Page 2

Sefina is smart, tough, and quietly dealing with her own pain if the pinch in her brows is any indication. I have to keep my distance just so her luscious human fragrance doesn’t overpower my mission with urges I can’t control. It’s a strain to rein them in even at twenty paces behind her.

It’s impressive for a female to confront Solcrue and welvirs without fear and live to talk about it. I want to know everything I can about her, but I find my every attempt to talk to her blocked. She’s one of the few human females that have emotional walls as thick as Titans.

Perhaps that’s what it takes for a female of her caliber to endure what she has and come out of it alive. We all do things in desperate times that we wouldn’t otherwise.

Some of us just live in that mindset.

The longer she talks to Poppy with that dark, smooth voice of hers and marches ahead of me, her hips swaying with the weight she carries on her back so others don’t have to, the more I’m drawn to her like a crazed animal lost in a desert searching for water. I need to drink her in and find out if she can satiate this hunger I have carried in me for far too long.

I’m losing my mind.

She’s only ever been mean to me.

It’s stupid to want her.

And yet, the fight in her doesn’t deter my growing erection. The approaching welvir pack is the perfect distraction to burn through the energy intoxicating Sefina provokes.

Shifter gives me a mind nudge as I charge down the corridor and confront the mutants.

Shifter>>Menace: This attack plan isn’t logical.

I ignore him. It’s what I have to do to shut down the urges that have me wanting to run the other direction, tackle Sefina, and take her. Part of me doesn’t care if Fin hates me. She doesn’t know how every little fiery look from her gives me another breath of life.

But Titan duty comes first.

I won’t take her.

I will protect her.

And I will endure this life alone.

Mutant wolves claw at the rocky floor, muscles tensing, looking ready to charge in my direction. I see them despite the shadows, the shimmering energy of their bodies lighting up in my vision.

The first is a big boy, an alpha if what I’m seeing is correct. It jumps from a boulder. I break off course and meet it mid-air with a blade to its ribs. Claws rake over my thighs as we crash to the ground. I don’t have a moment to spare, so I rip the blade out, roll onto my back, and thrust it into an approaching welvir. A string of acidic saliva burns into my chest armor, sizzling and filling the air with acrid smoke.

Kicking the creature off of me, I get up only to find myself rammed by a third. Rock scrapes under my feet as I resist and grab it by the neck, aiming its snapping teeth away from me. A fourth races toward me. At the last second, I let go and drop to the ground, letting the welvir bash into its pack mate. Using two blades, I dig them into the welvirs and leverage their bodies off of mine.

Back on my feet, I take the next six mutants down with similar ferocity, every body slam and tear of flesh pushing back my thoughts of Sefina’s lush body and the primal longing Shifter mentioned until I am coated in mutant blood and can breathe calmly again.

My scanners check the passageways and see another welvir down an intersecting tunnel. It’s heading for Sefina, Poppy, and the other females. This time, I won’t be fast enough to catch it. Only a bullet will do.

I draw my rifle from my back and aim. It kicks against my shoulder as the flaming bullet races through the tunnel. The welvir falls. A second appears. I swing, steady myself, and fire. The creature staggers a step and drops not far from the first.

My ultromotor finally spools down.

I hate the animals, and I don’t. They’re just hungry, just trying to survive like us. Solcrue are the enemy for creating them and releasing them on this planet where their main food source wants to kill them. Predator versus predator. I don’t know which one of us will win in the end. I hope it’s me, and I don’t.

After one more inspection of the passages, I quickly skin and carve up the welvirs, gather the pelts, and pack them into my bag, then hike back to the group. We will have food and clothes for the females who need it most.

“Damn it, Menace. I could’ve taken those two!”

Sefina swears and glares at me. “You’re such a little shithead. Next one is mine!”

Her reaction is unanticipated. I’m only trying to protect humans and my Titan Brothers and Sister, Poppy. For most, it wouldn’t make sense to act offended. But Sefina is different. She wants in on the action, wants to share the burden, and maybe even needs it like me. The defensiveness of her right to pull the trigger tells me she’s special in a way that makes me feel less alone.

I want her for myself.

Stars, I want her.

“Fine,”

I growl. It comes out more gruff than I want it to, but I’m burning up with needs I’m refusing to give into. It makes me irritable.

My Brothers are good to their mates. I stay at arm’s reach. I want to tell her that I’m proud of her fighting spirit as a human and that I respect her for her fearlessness, but I don’t. I can’t. I don’t do that sort of thing anymore, not after what happened to me and my batch Brothers years ago.

Sefina angrily points up at me. “Risk your hide again, and I’ll kick your ass.”

My ultromotor surges in my chest. Every inch of me is drawn to her, but I don’t know what, if anything, I can do about it. I don’t know how to satiate such an odd contradiction without breaking the barrier I’ve put up.

I’m in trouble, but I’m not. She hates me, but she cares. The contradictions make it impossible to decide what to say. All I know is I can’t stand the idea of being away from her. So now it’s a competition, the kind I’ve played with Brothers on patrols. A Titan competition.

It’s cute that she thinks she can fight alongside us as though she is an equal. She’s a third of my size and, granted, fights damn good for a human. But some things, like her mass, just can’t be equal. Sefina could not throw her beautiful body at a welvir like I do and win. And I don’t want her to ever take such a risk. But I wager she would try.

She has skills and knowledge that I don’t have because of her time working as a hunter and a junker. Her fingers are small enough to open Titan ports. Not even Solcrue hands are small enough.

Just imagining her touching me makes my titanhood stiffen until it aches. Fucking hell. I adjust my weapons belt and guide my cock into a more comfortable position. But there aren’t many when she’s around.

All she can ever be is an idea I dream about when I try not to. It’s frustrating, but it’s just the way things have to stay if we’re going to make it out of here alive. I can’t stand the thought of ever caring so much for another. I made that mistake once. Never again.