Page 38

CHAPTER 38

K yhin froze, utterly shocked.

His name echoed softly from her lips, spoken in her delicate, breathless, unmistakably human voice. The sound vibrated deep into his core, unsettling him profoundly. She said his name with a hopeful cadence, almost like a plea, a prayer whispered into the darkness.

No one had ever uttered his name that way before.

It unraveled something inside him, something he’d fiercely locked away.

He stood rigid, acutely aware of his damaged helm, its fractured edge leaving him dangerously vulnerable.

There it was.

Her scent.

At last, it hit him in its full glory, entering through the cracks in his helm.

It nearly undid him.

Rich, intoxicating sweetness enveloped him, stirring something primal, fierce, and demanding. His pulse quickened as desire, raw and feral, clawed at his senses.

He shouldn’t have come to her. Not yet. Not like this.

But he’d had no choice but to confront Dulahath. He’d heard her frantic voice from outside the ship, and he’d heard the other voice—the male voice—coming from his communication console.

The Rovok mercenary had answered his urgent call, appearing unexpectedly on the comm screen, undoubtedly drawn by the promise of substantial credits. Kyhin trusted Dulahath; the Rovok were notoriously reliable and honorable, their loyalty bound by the strict terms of payment. But Dulahath had laid eyes on Sylvia, his Sylvia, wrapped in furs and fragile, painfully vulnerable in her innocence.

That alone ignited a possessive rage within him.

None should gaze upon her but him. None should even know of her existence.

Dulahath was just fortunate he hadn’t been there physically, for Kyhin surely would have killed him.

The human didn’t know what she had done.

She shouldn’t have touched the control panel.

If she were better trained, she would have known better.

Yet, in her desperate attempt to communicate, she’d unwittingly secured their safety. She’d somehow managed to maintain Dulahath’s attention long enough for Kyhin to arrive. The Nalgar hunting party had found them first, an ambush swiftly thwarted by his ruthless counterattacks, but they would not be the last. Their location was compromised, and soon, more enemies would descend upon them. They needed Dulahath’s swift extraction.

If she were better trained, he might have missed Dulahath’s vital communication altogether.

Perhaps it would be better… if he simply allowed her to be.

But now, in this tense, charged moment, all rational thought dissolved beneath the scorching wave of her scent and the lingering fury of battle still coursing through his veins. She stared up at him with wide, innocent eyes, her breath uneven, her face flushed in ways he found irresistibly enticing.

Her soft utterance of his name nearly brought him to his knees.

He couldn’t resist any longer.

Kyhin stepped closer, looming over her trembling form, noting the flush that deepened on her cheeks. The hunger surging through him intensified, uncontainable. Slowly, deliberately, he reached up, removing the damaged helm and casting it aside with a low growl.

She would see him now.

All of him.