Page 19

Is that what I am doing? Using him? Is he just a means to an end?

I shake my head, dispelling the thoughts. I need to focus right now. I have a terrible feeling that I am about to encounter my first Atraxian monster, and something tells me it’s not going to be a cute and cuddly bunny.

Volan’s hand slams over my mouth. It’s a heated brand against my skin, with a strange almost suede-like texture that I hadn’t noticed before.

His eyes are wide in warning, indicating we shouldn’t make a single noise.

Great, not only are we being sneaked up on, but the creature is also scary enough to make this practically towering bodybuilder in front of me quake in his boots.

My hands travel to my pockets. Very slowly, I zip closed the one holding my tablet. If we have to run, I refuse to lose it. This way it won’t simply bounce out unnoticed.

I notice how Volan steps closer, his body hovering around mine with a protective stance. I swallow when I realize that he’s already got a knife gripped in his palm, holding it carefully pointed away from us. The subtle noise of my swallow is loud in the tunnel, echoing off the walls. I can practically hear us breathing now that I focus on it. The very walls capture and reflect the smallest of sounds.

Is my heartbeat really that loud, thumping frantically in my chest?

The chittering noise comes again, this time far louder. I strain my ears, listening for any signs of the creature that hides in the darkness just out of sight.

I have to bite my tongue to stop myself from commanding Volan to brighten his body lights. I can only pray that he doesn’t dim them if we encounter the beasts, else I’ll be left in the dark. Oh no, what if it’s the light attracting them…

My hand slides between us, reaching for the slingshot I’ve hidden away. I wasn’t planning on revealing that I was armed to Volan, just in case I needed to take his surprise to my advantage, but this new threat warrants action.

Since he’s so much taller than me, my fingers brush across the front of his trousers. His body jerks, but he doesn’t move or make a sound. My breathing is already shallow, but it quickly turns into pants when I realize that it’s not a weapon straining his pockets but his cock.

Actually, given the size of that thing, it might as well be a weapon. And why on Earth—sorry, why on Atraxis—is this guy hard right now?

There are so many things I want to ask him, but I can’t. The frustration could practically make me scream.

His eyes drift to mine, focusing on the way I’m chewing on my lower lip. I scowl up at him as a charged tension seems to grow between us. His chest rises and falls, his breath brushing over me like a heated caress. Almost instinctively he crowds closer to me, his hips pressing into my stomach.

I do my best to ignore the way my body heats at the contact. I have to say, I think I hate this guy. He’s always pushing my buttons, always saying something that gets on my nerves… Now this! What woman wants to be pushed against the wall and ravished by someone so handsome, someone so…

My nostrils flare as I give him a death stare. This is all his fault. I’m just reacting to him like this from the tension—it’s just the fear of being caught. I am not attracted to him at all.

The sound of tapping breaks me out of my possibly drug-induced revelry—because why else would I be thinking like this? The tap-tap-tap becomes many taps. Then the very air is becoming filled with the sickening sensation as the walls vibrate from what feels like thousands of small feet.

Volan grabs my arm, hard.

I yelp as I’m suddenly dragged forward, practically torn off my feet. Within seconds, realizing I can’t possibly keep pace with his longer strides, Volan hefts me over his shoulder. The breath wheezes from my lungs, my stomach digging painfully into his shoulder as he flees into the darkness.

“If they catch us, stay behind me,” he shouts over the increasing thunder.

I furiously try to shove myself upward, brushing my hair out of my eyes with my free hand. My vision swirls as tiles fly past us so fast that I cannot orient myself. That, with the lurching of my body as I hang upside down on his back…my stomach roils.

I am definitely not cut out for this.

My stubbornness to the rescue since I find it so hard to let go of ideas once they’ve become established. This is my adventure, and I will complete it one way or another.

Volan skids to a stop. I feel the crunch of my nose slamming against his solid back. Just to rub salt into the wounds, dust from our passing flies up into my face.

Volan quickly places me on my feet as I splutter and clutch at my nose. My eyes water, but thankfully it’s not bleeding because a blood trail for a monster to follow us is the last thing we need.

“I wished to avoid this—they are ahead of us as well,” Volan curses. He roughly, but not unkindly, pushes me against a small crevice in the rough rock wall. “Make yourself as small as possible. I will fight them off. Trust me!”

Before I have a chance to even say anything, a cockroach scuttles into the light. Only this thing is massive. It’s the size of a dog. Its body is thick and shiny.

A squeal leaves my lips as it throws itself toward Volan with impossible speed.

He curses and slashes out at it with his knife, the shiny metal swinging through the air with a glinting arc.