Page 10 of Vindicated

I tried to pull away, even though my head was already flat against the wall. I shook my head. “No. I won’t want that.”

Even as I said the words, they felt like a lie. Being so close to him made my palms sweaty and my skin heat, and the idea of him doing anything to me made my knees watery. I was no innocent, and his closeness was already sending traitorous thoughts skittering through my brain.

His chuckle was deep and velvety and hummed across my skin. “As you wish.” Then he pulled away and met my gaze, his suddenly somber. “Do we have a deal?”

My mind was muddled from his furtive whispers, but I think I remembered what he’d proposed. “I come with you in exchange for you saving all of us.”

He nodded, lifting one hand to brush a lock of hair from my face. “You stay with me as my war bride on a trial basis.”

“Until you find a safe place to leave us.”

“Until then,” he confirmed.

“Then the trial is over,” I said, fully sure that it would be as simple as that. It was just a matter of running out the clock.

“If you wish it to be,” he said. “If you do not opt to be my mate and war bride.”

I couldn’t imagine any scenario in which I’d choose to be the mate of a Vandar warlord. I was an actress. The stage was my life. I would never give that up to ride around in a scary spaceship with an even scarier warlord. The guy clearly thought he would be able to charm or scare me into changing my mind, but I knew in the depths of my soul that would never happen.

I allowed myself a breath as I thought back to all the men before him who’d believed they could charm me into yielding more than I wished to give. They’d all failed.

He’s just like the rest. I can do this.

“You have a deal,” I said before I could talk myself out of it.

A smile stretched across his face, and his tail unwound from my ankles. “Then let’s get you and your friends off Gollun Prime and onto your new home.”

He lingered for a beat, feathering the tip of one finger along the side of my face with surprising gentleness. Then he whirled abruptly and raised a fist in the air, which silenced everyone.

“Athena has made a deal to save all of you,” he said to my friends before sliding his attention to his crew. “Everyone here will be escorted safely off the planet and to the warbird.”

Hal gaped at the warlord then at me. “We’re leaving?”

“The Zagrath are sending more ships and more soldiers,” I said, even as a blast shook the walls of the theatre. “If we don’t leave with the Vandar, we might not survive.”

Vallia gasped, and Lettie wrapped an arm around her, winking at the nearest Vandar. “You don’t have to ask me twice. Lead the way, hot stuff.”

The Vandar who’d rushed into the theatre waved my friends forward and the other raiders fell in formation around them. I lingered behind, turning to the warlord once everyone was a few steps ahead. “When you said staywithyou, what do mean exactly?”

“You wish to change the deal after it has been made?”

I shook my head, flinching as another blast sent dust sifting from overhead. “I’m just curious where I’ll be staying as your guest.”

“As a war bride, you will be staying in my quarters and in my furs, Athena.”

I opened my mouth, but no argument came out. I definitely should have clarified the terms before saying yes. Then a loud blast shook the floors and sent fragments of the ceiling raining down, as the warlord scooped me into his arms and started to run.

Chapter 7

Lorken

My teeth rattled as I pounded across the stage with Athena in my arms, leaping into the air at the edge and landing in deep squat.

“Are you insane?” she screamed, as I straightened and gave chase to the rest of my raiders tearing through the theatre that was collapsing around us.

I did not answer. She was not the first to accuse me of insanity, although I had never been accused of being a mad man by someone I was saving. It was typically those I was obliterating who were certain of my madness.

The blasts from outside were relentless now, and I fought to stay upright as the ground trembled and fragments of the ceiling cascaded from overhead. This was the work of the Zagrath. Only they would risk killing so many of their own soldiers to kill us.