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This Captain Aelon doesn’t pay to replace the lights in his ship or for hot water for his captives.

There’s no mirror. That makes me clench my teeth in disappointment. I’d planned to grab a handful of sheets from the bed, wrap it around my fist, and break the mirror to make little shards of knives to protect myself if Kit or his triad decided to make a move again.

Garrick promised me I’d be safe, but I trust the word of an Aurelian about as far as I can throw the 500-pound bastard.

I pace back and forth in the dim lights of my living quarters, trying to form a plan.

“Captain Aelon is the key.” That much is clear. The man is erratic. He wanted to kill those Toads for having the audacity to confront him. Aelon has an ego the size of the massive planet—Tarrion, our scanners said—and a brain the size of a pea.

I tap my fingers against the cold steel walls of the cell. I saw the way Aelon was looking at Tasha. She’s not as experienced around Aurelians as I am. She might not see the signs of the Mating Rage taking over. I just hope she’s okay. The Aurelians don’t seem to be Rogue…

Otherwise, I wouldn’t be in this room alone right now. I look over at the bed, biting my lip as I can’t help but have the thought of that huge, beastly man Garrick standing in front of me while Tar’ank and Markrin hold me down and spread my legs wide.

I shudder and force the thought out of my mind. Captain Aelon was hungry for Tasha. Ravenous. He’s fast-triggered and impulsive, and there’s a chance we can use it for our own good.

I strip down, putting my clothes on the bed, and force myself into the shower. I gasp as the ice-cold water hits my body, but I fight to control my reactions. I’m shivering when I’m done. When I shut the water off with a wave, it switches to blowing air to dry me. It’s old, stale air that hasn’t been breathed in centuries.

I put my dirty clothes back on, craving the warmth. Then I grab the blankets from two beds and put them in the top bunk and curl up in them, making a safe little nest.

After the adrenaline dump of our escape, I’m exhausted. I lay in bed but I can’t sleep yet.

I need to think. I need to find the buttons to push with Captain Aelon to force him into a mistake.

But as much as I try to think of the arrogant captain, the only thing that pops into my mind is Garrick and his triad.

Could they possibly be honorable Aurelians?

Or are they just trying to lure me into a false sense of security so I let my guard down?

I pull my eyes open and look at the heavy metal doors that separate me from the rest of the ship. Are Garrick and his triad waiting on the other side, letting the minutes pass as they prepare to rush in and pin me to the bed to take me one by one?

I bite my lip at the sudden surge of arousal.

This can’t be happening. I’ve always had a dark, insistent attraction to the species, but I hate them. A surge of angst and shame rushes through my head at the thought of Garrick’s broad, muscled body. His triad is just as handsome, even Markrin, who normally I’d think of as too much of a pretty boy. He’s got shoulders I could probably lay my entire length across. And Tar’ank, with his hard-set jaw and clear intelligent eyes that give him the air of nobility…

If you put these three men on Old-Earth…

No. Not men. I can’t think of them as men. They are cold, imperious aliens, and they view humanity as lesser than them.

Because if you put these three aliens on Old-Earth before we took to the stars, they would have been Gods.

My eyes close and I blink blearily, unable to stop myself from yawning as I lay back and the darkness takes me.

3

Garrick

“Garrick! What are the prisoners like? Are there women on board?” Tyre is a young Aurelian, fresh out of his hundred years of service for the Empire.

I step into the weapons targeting room, followed by my triad, prepared for another shift of watching dead space for Toads or bandits foolish enough to come near. No one has dared testThe Instigator. With a cargo of 26 more Orbs, the risk-reward ratio has changed.

“Two. One is with Captain Aelon. The other is in the cells.”

“Which cell block?”

My jaw clenches instantly. I feel protective anger surging up, and it’s mirrored by my triad, their auras pulsing with hot, red rage that this man would dare try to find the location of Sawoot.

“Doesn’t matter. Sector clear?” I sit down behind the targeting array of the Orb-Beam and stare out at the dead space.