“People date. They decide if they like each other and then get into a
relationship. If it works out, it works out. If not—”
“That is not the case here,” he says. “Mates are for life.”
I knew he would say something like that. This whole mates situation
isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s overwhelming to think that Varek believes I
am essentially his soul mate—the one and only person he is supposed to be
with for the rest of his life. We hardly know each other.
After cleaning my feet, he grabs more soap and works his way back
up the inner portion of my legs. Up my calves, past my knees, and higher
and higher until his fingers are rubbing dangerously close to my most
sensitive place.
God, why is my body betraying me like this? Giving into the
sensation of his touch when I should be terrified.
 I push away from him, my hands firm on his chest. “I can clean that
part.”
But Varek doesn’t let me escape. “Paige. It is my honor, my duty, to
see to your needs. You have felt my body’s need for yours, why do you
deny your feelings?”
The air tumbles from my lungs. It really isn’t as simple as just my
feelings.
“Though you say you do not have mates on Earth, the glows chose
you for me for a reason. You feel the pull too.”
The pull. The inexplicable pull to allow myself to unfurl and relax in
his hold. The need and intense desire to spread my legs further and give in
to his wandering touch.
I want it.
God, I want it.
But I shouldn’t, and that’s the problem.
I shove away from him harder this time. He lets me go. “I’ll finish
myself.”
He sighs, his jaw clenching. His gaze turns pained, but doesn’t chase
after me as I swim away.
I finish up the job, spending extra attention on my tangled hair, and
then get out of the spring. I reach for my suit but it’s not there. I look
around, heat clinging to my neck as I try to cover myself.
Where the hell is my suit?
“Those leathers are for you,” Varek says.
I look down to see a folded leather tunic next to his. When did this
get here?
God. Was someone else in here while I was letting the big alien feel
me up in the water?
“As my mate, you will wear our clothes. They do not carry the mark
of my glows yet. Soon,” he says.
I grit my teeth.
I’d prefer my suit. But to be honest, it was filthy. I reach for the
tunic and slide it over my head, straightening it down my curves. It fits
perfectly. The fabric is softer than I expected and it hangs just above my
knees.
Below the tunic was a pair of handmade shoes.
“Are these for me too?”
 He turns and appraises me, his brows lifting. He reaches up and
touches his chest as it glows bright.
“Hello?” I ask, shaking the shoes.
He nods. “Yes.”
Varek pulls himself out of the spring and walks toward me. I have to
look away to avoid seeing him in all his… glory.
He dresses in his leathers just in time for the flush on my skin to
fade away. We lock eyes and my stomach growls with an intense pang of
hunger. Varek smirks.
“Oh. The troublemaker is hungry, is she?”
I roll my eyes. I hate that name.
He shrugs. “Then I guess I’ll go eat by myself.”
Varek turns and walks off, leaving me standing alone. Fuming. I
huff and run after him, following close behind. When he looks back, he has
a smug smile on his stupid face.
“Or you can come too.”
Jerk.

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 10
PAIGE

V
arek leads us through the caverns into a common area that is almost
completely open to the skies. The kitchens, he calls the room.
The air is chilly and wraps around me as the cloudy weather
fills the chambers with a thick mist. The common room is lively as other
Vruts group up and share a meal, some sitting against the wall, others
lounging on hammocks with a plate of food across their belly. I look around
the room as they all stare at me, curious and untrusting expressions. I don’t
know how to process it, but then Varek wraps a possessive arm around my
side as if to claim me.
I’m his.
His chest glows and the other Vruts in the room understand our
bond. Then they all bow their heads in respect.
“Come on. I’ll make you a plate,” Varek rasps near my ear. The soft
tickle of his breath sends chills down my arms.
He gathers some food on a petrified wood plate and my brows knit
as I take it all in. We sit by ourselves against the wall and he shows me how
to eat.
He scoops a big chunk of something red and sticky in between his
fingers and takes a bite.
“Ruvash. It grows best in the marshes and is the main source of all
food for us.” Varek slides the plate toward me and points at it. “Try it.”
“It looks—” I trail off. The smell of it isn’t terrible. But the red color
is making my stomach turn.
“Paige,” he says. “You must eat. You will get sick if you don’t.”
His eyes sparkle as he looks at me, nodding at the plate again.
 A sense of overwhelming warmth flows through me at the concern
on his face. His jaw is tense as he waits, watching me intently.
I lick my lips and reach for the ruvash, plucking a little bit between
my fingers. Varek nods as I bring the portion to my lips and taste.
“Mm,” I mumble as I chew the warm grain. “It’s like rice,” I say.
Varek cocks his head.
“Something we have on Earth.”
He points to something else. A dark, dried hunk of something that
looks like meat. “This is strid. Draxel brought one down a week ago.”
Strid? So Draxel’s a hunter. I nod to myself, picking up the next
thing to try. I take a bite and it’s chewy like beef jerky, but the flavor is
outstanding.
“You like?” Varek asks, a prideful glint in his eyes.
I nod my head. “I do.”
While I eat, Varek explains that the hunters go out every other day to
bring in food. One strid can feed the entire clan for two weeks if they
stretch out the meat. But the vast majority of their nutrition comes from
what grows in the marshes and what they can scavenge in the trees—those
massive ones that we saw before entering the cave—that Varek calls
voraliths.
On the rest of the plate are some root vegetables and a little
smattering of fruits. I try each one and listen as he teaches me about his life.
His people. After a bit, the plate is empty and I’m licking my fingers clean,
my belly finally full.
“Wow, that was good.” I feel renewed. My body doesn’t ache as
much anymore and my headache is down to a dull roar. I reach up and
touch the strange paste that still crusts across the cut on my forehead.
Varek grabs my hand and holds it in his own. “Leave it,
troublemaker. It has to stay on for another night.”
I huff. I’m not a damn troublemaker.
He smirks and raises, pulling me up to my feet. “Come on. I will
show you the rest of the glowhollows.”
“Glowhollow?”
Varek points all around us. “The caverns. Our home. The glows help
keep us safe.”
Ah. I see.
 Varek wraps his arm around my waist again, keeping me close as we
explore further.
We walk through the vast caverns as he points out special places.
The personal hollows of other Vruts and those of families. I make a quick
mental note that nearly every other Vrut we come across is male. Maybe all
the women are somewhere we haven’t explored yet. I have a strange desire
to ask him about that.
I want to know more.
He shows me the Luminary where Vruts gather during twilight when
the luminite’s luminescence is at its peak.
“This is where the council meets. The Highseers.”
I look around, words failing me.
The Luminary is unlike any other chamber I’ve seen. It feels both
ancient and sacred. Smooth stone walls stretch high, their surfaces adorned
with intricate carvings that shimmer in the dim light, as though the very
rock itself pulsed with energy.
Like the glow on Varek’s chest as he watches me.
The room is open to the sky above as I’ve come to love, where a
perfect circle in the ceiling reveals a breathtaking view of the heavens.
Along the perimeter of the room, crystalline formations jut from the
ground. Neon, bright green luminite structures, like raw mined quartz
crystal, bathe the room in such a soft, spiritual ambiance that I can almost
feel it in my bones.
The history in this room. The importance of it.
“You work in here?” I ask.
Varek looks around the room as if he’s seeing it for the first time,
through fresh eyes. “Only when we have a ritual or the council must make a
serious decision. Otherwise, we prefer to meet by the kitchens.”
A smile pulls across my lips. “How laid back of you.”
Varek raises his chin in pride. “The Highseers are those who protect
their people. We do that best when we are among them. One with them all.”
That’s a nice sentiment. If only the leaders on Earth had those
ideals. But in this room, I can feel the community. The shared love and
respect. It’s refreshing.
Different and foreign, but beautiful.
Varek points to the ground. “We won’t go there, but beneath our feet
are the mines.”
 “The mines?”
“Where the luminite is at its most pure. We harvest it, refine it. It’s
the center of all life here in the glowhollow.”
He reaches out an open hand and gestures for me.
As if it’s second nature, I take his rough hand and follow him.
We walk further through the glowhollow and suddenly I find myself
watching Varek instead of the beauty of his home. His every word oozes
with love and pride, his excitement to show me every nook and cranny
never waning. His rough, scary edges seem to fade away and when I watch
him, it’s not so obvious that we’re different species anymore.
We come to a curve and Varek stops. I startle as he bends down and
wraps me up in his arms, anchoring me to his chest. His hands slide up my
outer thighs as he wraps my legs around his waist.
“Hold on tight, Mate.”
Before I can ask where we’re going, he slips through a crevice and
hikes up the inclining rock. I cling to him shamelessly, my arms wrapped
around his thick, muscular neck.
“Varek—” I squeak as he launches off the rock across a massive
chasm. We land safely on the other side but my heart is pounding in my
chest. The asshole just chuckles.
“I will not let you fall.”
I grumble. “I’m worried about both of us falling. Where are we
going?”
“I want to show you something else. My favorite place.”
He jumps and climbs further up, the incline growing higher and
higher until finally the rocky walls fade away and we are on top of the
mountain. We emerge into the cool air and Varek’s grip on me tightens as he
slows to a walk.
“Look up,” he says.
I do. The sky is a dull gray—but that’s the only way I’ve seen it
since he snatched me from the ship yesterday. Gray. Rainy. Misty.
I’m not even sure where the sun is, if this place has a sun, or if
we’re just below a shelf of clouds so thick that we might never see it.
“Keep watching,” he tells me as he finds a spot on the rocky
mountainside. Satisfied, he sits, holding me close to his chest so I’m forced
to straddle his lap. My cheeks burn, but I pretend to keep looking up into
the sky.
 I’m not at all bothered by the hard bulge pressing between my legs,
or the way his fingers draw loving little circles on the small of my back.
But the sky starts to darken into something I haven’t seen before.
Shadows trickle out from behind the clouds and the gray gives way to
something else.
Something that seems to swipe the clouds away like a strong wind.
Behind them lies a white sky, burning bright. I squint, but keep
watching as the source of the light fades and fades.
Muted shades of lavender and dusky orange bleed into one another,
blurring the line between the heavens and the mist-laden ground. The colors
are soft, almost ghostly, but not scary.
It’s strange. Like I’m not watching something real. I feel like I’m in
a dream that doesn’t make sense, but I still can’t look away.
The mist catches what little light remained, turning the air itself into
a glowing, shimmering haze. Dark silhouettes from the voraliths stood like
ancient sentinels, their massive forms shrouded in the fog, as the unseen
sun’s pale glow painted the edges of their branches in faint gold. Then, just
as quickly as it appeared, the light receded, swallowed by the ever-present
gloom, leaving the planet in darkness.
“Wow,” I breathe.
“Beautiful,” Varek says.
I look down and realize he’s staring at me. Not the sky.
My belly dips as his rough hand cups my cheek. With the sun gone,
the air grows cooler and a chill rattles through my bones. I sink closer to
Varek—to my mate—because he’s warm.
And he feels… good.
I clear my throat. “When you were showing me around, I noticed
that most of the Vruts were male. Do the women spend time somewhere
you haven’t shown me?”
His eyes lower as he shakes his head. “There are few women.”
“Why?”
He pushes a lock of my hair out of the way, watching the curve of
my neck as he explains. “Our kind can only conceive with our glow-blessed
mate. Even among the couples who are lucky enough to have found their
other half, female birth rates are low. They have declined slowly over the
years and as a result, our numbers have dwindled.”
“Oh,” I whisper as I process that.
 “Some males defected from the glowhollow to try and seek out their
mates from other species but none have returned successfully. Since there
are so few females born, I had no hope of finding my own mate.”
His voice lowers. His throat bobs as he stares into my eyes, his
finger sliding up and down my pulse point. I suck in a deep breath as the
sensation elicits an intense sense of calm over me. My muscles relax and
I’m chest to chest with him, my palms flat on the spot where his glows burn
bright for me.
“But I have you.”
Varek’s words are thick with emotion as he lovingly caresses me
from my ear to my collarbone.
The attention and desire in his gaze is so evident that I can’t think
clearly. Finding out more about him, more about his home, just confuses me
more.
I feel for him. I want him and his people to be happy. He’s not evil
and he’s definitely not the terrifying monster I thought he was when he tore
off the door to the ship and kidnapped me.
But he did kidnap me.
And I’m not so sure I’m meant to help him repopulate and ensure
the future generation of Vruts.
But then when he leans in and wraps his arms around me, crushing
me to his chest and hugging me like he’s found something he’s been
searching for for his entire life, I can’t help but feel whole.
I feel wanted. Special. Like I was meant for something bigger than
myself.
I melt into him and let him hold me, unsure of what any of this
means, but unwilling to peel myself away.

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 11
PAIGE

W
e sit perched on the rocky mountainside until even Varek’s warmth
can’t stop me from shivering. He wraps me up in his arms and
carries me against his chest, and for the attention I'm thankful.
He walks us back through the glowhollows to the leather I've come
to recognize as the opening to his chamber. We pass through and my heart
stops.
“Where is the hammock?” I ask.
Instead of the leather stretching longways across the cozy chamber,
there's a bed of furs.
“The hammock was made for one. A single male’s bed. It doesn't
suit mates.”
Warmth spreads through me as he sets me down on my feet. He
nudges me forward toward the furs and a deep rumbling sound comes from
somewhere deep in his chest.
I spin around just as his leathers slide down his thighs and he kicks
them to the side.
I swallow hard. “Um, I–”
Varek approaches me, his eyes darker than I've seen him. His chest
is glowing bright as he stares at me, his manhood long and thick between
his legs.
“It is our first true night together, Mate.”
Okay well, I wasn't expecting it to be that big of a deal. I wring my
hands in front of me as Varek stands naked, unabashed and waiting.
He sees me as his mate. His female. His. In his eyes, I am who he
has been searching for–the answer to his longing and loneliness. I can help
him help his people.
But to me, he is an alien I just met. One that stole me away from my
friends.
I don't hate him. I don't think I fear him either. But I'm not ready to
crawl underneath him and let him do all the dirty things Vruts do with their
mates.
Even if there is a little part of me that wonders.
He approaches me slowly, reaching out and gripping my hips. I
startle, but his rough fingers caress the curve of my waist and the tension
melts away as fast as it appeared.
“You want me,” he rasps.
My stomach dips and arousal pools between my legs.
His nostrils flare. “You cannot hide it, Paige. Your body yearns for
mine.”
Oh my God, he can smell me? I'm mortified and I try to pull away
but he holds me steady. This is all still so crazy. A week ago, I was still on
Earth preparing to travel to Mars. I was studying up on the effects of solar
winds on Mars’ atmosphere and what that means for solar radiation. Now
I’m alone with a male of a species I hadn’t even fathomed existed, he’s
naked, and thinks I’m his forever.
His fingers dig into my hips.
“It’s time to make our bond official. It’s time to mate.”
His amber eyes flash something dark and needy.
My breathing goes ragged as he crowds me. He’s right. My body
does yearn for his. He’s a specimen. Strong. Gentle. Handsome for an alien
with gray skin.
But kind.
With slanted eyes that look at me with so much emotion, it almost
makes me want to cry.
“I don’t know—” I mumble as he pushes my hair out of the way,
exposing my neck.
“You don’t carry my scent,” he grits. “Do you know how maddening
it was having other males look upon you and not scent your mate?”
No. I have no idea how maddening that is.
“I could barely contain myself from pushing you up against the wall
in the Luminary and claiming you beneath the skies,” Varek rasps. “You’re
mine, Paige. And I need you to feel it.”
 He leans in closer, dipping his head into the crook of my neck. His
breath is hot and tickles my skin, sending chills up and down my legs. I lean
in closer as he purrs into my ear. His scent grows stronger—misty and sexy.
Primal and sweet all at the same time.
I squeeze my thighs together as an ache forms and I’ve never felt
more empty. More needy.
“You feel that?” he asks.
I breathe deeply, intoxicated by him.
“You were made to take me, troublemaker. To take my seed.”
My mind goes blank as he kisses my neck, his hands rubbing down
my back and squeezing me against him. His cock is firm and hot against my
belly and it’s all I can think about.
I want him. I do. But it’s all so confusing. If I take this step with
him, if I give in to this strange but intense desire, it feels too permanent.
Like I’m accepting him. Accepting the mating bond for real and not just
living in a dream until everything goes back to normal. A part of me doesn’t
want to acknowledge that I’m really at his mercy, stuck amongst his people.
I’m still looking for a chance to escape.
Aren’t I?
He nuzzles in closer, his lightly-furred skin dragging against mine
and eliciting the most delicious sensation down my spine. I reach up and
snake my arm around his neck, digging into the short black hair at the base
of his neck. I can’t help the needy moan that slips from my lips when Varek
finally lifts me up and carries me to the furs.
I’m on fire, nearly begging for him to pull off my leathers that
suddenly feel too tight. To use those rough hands to touch every sensitive
inch of my skin. He lays me down gently, covering my body with his and
sliding between my already open legs.
I can’t help myself.
Maybe even my human body can sense this mate bond.
He wraps his hand around my neck and tilts, forcing me to look at
him.
“Watch me. Watch me devour you,” he whispers, just a sliver away
from my lips. I arch into him but he pulls away, delving his attention to my
neck. He licks and kisses, sucking at my skin. My eyes flutter shut and I
can’t help the way I’m flailing, my fingers dragging down his back, down
the mane of fur along his spine. He shivers and drives his hips forward, the
friction sparkling little stars behind my eyelids.
He’s driving me crazy and I’m still fully clothed.
“Varek,” I whine as he tugs at the hem of my leathers, sliding it up
my hips until it bunches at my waist. The thin fabric isn’t doing anything to
hide my hardened nipples. Like points, begging for attention.
“Mm,” he grunts as he looks down on me, his eyes darkening. His
chest is lit up like a spotlight, thrumming with the pounding beat of my
heart. “Say my name again, Paige. Call out to your mate.”
I can’t think straight as he slides his hand up beneath the tunic and
drags a teasing finger across my nipple. I jump and groan under his touch
and Varek only smirks.
“So sensitive. You’re enjoying this?”
The words escape me.
My legs widen and he settles deeper, grinding his thickness between
my legs in the place that I need it. Want it.
I lift up, wrapping my arms around him, desperate to taste his lips.
My heart constricts as I realize how badly I want him. How badly I need
him to cherish me. To show me just how much this mate bond means to
him.
To love me.
I move closer and he freezes, his brows knitting. He weaves and
goes for my throat again, licking and kissing down to my collarbone and
back again.
His hands slide the tunic up until I’m slipping out of it completely,
unbothered that I’m on display for him.
I’m heaving, my pussy drenched and I don’t even care that he can
scent it.
I reach for him again, closing my eyes and going in for a kiss but he
pulls away again, his mouth showing attention to the curve of my breast.
Does he not want to…
Kiss me?
My eyes pop open.
Suddenly, the attention doesn’t feel so beautiful anymore.
I pause, pushing at his chest. He pulls back just enough and I slide
out from under him, rolling to my side and tugging a fur with me.
“Mate,” he grunts. “I am not finished with you.”
 I wrap myself in the soft pelt, pawing for my discarded leathers. The
intensity and emotion I felt seconds ago has melted away.
He won’t kiss me.
Maybe his kind don’t do that…
Or maybe the mate bond isn’t quite what I think it is.
“Paige,” he says, tugging at my shoulder.
I swallow hard, fighting back the emotion clawing up my throat. It’s
like needles, prickling and scratching so hard I can’t find the words.
This intense desire for him… there has to be a reason for it. It isn’t
logical. It defies all reason.
The Paige I was on Earth would never fall into a bed after knowing
him for two days and certainly not after how Varek and I met. There’s no
way I would have felt anything but disgust.
And yet, I want him so bad. Even as my chest constricts and the
moment continues to sour—my body yearns for him.
It must be magic. Or a lie.
“Paige,” Varek says with a tone in his voice. He tugs harder and I
give in to his strength, rolling onto my back.
Tears brim my eyes but I blink them away, staring at the ceiling and
refusing to look at the handsome alien hovering over me.
“Talk to me.”
I shake my head. What is there to say? That I’m too confused to let
myself get fucked by an alien? That I’m too dumb to not fight him like the
kidnapper he is?
That there is something about the fantasy of being loved and
cherished that makes me want to give in?
I could say all those things, but I made a deal with him.
“It’s too fast,” I whisper, my voice cracking somewhere deep in my
throat.
He huffs and reaches for my cheek. I refuse to look at him. I can’t.
“Our bond is inevitable, Paige. You were born to stand beside me
and help me lead my people into the future.”
My heart aches.
“If that’s true,” I whisper, “then we have forever to bond.”
If I’m meant to be here like he says, then there is no rush, right? I
can’t sacrifice the safety of the other girls by upsetting him. I can’t betray
the deal. And if I reject him, I don’t know how he will react.
 But I can’t ignore the rock in my belly telling me something isn’t
quite right.
I finally look at him, not really seeing him. “Give me more time.”
His jaw clenches as he looks down at me. The moment stretches and
so does my fear. So does my anxiety.
But eventually, he nods.
“Whatever you need, Mate.”
He lays down on his side and pulls me to him, wrapping me in his
arms. I wiggle to get free but he huffs and holds me tighter. His warmth
seeps through me like an electric blanket and even though I can’t move, I’m
not uncomfortable.
I focus on my breathing and the steady rise and fall of his chest,
aware that his eyes are still on me.
And that I’ve probably let him down.
And I hate that it cracks my heart open to disappoint him.

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 12
PAIGE

I
jolt awake to a chill. My mind is foggy and when I sit up, I realize my
leathers are still nowhere to be found. I grab a fur and cover myself up
before looking around.
I’m surprised my alien isn’t wrapped around me still.
But he’s not here.
My eyes scan the chamber. His leathers are gone, but he’s folded
mine at the end of the furs. Tension eases in my muscles as I reach for them,
but where is he? The rest of the room looks the same. A few pieces of
intricate pottery line the walls. A pelt tapestry hangs directly behind me, a
scene depicting a hunt of some sort.
Where is he?
I slide the furs off my shoulders and put my tunic back on. The furs
feel empty without him. This room.
I feel sort of empty without him here.
In my dreams, Varek watched me all night—attentive to every move
and sound I made. I imagined him eager for me to wake up. Eager to show
me more of his life.
But he’s gone.
I pull myself to my feet and shake off the shadowy longing that
settled over my heart. It’s more productive if I focus on the girls. I need to
find Varek and ask about them. Did Draxel take food and provisions to
them? It’s been two full days which means even if they were rationing food,
they wouldn’t be able to stay in the ship forever.
Most of all, had he kept his word? Did Varek keep them a secret
from his people?
 I step out of Varek’s chamber, looking around to see if he’s there
waiting for me. The glowhollows are quiet so I decide to head to the spring
to freshen up.
It’s as beautiful as it was when Varek brought me here.
I strip down and swim to the foamy trickle, making quick work of
washing my body. I scrub the poultice off my forehead and drag my
fingertip along the cut.
“No way—”
I swim back to the edge and get out, drip drying as much as I can
before dressing again. The tunic is soft against my clean skin. I sit on the
edge of the spring until the water settles and I can see myself in the
reflection.
The cut is but a thin line. Barely visible.
I touch it again and blink hard. Am I still dreaming?
Nicole said I would probably need stitches. Selvara only put the
paste on my forehead yesterday morning and now it’s as if the cut was just a
tiny scratch?
The breath surges from my lungs.
This place is magic.
I finger pick through my hair, the chocolate waves detangling as
they air dry, and head back to the main hall of the hollows. I need to find
Varek.
I have so many unanswered questions.
If Varek could mate with me, a human, what’s to stop the other Vrut
males from mating with humans as well? I need to ask him how this all
works.
If he didn’t keep up his end of the deal and the Vruts descended on
the other five humans, was there a chance that they might also trigger a
mate bond?
Then, we would never be able to leave here.
It’s one thing if I’m stuck here, but all six of us?
I round the corner and suck in a sharp breath as I almost slam into
someone.
“Paige,” the male enunciates my name.
My mouth drops open as I look back at him. He’s older and I’ve
seen him before.
He bows his head in respect. “Kylor.”
 “Kylor,” I repeat, wracking my brain for where I’ve seen him
before. Then it dawns on me—he was here the day Varek kidnapped me. He
was one of the three who entered the chamber and had a heated discussion
with my mat—
With Varek.
“How are you adjusting?” He asks.
I bite the inside of my cheek. What a loaded question. I nod. “Fine.
It’s just a lot to take in.”
His thin lips press into a polite smile. His gray skin is thinning,
almost translucent. Kylor’s hair is almost completely white, and unlike the
younger males who wear leathers on their bottom half with their chests on
display, Kylor’s leathers are more of a cloak.
“Well, you are fortunate. Varek is a moral and just male.”
His voice carries such pride and respect.
He continues. “Varek puts his people first and deserves to find
happiness after everything he has endured.”
I deflate. “Endured?”
Varek said he won his position on the council through his strength
and wisdom, but also his prowess on the battlefield. He didn’t want to go
into detail and suddenly I feel guilty for not pressing.
Kylor nods.
I can’t deny the need to know more. To understand Varek better.
“Um, what exactly has he endured?”
Kylor hangs his head, his shoulders sagging as he speaks. “His
parents were mated. They were so in love and one of the strongest pairings
among us. Their union bore six heirs.”
“Any females?” I ask.
Kylor’s face turns solemn.
“No. When Varek was just ten, the Thachiens attacked. Varek’s
father barricaded him and his mother inside a voralith to protect them, but
they watched as he was cut down. His mother wailed until she was able to
go to her mate’s body and then refused to leave his side. She died from the
grief.”
My heart stalls, a lash of pain crashing through my chest.
Kylor continues. “Her glow refused to spark back to life without
him. She withered until the land reclaimed them both.”
 A lump lodges in my throat as I listen, thinking of Varek as just a
small boy. He would have been so young. So innocent. And grew up
watching his parents love each other so fiercely, only to meet such a tragic
ending.
I reach up and press my palm flat against my chest, unable to get
over the empty feeling. The painful feeling of not having him in my arms.
“How long ago was that?” I ask. I realize I’m not sure how old my
mate even is.
“Twenty-seven years.”
“And his siblings? Where are they now?”
“Among us. But Varek was the youngest and he was never the
same.” Kylor shakes the hanging sleeve of his cloak and crosses his arms.
“He threw himself into his duties, learning to hunt and protect the clan. He
gave up hope of ever finding his mate.”
I think back to the instant we locked eyes in the ship. The moment
his widened and his chest lit up. What could he have been feeling at that
moment? Was he thinking of his parents?
I rub my chest, the ache getting worse until I can barely breathe.
I need to find him. See him. Hear his voice.
I bow my head respectfully to Kylor. “I’m sorry, I have to go find
my mate.”
As I head off, clutching my chest and drawing in deep, ragged
breaths, Kylor nods in understanding.
“Yes. The bond does not wait.”
Hurrying down the hallways, I search for Varek blindly. I don’t
know where he is, but my body doesn’t care. I can’t stop my legs.
I think of Varek as a boy—terrified and huddling in the voralith
behind hanging moss and vines. His mother wailing and sobbing as the
threat still loomed.
My poor mate.
And if we were out there? In the marshes along the voraliths and I
got the chance to flee? If I was able to run away and never look back…
Could I?
I grunt as the pain intensifies and I nearly double over. I’m clutching
my chest and the rocky walls, anything I can to stay upright. The pain
grows and flares, searing through me and wrapping around my ribs. It’s like
I’m going to explode from the inside out.
 I can’t stand the pain.
I need him.
In a last ditch effort, before I collapse to the ground, I open my
mouth and cry out. I cry his name as the pain becomes too much to bear and
little white dots dust my vision.
“Varek!” I scream.
My legs give out.
“Varek!”

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 13
VAREK

I
’m on the mountainside, meeting with Draxel in the privacy of the rocky
heights.
Except now all I can see, smell, taste, and think, is her.
My mate.
They way she watched the skies like she’d never seen anything so
beautiful. The way her cheeks flushed every time I touched her. She’s
divine. I couldn’t have made her more perfect if I tried.
“I left the provisions outside the ship and watched. No movement.
When I returned last night, the food was still there. Untouched,” Draxel
reports.
I frown. Humans as Paige calls herself. They are either stubborn
creatures by species or unobservant.
Judging by the troublemaker in my furs, it’s the former.
“And this morning?”
“Untouched. And there was a strange scent.”
I cock my head.
“Sickness. Rot,” Draxel clarifies.
“From the land?” I press. We are no strangers to pruning the
marshes when they reject the mists, but they have never turned so soon. It
was but two years ago that our harvesters turned over that entire zone.
Draxel shakes his head, his jaw firm. He carries his weapon of
choice over his back—a spear longer than he is tall. On the leather weapons
strap across his chest are luminite daggers, sharpened to slice the beard off a
strid in one swipe.
 “From the… humans,” he grits out the word as if it’s dripping with
acid. He snarls and spits on the ground.
His dislike of my mate’s kind has my spinal bristles flaring.
I widen my stance and level him a look. I’m not here to chat about
the shortcomings and weaknesses of the human race. I’m here to get an
update on the females my mate wants to protect. I promised to do my best,
but I’m going against my duties as Highseer here.
Something I never thought I would do.
“Get closer,” I say. “Confirm that the rot is coming from them and
see if you can’t figure out the issue. Or if there are more coming.”
Five other females.
The odds are stacked against us, but I never thought I would
encounter my mate inside the strange vessel. There’s a chance—however
slim—that some of my clan’s mates are also on that ship. We can’t let them
die.
Paige would never forgive me.
But we can’t bring them to the glowhollows to protect them either.
Again, my Mate is a stubborn female.
She doesn’t understand that the marshes, the expanse, is a dangerous
place. The luminite keeps us safe here, we can harness it to ward away the
Thachiens and the strids steer clear of populations larger than a family of
nomads. There is strength in the togetherness.
And those women are not safe.
“We should hand them over to the rest of the council,” Draxel
suggests, his jaw tight. “Let them decide what to do with the women. They
are none of our concern.”
I hold up a hand to silence him. “You are a hunter. Not a Highseer.”
“And you aren’t acting like a Highseer.”
My chest flares bright, a coil of anger tearing through my bones.
“You are not mated, Draxel.”
“And I hope I never am!”
The male puffs out his chest in a challenge. I swear if we weren’t
spryts together, chasing each other through the glowhollows until my father
dragged us back to the chamber and swatted us on the mane, I would take
him on. He’s selfish and bull-headed. A perfect hunter.
A flawed male.
I step forward, challenging him in return. “One day, you will—”
 My mane stands on end, the hairs shooting straight up as I sense
something is wrong.
Draxel notices right away, his brows knitted. “What?”
“I think it’s—”
And then I hear her voice.
Paige screams for me, her voice strained with pain. I flinch and then
sprint to the shortest route, jumping straight down through the tunnels and
sliding down the jagged, rocky shortcut.
Pain flares through my chest as she screams again, this time even
more desperate. She’s inside the glowhollows. I can sense her pain, her
need, but I can’t pinpoint her.
I find my footing on the soft, dirt ground and take off, pumping as
hard as I can to get to her. Fear claws at my chest as her screams morph into
something I haven’t thought of in decades.
My mother.
My desperate mother.
I push myself harder, pounding the ground with my feet and heaving
in the air as I run to her. My glows are on fire, burning through my veins
like boiling water. This feeling—this intense vice around my heart—
unlocks my instincts. I quiet my breathing and hear murmurs up ahead.
Males.
But no Paige.
I sprint around the corner to find a grouping of males standing
around looking at something on the ground. I catch a glimpse of her,
collapsed in the dirt with her hand clutching her heart and mine nearly
stops.
“Move!” I shout.
The males disperse, scattering like moths.
I throw myself on the ground next to my mate and wrap her up in
my arms, cupping her cheek and shaking her softly.
“Paige?” I beg her to wake up. “Paige? I’m here.”
She whimpers but her eyes don’t open and I’m terrified. I can’t
breathe. I squeeze her to my chest and lift her up, shoving the onlooking
males out of the way.
“Selvara!” I scream out as I make my way to her private chambers.
She usually does not accept us into her private quarters for healing, but I
don’t care. She’s going to take Paige and she’s going to figure out what’s
going on with her.
My heart pounds in my chest as I call out to Selvara again and sprint
as fast as I can, cradling Paige’s limp body as close as I can to mine. I can
hardly see straight when the healer’s leathers come into view and I yank
them aside, striding in to find Selvara bleaching a hide.
“She collapsed. She called out to me. I—”
Selvara rises and points to her hammock.
I cross the room and lay Paige down, nuzzling her as Selvara makes
her way to the other side. As I caress her flushed cheeks, she groans and her
eyes flutter open.
“Varek?” Her voice cracks and I swear I could die.
“Mate. I’m here,” I tell her.
She can barely move, but her hands raise and wrap around me,
clinging to me like she might die if she lets go.
“Please,” she whimpers. “Take the pain away.”
“Paige, I—”
My mate grunts in agony. Her eyes flutter shut again and I can’t take
it any longer.
“Save her!” I shout at the healer across from me.
Selvara’s eyes snap to mine. “She is feeling the bondburn.”
I shake my head. “But she’s in pain? She’s not—”
The bondburn doesn’t manifest like this. The bondburn is not
something to fear. It’s inconvenient, sure, but it shouldn’t have caused her
to collapse in pain. To pass out and cry out for me like this.
“She is not Vrut,” Selvara says calmly. She gets up and goes to her
many pots, gathering materials as she continues. “In Vruts, the bondburn is
much like an aphrodisiac. It stimulates arousal and pushes two mates into
making the bond official. It is pleasurable. Annoying.”
Paige has a sheen of sweat all over her body. Her hair sticks to her
sweaty neck and her breath is ragged, like she can’t get enough air.
“Her body has recognized that she has a mate. But you two have not
bonded and her body is rejecting itself.”
“Rejecting itself?” I cuddle her closer to my chest, practically still
holding her in my arms as she lies in the hammock.
Selvara uses a rock tool to grind up some dried herbs. She’s too
calm, working too methodically compared to my heart pounding in my ears.
 Paige shivers against my chest.
“You need to mate with her,” Selvara says plainly.
Anger rolls through me as I look down at the limp creature in my
arms. “You think I’m not dying to make her mine? To claim her in front of
the rest of the clan and end my misery?” I ask.
Selvara shrugs her shoulders, her back still turned to me as she
finishes making something I’ve never seen before.
“Until you bond with her,” she says, turning with a small bowl in
her hand. She pours a splash of water into the bowl and moves it side to
side, mixing up the mixture inside. “This will wake her. It will take away
the pain.”
“For how long?” I wince.
Selvara meets my gaze and shakes her head.
Not long.
I look down at Paige. My mate is too pale—the usual pink color of
her cheeks is all but gone. Her lips are nearly white. Pain lances across my
chest as I look down at her.
I did this. I allowed this to happen.
Selvara joins me at the hammock and I raise Paige’s head enough to
allow her to drink. The dark gray, chalky mixture dribbles down her chin as
she grimaces.
“I know, troublemaker,” I whisper into her hair. She smells like the
blooms of the dainty flowers on an aged voralith. A sign of life. Of growth.
Of strength. “I know.”
My chest constricts as Selvara forces more of the liquid down. It
stings my nostrils and I massage Paige’s throat, forcing her to swallow it
down.
“This helps curb a Vrut female’s desires. It will bring your mate
back to you,” Selvara says low. She takes the bowl away. “I will bring you
another batch. Make her drink every day until she wakes.”
Paige groans as I lift her off the hammock, holding her close to my
chest. Just feeling her in my arms helps ease the pain, but I can’t face the
fact that I caused this pain in her. I’m the reason she shivers and winces.
Our own unfulfilled bond is killing her.
“Thank you.” I bow my head, the words souring in my mouth.
Selvara is the only healer I trust, but I can’t bring myself to look her in the
eyes. I’m shamed. Three days with Paige and I am already hurting her.
Neglecting her needs.
Bile rises in my throat.
I turn to see myself out, walking slowly so as to not disturb my
sleeping mate.
When we are back in our chamber, I lay her down in the furs,
covering her weak body and wiping the sweat off her forehead.
I wanted to give her a choice in the matter. I was trying to see things
from her perspective—not take too much from her. But in the end, I was
endangering her life. I should have taken her that first day in the spring.
Sealed her tight with my bulb and seeded her as mine.
I’m a failure.
Quick footsteps approach my leathers and I bark out a grunt. “Who
is it?”
Draxel steps inside, his eyes finding Paige and then averting his
gaze.
“Leave us,” I say.
I can’t give my attention to anything he has to say. I gave him his
instructions to protect the females, to find out what’s wrong with them, but
right now all I can focus on is the female in my furs.
I need her to get better. I need her color to return.
And I need to make her mine.
Even if it angers her to do so, I will not let her die.
I can’t.

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 14
PAIGE

I
am dreaming. A dream where I am floating around—weightless—in the
most beautiful place I could imagine. My body feels light and heavy all
at once when I drift back to reality. My eyes don’t want to open, but
when they do, it all comes crashing back to me.
I was alone.
I was talking to Kylor.
The pain.
I needed Varek and I couldn’t find him.
But he’s here now.
He’s beneath me. His strong body supports mine as my cheek rests
on his muscular chest. Varek’s arms wrap around my middle protectively as
I rise and fall with his deep breaths.
I move slightly and he sucks in a sharp breath.
“Paige?”
I remember collapsing. I remember faint glimpses and the intense
pain. But the pain is gone right now. How did I get here? With him?
“Paige?” He asks again. He sits up, pulling me with him and
inspecting me. His rough finger slides across my bottom lip and his
expression changes. Calms.
But he looks like hell. Dark, deep bags sit under his eyes. His hair is
disheveled and greasy like he hasn’t slept or bathed in days.
“How do you feel?”
I breathe deeply, taking stock of my body. “I feel okay,” I say. “Just
tired. What happened?”
 Varek’s eyes shut and the tension in his shoulders eases. He holds
me closer, embracing me and breathing me in. It’s relaxing and comforting
and I find myself clinging right back to him.
His soft skin. His warmth.
“You passed out.”
“Why?” I ask.
He shakes his head, still holding me close. His fingers draw circles
on the small of my back while he nuzzles the top of my head. “Because of
me.”
That doesn’t make sense, but nothing in my life really makes sense
now. “How long ago was that?”
Though I don’t have pain, my entire body feels groggy. My muscles
are sluggish and fatigued. I feel like I’ve been sleeping for ages.
“Four days.”
My eyes go wide and I pull back, looking up at him. “Four days?”
What the fuck?
Four days have passed since that conversation with Kylor? I’ve been
here now for a week.
And the other women? Are they safe? Were they able to contact
Control?
I start to blurt out the first question I can. I need to know they are
okay. “How are—”
Varek sighs. “We need to mate.”
I shake my head, processing his words that don’t make sense at a
time like this.
“If we don’t mate, you will get sick again.”
“Sick?” I wasn’t sick. My chest hurt like it was going to explode. If
that’s what made me pass out, that has nothing to do with Varek and it
certainly has nothing to do with our mate bond. For someone who is
supposed to care about me so deeply, he’s choosing a strange time to press
to get into my pants.
We have more serious issues—like the fact that I need to know
what’s going on with the five human women I asked him to protect.
“The bondburn,” he says. “You have the bondburn.”
I wait for him to continue—his words make no sense.
“Your body recognizes me as your mate but we haven’t fulfilled the
bond. The bondburn is hurting you. Killing you. Rejecting you as a way to
speed up the mating. The only way to cure it is…”
“Fucking,” I murmur.
His brows knit like he doesn’t understand the term.
“Mating,” I clarify.
He nods. “I need to claim you. Make you mine to ease the
bondburn, or else you will just get worse.”
I pull back further, thinking this all over.
So my body—even though it’s human—somehow recognizes Varek
as my mate and is now trying to kill me for not having sex with him? This
can’t be real. I literally can’t wrap my head around it.
I shake my head and pull my legs beneath me. I push to stand but
my muscles go wobbly and Varek is there to steady me. “How are the
others? The humans. Are they safe?”
“Paige,” Varek says, his tone demanding. “Look at me.”
I use the reserves of my energy to stand up all the way, this time
finding my balance on my own. “Answer me. I want to see them. Make sure
they are okay. Take me there.”
“Mate,” he says, his voice laced with anger and desperation. “You
can’t. You’re not going anywhere until we take care of this.”
I scoff and turn away. “You won’t stop me.”
As soon as I take a step in the other direction, a dull pain lances
through my chest and I still.
Varek is at my side in a second. “Stop.”
“No. I need to make sure they are okay. You can come with me or
not, but we had a deal,” I demand. The pain intensifies and on impulse I
flatten my palm across my chest, pressing to ease the pain.
“See? Look at yourself. You’re already hurting again. Paige, we
have to do this.”
Have to? I don’t have to do anything but survive. I don’t have to do
anything but make sure my sacrifice wasn’t a waste of effort. Before I give
myself over completely to this alien male, I want to know that at least my
friends are going to make it out alive.
I take another step toward the door and the pain squeezes my chest,
tearing the breath from my lungs.
Before I can reject him, Varek sweeps me off my feet and lays me
back down onto the furs. His rough hands make quick work of tugging off
my leathers and even as I try to slow him down, he’s like a man possessed.
 “Varek!” I shout.
He leans in close and nuzzles my neck, licking my hot skin. Like he
flips a switch, all the fight in my body eases and his scent overpowers me. I
breathe him in deep and a warmth trickles down my spine, the pain slowly
fading away.
He whispers, so close to my ear it sends chills down my arms and
legs. “Let me take away your pain. Let me heal you.”
I sigh, hands that were just shoving him off now pulling him closer.
It’s the magic. The bond. A stupid physical reaction that makes me
want him so badly—but I can’t help it.
I do.
And the pain…
He takes it away.
“Glows,” Varek mutters in my ear as he holds himself up with one
hand and slides my leathers down with the other. I lift my hips to help him
and soon they are down around my ankles. I kick them off and spread my
legs.
My eyes track down his muscular form, following his hand as he
unzips his leathers. He shoves them down and his hard cock springs out,
thick and ready.
I look at him—really look at him this time. His manhood matches
the rest of him. Large. Intimidating. But its shape is similar to a human’s.
It’s dark grey like the rest of his taut skin, phallic and my mouth waters. I
bite my bottom lip as the warmth in my body travels between my legs.
Varek’s eyes darken as he watches me. “Your body is ready.”
I swallow hard.
He’s right. I’m flushed—my skin on fire and sensitive. Varek sits
back on his knees and wraps his hand around his thickness while staring at
me. I’m still wearing my bra and panties, but he doesn’t seem to mind. As
soon as he moves his hand, the veins on his cock light up just like his chest.
Varek hisses.
“Are you okay?” I ask. “Does that hurt?”
Human penises certainly don’t glow like that and I never considered
that maybe the mating process wasn’t as pleasurable for Vruts as it might be
for me.
He looks down at himself—the way his cock glows and seems to
pulsate with each touch. He scoots forward and presses his cock to the wet
fabric of my panties, rubbing himself where I’m most sensitive.
I suck in a breath as a shiver of pleasure sizzles up my spine.
His cock glows brighter, pulsating luminite up the thick veins like
pumping blood. The gray skin of his chest and manhood are lit up brighter
than I’ve ever seen them as he keeps rubbing himself.
He groans deep. “No, Paige. It does not hurt.”
God, it feels good.
“It’s never done this before,” he grunts. “Glows, this feels—”
He licks his bottom lip and tears my panties away in a single flick of
his finger. I squeak and then grip the furs.
I’m nervous. I want him. God, I want him. But it isn’t just a physical
act. This is so much more.
My heart thumps in anticipation, dying for his next move.
He reaches between my legs and slides his fingers through my folds,
wetting them. He rubs up and down my clit and I nearly come undone—the
rough sensation making my pussy clench.
“That spot is sensitive for you, Mate.”
I bite the inside of my cheek and nod.
Varek learns quickly. He pays special attention to my clit as he lines
up his luminescent cock. I’m aching for him. Too empty and soaked with
desire. My body is humming with need and I almost wiggle my hips as I
feel the head of his cock press against my opening.
Circling his finger on my clit, his hips push forward. His cock
spears me open—a slow, aching violation that makes my fingers curl into
the furs. It’s slightly painful, but oh, so fucking delicious as he enters me.
Inch, by inch, by slow, decadent inch.
He’s thick and fuck if I can’t feel the pulsating glows, like a sexy
beacon of pleasure rippling inside my tight channel.
The pain in my chest dissipates into a warmth that consumes me.
“Mm,” Varek grunts as he works himself inside my pussy. His eyes
are the darkest shade I’ve seen them, the little flecks of gold shining as his
pupils blow wide. “Your body. Your cunt is—”
His vulgar words make my stomach flutter and I grow bold. I don’t
want anything between us anymore. I reach behind my back and undo my
bra, sliding it off.
He watches me, his hips stilling.
 “You are stunning,” he grunts. With one more push, he’s fully seated
inside me and I can’t think straight.
He’s stretching me. Owning me. His cock was fucking made for me.
He leans down and goes for my neck again, licking my skin and
searing me from the inside out. I arch into him and buck my hips, grinding
into his cock. The pulsating intensifies and I can’t help but cry out.
It feels too fucking good.
“Glows, Paige,” he grunts in my ear. “This is… This is—”
I wrap my legs around his waist and tug his face to mine. “Kiss me.”
“Kiss?”
“Put your lips on mine, Varek.”
His gaze softens and then darkens again, longingly staring at my lips
as I wet them with my tongue. He follows my every move and then strikes,
capturing my mouth with his.
It’s a searing, stumbling kiss. Our tongues lash and caress—fight
and make up. He tastes delicious. He’s sweet like pineapples with a spice
like cinnamon. I’m in heaven, arching into him as he devours my lips.
My heart pounds in my ears and my chest constricts, but not with
pain. With something else. Something very different.
I groan into his mouth and roll my hips. Varek shakes above me, his
eyes rolling back.
“Mine,” he growls into the crook of my neck.
For the first time, his hips buck into me. He draws out and slams in
with a delicious, claiming force that tears the breath right out of my lungs.
“Oh, God,” I groan.
“Mine,” he growls again. He slides out of my all the way and then
fucks back in, spearing me in two. My legs shake as pure ecstasy shatters
through my body. He grips my hips almost painfully and holds me in place
as he finds a rhythm—a punishing and delightful rhythm that has me flying
high and whimpering out of control.
He’s hitting places, fucking me so good and bumping against my
sensitive clit in ways that I didn’t think were possible. He’s playing my
body like only he knows how and I can’t take my eyes off him.
The way his muscles ripple with every thrust. The way his fingers
claw into my soft skin. The bright, shining lights like a beacon of love
across his chest.
 It’s overwhelming and I can’t fight the intense emotions any longer.
I don’t want to.
I meet his thrusts, rolling my hips and fucking him back. My moans
echo off the walls of our chamber as a bead of sweat rolls down my neck.
He leans down and licks the sweat away, savoring it.
“Call me your mate,” he demands, his voice a heady rasp that takes
away all my defiance.
“Mate,” I whimper and kiss his throat.
He growls and fucks me harder. My body clenches, my muscles
tightening as I rush toward climax.
“Fuck,” I moan as the pleasure anchors me to the furs. “Varek.”
He keeps going until I can’t see straight and my mind is a mess. He
leans in and claims my mouth again and the taste of him sends me over the
edge. My pussy clamps down on him as a wave of tingles tears through me.
I’m soaring, riding out the intensity of each pleasurable ripple starting from
between my legs and moving out to the tips of my fingers and toes.
“Paige,” Varek groans as he thrusts into me deeper than I thought
possible.
He pulls back and pushes my thighs wide, spreading me open. He
enters me once again, going as deep as possible as my pussy clenches him
in—begging for more.
“Stay relaxed,” he grunts.
I’m a breathless, sweaty mess but I nod.
His grip on my thighs tightens, his fingers digging into my skin and
suddenly, something is changing.
He’s fully rooted inside me, but now he’s… getting thicker?
My eyes pop wide. “What’s that?”
He smirks, his eyes lidded with pleasure. “My bulb.”
“Bulb?” I flinch, but Varek holds me steady.
“Stay relaxed, Mate. I don’t want to hurt you.”
He reaches between us and circles my sensitive, throbbing clit. I
suck in a sharp breath, the waves of pleasure crashing back through me as if
they never left.
The base of his cock swells inside me, filling the deepest of aches I
didn’t even know I had. He plays with my clit as he grunts, stretching me
out and plugging me tight.
“Glows, your cunt is taking me so well,” he grits.
 If he swells any thicker, I’ll lose my mind.
But he does.
And I explode again.
He rubs my clit and when I flinch, his bulb bumps my G-spot and I
scream. The sensation is wild and primal—like a form of pleasure a mere
human wasn’t supposed to experience.
Varek rolls his hips, ruining my pussy before he roars and comes
inside me. His cock pulsates like a vibrator inside me with each spurt,
filling me up as he lets himself go.
We revel in the orgasm together, our bodies coming together like
two puzzle pieces that can’t—and won’t—fit with anyone else.
Finally, he covers me with his body, his bulb locking us together. He
kisses me, slower this time. Gently.
I’m a quivering, slick mess while he brushes my hair out of my face
and holds me, looking down at me like I’m the most precious thing in the
world to him.
And suddenly, I feel that way.
Like my whole world is wrapped up with me right now, in this
room. Like my heart is full and I’m where I’m meant to be.
Tears sting my eyes but I blink them away.
Varek cocks his head. “Mate? What is wrong?”
I shake my head. “Nothing.”
“Tell me,” he demands.
I sigh, my body a tired, slightly sore mess. But the pain in my chest
is gone and my worries, my fears—those are gone too.
“I’m… happy.”
Varek’s expression lightens as he holds me close. His bulb is still
thick and inflated and I can feel every movement, every breath he makes.
“You’re happy?”
I nod, my lips pulling into a smile. I am. I’m happy. I’m his.
I’m loved.
My chest constricts again, that same lovely feeling from before.
And maybe I am also in love.
I can’t look away from Varek. We watch each other, soaking up the
moment as his body slowly, achingly slowly deflates inside me. His seed
starts to seep out as he slides out of my sore pussy and my cheeks flush
from the embarrassment.
 “We’re bonded now, Paige. You carry my scent.”
He reaches for a fur and pulls it over me, tucking me into his chest
and holding me close.
In the softest whisper, he says, “You don’t know how much joy you
have just brought me.”
My heart aches in the most beautiful way. And for a moment, I think
maybe I do know.
Maybe I do.

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 15
PAIGE

A
fter mating, Varek slept so hard that I had to check to make sure he
was still breathing.
Me?
I’ve never felt better.
I cling to him, laying across his chest and playing with the short,
soft hair that covers his hard body. After sleeping for four days, I’m wide
awake and all I want to do is watch him.
Hear his voice.
Find out more about him.
An intense warmth spreads through my chest, lighting me up inside
and I smile like an idiot. Okay, this is definitely the mating bond.
I can feel it now. The intense urge to spend every moment with him.
I wonder what it’s like for him—if it’s stronger. If he’s dreaming about me.
I drag my fingers along his skin, drawing little circles as chills rise along his
biceps.
The leathers hanging across the opening of our chamber ruffle and I
flinch. I’m buck naked. I scramble to grab a fur to cover myself when
Varek’s eyes pop open.
He springs up, shoving me behind his body with a harsh growl.
It’s Draxel.
Draxel hangs his head, not looking at either of us. “I wouldn’t have
interrupted but it’s important.”
I wrap an arm around Varek’s middle as his shoulders relax. He lets
out a ragged breath and places his hand over mine, giving me a tight
squeeze. My heart clenches.
 “Go on,” Varek rasps.
“They can’t wait any longer.”
Varek’s jaw tightens and he eyes me quickly before returning his
attention to the other male. “Dead?”
“If not, then close to it.”
An uncomfortable feeling forms in my belly. Like a hard rock
telling me something isn’t right. They are speaking too vaguely and when
Varek shifts away from me to stand, I know something is wrong.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
Varek reaches for his leathers and slides them on. “The humans,” he
murmurs.
I squeeze the furs in my hand, clutching them to my chest as my
heart rate picks up. I look between Varek and Draxel who is still looking
down at the floor.
“What do you mean? Not dead but close to it?” I stand, tugging the
furs around my body and following my mate. I pull him by the arm, forcing
him to look at me. “What’s going on?”
“Draxel has been watching them. They haven’t taken our provisions
and something is wrong. He can smell a sickness in their blood.”
My eyes go wide. “And you’re just telling me this now?”
“You were unconscious. You needed to take our bond or else you
would—”
“Die like they might!” I shout at him, pushing him back. I toss aside
the furs and reach for my leathers. “We have to go get them.”
Varek growls, a sound so possessive and deep it sends a shiver down
my spine. He yanks me behind him, covering my body with his own.
“Draxel, eyes down,” my mate barks.
I quickly drag on the soft leathers, settling them in place over my
body that still feels a little sore. All I can think about is the work sickness.
What kind of sickness?
I finish tying my leathers and Varek relaxes. “Come on. We’ve
waited long enough.”
“No,” Varek barks. He turns to Draxel and opens his mouth like he’s
about to give out another order, but I’m not having it.
“Yes. We can help them. Bring them back here.”
“We can’t,” he answers. “All we can do now is keep their existence
a secret. It’s too late. They don’t belong here.”
 I shake my head, tossing my hair out of my face and huffing. “Yeah,
well I didn’t think I did either, but look at us now.”
I look up at him. He appears rested, but the angry pinch of his face
reminds me of the way I saw him when he tore open the door to the ship. A
stranger.
“We’re going to get them.”
“No, Paige. You’re staying here. I won’t put you at risk.” He reaches
for my cheek as if to calm me down but I shove his hand out of the way.
Anger boils in my belly. I want to be angry with him—blame him
for this. In my head, he let them get sick and starve. It’s all Varek’s fault
right?
Wrong.
It’s mine.
If I would have known the Vruts a week ago, everything would have
been different. I didn’t need to protect the women—in fact, I’ve left them in
more danger by hiding their existence. And if I had just let Varek send other
males to go retrieve them, the Vruts could have taken care of them since
day one.
This is all my fault.
“I’m going,” I tell him, my voice firm.
“Paige—”
My thoughts bubble out before I can stop them. “I won’t let my
friends die while I’m here getting fucked and falling in love with an alien!”
Varek’s expression is tight but the longer he looks at me, the softer
his eyes become. He sighs and then nods softly.
“Draxel. Get more food and supplies. Meet us just beyond the
southern dip.”
Draxel bows his head with respect and leaves, the leather falling
back into place.
My mate turns his attention back to me. “We will not bring them
back here, but we will help cure them and protect the ship.”
My shoulders relax, but the sinking feeling in my chest hasn’t
lightened up. There’s no way they can survive out there if they couldn’t
contact Command. If Earth doesn’t know we crashed, or where in the hell
we even landed, the ship won’t protect them forever. I don’t press the
subject, but I know that the women need to come here. Varek steps into my
space and drags me into his chest, nuzzling the top of my head. I want to let
him take away the worry, but my throat is tight and I feel like I can barely
breathe. I need to make sure they are okay.
Why didn’t I realize they would be safe here sooner?
“Let’s go,” Varek says, his voice rumbling from deep in his chest. I
cling to the rich sound of it and follow his lead out of our chamber.
We walk in silence through the glowhollow. I almost have to jog to
keep up with him, my bare feet slapping across the dirt. We round the
corner and Kylor is standing upright in the middle of the rocky corridor, his
cloak pulled tight around his shoulders.
“Varek,” he says, bowing his head.
My mate grabs my hand and pulls me close to his side. “Kylor.”
The old male’s nostrils flare before his sharp eyes snap to mine.
“Ah. I see you are a fully mated pair. Congratulations.”
I swallow and look away—realizing he knows exactly what we got
up to in our chamber.
Kylor addresses my mate. “Any updates from Draxel? Any more
signs of life from the crash?”
Varek’s grip on my hand tightens almost painfully.
“No. It appears Paige was the only survivor.”
I grit my teeth but stay quiet. He’s speaking as a Highseer—his
chest out, his chin high. These are his people and he knows best.
Except he doesn’t know that I don’t plan to let my friends stay out
there in the marshes for another night.
I guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it.
Kylor nods, a line on his forehead deepening. “Hm. That is a
shame.”
He lets out a deep breath.
“The council was hoping for better news. Hope for the future. With
no Vrut-born female mates appearing, we cannot go on like this.”
Varek blinks back at the older male in front of us and a twinge of
guilt pangs in my gut.
Kylor looks to the ground. “I will let the council know. You two
seem to be off in a hurry somewhere.”
His slanted eyes slide to mine and I’m frozen. Varek is lying to
Kylor because I asked him too and I can’t escape the weight of that lie
anymore. Not when I realize the cost for his people.
“Paige needs some fresh air.”
 “Ah,” Kylor nods, his eyes narrowing. “Enjoy.”
Varek doesn’t waste time. He drags me along behind him, but an
eerie feeling seeps through me. I twist and look back at Kylor who watches
us closely and just as we head to the nearest crack in the rock, he begins to
follow.
We jog through the tight path until the mountain spits us out into the
misty air and then Varek drops my hand.
I squint as movement catches my eye and Draxel is waiting for us
on the other side of the small clearing. Just his head is visible as he waits in
the valley like he was ordered to.
“Let’s go,” Varek grits.
“I think Kylor–”
He whirls around so fast that I nearly slam into his wall of chest. His
eyes blaze as he steadies me. “You demanded to come along and I will not
fight you, Mate. Keep up.”
He breaks into a slow jog but with his long legs, I fall behind
quickly.
We meet Draxel in the valley and the two males speed up, too fast
for me to keep pace.
“Wait!” I call out, but Varek doesn’t even flinch. The muscles in his
back bunch and ripple with each long stride, putting more and more
distance between us.
I run a little faster, but no matter how much I push myself, they pull
ahead. It’s as if he’s trying to leave me behind.
Jerk.
I keep running, just fast enough that they are never out of my view.
It gives me time to think.
He’s punishing me, maybe. Angry with me.
Maybe I am a troublemaker.
He doesn’t want me out here, but he gave in. He lied to the council
about my friends—to his entire clan—to make me happy. As a leader, it
must go against everything he believes to put me first, and yet he’s done it
every time.
My lungs are burning as I speed up. There’s no way I can catch
them, but we’re in the marshes now and I know the ship is only a little ways
ahead. I need to talk to Varek before we approach the women. I should
apologize.
Perhaps he’s sacrificed more than I thought to make me happy.
And I’m so selfish that I’m only going to demand more.

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 16
VAREK

D
raxel and I keep moving forward even as Paige falls behind. I’m sure
she is angry with me—she is always angry with me, it seems—but I
do not care. I don’t want her out here at all, but the troublemaker
won’t give me a single moment of peace.
But there is something about Paige that stops me from telling her no.
The ship is in view, already becoming part of the harsh landscape as
tanglethorns have started growing up the sides. It will only be a few weeks
until the shiny, tough material of the ship that brought my mate is covered
completely and crushed under the might of those nasty vines.
The harvesters burn them away every year to keep the glowhollows
safe, but they have never stopped trying to get to us.
I slow to a walk and Draxel follows suit, a leather pack slung across
his back. Paige gains on us quickly and before I know it, the female is at my
side, doubling over and huffing.
She calls me something I don’t recognize. Ass. But I don’t mind.
A noise from beyond the ship snags my attention and my eyes snap
to the source. A head bobs between the trees and emerges from the forest.
My mane bristles as I get a good look.
“Oh, no,” I grit.
I grab Paige and sink to the ground, pushing her to her back beneath
my body. She shoves against me but I shush her as Draxel hunches low next
to us. My female wiggles and grunts trying to free herself from me, but I
give her my entire body weight to keep her quiet.
“Silence, Mate,” I order.
“Let me go!” she squeaks.
 I meet her gaze and cover her mouth, physically silencing her before
she gives away our location. “Be quiet, now.”
Her brows knit.
Draxel stirs next to us. “Thachiens,” he grunts.
Paige’s eyes go wide, her face paling as she jerks underneath me. As
if she knows how dangerous they are. As if she can sense the way my
stomach hardens knowing they are just yards away. I hold my breath and
raise my head enough to get a better look.
The gangly, green creatures stalk over the hilly marshes, hunched
over and moving like beasts. Their arms are long and boney, all hard angles
as they approach the ship.
“Ten of them, I count,” Draxel whispers.
I nod. A small groupling. The thing about Thachiens is that alone,
they are easy to defeat. Their malformed and misshapen legs make them
slow and any average Vrut male is faster. But Thachiens never travel alone.
And in packs, they rely on their brute strength to tear apart anything
that gets in their way.
Paige heaves in deep breaths beneath me and I move my hand off
her mouth, certain that she isn’t going to scream or shout and alert the
Thachiens. I give her a little bit of room and she arches to see the evil
creatures drawing closer and closer to her friends.
“We stay hidden,” I say.
“No,” Paige whispers back. “Those things are going right for the
ship!”
She tries to shove me off, grunting as she pushes at my chest. I’m
about to lose my mind. She has no idea what she’s getting herself into. I
don’t care how much she wants to protect those other females—the one
beneath me is mine and I’m not letting anything happen to her.
I wrap my hand around her throat and squeeze just enough for
Paige’s eyes to go wide.
“Stop moving,” I command. I lean in close, nuzzling the side of her
face and loosening my grip until I’m sure she can still breathe. “You are my
mate, troublemaker. I will not play with your life and I will not let you play
with it either.”
Her lips part as if she’s going to argue with me, but I capture her
mouth instead. I devour her lips, forcing her to expel all that anger and
desperation against mine. My body reacts immediately, my cock
lengthening between my legs. It isn’t the best time to want to mate with her
again, but it’s the only thing I can think of to distract her from trying to kill
herself.
She groans as I plunge my tongue into her sweet mouth, tipping her
chin to give me better access. Draxel clears his throat next to me and I
finally let Paige breathe again. She’s a flushed mess, her lips swollen from
the attention.
“They are inside,” Draxel whispers.
Paige sucks in a sharp breath but I shake my head. “Don’t make a
sound,” I tell her.
She bites the inside of her cheek and all I want to do is throw her
over my shoulder and take her to safety. She doesn’t belong here and the
fact that she’s within eyeshot of the Thachiens makes me physically ill.
A piercing scream echoes through the misty air and Paige flinches.
I look up to see three Thachiens emerging from the ship, one of
them dragging out their own female. The rest must still be inside.
Another scream and I cover Paige’s mouth again. She’s stirring
something fierce, kicking at my legs to try to do something. I want to shake
her.
Draxel’s grip tightens on his spear as it lays parallel to him, but
neither of us makes a move.
My mane bristles as I watch the scene unfold. Two more Thachiens
come out, carrying another kicking and screaming human. Five left inside
by my count. The latest human is putting up a hell of a fight. Her fiery red
hair spills out all around her and she thrashes around, shouting and snarling
at the gangly creatures.
Draxel stirs beside me, a physical tremor through his body as if an
instinct snapped into place.
The redhead gets a leg free and kicks one of the Thachiens hard, its
leg snapping in half before it tumbles to the ground. The heinous wail that
erupts from its throat sends a chill down my spine.
Visions flash across my mind.
My father.
My mother’s wail.
I couldn’t get to him either.
And I couldn’t save her.
 The fiery redhead turns around to the other Thachien, not showing a
lick of fear. She rears back and slaps the bony face before her, screaming
out loud like a battle cry. In one powerful swoop, the Thachiens swings
forward and punches the female hard, sending her flying off her feet before
she thuds against the damp ground.
She lies still. Unmoving.
A snarling growl erupts from Draxel at my side. Both Paige and I
look over at him as he rises. His eyes are narrowed, anger radiating off him
like steam. In a flash, the left side of his chest lights up—lines tearing
across his skin and down his left bicep. It flexes as he raises his spear.
“Mate,” he grunts.
Before I can stop him, he charges forward.

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 17
PAIGE

D
raxel launches forward, his chest bright and shining like Varek’s does.
Does that mean…
Varek lifts off me and I roll over, propping myself up on my
elbows. My friends are fighting the Thachiens, desperate to get out of their
clawed hold. Then I see Ryan lying unmoving on the ground.
Varek leans in close to my ear. “Stay here. I must help Draxel.” He
takes off and leaves me alone on the ground.
Draxel gets to the first Thachien and slashes through him in one
swipe of his spear. Black blood sprays and splatters all over the ground as
the thing collapses in a pile of limbs. My heart pounds in my chest as I
watch it, fear clawing through my gut. Varek sprints for another creature,
grabbing it and tearing the thing in two with his bare hands.
More Thachiens emerge from the ship and I see an opening.
Ryan is lying on the ground. Lara and Cristina are screaming as they
are dragged off, but Draxel and Varek are right behind them, slaughtering
the Thachiens to save my friends.
That just leaves Nicole and Melina. They must still be inside.
I rise up on my bare feet and hurry forward. I stay low, praying
Varek doesn’t see me or that I draw the attention of our enemies. My feet
burn and sting as I step over gnarled vines, but the pain is nothing compared
to the tightness in my chest. I can barely breathe as I near the ship.
I huddle close to the metal and tip-toe forward until I can slip inside
the door.
Nicole is huddled over Melina, dirt covering her face as she stares at
me with wide eyes. She grips a metal pipe in her hand, the end covered in
that nasty black blood.
Melina looks lifeless behind her.
“Paige?” Nicole asks, her voice a weak rasp.
“Oh my God,” I whisper, falling to my knees in front of her. Knots
tangle through her blond hair and her cheeks look sunken. Like she hasn’t
slept or eaten in a week. “Are you—”
“Melina is,” she trails off, her voice wavering. Heavy tears fall
down her cheeks as she turns to look down at the woman she’s protecting.
“I don’t think she’s going to make it,” she cries.
I shake my head. “No. She’s going to be okay. We’re here to save
you guys, I promise.”
I can’t stop the words as they tumble out. Promise after promise.
“The alien who took me? He’s kind. I mean, he has his flaws but his
people are—”
“No!” Nicole snaps. “They are all evil. They came in here and
snatched Cristina while she was sleeping. Lara and Ryan couldn’t get to her
fast enough. Then they were screaming and—”
She shakes and shuts her eyes.
I grab her by the shoulders as the chaos and killing from outside
lessens to a dull roar. “Look at me.”
Nicole’s eyes open and I mimic deep breathing, forcing her to calm
down with me. It’s hypocritical because I feel like things are spiraling out
of control and I haven’t seen Melina’s chest rise or fall once.
Maybe we were too late.
But I don’t think about that. I need to be strong for these women. I
need to be strong for my friends.
“Those things that came for you just now? They are bad, not the one
that took me. We came back for you all, okay? You don’t have to fear us.”
Us. Because I’m one with Varek. The fear in Nicole’s eyes shakes
me to my core. I did this. I put them in more danger.
When Nicole finally nods and wipes away her tears, we both look
down at Melina. She isn’t moving. She’s pale. I reach out and touch her
shoulder but she feels cold.
“How long has she been like this?”
“Days,” Nicole answers.
“Come on,” I say, holding back all the anxiety pumping through me.
“Let’s carry her out of here.”
 I grab Melina under her arms and Nicole grabs her by the ankles.
She feels like dead weight, but we work together to carry her to the door.
I lean out the door to check what’s going on. There are fewer
Thachiens now—their bodies lying cracked and dead across the ground.
Varek is tearing another one in half while Draxel kicks one to the ground.
“Let’s go,” I whisper.
We walk out, watching our step over the thorny vines. I stay as close
to the ship as possible, praying that we don’t draw anyone’s attention.
Thachiens or Varek’s.
He’ll be pissed, but I can’t help it. No one gets left behind.
Lara screams as Draxel slashes through the Thachien holding her by
the hair. She scrambles to the ground and crawls away. When she sees us,
she sprints in our direction.
“Lara!” I shout. So much for not drawing attention.
An anguished scream erupts from the middle of the chaos and I look
over. The Thachiens are leaving. Only three of them survive as they hurry
away, too far for us to catch up. But slung over one of their shoulders is
Cristina.
Lara gets to us and nearly collapses, black Thachien blood caking
her suit. “Paige! You’re alive?”
I nod. I can’t go into the details now. “Here, take Melina.”
I hand Melina off and sprint to Varek. Draxel approaches Ryan on
the ground and kneels by her side, his chest fiery and bright.
“Varek!” I shout.
His jaw is tight as he opens his arms and captures me, crushing me
to his chest. I tangle my fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck that
still stands on end. His nose drops to the crook of my neck and he inhales
deeply. “Why don’t you ever listen to me?” He asks.
“They have Cristina,” I tell him. “We have to go after them.”
My hand slides down and Varek hisses.
“Are you hurt?” I ask. I wiggle out of his hold and step around him.
Across his muscled back is a nasty gash. Three claw marks like he was
slashed. “Oh my God,” I whisper. “You’re bleeding, Varek.”
“We can’t go after them,” he grunts. “They are heading into Strid
territory and we have injuries.”
“But—”
 Varek whirls around and captures my cheeks in his hands. “But no.
Go check on your friend on the ground.”
My heart clenches as the Thachiens—and my friend—disappear
from view. Those things are terrifying and evil, not like the Vruts and I
shiver when I realize her chances of survival are…
Gone.
“It’s all my fault,” I murmur.
Varek shakes his head, but what does he know? None of this would
have happened if I didn’t try to play the hero. If I hadn’t idiotically tried to
do the right thing. What the fuck did I know about this place? Nothing.
And now Cristina would pay for my actions.
My shoulders sink as the tears brim my eyes, but Varek nudges me
in the direction of Ryan. “Go. She needs you.”
I nod. Inside, I feel like my heart is cracking into a million pieces
and no matter what I do, I’ll never be able to put them back together.

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 CHAPTER 18
PAIGE

T
he last of the Thachiens disappear over the horizon and something
squeezes my heart. My friends are huddled together, tears streaming
down their faces as they tremble in fear.
My gaze slides to Ryan, still lying motionless on the ground. Draxel
pulls her shoulders and lays her on her back gently.
Varek shakes me. “Go. She needs you.”
He’s right.
I take off and join Draxel’s side. I reach for Ryan and he slaps my
hand away.
“Mate,” he growls and snarls at me.
For a second, I’m frozen by the anger and violence in his voice, but
then I remember it’s just the bond. He’s worried about her. He’s trying to
protect her.
“I know she’s your mate, but listen. She won’t be able to understand
you. If you are the first thing she sees when she wakes up, she’s going to
fight and she could hurt herself more.”
His jaw goes tight, all the muscles in his body clenching. He drops
his spear and softly caresses Ryan’s cheek where a bruise is already starting
to bloom. Draxel looks pained, but finally takes a step away from her, never
taking his eyes off her.
I move in close and give her a little shake. “Ryan?”
Her brows knit.
“Ryan? Can you hear me?”
Her eyes pop open and she flinches. “You piece of—”
 “No! No!” I shout. “It’s me! It’s Paige!” I throw my hands up and
give her some space.
Ryan focuses on me and then she settles before reaching for her
cheek and wincing. “Jesus Christ. That ugly bastard really got a good shot
of me, huh?”
“How do you feel?” I ask. “Do you think you can stand?”
She nods. “Wait a second. What the fuck are you doing back here?
We thought for sure you were alien food. And now you’re back and you’re
—” Her eyes roam up and down my body. “Healthy? Clean? Wearing their
clothes?”
“It’s a long story,” I say.
“Yeah, I’d say. You look like you just came back from a tropical
vacation.”
I grit my teeth as she pulls herself to her feet and wobbles a bit.
“Whoa there.” I grab her by the shoulders. Once she’s solid on her
feet she brushes me off.
“Answers, let’s go,” she barks.
I turn my head, inclining it to the place where Varek and Draxel
stand, both staring at us.
Ryan sucks in a sharp breath.
“They aren’t bad, I promise.”
“That’s the one that took you, right?” She asks.
I nod.
“And the other one?”
Your mate, I want to say. But I hold my tongue. “A hunter. They are
called Vruts.”
“Vruts? More like fucking brutes.”
I roll my eyes. “Brutes that just saved your life.”
Ryan scoffs, her shoulder slamming into mine as she takes off for
the other women still huddling by the edge of the ship. “Yeah? I don’t see
Cristina over there safe and sound.”
Her words hit me like a ton of bricks and the air surges from my
lungs.
They blame me. Or at least Ryan does.
As they should.
With Varek and Draxel at my side, we approach the women.
Everyone looks terrified except for Ryan who is rubbing her cheek and
working out her jaw.
“I know this is a lot to take in,” I say, looking at my friends, “but
these guys are actually good. They have a home not too far from here.
Shelter. Food. And a healer.” I point in the direction of the glowhollow so
that Varek knows what I’m saying.
Varek’s hands crush into fists at his sides. We hadn’t discussed it,
but he had to know after this attack that I would never be okay leaving them
out here. It was only a matter of time before the Thachiens came back and
by the look of Melina, she wasn’t going to last long unless Selvara got a
look at her.
And maybe even then she’s still might not survive.
“And Cristina?” Lara asks. “Who were those things? Where did they
take her?”
I let out a ragged breath. “Those are Thachiens. Look, as much as I
want to go after her, right now we can’t.”
“Why?” Lara presses.
“They took her into a really dangerous area. When we get back,
Varek and I will approach the council to see if they will send some hunters
out to find her. But for now—”
“But for now, what? We just let them take her? We assume she’s
dead?” Ryan asks. “Great.”
I look to Varek, whose eyes are distant, and I hate that I feel so far
away from him. He doesn’t look back at me.
“Right now, the most important thing is getting you guys safe. We
can hike to the glowhollow.”
“But Melina—” Nicole says.
I cut her off. I would ask Varek to carry her, but the slash on his
back is too deep. “Draxel? Would you be able to carry our friend?”
He bows his head, his eyes always on Ryan.
I turn back to Nicole and her eyes are wide. “Wait, how did you do
that?”
“Do what?” I ask.
“You spoke in, like, alien or something,” Lara says. She sniffles and
clears her throat. “Can you understand them?”
“Yes.”
“How?” Lara asks.
 I shake my head. That’s a mystery I still haven’t figured out. “I
really don’t know. But if it happened to me, maybe it will happen to the rest
of you.”
“I don’t fucking want it to happen to me,” Ryan mutters.
“Draxel will carry Melina,” I say to the women while I point to the
massive male on my left.
Nicole hovers closer to Melina. “And you trust him?”
I swallow. A week ago, I wouldn’t have imagined trusting anything
that walked on this planet. Now? I know the Vruts are kind. They are gentle.
And if there’s a chance that any of the other women in front of me are
mates to Vrut males, they will never be more protected than at the
glowhollows.
“I do,” I answer. “We are safe with them.”
It takes a bit more convincing, but finally the women let Draxel
approach Melina. He picks her up gently, his arms under her back and legs,
but his attention remains on Ryan. We pass out the provisions so that the
women can get something in their bellies as we walk. Nicole wraps one of
Ryan’s arms across her shoulders to help steady her, despite Ryan’s protests.
We walk toward the glowhollows in relative silence.
My friends couldn’t talk to my mate even if they wanted to.
Lara bumps my shoulder, her brows raising as she points to Varek.
“That one stares at you.”
I nod, following her gaze. His jaw is tight, no doubt in pain from the
slash across his back. I wonder what else has him looking so solemn. Is he
worried about what comes next? What will happen when we get back?
I sigh. “He’s my mate.”
Lara blinks back at me rapidly. “I’m sorry, your what?”
“My mate,” I repeat. “It’s a Vrut thing. Hard to explain.”
“Try me.” She takes a big bite of the dried meat in her hands. “Last
week I crash landed on an alien planet. Things aren’t seeming so crazy
anymore.”
My lips twitch on what would be a smile if I didn’t feel the weight
of everything crashing down on my chest. How she can still manage to have
a sense of humor is beyond me. But I should probably explain everything
just in case we arrive at the glowhollows and she sees a Vrut light up like
Varek or Draxel.
 I give her a quick rundown on the whole mate thing—at least what I
understand. It’s about survival, but it’s also about love. It’s something
bigger than any of us, and not something we can control. The glows chose
for Varek to be my mate and because of that, the council—the Vrut clan—
accepted me into their lives.
It would be the same for my friends, right? The Vruts will accept
them even if they didn’t mate with anyone?
From what I’ve learned, mates are so infrequent that even the
chance of new female mates is too precious to turn away.
My stomach churns as we walk further and I can see the mountain
cliffs. My gaze darts to Varek but he won’t look at me. The tension between
us–the distance–makes my skin crawl. As if my body is literally calling to
him, begging to make things right.
As we near, I move closer to him and reach for his hand, but he
pulls his away. His chest flares bright green like I’ve come to expect, but
Varek doesn’t acknowledge me.
“Varek,” I whisper. The sound seems to fizzle out among the soft
sprinkle of rain.
Nothing.
I reach for my chest, an ache spreading again.
Nerves knot my belly. Maybe we should have discussed all this
before I just made the decision to bring them back.
What if things don’t turn out like I expect? What if my friends are
turned away?
What if I still can’t save them?

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 CHAPTER 19
VAREK

I
can’t bring myself to look at Paige because I already know what waits
for us back at the glowhollow.
Draxel carries Paige’s friend who looks half dead, the other
women are starved, strumbling and holding on to each other as they walk.
One of them was kidnapped and taken by the Thachiens.
She will probably never be found.
I never should have made that stupid deal with Paige.
I lied to the council. To my people. And now, the truth is about to
come out.
Draxel will be called as a witness against my orders—he’ll do
anything to protect himself from punishment now that he has mated with
the red-headed one. I don’t blame him. It’s exactly the reason I’m in the
position I’m in.
We walk closer to the mountainside and from the southern crack
appears a horde of Vrut males. Most of them are hunters, but some
harvesters are thrown in the mix. All males I’ve grown up alongside or
given orders to.
In front of them is Kylor.
“He must have followed us,” Paige mumbles beside me.
The gathered males watch us with wide stances, deflated shoulders,
and hopeful stares. Each male is searching for his own mate amongst the
new humans.
None of their chests flare bright.
The rest of the council joins Kylor. Elyra—her features firm and
solemn—but Mydros has an infuriating smirk on his face.
 “Varek,” Kylor calls out.
We stop in front of the horde of males blocking our way. Paige’s
eyes snap in my direction, her brows knitting.
I bow my head in respect. It’s time to face whatever punishment I
deserve.
“I will not fight,” I say quietly.
Paige sucks in a sharp breath and leans into my side. She wraps her
fingers around my bicep and huddles close. “What’s going on?”
On Kylor’s orders, the males step forward and surround Paige and I.
She flinches and my chest flares bright, ready to protect her, but no one
dares lay a finger on her.
“Wait, no! No! Varek, what’s happening?”
“It’s okay, Paige,” I murmur. I pull her into my arms and inhale the
sweet smell of her. My mate. My reason for living. I suppose I never quite
understood what it would be like to throw out everything you know for the
happiness of a mate. Do I regret anything?
I can’t say that I do.
“Varek!” She whines into my chest, her voice wavering.
“They are taking me to the mines. The council will decide my fate.”
“Wh-what do you mean?”
I comfort her as best I can without letting my own emotions slip. “I
have to pay for what I’ve done.”
The males crowd around us. When one reaches for me, Paige shoves
the hand away. “No! You can’t! This is all my fault!”
I hug her tight, squeezing and memorizing the feel of her body. She
has her friends now. The clan will protect her. Perhaps, I can’t hope for
anything more.
“Mate,” I whisper into her hair. “Be strong for your friends. And
know that I did this for you, but my decision was my own.”
She looks up at me, blinking through tears that tear my chest in two.
I wipe them off her pretty face and then push her away. The males absorb
her and send her outside the circle of bodies before surging in and
immobilizing me. The slashes across my back flair in pain as my comrades
wrap my arms behind me.
“No!” Paige screams. She tries to slam her way back to me but
Kylor grabs her, holding her back.
 He steadies her and forces her attention on him. “It has been
decided, Human.”
Elyra steps forward and addresses my mate. “Paige, Kylor will lead
you and the others to a private chamber. Selvara will be waiting for you
there.”
Paige shakes her head.
“We will accept the women into our clan. And we will hold a trial in
the Luminary in a week’s time.”
Paige is a wreck. Her color is gone as she stares at me, willing me to
do something. Fight back.
I can’t. That will only make this worse.
We’re lucky that the council is accepting the humans at all and not
shutting them out to fend for themselves amongst the Thachiens and the
strids. With the dangling possibility of more mates, the clan is willing to
make room.
I’m yanked forward, a hard shove at my back to get me moving and
I hiss. I keep my eyes on Paige, infusing in my gaze all the emotions
swirling through my belly.
Love. Strength. Bravery. She needs it all right now.
Paige’s lip trembles as she mouths my name and I fight every
instinct to go to her, throw her over my shoulder, and run from here. I just
found her. I’m not ready to let her go.
But if I’m exiled, I won’t put her through a life on the run.
Especially not if she is already carrying my spryte.
A warm sense of pride settles in my belly at the idea.
My mate. A family of my own.
It’s what I have always dreamed of.
Betraying the council and my people would always be worth it.
I allow the hunters to drag me through the southern crack and down
into the mines. They shove me forward until I’m stumbling into a chamber,
devoid of luminite, mined within an inch of collapsing. A hard slap to my
back sends me to my hands and knees, but I don’t fight back.
Fighting back will bring a worse punishment.
Some chuckles fill the dark room as the males make their way back
above ground. There is no need to watch over me down here and the
council knows it. With Paige in the glowhollows, where else would I go?
 I cannot leave. I will not leave her like my father left us. She will
not suffer as my mother did. But even though my parents suffered so greatly
because of their bond and being torn apart from each other, I could not ask
for anything else. I would not erase the intensity of my love and adoration
for Paige.
That love brought me into this world. The thought of never having
held Paige in my arms, never memorizing the beat of her heart, of the shade
of her light brown eyes, eclipses the agony of losing my parents.
It is a thought worse than death.
So even if my muscles scream and twitch to search for Paige–to
fight every male that would stand between us, or even the council if I
needed to– here I’ll wait.
Wait to pay for the sacrifices I made for her.

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 CHAPTER 20
PAIGE

M
y ears are ringing. I feel like I can’t draw in a full breath after
watching them take Varek away.
I want to go after him—need to—but Kylor is holding me
around the middle and for an older male, he’s stronger than I thought.
“Paige,” he says in a voice that is too calm.
I want to tear from his hold and ignore him, find Varek, and say to
hell with this place.
“Varek made his choice. Now it is time to focus on your friends.”
Hot tears streak down my cheeks and my insides are splitting apart.
If I had known I was going to cause so much trouble, I never would have
asked him to hide their existence. I would have done a hundred things
differently.
I look over at my friends who are all staring at me. Lara appears as
though she wants to come wrap me up in a hug, but everyone else looks
confused.
Oh yeah. They can’t understand what’s going on.
Kylor lets me go and I stumble away from him, my legs threatening
to give out. I feel naked in front of the Vruts now—like I’m too afraid to
stand on my own. Before, I had Varek at my side. He protected me and
without even realizing it, he gave me strength.
Now the other women are looking at me, waiting for me to assume
the leadership role again when all I want to do is curl into a ball and cry.
I’ve made so many damn mistakes up until now, I can’t risk making any
more.
 “Paige,” Lara calls out. Her brows are knitted as she wrings her
hands. “W-what’s going on?”
I let out a ragged breath and wipe my tears. God, I probably look
like a mess.
“The Vruts say you can stay. The healer is waiting inside.”
“Inside where?” Ryan blurts out. The bruise across her cheek is a
nasty blueish-purple color. Draxel’s eyes snap in her direction as he hears
her voice, his grip on Melina tightening.
“The mountain,” I answer, my voice shaking. “Inside the caverns.”
I can’t bring myself to sound excited, like a host ready to take their
guests on a full house tour. My heart pounds in my chest. I want to go see
Varek, but I don’t even know if I’ll be allowed to.
Ryan scoffs. Nicole nods and says, “Well, let’s hurry. Melina doesn’t
have much time.”
I turn to Kylor who is waiting patiently, his cloak wrapped tightly
around his shoulders. I can’t tell if I’m imagining it, but his dark eyes seem
solemn. Regretful even.
“Ready?” he asks.
“Yes.”
He turns and leads us wordlessly inside the mountain.
I focus on my breathing as I hear my friends behind me taking in the
glowhollows. The luminite in the rocky walls is shining as bright as they
were the first day Varek dragged me in here, but I suppose I wasn’t paying
much attention then. Everything here is gorgeous, or at least it would be if
my heart wasn’t cleaved in two.
“Wow, what are these?” Nicole asks.
“Luminite,” I tell her. “Some Vruts call them the glows.”
“They’re beautiful,” she breathes, reaching out to touch one as we
walk by. The path widens and Kylor takes a sharp right turn, taking us away
from the private chamber I share– err, shared– with Varek.
I don’t know what the future holds anymore.
We walk further, past the kitchens and the path to the spring until
Kylor stops and holds his hand up to a leather that looks freshly hung. It’s
still curled a bit on the edges like the animal was only slaughtered recently
and the humidity in the air of this place hasn’t yet wrung out all the tension.
I swallow hard and pull the edge of the leather up for Lara to step inside
first.
 Nicole follows her. Then Draxel, who bows so his head doesn’t hit
the ceiling—Melina in his arms. Ryan shoots me a look before following.
Kylor begins to walk away but I grab him by the shoulder, a million
questions swirling around in my head. His brows raise as he waits, but then
my mouth is too dry and I can’t force even a single one out. I don’t know
what to ask and I don’t want to get Varek in even more trouble.
He nods his head as if he understands the torment. “You may visit
him.”
A jolt tumbled through me, fluttering my stomach.
“Thank you,” I whisper. Because I can’t think of anything else to
say right now.
“Hey!” I hear Ryan shout from inside the chamber. “Get your hands
off her!”
I duck inside. Draxel has laid Melina down on a bed of furs and
Selvara is hunched over our friend, plucking away the makeshift stint that
holds her leg straight.
Ryan rears back and charges for the older woman, but Draxel
springs into action. He throws his arms around her middle and crushes her
to his chest, his glows flaring.
“Get the fuck off me!” she shouts, kicking and scratching at his
arms.
Draxel grunts, but doesn’t let up.
“Draxel,” I bark at him.
His jaw clenches and a growl tears from his chest as he looks at me.
I pull back and I shiver in fear at the terrifying look on his face—as if he
would bring this mountain to the ground before letting Ryan go.
But she can’t understand him, and out of all of us, she’s going to be
the least understanding of a massive, muscular Vrut manhandling her. As
much as I don’t want to get involved—inject myself in a tussle between
mates—I’m the only one who can translate for the two of them.
“Draxel,” I say again, my voice less firm.
He growls again, but I don’t let it intimidate me.
“She’s afraid. She can’t understand you and she doesn’t trust you.”
“She’s my mate,” he growls at me. “Her body will learn soon
enough.”
I shake my head. “That’s not how it works for us.”
 Ryan shouts, “If you don’t tell this asshole to let me go in a
language he understands I’m going to lose my fucking mind. Let me down,
you big idiot!”
He tugs her tighter and she quiets as the breath surges from her
lungs.
“You’re hurting her,” I say.
Draxel’s arms slack instantly. He lets her down onto her feet and she
shuffles away from him, grumbling and cursing as she catches her breath.
He watches her until she straightens to her full height and then stalks out of
the chamber, his mane standing on end.
“We’re better off out there at the ship, taking our chances and
rationing our food. If that alien puts his hands on me again, I’ll kill him,”
Ryan threatens, pointing at the Vrut that is her mate. She doesn’t know it
yet, but soon she won’t be thinking that.
It happened to me. Eventually, the pull will be too strong for her to
ignore too.
Selvara clicks her tongue as she feels Melina’s clammy forehead.
“What’s wrong with her?” I ask Selvara.
She examens my friend but doesn’t answer me. She holds a long
finger up just under Melina’s nose to check for breath and then hums.
“What is she doing?” Nicole asks. She’s sitting next to Melina,
holding her hand as Selvara pokes and prods down her mangled leg.
“She’s a healer,” I answer.
Lara goes to Ryan and the two settle down in another pile of furs
across the chamber. The energy in the chamber calms under the soft light of
the luminite, flaring and thrumming with life as we all watch the healer
work.
She wets some kind of cloth in a basin of water and then wrings it
out. Placing the cloth across Melina’s forehead, she reaches into the pouch
slung across her back and finds a bundle of yellow and purple herbs.
They’re dried and wrapped together by what looks like a hunk of hair.
Selvara turns to me and points to a glowing nodule in the wall.
“Go pull a piece of luminite.”
My mouth falls open but my legs seem to move on their own. I
approach the glow and slide my fingers across the gem, tapping for a spot
that is weak. It glows brighter as I touch it and when my fingertips hit the
edge of the rock, a hunk of it breaks off into my palm.
 A flush of adrenaline rattles through me as I hold it in my hand.
Even when separated from the bigger piece, it still glows like its own little
ball of energy.
I return to Selvara, handing her the luminite. She reaches for a small
pot and dips it into the water basin before tossing in the herbs and finally
the luminite. With her own fingers, she crushes everything together until the
water comes alive, shimmering and glistening.
Nicole’s eyes go wide as she watches the elderly healer. “What is
that?”
I shake my head. “Of course.”
I reach for the scar on my forehead—the one that is barely visible
thanks to the poultice Selvara used when I first arrived here.
“The luminite. It has healing properties.”
Nicole meets my gaze, her eyes dancing from mine to the place
where I should still have a nasty cut. “Did she heal you too?”
“Yeah. When I first got here, she spread it across the cut and it
seemed to heal overnight.”
“That’s amazing,” Nicole breathes. She scoots closer to Melina and
as Selvara brings the cup of shimmering water to her mouth, Nicole lifts
Melina’s neck to help her drink.
A small smile pulls across Selvara’s lips as the two help Melina
swallow the serum. When the entire cup is gone, a little dribbling down
Melina’s chin, Selvara finally speaks.
“It may not work. Her spirit is frail.”
“What did she say?” Nicole asks me.
I repeat Selvara’s message and Nicole hugs Melina closer, her eyes
wet and dull.
“Is there anything else she can do?” Lara asks from behind me.
I translate to Selvara who shakes her head.
“No.”
Time feels like it slows as Selvara leaves us alone. All we can do is
wait and hope that the luminite is strong enough to cure her. She’s too weak
and that leg? Deep gashes slice down her leg from mid-thigh to her ankle.
The wounds have festered with infection lines spreading across her skin like
spiderwebs. She may never walk again.
But in the silence of the chamber, everything else hits me too. The
heaviness settles over my shoulders and I sink to the soft ground, lacing
Melina’s fingers with my own.
“Cristina,” I breathe. “She’s—”
Nicole sniffles.
Ryan and Lara make their way over and the four of us sit along the
same furs, looking down at Melina. Perhaps we were all looking for a
movement—a sign of life.
But the medicine needs time to work. For now, all we can do is wait.
Ryan reaches out and flips the cloth on Melina’s head, giving her the
cool side. “Cristina is gone, isn’t she?” Ryan asks, but her voice doesn’t
carry the usual bite.
I don’t know what to say. I don’t have the answers.
“I’ll talk to the council. They can send scouts, hunters out for her.”
Ryan tugs her knees to her chest and covers her face for a second,
hiding the emotion choking through us all.
“They’ll find her,” I whisper.
But in my gut, I know she’s already gone.
“They’ll find her,” Nicole says softly. She clears her throat and gives
us a quivery smile as tears spill over. “We will see her again.”
Lara nods. “We will.”
I’m expecting a brutal comment from Ryan, but it never comes. We
all sit and soak up the pain of not knowing where our friend is.
And we could lose the one in front of us too.
The sadness is overwhelming but I can’t run from it. It’s mine to
bear—more than anyone else’s.
The only way through it is forward. But at least now, we’re together.
We can face it alongside each other and try to make the best of our new life
with the Vruts.
But even as I think it, the pain in my chest radiates and throbs.
I need Varek. I’m terrified of what’s going to happen to him–to us. If
this is my new life, I don’t want to live it without him by my side.
So I’ll fight.
Whatever it takes to be with him, to prove that this is my fault, I’ll
do it.

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 21
PAIGE

I
t took two days before I found my way down into the mines.
Kylor was nowhere to be found and I didn’t feel comfortable
asking anyone else on the council for help. Draxel kept his distance
which I assumed was for Ryan’s benefit, but that left me with no one to
trust.
No one who would take me to Varek no matter how much I begged.
Finally, I convinced a young male to lead me underground deeper
than I thought possible.
Lyzar, as he told me his name was, points down a tunnel that
darkens the farther I look. The shining gemstones of luminite are few and
far between and this far down, no skylight illuminated the way.
“It’s just past the hook down there. Once you can’t see, call out his
name.”
A sense of dread presses down on my chest. It’s intense, but not as
painful as the loneliness I can’t shake. I miss him. I’m worried about him.
“Thank you,” I say to Lyzar as I move forward. I squint as I go
deeper, the light slowly fizzling out until I can just barely make out the
outline of my feet on the rocky ground.
The place smells thick and musty—no airflow—and every now and
then, a drip-drop sound trickles along the right wall. My senses are dulled
as I reach out and drag my fingers along the wall for support, slowly patting
the ground before each step.
I keep walking until my eyes are wide open and I can’t see my hand
in front of my face.
I swallow hard, my heart pounding in my throat.
 “Varek?”
A sharp intake of breath and light beams out in the distance.
“Paige?”
All the worry fades away and I take off, running straight for the
awkwardly low hole in the wall that is glowing. I know he’s in there. The
soft green light leads the way.
When I get there, I duck into the chamber and he’s there, sitting
against the rough wall with his chest shining bright.
I throw myself on him, and he catches me like I weigh nothing.
Varek pulls me to his chest and sets me between his thighs, tangling our
legs together. He breathes in deep, moving his big, rough hands all over my
body as if checking for injuries. My heart aches as I melt into him, my body
releasing tension I hadn’t even realized was there.
I can finally breathe. I can finally be strong again.
“God, I missed you,” I whimper against his chest. I press a flutter of
kisses all over his gray skin, memorizing it and loving the scent of him.
Even being down here for days, he smells like fresh rain and heat. Sweet
with a spice that I can’t get enough of.
He grunts as I kiss his neck and straddle his legs, desperate to feel
his body flush with mine.
“My Paige,” he murmurs into the crook of my neck. His lips drag
lazily over my sensitive skin. With a guiding hand on the back of my neck,
he holds me close. “You came.”
I let out a breath, feeling like someone just punched me in the
stomach. I pull back to look into his amber eyes, nothing but the glows on
his chest lighting the chamber around us. “Of course, I came.”
“I didn’t know if you would.”
I drag my thumb across his bottom lip as his gaze darts longingly
across my face. He tugs me forward by the back of the neck and our lips
touch, the softest of embraces.
Our mouths lazily play, a slow and heady exploration. His fingers
drag down the line of my spine as I open for him, welcoming in the taste of
him. My mate. My only real connection to this place.
The glowhollows feel like home because he’s my home now.
Because my heart is as wrapped up with him as the luminite in this
mountain.
 I whimper into his mouth and deepen the kiss, desperate to let his
warmth sink into me and take away the chill of uncertainty. I straddle him
and arch as his cock hardens beneath me and my stomach flutters in
response. He’s strong and hard and with him, I don’t have to be. I can be
soft and let him hold me, those muscled arms carrying me effortlessly. He
grunts as I lick and nip at his full bottom lip, his hips bucking softly.
“Troublemaker,” he whispers.
My eyes flutter shut. I wrap my arms around his neck and speak
directly into his ear. “You shouldn’t be down here.”
My voice shakes.
Varek holds me close.
“It isn’t fair. This is all my fault, I should be the one—”
Varek pulls me back just enough to meet my eyes. His gaze flashes
with anger and he shakes his head. “Do not say such a thing.”
“But it’s true.”
This was all my doing.
His voice deepens. “It is not. I knew what I was sacrificing when I
made that deal with you, Mate.”
I pout and Varek’s lips twitch at the edges as if he’s amused.
“Do not make that face, Paige. I wish to see you smile.”
“But this place is terrible. How can you see anything?”
“I only think of you,” he murmurs. His chest flares a little brighter at
the words and my chest constricts. “When you are on my mind, the light
never goes out.”
My throat is scratchy as he crushes me to his chest again and I let all
my emotions out. We should be in our chamber, sprawled out amongst the
furs and loving each other. We should be basking in the intensity of our
bond, but instead he’s stuck here.
“Let’s just leave,” I whisper.
“Can’t.”
“Not even if they keep you from me?” I ask.
His body tenses.
“Slip out with me. No one is down here stopping you.”
He cups my cheek and I lean into the gentle touch.
“That is because you live here. The council knows I would never
abandon my mate, nor would I endanger her by stealing her away to live on
our own. You are safer here.”
 “This isn’t right,” I whisper.
“It is, Paige.” He rubs his thumb along my jawline and commands
my attention, soothing me as he caresses my skin. “I betrayed my people
and I must pay for it. I am ready to accept the consequences of my actions.”
I shake my head, wrapping my fingers around his wrists. “You
should have told me no. You should have told the council about the others
immediately. I’m a fool for asking you to hide them.”
His lips pull into a soft smile, one that crinkles the edges of his
gorgeous amber eyes. “I had to. It was the only way you would open
yourself up to this.”
My lips tremble and he pulls me in for another passionate, searing
kiss. The world seems to tilt as his warmth spreads through me, tickling
down my spine. I grip his broad shoulders and anchor myself against the
emotions rocking between us. What happens if the council decides to split
us apart? If they send him away?
If they send me away?
I want to lose myself in this moment, soak him up, and cherish
every part of him. His gentle touch. The way he grips me so possessively
like he can’t bear for there to be any space between us. His mouth devours
mine and before I know it, even my skimpy leather tunic feels too
constricting.
Our lips part just enough for me to speak. “Undress me,” I whisper.
Varek pulls us apart, searching my eyes for something.
I lick my lips as my body burns up, an ache settling between my
legs. It’s stupid, to want him so much at a time like this when I feel like I’m
going to break down from all the uncertainty, but I can’t help myself. He’s
the only thing that takes it all away.
His nostrils flare and his eyes roll back. He must scent my arousal.
“Troublemaker,” he grits.
“I need you,” I groan, rolling my hips forward onto his thickness.
We’re separated by too many layers of clothes. “I need you.”
Varek doesn’t wait for me to ask him again. He undoes the ties of
my leathers, tugging them down my waist and then lifting me to my feet to
pull them off completely. They are gone in a matter of seconds and as I sink
back down onto his lap, I’m fumbling with his leathers.
“Glows,” he grunts when I pull him free. His thick cock is burning
against my palm, hard as a rock. When I give it a squeeze, the veins light up
and glow just like his chest.
A current of heat courses through me and I’m soaking wet as I work
him in my palm.
The ridges on the top of his cock pulsate as I run my thumb along
each individual bump. His grip on my hips turns painful as he lifts me onto
my knees. I take that as an order. He’s ready.
I line up his cock, a slick of his seed beginning to bead at the top. I
slide it around his thick head and then line him up.
“Fuck,” I whine as I slide down onto him achingly slow. He’s too
damn thick to go anyway but slow, splitting me in half with each delicious
inch. My cunt takes him in, sliding down over every bump and ridge,
sheathing the glowing veins of him as he holds steady.
His lidded eyes watch me, bouncing from my eyes to the place
where our bodies meet.
Pleasure tickles and licks across my skin. He fills me just right,
taking away the ache between my legs. My thighs shake as I slow and roll
my hips, working him in as best as I can. This angle is…
His grip on me tightens and he spears into me the rest of the way,
knocking the breath from my lungs.
“Mate,” he growls as his chest flares like a blinding light. He’s so
damn deep. His cock pulsates powerfully through me, somehow settling
even deeper and I can barely see straight.
I’m breathless. A bead of sweat trickles down my spine as my body
stretches to accommodate him. Varek doesn’t move. Instead, he draws soft
circles on my hips and kisses my neck, nipping and licking down to my
collarbone until I’m whining for more.
The intensity of our bond is… almost too much.
I roll my hips and suck in a sharp breath. The decadent pressure of
his cock inside me caresses in all the right places.
Our bodies move together, slowly at first. I cherish the way we fit
together and as he pulls me close to his chest, he hits the perfect angle that
stimulates my pulsating clit.
“Oh, God,” I groan. “That feels—”
“So good,” Varek finished the sentence. “Your cunt feels perfect.”
I let him direct my body, sliding me up and down on his thickness.
My mind goes blank and all I can do is hold onto him, my nails digging into
his skin as he fucks into me. I meet him every time, savoring the sensations
rolling through me.
His eyes never leave mine, the glow of his chest pulsing in time
with each roll of my hips. He’s watching every reaction, every gasp that
leaves my lips, feeding off the way my body trembles against his.
We’re wrapped in the soft ball of light from his chest–the rest of the
world dark around us. My heart swells as I ride him and let myself feel
everything.
My thighs quiver with the effort, but I don’t stop. The stretch of him
inside me is too intoxicating, the drag of his ridged cock along my inner
walls sending bolts of heat to my core. The thick, slick connection between
us is electric, and the coil of pleasure tightens deep in my belly.
"More," I whisper, though it comes out more as a whine. My nails
rake down his chest, tracing the glowing lines that light up under my touch.
Varek growls, the sound rumbling through his chest and into mine, vibrating
between our joined bodies.
With a swift motion, he shifts, planting his feet on the floor and
rising slightly. The new angle forces him impossibly deeper, and I cry out,
the sensation almost overwhelming as he fills every inch of me.
“Varek,” I gasp, clinging to him as his hands lock on my waist,
holding me steady while he thrusts up into me. The slow burn becomes a
heated frenzy, his hips snapping up to meet mine with a primal intensity.
I can barely breathe, my body igniting with each forceful stroke.
Every nerve is alight, the pleasure mounting, and my walls clench around
him, pulling him deeper still.
His lips are at my neck again, biting down lightly as he grunts,
“You’re mine, mate. Take my bulb.”
I squeak when he thrusts up hard and holds me firm against his
body.
His body tenses, his muscles flexing beneath my hands as I hump
his body, my clit bumping into his rough skin and sending me into a frenzy.
Then, I feel it—his bulb swelling at the base of his cock, thickening
rapidly as his grip on me turns painful. The bulb begins to inflate, stretching
me further as my body tries to accommodate him. My eyes widen, my
breath hitching as he fills me to the absolute limit.
“Oh my God,” I gasp, clinging to him tighter as the pressure from
his knot locks us together. My walls pulse around him, squeezing him as his
cock swells inside me. I’m shaking, barely holding on, and the pleasure
threatens to break me apart.
I roll my hips once more and his bulb sends me into a new
dimension. I arch my back, pushing down onto him as my body clenches
around him and then explodes into sparks of euphoric intensity.
Varek lets out a primal roar as he comes, his bulb pulsing inside me.
His seed coats my insides as I chase my orgasm, collapsing onto his chest.
His hips buck with every pulse, his bulb trapping every drop of his hot seed
deep within.
I gasp for breath, absolutely wrecked. My muscles are sore and
exhausted like I just finished a hard workout at the gym. My eyes are
plastered shut as I tremble in my mate’s arms, whimpering at every move
he makes.
Varek pets my hair and hums a soft melody, our bodies locked
together impossibly tight. All I can do is cling to him and pretend like my
life isn’t spiraling out of control. Pretend I’m not terrified about what
happens when the council gives their final decision.
After what feels like an hour of soaking up the calm, Varek whispers
to me. “Mate.”
“Mmhm?”
“It’s time for you to go,” he says softly.
I shake my head, hugging him tighter. His bulb is deflating, his wet
seed slipping out of me and pooling between our bodies. I can’t be bothered
to move. I’m too comfortable and he takes away all my fear.
“You shouldn’t stay down here,” he says, pushing my hair behind
my ear. His fingers tickle down my bare back and chills pop up along my
arms. “It’s no place for a female.”
“It’s no place for you either.”
He huffs. “Paige. I won’t stand for you spending the night here.”
“I don’t care what you’ll stand for,” I whisper, unwilling to break
apart from his warmth. I don’t want to lay anywhere if it isn’t in his arms
and I can’t stand another night in my friends’ chamber, overanalyzing every
look and wondering if they all hate me.
They should.
“I’m staying,” I say, pretending to sound firm. “Hold me?”
Varek’s arms around me tighten and he lays flat on the ground,
holding me steady on his chest. “Until the very end, troublemaker.”
 A smile tugs at my lips before I focus on the soft beat of his heart.
The glows on his chest dim as we both relax. I drift off, safe in the arms of
my mate, but terrified about what tomorrow will bring.

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 22
PAIGE

A
fter spending the entire day beside Varek in the mines, a male guard
brought him a plate of food. My mate looks me over to make sure my
leathers are in place before pushing me to my feet.
“Go. Eat. Get some rest in our furs,” he orders.
I shake my head. “Absolutely not. I’m staying here.”
He shoots the guard a look and barks an order to drag me away.
“Wait!” I shout when the guard does as Varek says. “You can’t
just–”
But Varek just chuckles.
Jerk.
It nearly breaks my heart to see the light from his chest flicker out
the further I walk away. But maybe he’s right. I’m exhausted. I need to
check on my friends and I have too many questions to ignore.
I emerge from the mines to the common halls, the soft trickling rays
from the skylight almost burning my eyes. I rub them and blink to adjust to
the light and turn to my escort. “Where’s Draxel?”
I need to get some insight on what the council might decide. Varek
wouldn’t answer my questions and the longer I sit with my worries, the
worse I feel.
“The council sent Draxel and the other hunters out to bring back a
strid to accommodate the new females. More mouths to feed,” he says.
“Plus—” he looks me up and down, his face pinched in disgust. “We need
more leathers for clothing.”
I choke out a laugh. He’s looking at me like I’m the alien.
Well, I suppose for him I am.
 I nod. “Thanks.”
He turns to leave, but my curiosity gets the best of me and I can’t
stop myself. “Wait! Um, have you seen Kylor?”
“He’s meeting with the tradesmen before they set off for Treven’s
crossing.”
“Where?” I ask. The chances of Kylor answering all my questions
doesn’t give me hope, but at this point I’m desperate. If I can’t talk to him,
I’ll march my ass back into the mines and shackle myself beside Varek if I
have to.
“In the armory.”
My brows pinch. Shit, a place Varek never showed me.
The male points behind my back. “Past the kitchens in the inner
cove.”
I nod like I know what that means and then take my chances.
My jaw aches from gritting my teeth as I pad across the soft dirt
ground. I keep my head down, refusing to look at any Vrut who crosses my
path. Embarrassment floods through me.
The council allowed me to stay and this is how I repay them?
Getting one of their Highseers in trouble and draining their resources?
I run my hands down my face and force myself to think about
anything else but my own failures.
But they are everywhere.
I pass the kitchens, the scent of fresh fruit and ruvash stirring hunger
pains in my belly. I wonder about Varek, if they’re bringing him enough
food. Maybe after I talk to Kylor I can sneak him some more.
My eyes peeled, I press further until I hear faint voices down a
rocky and dark path into the center of the mountain. These tunnel systems
are vast and though I’m getting the hang of the main areas, and our private
chambers, there’s still so much of it I haven’t explored.
I look around, making sure no one is watching me as I slip down the
path. There’s an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach as I press on,
following the echoing voices. Around a sharp corner, the chamber opens up
to a large arena. Along the wall are hand carved racks straight into the rock
holding spears, blades, and what look like human spears. The dimensions
are different and the bow looks like bone, but I recognize it all.
This is the armory.
Someone clears their throat and my heart stalls.
 “Paige?” Kylor asks. “Have you gotten lost?”
He’s talking to three males. Two I don’t recognize but the other is
Lyzar, the one who led me down to the mines the other day.
I scratch the back of my head, wondering if I should just play dumb
and turn around, and run out of here before I get myself or Varek into more
trouble.
Lyzar nods as if he can read my damn mind, boosting my
confidence. I suck in a deep breath, steeling myself.
“I came to speak with you.”
Kylor hangs his head and nods. He communicates something under
his breath to the three males and then dismisses them with a wave of his
hand. Each male carries a large sack on his back and enough leathers to
make even me sweat. Treven’s crossing must be far away.
“You wished to speak with me?” Kylor asks.
Ever the calm demeanor, he lifts his chin and clasps his hands in
front of him. I swallow down the lump in my throat and cut the distance
between us, joining him in the center of the room.
“About Varek,” I start. “I was wondering what to expect from the
trial.”
His lips press together. “The council will list all of Varek’s
wrongdoings and then give his punishment.”
“Will there be others?” I ask. I’m imagining a courtroom with my
friends and me sitting in the rows behind the bench as Kylor hands down a
life sentence. “I mean, am I allowed to be there?”
“Do you want to be?”
I nod.
“Then you may.”
I press. “And what if I want more people there? Like an audience?”
“An audience?” he echoes, frowning back at me. “And what would
be the purpose?”
To explain his innocence. To tell everyone the reason why he chose
to betray his people. To ultimately reveal the true villain in the glowhollow.
Me.
“To explain,” I say, biting the inside of my cheek to keep my
emotions in check. Needles prickle my throat.
Kylor goes silent, breathing through his wide nose.
 “What should I—” I wait until I know I can get the question out
without my voice wavering. “What should I expect?”
The Highseer in front of me opens his mouth as if to say something,
then closes it again.
I think I’m going to lose my mind if he doesn’t put me out of my
misery.
“Prepare to say goodbye.”
I feel like the ground rips out from under me. Kylor bows his head
and steps around me, seeing himself out.
I blink, wrapping my arms around myself as a chill tears down my
body. Say goodbye?
How could I?
It hasn’t even been two weeks since I met Varek and now he’s…
He’s everything.
He’s become everything.
I twist around to argue with him, beg him to give us a chance, but
Kylor is gone. I’m alone and I can’t hold it back any longer.
I sink to the dirt floor. A heavy pressure crushes my rib cage and I
can’t breathe. Hot tears streak down my cheeks as the first true sob falls
from my lips—a mixture of an anguished cry and a painful breath mixing
into a pitiful sound I don’t even recognize.
Say goodbye?
I don’t think it’s possible
I feel dizzy, my heartbeat in my throat. Pulling my knees to my
chest, I hug myself tight and imagine he’s here—holding me.
But he’s not. And this is what it will feel like to say goodbye. A
caved-in chest and a heart that doesn’t want to keep beating.
“No,” I whimper and sniffle. “No.”

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 23
PAIGE

W
hen I can’t stand being alone anymore, wallowing in the ache in my
chest, I pull myself to my feet.
Like a zombie, I walk out of the armory, but instead of
heading to my own chamber I share with Varek, I go see my friends. I can’t
return to those furs—the ones I share with Varek–at least not yet. Not when
I know they still smell like my mate and that in a matter of days I could lose
him.
It isn’t fair.
But none of this is fair, is it?
I slip underneath the leather into the chamber my friends share. It’s
warmer than the last time I was here. Several different beds of fur line the
outer wall for each woman and a new leather tapestry hangs on an
especially rocky patch of mountain—devoid of the glowing gems. Melina is
still unconscious but her color is a bit better.
Guilt claws through me.
I should talk to Selvara about her condition. See how she’s doing.
Lara is across the chamber, a small plate of food on her lap. When
she sees me, her eyes light up. “Hey!”
“Hey,” I mumble. “Where’s Nicole and Ryan?”
“Nicole went to the kitchens to get some food. She brought me
this.” Lara raises her plate and offers a smile. “I have no idea about Ryan.”
I nod and cross the room to Melina. I hate that there is nothing we
can do but wait. Sitting by her side, I lift the fur across her legs and hiss at
the nasty bruises from her toes all the way to her hip.
 “It looks awful, doesn’t it?” Lara asks. She grabs her plate and joins
me, offering me a bite. I politely decline. “When I was twelve, I broke my
ankle and I swear I didn’t bruise this badly.”
I shake my head. Even if she does survive, will she be able to walk
again? I haven’t been with the Vruts long, but I can’t imagine that they have
a sprawling physical therapy program somewhere inside the mountain.
“I told her to get back in the pod,” I whisper, squeezing Melina’s
hand.
Lara sighs deeply. “You didn’t know what was going to happen.”
“I did. I knew we were going to crash.” I tell her. “I screamed at her
to get in her pod but she hesitated. She wanted me to return to mine, too. If
I would have just listened to her—”
If I had crawled back into my pod, she wouldn’t have been tossed
around inside the ship—battered like this. I could have protected her.
Perhaps, not from everything that’s happened since we landed on Nyxara,
but from her injuries.
Lara shakes her head. “She’s a grown woman. You can’t fault
yourself. None of us could have predicted any of this.”
A hot flush creeps up the back of my neck as I walk through the
crash, second by second, thinking about what I could have done differently.
Maybe I never should have boarded the ship to Mars.
Should have. Could have. Would have.
There are a thousand things I would change if I could. But Varek
isn’t one of them.
I squeeze Melina’s hand again as my vision goes blurry. “When
Varek stole me, I thought he was a monster. I was afraid.”
“How could you not be?” Lara asks. “We all were.”
“I thought he was going to hurt me. That he would have hurt all of
us and I wanted to protect you guys.”
“You did,” Lara says, reaching for my arm. She moves closer and
leans her head on my shoulder.
“No. I left you guys out there to fend for yourself. I made Varek lie
to his people because I thought I was protecting you.”
“Paige,” she murmurs.
“And now he’s facing the council. He’s in a dungeon below our feet
and I’m so afraid of what comes next. I’m so afraid to lose him.”
 The tears burst free and I cover my face, hiding my shame. My chin
falls to my chest as Lara wraps her arm around my shoulder, squeezing me.
“Hey, hey! Listen to me, Paige. It’s going to be okay. Alright?”
“I just don’t know anymore,” I whimper, sniffling.
Lara sighs and gives me a shake before turning me to look at her.
She forces my eyes up, manhandling me like a damn doll and then waving
her hands in front of my face.
“Do I have your attention?”
I would be angry if my heart wasn’t bleeding out.
“Good. Listen. We all do what we think is the best. You made a
mistake. So what? We have to move on or else the world will move on
without us.”
She swipes her hands around us, pointing at the furs and the glowing
hunks of luminite lighting the chamber.
“I mean look where we are. This is insane. But Melina’s injuries
weren’t your fault. Cristina getting taken? That wasn’t your fault either.
None of us blame you.”
I level her a look through my tears.
She bites her bottom lip. “Okay, maybe Ryan blames you but she’s a
bitch.”
I huff a pained laugh.
“Me? I’m actually a little envious of the fact that you found yourself
a…” she trails off. “A mate? Is that what they’re called?”
I nod.
Her lips pull into a soft smile. Blue eyes sparkle and shine a little
brighter as she meets my gaze. “Yeah. I mean, who wouldn’t want a man
who’s totally devoted to my every wish and happiness?”
My mind shifts to Varek. My protector. How did someone become
so important in my life after only knowing him for a week? But she has a
point. I wasn’t expecting to encounter my forever, he just showed up—
tossed me over his shoulder and gave me no choice.
Now, I couldn’t imagine not having him by my side.
Lara tugs me into her arms again, giving me a real hug. It feels nice
to let the guilt melt away at her words. I did what I thought was right, but I
made a mistake.
And that’s okay.
I’m human.
 “Cut yourself some slack,” Lara whispers before letting me go. Just
when I think she’s going to say something nice, she smacks my shoulder
and shakes her head. “And quit with the tears already. At least you can
understand what these aliens are saying.”
She’s right. I forgot. None of the women can understand the Vruts
yet, but for me it only took a day.
What kind of magic worked on me that hasn’t worked on them?
The leathers at the entrance ruffle and lift. Nicole and Selvara step
inside, their eyes trained on Melina.
“Speak of the aliens themselves,” Lara mumbles. She goes back to
picking off her plate and pops a piece of dried strid in her mouth before
giving the healer some space.
I watch Selvara work, checking Melina’s forehead to see if she’s
running a fever. Even though we are different species, it’s amazing how
much her skills transfer over. Selvara meets my gaze. “Has she stirred
today?”
I translate to Lara who responds that she hasn’t.
“Mm,” Selvara murmurs. She waves Nicole over and points to the
cup and the water basin, then the luminite gem I pulled a hunk from the
other day.
Nicole gets right to work, silently following all of Selvara’s
nonverbal instructions.
“Wow,” I mumble. “You’re good,” I tell Nicole.
She shrugs her shoulders as she mixes up the ingredients with her
bare hands, reaching for the bundle of herbs that Selvara gives her. “We
don’t really talk, but I guess we don’t need to. It makes sense to me.”
That’s impressive. If I wasn’t able to communicate with the Vruts, I
would be completely lost.
I clear my throat. “Selvara,” I speak to her in the language she can
understand. “How is it that I can talk with you, but they still can’t?”
She shrugs her shoulders. “I do not know. I thought maybe your
species has special intelligence with language, but your friend cannot
understand me.”
“Nicole?” I point.
“Yes. She follows me around.”
Nicole perks up as she finishes grinding the ingredients. “Is she
talking about me?”
 “Yes. I’m trying to ask her about the language. It doesn’t make
sense that only I can understand her.”
“Can you ask her if I can study under her like an apprentice or
something?”
My lips slide into a wide smile as her request sinks in. “Really?”
“Yeah, I mean, I don’t think we’re going anywhere anytime soon.
I’d like to have a purpose. Not hang around the chamber all day like some
people.” She shoots a pointed look at Lara who throws a round fruit at her
in return.
“Shut up,” Lara grumbles.
I giggle and nod. “Of course.” I focus my attention on the elderly
woman, watching Nicole as she helps Melina drink. “Selvara?” I ask.
She eyes me.
“Nicole, my friend.” I point again just to be sure she remembers her
name. “She wants to learn how to be a healer.”
Selvara straightens. Her weathered features beam as she approaches
Nicole, placing her hand along Nicole’s back. She smiles softly and bows
her head in respect, as I’ve seen many Vruts do when in agreement.
The two share a moment and it’s bittersweet to watch. I wish I could
share in the joy of it.
“Where’s Ryan?” I ask. It’s been days since I’ve seen her.
Nicole dabs the dribbled liquid off of Melina’s lips and answers me.
“The hunters have returned. She wanted to avoid the one who’s chest glows
when he sees her.”
Lara rolls her eyes across the room and I attempt a smile.
Seeing that everything is okay here, I stand and say goodnight to my
friends. I walk through the glowhollows alone as the beams of light from
above soften and die out. I enter my chamber—the one that feels too empty,
too lonely without my mate—and slide into the furs.
I was right. The scent of him surrounds me and it’s like a punch to
the gut.
I would go to him, but I’m sure he would put up a fight and force
someone to drag me back here.
Jerk.
But he understands his people more than I do and maybe he’s
already preparing for the worst. The lump forming in my throat makes it
hard to get comfortable.
 So I wrap myself up in his scent and pretend he’s here, tugging me
against his chest and holding me in his strong arms. But it isn’t the same.
Things might never be the same.

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 CHAPTER 24
PAIGE

I
t’s the day of the trial and I’m completely exhausted.
To keep my mind off of it, I busied myself. Awakening to an
empty space where Varek should be, I drifted to the kitchens, seeking
distraction in the rhythmic process of preparing food. As I worked, I
discover that ruvash, a staple here, bears a striking resemblance to rice, both
in texture and the way it’s cooked.
I threw myself in anything I could.
I spent most of my time with my friends, showing them around
certain places in the glowhollows and telling them about my time here
before we went back for them. Ryan was elusive, but Nicole and Lara loved
sitting with me and chatting.
Maybe they could tell that I needed it, I’m not sure.
But it’s good to have friends here.
I even spoke with Draxel, who wrangled me as I was on my way to
soak in the spring.
He asked me some rather pointed questions about how I can
understand the Vrut language and why the other humans can’t. A question I
still have no answers for.
He stalked off angrier than I’ve ever seen him after that
conversation.
I visited Varek as many times as I could, but he refused to let me
sleep down there. He would kick me out and tell me to get some rest,
kissing me until my mind went blank and I foolishly listened to him.
But at night, when there was nothing else to distract from the intense
anxiety that churned my stomach, I broke down.
 I let myself feel all the pain and anger of being separated from Varek
—or not knowing what the future might bring. It hurt just as bad as my
chest before Varek and I completed the mate bond.
I sit up in the furs and brush my fingers through my hair. My arms
feel tingly and I can’t stop bouncing my legs. At this point, I just want to get
the trial over with—the waiting is almost too much to bear.
My eyes are heavy from exhaustion and dry from all the tears I’ve
already shed when I finally leave our chamber.
In the main pathways, I see a few other males—some from the
group of hunters that went out with Draxel the other day, some harvesters—
heading to the Luminary. I’m beginning to recognize faces, even of the
Vruts I haven’t met. I follow along behind them, my head hung, but I keep
my distance.
How many of them know this is all my fault? If they are heading to
the Luminary, they must know what for. They know about the trial and what
awaits Varek.
But do they realize that Varek wouldn’t be in this position if it
weren’t for me?
My mouth dries out as I round the corner into the Luminary, the
council already standing in a line at the opposite end of the chamber. The
beauty of the cavern—the ancient and sacred feel of it—isn’t the same. The
carvings along the wall evidence the history of the Vruts. Their laws. Their
loyalty to one another. The reason why we are here today.
I move to the side of the chamber and find a spot in front so I can
see. I wrap my arms around myself, shifting my weight from one foot to the
other as members of the clan file in. I avert my gaze from most, but was
expecting at least Draxel to stand with me. My gaze darts around the room,
making occasional eye contact with Kylor who stands with a blank
expression on his face. I can’t read him and I feel like throwing up.
As the room gets louder, so does my beating heart in my ears. I roll
my shoulders against the building tension, but it’s no use. I’m a wreck. I
want to see Varek. I want this to all be over.
I want to go back and change everything.
Amongst the chaos, Nicole and Lara step inside, scanning the room
for me. Suddenly, I can breathe a little better. Things feel a little lighter and
I wave. Nicole beams with a smile. The two cross the chamber and join me.
Nicole drags me in for a hug. “Everything is going to work out.”
 I want to believe her, but we’re both out of our depths here.
And she won’t even be able to understand what the council decrees.
“Thanks for coming,” I say to both of the women standing next to
me. We should have all been together from the start. I see that now.
Lara swipes her hand like it’s no big deal.
A hush falls over the room as guards lead Varek in. A chain dangles
between his wrists, shackling him like an animal.
My breath falters.
Nicole wraps her arm around my shoulder. His cheeks are sunken.
His eyes a little more hollow than I see them in my mind.
He’s led across the chamber to stand next to the council, towering
over Kylor. Elyra nods to Varek in respect, but she is the only member of
the council to do so. Mydros has a smug look on his face as he takes in the
appearance of my mate.
I take an unconscious step forward–as if the bond is dragging me
in–but Nicole holds me back.
“Don’t be rash,” she whispers in my ear.
I want to run across the chamber and throw myself at Varek, tear the
chains off of his wrists with my bare hands, and run away. He doesn’t
deserve this trial, let alone being paraded around as some criminal. I hate
the way the others stare at him. Mistrust, disappointment, and an air of
disdain poison the air.
I almost choke on it.
Kylor raises a single hand and all conversations stop. The focus
zeros in on the oldest member of the council as he points to my mate.
“Varek Shal’Vorr has betrayed our clan,” he says with authority, his
voice firm and booming. “He explored the marshes to find an unknown ship
had crashed close to the lands where the strids roam. Inside, he found his
mate. Paige.”
Kylor sweeps his hand and points to me. All eyes in the room have
me pinned, the weight immeasurable and suffocating.
But I only see Varek.
When we lock gazes, his chest fires up like usual—bright as ever.
His lips twitch in the faintest of smiles and it takes my breath away. How
can someone be so strong? So sure of what he wants?
Kylor continues. “The council instructed him to send Draxel to
investigate if there were others of her kind. Draxel found five other
females.”
Hushed whispers break out in the chamber as Mydros nods,
seemingly pleased with the court of public opinion.
“But Varek Shal’Vorr hid this fact. He instructed Draxel to keep this
knowledge a secret and did so himself, lying to the council and to all of
you.”
Varek’s jaw clenches as he listens, the muscles on his chest bulging
as he breathes in and out.
“By doing so, he gambled with the lives of five other potential
mates for our kind. One of whom was stolen by the Thachiens, and another
who still lies in a near deathlike state.”
Varek’s chin tucks, his amber eyes hitting the ground.
I can’t take it anymore. He’s not even fighting—not even standing
up for himself. Yes, he made a mistake but it wasn’t just him. We both did.
I step forward but Nicole pulls me back. “What are you doing?” she
whispers. I shrug her off.
“It’s not his fault!” I say. I raise my chin as high as it will go, or
maybe I’m trying to keep tears from falling.
I’m not sure.
All eyes shift to me and Varek bristles, the chains shaking as he stirs
against his restraints. He shakes his head no and points his chin back to
where I was standing, a firm declaration that he does not approve of me
speaking up.
Mydros’ eyes narrow on me, his young features pinched in
annoyance. “You approach the council and deny the actions of your mate?
Are you saying Kylor lies?”
I shake my head.
Mydros scoffs and waves me off. “Then be gone, female.”
Varek growls, puffing his chest as it flares bright. His shoulders
ripple with anger as he stares down his fellow Highseer.
I look back at my friends who are as confused as can be, their eyes
darting around to all the Vruts in the room. Mydros flicks his hand and a
male hunter comes forward, stalking right up to me.
I shake my head. “No, wait. Let me explain!” I say.
The room erupts into chaos as the male shoves me toward the
entrance and I stumble, but catch my footing just in time. Varek yanks at his
shackles and roars at Kylor, the room erupting in shouts as they watch my
mate act this way.
“Do not touch her,” Varek roars.
He tries to tear free and it takes multiple hunters to keep him
restrained, kicking the back of his legs and sending him to his knees. My
knees nearly give out with his and I reach for him.
“Varek!” I scream.
He grits his teeth and his chest flares bright green, the patterns
glowing like they are on fire. The look in his eye is deadly and even the
males around him seem to falter as the anger rolls off my mate.
Kylor raises a single hand, and the room goes silent.
I catch my breath, my heart pounding in my chest.
Elyra lays a single hand on Mydros’ shoulder, whispering something
private in his ear. The arrogant asshole seems to calm down, rolling his
shoulders like he was just about to be thrown out and not me.
Kylor resumes speaking. “Those are the charges. But we have
brought an audience today to hear you all. Paige. You would like to speak?”
Varek’s brows raise as he stares at the old man. This must not be
traditional from the look on his face. It only seems right though, that
someone may speak on behalf of the accused or at least add context to the
situation. Before, was the council judge, jury, and executioner?
I nod and begin again. “What he did wasn’t his fault.”
Whispers break out around me.
All of this was because of me. Varek is strong. He’s moral. He cares
about his people and he cares about me. Other than throwing me over his
shoulder and dragging me here, he treated me with nothing but kindness.
And being a Highseer is important to him.
If it weren’t for me, he would have put his people first. If the glows
hadn’t appeared across his chest, choosing me as his mate, he would have
brought every one of us before the council and his people without question.
I can’t let him bear this punishment alone. It goes against everything
that unites us as a mated pair.
“When he found us in the ship, I told the other humans to hide. I
thought if Varek took me, and only me, my friends might have a chance to
escape this planet and go back to where we came from. I thought my life,
all of our lives, were in danger.”
Eyes dart around the room as the Vruts listen to me speak.
 “When Draxel told my mate that he had found the other women, I
begged Varek to hide their existence. I begged him not to tell the council, or
any of you, that there were more human females on that ship.”
The whispers get louder, more anxious as the air in the room grows
thick.
I look around at those in attendance, yearning to see some kind of
pity. Understanding. Something other than anger.
But I don’t.
I bite the inside of my cheek as sweat trickles down my spine. This
isn’t going well.
“He agreed. We made a deal. He would keep their existence a secret
if I—”
Varek blows out a defeated sigh and my shoulders slack.
“If I didn’t see him as my captor.”
Mydros chuckles.
I continue. “I swear I was afraid for my life. I thought at any
moment, Varek or the rest of you would… kill me. When I made that deal, I
didn’t intend to keep it. Varek did. He was honorable. And he made the deal
because of the bond between us. Not because he wanted to betray you all.”
My voice breaks. I hadn’t wanted to see Varek as anything other
than evil but at some point, all of that changed. At some point, he became
everything to me.
I swallow hard against the needles prickling and tearing down my
throat. The tears are there, threatening to fall, but I focus on Varek. My
feelings for him.
“So, it isn’t Varek’s fault. It’s mine.”
I look Kylor dead in the eyes, blocking out everything else before I
speak the next words.
“I would like to offer myself in exchange for him.”

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 CHAPTER 25
VAREK

“I
would like to offer myself in exchange for him.”
I jump to my feet, my body alive. Energy courses through my
veins like I’ve never felt and my mane stands on end.
What is she thinking?
Zhoran grabs me by the bicep but I shake him off and snarl in his
direction. Ralon tries to pull me back and I swing for him, using the
shackles around my wrist like a weapon to wrap him up. I manage to get the
chains tight around his throat before more hunters are on me, tearing him
free.
Paige’s mouth is wide open, her gorgeous features twisted in fear.
The hunters yank me every which way but all I can see is her. My mate. My
woman threw herself down in front of the council and begged to take my
punishment for me.
My father would be ashamed of the male I have become. And if I let
a single hair on her perfect little head face harm, I am worthless.
“Please,” I shout out above the chaos. The males struggle restrain
me but the power of the glows is unmatched. My muscles bunch bigger and
I feel like I could fight and kill every living male in this chamber if it meant
I could get to Paige. “Do not listen to her.”
I grit my teeth and let the hunters shove me back to my knees,
conceding for the moment. I need the council to think with a clear head. I
need Kylor and Elyra to pity me.
Mydros has already made up his mind. Insolent and quick-tempered
fool.
 “Please,” I address directly to Kylor and Elyra, the two that are
clearest of mind. The eldest of the Highseers. “Take her from here.”
“No!” Paige cries out, clutching at her chest. I hate to see her this
way, but I will not allow this to continue.
“Kylor,” I plead. “Get on with it. Exile me if you must, but Paige
will not be punished. She could even now be carrying my spryt.”
My chest caves in as I think of it.
Paige’s eyes widen and she sways like her legs are about to give out.
If I were next to her, I would sweep her up into her arms and tell her softly,
petting the soft hair on her head, that she is likely already pregnant. I would
tell her how happy she makes me. How she has given me purpose when I
thought I would never find it.
And that to create life with her has been the gift of an entire lifetime.
But instead, all I can do is watch her from across the chamber as she
nearly crumbles.
My pulse pounds in my neck. “If we want to live on, we must look
to the future. We must put our mates first. This talk about her being at fault
is nothing but lies. I chose to grant her request because I knew it was what I
needed to do to bond with her.”
Paige’s hand settles on her belly, her mouth still open as she
processes everything I’m saying. She truly hadn’t even considered the
possibility.
“A bond means new life. It’s what we need above all.”
Mydros scoffs and chokes out a sinister laugh. “This is outrageous.
To get us to believe that you somehow acted with our future in mind, with
our best interest in mind, is ridiculous.”
“You don’t understand,” I grit at the arrogant Highseer. Mydros
would never challenge me one on one, because he knows he will lose. But
now? He believes he holds the power.
He is wrong.
And he’s uninformed.
“The mate bond,” I continue, “It is inevitable. You can’t deny it and
you can’t run from it. Even if to you, my actions appear as a betrayal, they
were nothing but selfless in my soul.”
Elyra grimaces and shakes her head. “Robbing the mate of another
is not selfless.”
But she herself is unmated. It’s a feeling I can’t explain.
 I look around the room, taking in all the males that have not
experienced the feeling. The pull. The intense desire to attain your mate and
create an heir above all else. It is consuming and overwhelming. But no one
in this chamber has felt it. Our numbers have dwindled and we have gone
so long without a surplus of mated pairs that our instincts are foreign to us.
I can’t keep fighting a battle that the others believe they have won.
“If that is how you see it, then I await my punishment.”
“No,” Paige’s voice cracks in half. Her friends find her, wrapping
her up in their arms as the tension in the room builds.
I will be exiled. Paige will stay here. And I will never see her again.
She knows it.
I can see it in the way she sags.
My chest constricts as the bond screams inside me.
Just when I think she’s going to crumble, Draxel enters the chamber.
He’s drenched in sweat, his chest heaving with deep, ragged breaths like
he’s been sprinting to get here.
We lock eyes and he nods respectfully. I give him the same courtesy.
Then, Draxel’s eyes go to my mate and his expression softens, his
fists relaxing at his sides.
“I must speak,” he says.
His spear is still slung across his back, his leathers dirty. He must
have just returned from the hunt. Or come back early from it to be here.
There is a purpose in his step as he holds his head high and addresses the
council.
Draxel closes his eyes. A second later, his left peck and bicep fire up
bright green, the pattern of glows trickling down his skin. His patterns are
different from mine, but just as bright.
His eyes open and he looks down at the luminescence, his lips
twitching.
“I have also been chosen by the glows. One of the humans will
become my mate.”
I nod to myself, but no one in the chamber seems to be shocked.
They must have seen him glow in her presence before.
“Ryan. Is the human’s name,” Draxel says, his voice wavering as he
speaks her name. “Varek and I rescued her from the clutches of the
Thachiens a week ago.”
Kylor nods, the rest of the chamber quiet as Draxel continues.
 “I did not understand the mate bond before this, nor did I yearn for
it. I never wanted to take a mate, but the glows—” he stutters, his hand
pressing to his chest.
I recognize it in my best friend–the pain, deep and aching in my
chest when I couldn’t have my female in my arms,.
“The glows have an intensity that I did not think possible. I could
not reject my mate even if I wished it,” Draxel says. “I say this, because
when Varek asked me to keep what I saw a secret, I disagreed with him. I
took his order as Highseer, but I thought he was wrong.”
Mydros smirks as whispers circulate the chamber.
“But now, I understand why he did what he did. He caved to his
mate—a biological instinct that lies within us all. I fear I may succumb to it
someday, too.”
Elyra asks, “And what of the safety of your Ryan? Do you not
blame Varek for putting her life in danger by hiding her?”
Draxel’s chest glows bright as he grits his teeth. “That is something
I will never forgive him for.”
“So you do believe his actions unforgivable?” Kylor asks.
“No.” Draxel clarifies. “His actions were honorable to his mate. And
it seems we have forgotten that the bond between mates is our highest law.”
I blow out a relieved breath. I gnaw my tongue as I listen to my
friend try his best to explain this inexplicable blessing from the glows.
“I am now in the position Varek was then, and to get my Ryan to
accept our bond there are no lines I will not cross.” His tone turns dark.
“Any male unmated simply cannot understand that drive. Varek did what he
could to secure his heirs.”
Mydros’ lips press into a thin line, his gaze flicking upward. “And
we are supposed to listen to the testimony of Varek’s accomplice? Of the
Vrut who helped him betray us all? We are not so dull.”
Paige sucks in a deep breath, her eyes pleading with me for answers.
She’s desperate to feel my touch, as am I hers. We’ve been apart too long—
the bond can feel it. I can’t even stomach if she were to fall sick again
because of my absence.
The room breaks down into arguments, the small crowd of Vruts
discussing what they just heard. I can hear the judgment, the faint calls for
me to be exiled anyway. None of it matters. All I can focus on is Paige.
Everything is for her.
 Kylor clears his throat, lifting a hand to silence the room. He
demands attention and the clan gives it.
“During the last Thachien attack, we lost a pair of mates.”
His gray eyes slide to me as a numbness spreads through my limbs.
“Varek himself remembers what it was like to lose his father to
Thachien hands and then his mother to a broken bond. But we all remember
what that attack did to our numbers,” Kylor says.
The room goes eerily silent, despair thickening in the air.
“We lost fathers. Brothers. Children. There have been no spryts born
in the last twenty years. This cannot go on.” Kylor frowns. “Perhaps Varek
encountering his mate, and four other females, eclipses his clouded decision
making.”
Mydros’ stare snaps in the direction of Kylor. His eyes blaze with
fury.
“Perhaps Varek is wise to put the future before the present.”
“You can’t be serious,” Mydros seethes.
I raise my chin, puffing out my chest. “I will accept whatever
punishment the council sees fit to give, but it is important that my people
know, I only thought of my family, my clan, and our future.”
My gaze drifts to Paige. I can’t be sure of what Kylor, Elyra, and
Mydros will decide, but I am certain that my actions were just. I was
awarded the spot on the council, the position of Highseer, because of my
fairness. My battle prowess. But also my moral sense of justice. It never
faded—it just rooted to a new guide post.
If I must leave, Paige will be safe with the clan. Draxel will protect
her along with his own mate. She will be with her friends. She will find
happiness again.
And I will live on, clinging to the memory of holding her in my
arms, petting her pretty hair, and loving her with all of me.

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 CHAPTER 26
PAIGE

I
can’t breathe.
The council members have left the chamber to deliberate. I’m
dizzy and dying to go to Varek, but the hunters around him will not let
me pass.
All I can think about is what he said earlier. Spryt. He means baby,
right? He’s already thinking about our future family. My heart cracks a little
as a new panic sets in. I don’t want to—I can’t—be alone and pregnant. I
mean, he’s my mate. He’s supposed to be with me every step of the way.
Lara chews on her bottom lip as Nicole pulls me in for another hug.
They don’t understand, but my fear must be written all over my face.
“What did that hunter guy say? The one with the shining chest?”
Nicole asks.
“Draxel,” I name him for her. “He talked about Ryan. That she’s his
mate. And that Varek shouldn’t be punished for what he did because he did
it for me.”
Nicole smiles, her eyes squinting at the edges. “See? Everything is
going to work out.”
I shake my head.
Kylor walks in first, and Elyra and Mydros are right behind him. My
heart stalls and I swallow down the lump in my throat. The anticipation—
all this damn waiting—is going to send me into an early grave.
The council assumes their position in the chamber and Kylor
addresses the clan. “We have discussed. In our history, and in my lifetime, I
have never witnessed a Highseer abuse his position of power in such a
wicked way.”
 I swallow hard.
“The council will not allow members of this clan to act selfishly, for
to their own gain, in direct aggression to the rest of our numbers. It would
be chaos if we turned on each other–abandoned our fellow Vrut for our own
desires.”
Kylor’s beady eyes dagger Varek, the weight of his words pressing
down on the both of us.
Mydros raises his chin and blinks slow, a smile creeping across his
face.
“This cannot be tolerated. Will not.”
Hushed whispers erupt around the room. I press my hand to my
chest as it constricts, that familiar ache spreading fast.
“With the future in mind and the testimony of Draxel, as well as the
human’s remarks, we have come to a decree.”
I suck in a sharp breath and lock eyes with Varek. My heart races in
my chest.
“We believe it unfair to harshly punish Varek for lying in this
manner. Ultimately, Varek has increased our numbers by five and blessed us
with the opportunity to grow even more. To create new life. And for that, he
will stay a Highseer.”
Varek’s eyes widen.
“He is sentenced to a lifetime devoted to his mate and their union
and will sire many heirs,” Kylor says. He turns and eyes me, his expression
unreadable. “And because Paige has offered herself up for punishment too,
the council has decided that she will help translate for the other females,
integrate them into our society, and help them encounter their rightful
mate.”
All the tension releases from my body and I can breathe again. A
slow smile drags across my lips and Nicole pokes me in the side.
“What? What’s he saying?” she asks.
I shush her as Kylor continues.
“The human females are too important to lose and we fear it would
be reckless to exile a mated Vrut male if the bond is as strong as we have
learned today.”
Mydros stalks out of the chamber at once. Kylor bows his head in
respect and Elyra follows.
“Our word is final.”
 Kylor and Elyra both turn and place their hands on a luminite
gemstone embedded within the rock. The luminescence pulsates as if alive
and then the two older council members exit.
A silent beat passes and for a second, I don’t believe it’s real. The
hunters around Varek undo his shackles and they fall to the rocky ground in
a heap. Varek turns to face me, his chest shining bright like the sun.
I take off.
My stomach flutters with each step I get closer. He’s free. He’s
mine. And we can stay.
When I’m close enough, I jump into his arms. He catches me,
wrapping me up in his hold and swinging me around in a circle. His head
falls to the crook of my neck and he inhales deeply. I giggle as his nose
tickles beneath my ear.
“Oh, troublemaker,” he whispers against my skin. He presses light
kisses all over my skin, any inch of me he can.
“Mate,” I say as I hold him tight.
A growl rolls from his chest and he hoists me up higher. I wrap my
legs around his waist and grin. The muscles in my cheek burn and ache
from all the emotion, but I can’t help it.
Everything that I was afraid of, everything that terrified me about
today is over. He’s mine and the clan is letting us stay.
We get to love each other and he’s still a Highseer.
My Highseer.
“They’re not taking you away from me,” I whisper.
He shakes his head.
“I thought I was going to lose you,” I breathe.
“You never will,” he promises, his thumb brushing the tear that
slipped from the corner of my eye.
I lay my head on his shoulder as the fluttering in my chest leaves me
light-headed. Varek has changed me completely and all I want to do is bask
in the joy that he brings. And a family?
How could something I had never considered before sound like
something I can’t live without?
“You should not have offered to take my punishment,” Varek says.
My hands tremble around his neck, stroking his short hair down to
his mane. “I would do it again.”
He grits his teeth. “You would be best to obey me, Paige.”
 I pull back and cup his cheeks. “You wouldn’t like me nearly as
much if I did,” I say.
His frown slowly morphs into a smile. He captures my mouth and
everything blurs.
The kiss isn’t slow or tentative—it is raw and urgent. The release of
all the tension that had coiled tight between us. Our mouths move together
in a frenzied rhythm, lips parting, breaths mingling.
Starved. We’d been starved for each other.
It’s a flood of everything we hadn’t been able to say before.
Relief, passion, the fierce need to hold on now that we have the
chance. It’s messy and imperfect, our mouths colliding with more hunger
than grace, but it is ours.
Warmth rocks through me and a soft whimper escapes my lips.
Varek freezes. We lock eyes and his are dark—those amber depths
shining with something devious.
Suddenly, I’m all too aware that we are still in the Luminary and
very much on display.
I lean in and tease his ear, squeezing my legs around his waist.
“Take me home,” I say. “I’ve been dying for your touch.”
Varek grunts and begins walking, holding me steady beneath the
thighs and teasing up and down my throat with his nose.
“And my bulb?”
I suck in a sharp breath, a fluttering feeling settling between my
legs. All of the sudden I do feel empty. Needy. Hot for his touch.
I nod, arching into his muscled chest.
Varek picks up the pace, jogging through the glowhollow to our
chamber. We leave everything behind in the Luminary.
Our fears. Our past. Every moment of uncertainty.
All we’re left with now is the fire and passion between us and a
future filled with more happiness. Finally, Varek ducks inside our chamber,
the leathers heavily falling back into place behind him. He lays me down in
the furs and tears off my leathers, tossing them aside. They flutter to the
ground half shredded.
“Hey!” I whine as he pushes me down, his hand flat against my
sternum.
Varek only chuckles. “A Highseer’s mate will wear leathers that
bear my markings. You will receive new ones when I am finished with
you.”
“Are you always this demanding?”
He smirks. “I will be this time. If you aren’t carrying my spryt now,
you will be after this.”

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 27
PAIGE

V
arek undoes the ties on his leathers and pushes them down, his thick
cock springing free.
My mouth waters as I enjoy his physique. Even after a
grueling week down in the mines, he looks like a God—untamed, primal,
and mine.
Varek grabs my thighs and spreads them wide as if staking his
claim. His intense gaze holds mine and my cheeks burn red under the
weight of his attention. My body trembles when the head of his cock
presses against my slick entrance, teasing me with slow, deliberate strokes.
He grinds lazily against me, his manhood sliding over my clit, stoking a fire
that only he can ignite.
“Make love to me,” I beg, my voice a desperate whisper. The spot
between my legs throbs with need, my womb aching for him to take me, fill
me.
Varek leans in and crashes his lips against mine, devouring me as if
he’s starved. I arch as he plunges his tongue past my lips and tastes me.
God. I love him.
I need him.
And I don’t know how I didn’t realize what I was missing before.
My heart races as he reaches between us and lines himself up. With one
powerful thrust, he buries himself deep inside me.
I cry out in absolute ecstasy, but he swallows my voice. His cock
spears me open in the delicious combination of pleasure and pain only
Varek can pull off.
 The heat between us is unbearable, his body screaming with the
primal need to breed, to claim me in the most absolute way.
“You were made for me," he growls against my lips, his voice a
rumble that reverberates through me. His hands tighten on my thighs,
holding me open, vulnerable, and ready to receive him. "I’m going to breed
you, fill you so full, there’ll be no doubt who you belong to."
His words send a thrill down my spine. My body responds to his
every thrust, my hips arching to meet him, desperate to feel all of him
inside me. My fingers dig into his broad, muscular shoulders as he moves
with a slow, deliberate rhythm that has me keening in need.
He pulls back just enough to meet my gaze, his eyes burning with
something primal, something that tells me he’s been dying for this just as
much as I have.
“You’re mine,” he growls, his voice a low rumble that reverberates
through my body.
I’m his. Utterly and completely.
His feral gaze meets mine, burning with the knowledge that we’re
bound—by fate, by desire, and soon, by the life he’ll put inside me. He
thrusts harder, deeper, as if already laying claim to the future we’ll create
together.
"Take it," he growls, his hips snapping forward. "Take all of me,
Mate. I’m going to breed you until you’re full with my seed."
His pace quickens, and I’m helpless against the wave of pleasure
that crashes over me. My nails scrape down his back, my legs locking tight
around his waist as he thrusts relentlessly, each movement driving me
closer to that edge. My pussy clenches around him, desperate to keep him
deep, to milk him for everything he has.
Suddenly, I’m no longer in control of my body. I arch into him, my
muscles straining to get closer, to feel every inch of him inside me. My
hands fly up to his shoulders as I hold on for dear life.
The heat coils tight inside me, unbearable, and I know it’s coming—
the release that will leave me breathless, shattered, and claimed. His breath
is hot against my neck as he kisses and bites his way down, the sharp sting
of his teeth sending shivers across my skin.
"I can feel it," he grunts, his voice low and possessive. "You want
my seed. You want to carry my children."
 His fingers dig into my thighs, holding me wide open for him as he
thrusts again, harder this time, deeper.
My head falls back against the furs, my lips parting on a breathless
moan. His pace is unrelenting now, each movement dragging a new wave of
heat and pleasure through me. I’m caught between wanting more and
feeling like I’m already going to shatter.
“Varek,” I gasp, the sensation overwhelming, my hands scrambling
to find purchase on his broad, muscular back. He responds with a deep,
possessive groan, driving into me harder, each thrust making my body sing
with pleasure.
The heat between us builds to an unbearable peak, and I can feel it
—everything coiling tight, ready to snap. Varek’s breath is hot against my
neck as he kisses and bites his way down, the sharp edge of his teeth
sending shivers across my skin. He grips my hips, anchoring me to the furs
as he moves faster, the slick sound of our bodies joining making my cheeks
burn with desire.
“Your cunt feels so perfect,” he mutters, his voice strained with the
effort of control. “I could stay inside you forever.”
My fingers grip his hair, pulling him closer, my own need spiraling
out of control. I can’t think, can’t speak. All I know is that I need more of
him. “Don’t stop,” I whisper, my voice breaking, my legs wrapping tighter
around his waist to pull him deeper.
I cry out his name, my vision blurring as my pussy pulses around
him, desperate to keep him deep inside.
And then it hits—like a wave crashing over me, my body arching as
the orgasm tears through me, hot and blinding.
“I’m swelling,” he grunts.
His body tenses, his muscles flexing beneath my hands, and with a
final, deep thrust, he lets go. His bulb swells so thick that my vision goes
blurry, locking us together as he claims me completely, leaving no doubt
that I belong to him. My pussy pulsates around him, dragging him deeper
inside. I feel him pulse inside me, his breath ragged against my ear as he
groans my name, and the sound of it makes me fall all over again.
We stay like that for what feels like eternity, our bodies still joined,
the air heavy with the scent of sex and the weight of what we’ve just
shared. His hand rests protectively over my belly, a silent promise of the life
we’ll create together.
 “You’re mine, Mate,” he murmurs against my lips, the words a
promise, a vow. “And nothing will tear apart our family.”
I smile, my fingers tracing the strong line of his jaw. “And you’re
mine.”
There’s no more fear, no more uncertainty. Just us—wrapped in the
furs, the world outside forgotten.

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 28
PAIGE

V
arek and I spent a week enjoying each other.
A week, splayed out in the furs, loving and kissing and
whispering and planning.
Because we have a lifetime together ahead of us and there was a
time when I thought a future together was impossible.
After the council’s decree, Varek’s drive to start a family with me
has been insatiable. He took Kylor’s words very seriously and he intends to
keep me healthy and pregnant at his side for as long as it makes me happy.
I’m not sure I’ll ever get tired of the practice.
My cheeks burn even as I think about it.
I walk through the glowhollows, on my way to check in on my
friends who I’ve been unintentionally ignoring for a few days. Varek’s
attention hasn’t left much time for others, but I put a stop to his morning
wandering hands and kicked him out of the chamber.
After Varek tore my leathers to pieces, he worked to fashion me my
own new wardrobe detailed with carvings and oil staining that mirrors the
glowing markings on his chest. It is an adjustment from the previous tunic,
learning how tight to tie the ties around the top piece that covers my breasts
and extends to just above my belly button. The bottom skirt hangs across
my hips and down almost to my knees.
Varek likes me bare underneath.
I swallow thickly as warmth spreads through my body just thinking
about him.
Dammit, how does he have such a hold on me? Physically, mentally
—I’m obsessed.
 I suck in a deep breath and focus on anything else but my mate as I
near my friends’ chamber. I slide the hanging leathers aside and my eyes
widen.
Nicole is perched next to a very awake Melina.
“Melina?” I gasp.
Melina’s soft voice fills the air. “Hi, Paige.”
A rush of adrenaline floods me and I leap forward, amazed at what
I’m seeing.
“Oh my God,” I laugh, unable to stop the emotions flowing out of
me. I sit by her side and hug her, deciding not to focus on how frail she
feels, or how thin she’s gotten. “It’s so good to hear your voice!”
Melina hugs me back, her arms giving me a soft squeeze. “Nicole
was just telling me everything that’s happened since the crash.”
She beams back at me, a sparkle already returning to her eyes. She’s
still pale, her dirty blonde hair dull and pulled back in a knot on top of her
head. But she’s alive. She’s talking. She’s our Melina again.
“I can’t believe it,” I whisper. “Selvara is a miracle worker.”
Nicole nods, her lips pressing into a proud smile. “She really is.”
“You will be too,” I assure her.
From day one, Nicole jumped right in to take care of all of us and I
don’t think we will ever find a way to repay her either. She was calm and
controlled while Ryan and Lara were devolving into yelling matches and I
was too focused on how to get us off this damn planet to slow down and
take stock of how we truly were. Nicole was our rock.
But Melina is a survivor.
“How do you feel?” I ask Melina.
She winces slightly. “My leg is—”
Nicole shoots me a look and shakes her head. Oh, no.
“I’m in a lot of pain,” Melina clarifies with a polite smile.
She’s trying to be strong—she is strong—but she doesn’t have to be.
Not in front of us.
Melina sits up slightly and laces her fingers together across her
belly, getting comfortable. “So, Nicole told me about Lara and her interest
in the Luminite,” she says.
My brows raise. I didn’t know. I guess I missed several things while
being cooped up in the furs. “She is?”
 Nicole jumps in. “Yeah, she’s been wandering around this to check
out all the different gemstones in the rock. She thinks she can make some
nice jewelry out of it. She’s tried to talk to some of the Vruts but they look
at her like she’s crazy.”
“Hmm,” I say. I bet a necklace with glowing luminite would be
rather striking. I hadn’t thought about it.
“And Ryan has some Vrut who thinks she’s his mate,” Melina
smirks like she knows all the trouble that will come out of that bond.
I can’t help but chuckle. Draxel has been miserable, the mate bond
chaffing like he never thought it would. Meanwhile, I can only imagine how
little Ryan wants anything to do with him.
How those two are going to officially mate is beyond me.
“But what about Cristina?” Melina asks.
My chest tightens and I falter.
Nicole opens her mouth, but she closes it after. Apparently, I’m not
the only one who can’t find the words. How do I explain to her that Cristina
was dragged off by an enemy alien species and that I probably could have
prevented it all along?
“She… didn’t make it,” I say.
Melina’s lips tremble as she blinks back at me. Her gaze slides
between me and Nicole, processing.
Nicole fills in the details, explaining what happened to Cristina as if
she realized I can’t. I can’t bring myself to talk about it again or else the
guilt won’t let me move forward.
Maybe I shouldn’t.
Maybe I don’t deserve to.
Melina rubs her tears off her cheeks, sniffling and forcing down her
emotion. “I wish I would have gotten to say goodbye.”
Me too.
I wish a lot of things had happened differently.
I reach out and grab her hand. It’s hard to process everything but
I’m overjoyed that Melina is awake. She’s talking. She’s herself. We can
deal with her leg with time.
But this is good news. Varek will be able to tell the council that
another female survived. It’s the chance for another mate pairing. Another
chance at a future for our new clan.
 I hear footsteps pounding on the dirt ground outside of the chamber
and the leather sways. My breath catches when I see my mate, his eyes
searching for me with a desperation that sends a wave of worry through my
body.
“Paige?”
“Varek, look,” I tell him. I scoot out of the way so he can see Melina
and his shoulders relax for a moment before he bows his head in a
respectful greeting. “Melina. Her name is Melina.”
“Melina,” he pronounces. Then his gaze flicks back to me. He nods
for me to follow him.
I nod and turn to the girls. “I’m sorry, can you give me a minute?”
Melina’s eyes are wide as she nods. “Is that your mate?”
Pride beams through me and I smile. “That’s Varek. He’s mine.”
She bites back a wide smile. “Go. He seems eager for you.”
Eager is an understatement. When I take a step toward him, his fists
clench at his sides and there’s an air of something I don’t recognize rolling
off him. He’s impatient and upset about something. He holds the leathers
out of the way for me and the second I’m outside the chamber, he drags me
into his arms and crushes me to his chest.
The air surges from my lungs as he holds onto me, inhaling me as a
deep rumbling pulls from his chest.
“Varek?” I whisper, unable to pull in a full breath. “What’s wrong?”
“I needed to touch you,” he grits. “Feel you. I was going crazy as
soon as I heard.”
“Heard what?”
He loosens his hold on me but hoists me up higher and I wrap my
legs around his waist, snaking my arms around his neck. His eyes are
closed, his brows pinched in worry. I touch him there and smooth out the
wrinkles across his gray skin.
“What is it? Heard what?”
Varek blinks at me, his amber depths warring with something. A
chill of fear settles over me and my muscles go slack.
“What’s going on?”
He swallows hard, cupping my cheek. “Draxel’s mate, Ryan, is
gone.”
I draw in a shaky breath. “W-what do you mean?”
 His jaw is tight. “She ran away. Sometime early this morning.
Draxel has gone after her.”
I shake my head, thinking about what lies outside the safety of the
glowhollows. “No. She couldn’t have. I mean, she wouldn’t. She doesn’t
have anywhere to go and—”
Varek grabs me by the back of the neck, grounding me as he presses
a kiss to my forehead. His warmth is like a protective shield against the
worry creeping in. “I know. She is in danger out there. But Draxel is one of
our best hunters. He will find her.”
My heart pounds in my throat, the rhythm almost painful. “But the
Thachiens. She could get taken or she could starve. What if she gets
injured?” The words tumble out in a rush, driven by the terror clawing at
my insides
All I can think about is Cristina, slung over the shoulder of a
Thachien as they retreated into their lands. What if the same thing happens
to Ryan?
I realize then how little I truly know about this place,
about the dangers lurking just beyond the glowhollows' protective reach.
Every dark corner seems filled with threats, waiting to take away yet
another person I care about. I can't lose anyone else. Not like that.
Varek tilts my chin, his touch both firm and gentle as he forces me
to meet his gaze.
“He will find her, Paige. I know it.”
I search his face, looking for any flicker of doubt, any sign of
uncertainty. But there is none. He believes in his words, in Draxel, just as
fiercely as he believes in us. And somehow, through the bond like a wave of
calm, I can feel his conviction. He settles the frantic pulse of my heart.
“Okay,” I mumble. I look back at the leather tapestry separating us
from my friends. “I, um, I need to go tell them too.”
Varek nods and slides me down. He doesn’t let go of me though, his
hands on my waist possessive and warm.
“Do not ever try something like this,” he warns. His chest flares
bright as he demands my attention. “Do not put me through that anguish.”
I tilt my head up, gazing into his eyes, and see the raw vulnerability
there—the fear he tries so hard to hide. He must have been so scared. So
worried about losing me. I hug him tightly, trying to let him know that I
would never run from him. That I’m his and that there’s nowhere else I
would rather be than by his side.
“I promise,” I tell him.
He squeezes me and I love how secure I feel in his arms. Like
nothing can touch me. He won’t let it.
“I love you,” I murmur against his chest.
He sucks in a sharp breath. I feel his body tense, as if my confession
has caught him off guard. His patterns flare, the deep green light pulsing in
time with the steady beat of his heart.
“I have been waiting a lifetime to hear you say that, troublemaker,”
he breathes, his voice thick with emotion, the rough edge softening as it
wraps around me like a promise.
The intensity in his gaze steals my breath as he tips my chin up, his
hand cupping my cheek with a tenderness that contrasts the strength in his
hold. And then he’s kissing me, his lips crashing into mine with all the
passion and longing that has been building between us since the moment we
met. His kiss is more than just a kiss—it’s a claim, a vow that we are bound,
now and forever.
I lose myself in him, in the taste of his lips, the heat of his body, and
the knowledge that, no matter what lies ahead, we will face it together.
“I love you,” he says back, our lips just inches apart. “And I will
always love you.”

OceanofPDF.com
 EPILOGUE
RYAN

I
’m sprinting across the marshy plains, out of sight from the mountain
and the glowhollows hidden below. My boots pinch my toes and a
blister is already forming on my heel, but I press forward. I’m moving as
fast as I can.
Draxel is big. He’s fast.
But I won’t let him catch me.
It took me a week of sneaking around to steal a large enough leather
that I could fashion into a pack to take with me. Every day in the kitchens,
as I sat with Nicole and Lara and listened to them ramble on about the
Vruts, the glowing fucking rocks in the wall, and how happy Paige was, I
pretended to care.
Really, I was planning. Biding my time until they weren’t looking
and then stuffing extra food into my suit.
A week of laying low and pretending like I was content to sleep on
the floor in furs that smelled musty and faintly metallic—like there was still
a bit of blood from whatever animal the Vruts had killed to make it mixed
within the soft fibers. What? I was supposed to just integrate into this new
life with literal aliens because that’s what my friends wanted to do?
Because that was my only option?
Bullshit.
Before getting on that damn ship, I was a viral internet sensation.
Why? Because people loved watching my videos for the sense of adventure.
I didn’t follow the well-worn path through the Appalachian mountains like
everyone suggested. I hated taking the easy way out or following a trail just
because everyone else was. No, people watched because I followed my own
spirit.
Well guess what? My spirit didn’t have me converting into some
barefoot and pregnant mate for an alien brute just because half his chest lit
up like a damn Christmas tree.
The leather pack on my bag shakes as I sprint, holding the strap
across my chest firm to try and keep it from falling apart. I didn’t have a
needle and thread, so I had to do my best tying everything together. I
packed enough food and a flash of water that I think should last me for a
week.
But that isn’t the only part of my plan.
My boots splash in a shallow puddle of smelly, stagnant water as I
make my way across the plains. In this area, I’m too exposed. None of those
massive trees protect me from view and though I can’t find the source of the
heat, my cheeks feel like they are burning in the sun. The sky is still that
boring shade of gray that it was the first day when we landed here and I
watched Varek kidnap Paige.
Gray.
Gray like Draxel’s ugly skin.
I keep running until the ship comes into view. It’s almost completely
overtaken by thorny vines, the shining metal walls of it almost invisible
beneath the knotting and twisting plant. If I didn’t know it was there, I
might have missed it.
I kick at the vines that crisscross the opening of the ship and bang
on the wall before stepping inside. I was half expecting one of those ugly as
shit Thachiens to come limping out, but luckily the place was empty.
As fast as humanly possible, because there’s a chance the Vruts
might have already discovered I’m gone, I make my way through the ship.
All our technology is off, the backup generators must have lost power from
the invasive vines growing and cracking straight through. But that’s okay.
When we were stuck in here for a week, I made sure to take
inventory of everything that could possibly be useful in this ship. What did I
find?
Not much.
Not enough in the way of food or water to last for more than a
couple of days. But I did find a knife—large enough to do some hunting
with. I found signal flares and a bunch of rope stuffed in a bin beneath one
of the pods.
And a flashlight.
I reach for one of the extra suits tucked beneath a pod and slide it
on. It’s new and pristine, the bright blue material stretching around me with
no rips or tears.
Plus, it doesn’t smell like ass.
I make quick work of grabbing each item, stuffing the rope,
flashlight, and flares into my pack. The knife, I keep in its mahogany
leather sheath and slip it inside the front of my suit in case I need it.
Another quick look around and then I’m on the move again, running as hard
as I can toward the line of trees to my right.
I cross under the canopy of massive trees and the temperature drops
significantly. A chill creeps down my spine as I press on, maneuvering
around the thick trunks and low hanging branches. The jungle isn’t unlike
the ones I’d hiked in back home, except the air tastes thicker with all the
humidity. My skin is damp from the rain that never stops falling from the
sky.
My suit clings to my body like a second skin and I’m drenched in
sweat.
But I won’t stop until I have to. Until I’m so exhausted that I can’t
physically move another inch.
Why?
Because I refuse to spend another minute with people who expect
me to become an alien breeding slave. That’s what I’ll be. I don’t care how
happy Paige looks, I don’t want it. I never wanted a man or children for that
matter, and all the Vruts have done is cause us grief and pain.
I thought Paige was dead for God’s sake. And now? Cristina is
actually dead.
They are monsters. They pretend not to be—they pretend to be kind
and gentle and understanding—but deep down, all they see in us are vessels
to bear their weird-looking gray-skinned heirs.
And I’m not having it.
And I won’t let Draxel find me.
I hate him.
I hate the way he stares at me. The way he hovers around me.
 My stomach flutters as I imagine him but I force myself to run
harder. I fucking hate the way my body reacts when he comes into my
mind. I hate the way he makes the hair on my arms stand on end, or the way
I want to watch that strange pulsating light on his chest.
I hate him.
And I will never, never give myself over to him.
I’ll die before I become his.

∆∆∆

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 ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vera Phoenix
Vera Phoenix is a dreamer, a romantic, and a lover of the stars. She weaves
stories where daring human heroines find themselves entangled with
powerful, possessive aliens who stop at nothing to claim their fated mates.
With a penchant for steamy encounters, lush alien worlds, and a touch of
heartfelt emotion, Vera’s books are an escape into passion and adventure.
When she’s not writing, you’ll find her curled up with a diet coke, plotting
her next swoon-worthy alien hero.

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