Page 18 of The Dreamer and the Deep Space Warrior (Xaal Alien Romance #1)

Ved

It took the Blood Vultures until the next night to investigate the Kroids. They didn’t, however, feel the need to interrogate him again. When their presence dissipated and the surrounding forest picked up its chattering, Ved pulled himself from the engine compartment where he’d been working.

He forewent sleep most nights to repair his ship. A Xaal could go entire weeks without resting if need be, and returning to his clan and avenging Kravis was motivation enough to stay awake.

Not that he could have slept if he wanted to.

In the quiet of his ship, his mind kept returning to one thing.

To one curly-haired, curious, and beautiful female—Isobel Nott.

The Kroids, he hated to admit, had taken him by surprise.

The wind that day hadn’t worked in his favor, blowing their scent away from him, and he’d been solely focused on the thrusters.

Such complacency meant death on Runus. He’d noticed them at the same time Exxo had, which was to say, when they were nearly upon him.

The fact that Isobel had suffered from his failure sat heavy on his shoulders. He shouldn’t see her again. She needed to stay away. From his ship, from him. Clan Rax could send others after him. Or the Blood Vultures could decide he was worth their attention.

There were too many unknown variables, and all of them led to Isobel Nott being in harm’s way.

Though his mind saw the logic in this, his body had other priorities. He couldn’t have their last interaction be that. Like all challenges, this one needed to be confronted head on.

He was out of his ship and pushing into a run before he knew it. The forest fell quiet around him, and the bright half-moon lit his path.

“ Do you think this wise, Qon? A clean break —” Exxo cut himself off abruptly. “ The probability of you listening to me is so minute, I will not waste my energy. Disregard. ”

Isobel Nott’s dwelling was quiet when he arrived, and all the residents were abed.

It took only a moment for him to pick the lock of the main door and squeeze inside.

The last and only time he had been in her home was the night he’d brought her back after she fainted.

Then, he hadn’t paid attention to the strange design and abstract furnishings.

Now he moved slower, taking in her home as he peered into its spaces.

It was difficult for him to explain, but beyond his senses, he could tell exactly what was and wasn’t of her.

In a more open room, he mostly sensed her brother and another male he remembered from when they played at hunting in the forest. But there was a cushioned seat with a view of their gardens.

Even before he caught her soft fragrance, he knew it was hers—a throne she alone claimed.

Some rooms were behind locked doors, while others held nothing of Isobel Nott at all within them.

As he quietly made his way up the stairs, he passed a likeness hanging on the wall he hadn’t noticed before.

The male pictured looked like an older version of her brother.

He had broad shoulders for their species, a thick neck, and an expression that read as stern but fair.

Isobel Nott had been correct; her father seemed like a male he would have liked.

Once on the second landing, Ved passed the other bedrooms without thought. Her door was at the end of the hall, and with as little noise as possible, he opened it.

The curtains were drawn back, and the light of the single moon spilled in, illuminating her form in her bed.

She sat upright the moment he closed the door behind him.

Her hair was wrapped in soft purple fabric, and the garb she wore exposed her throat, collarbone, and a hint of her curves.

He willed his body not to react to the vision that she was.

And forced himself not to imagine they were on Runus and she was in his chamber.

Wiping at her eyes, she squinted into the darkness of the room. Trepidation tinged her scent. He uncloaked at once, not wanting to scare her more.

“Ved?” she gasped, her eyes going wide and her heart fluttering in a way that thrust heat into his body. For a brief moment, it seemed as though she were happy to see him.

“Isobel Nott,” he murmured. He hadn’t quite thought this through. Belatedly, something told him that midnight visits in her chamber by a male would be on that list of hers. The one of improper interactions.

Her mind must have gone to the same place, because she pulled the covers up around her.

“ Why is she not angry? If the big mean warrior growled at me to go home after a near-death experience with a scary Kroid, I would be .”

“Exxo,” he warned, and Isobel Nott merely tilted her head. It became apparent after several heartbeats that she wasn’t going to offer him mercy by talking first. She may not be angry, but what she was, he couldn’t place fully. Hurt ?

“Are you well?” he asked.

Her brows rose high, but she didn’t smile at him. “I’ve had better days,” she whispered.

Ved could do nothing but stare at her, his mind suddenly devoid of all strategy. Needing to form an attack plan or get himself out of a situation where he was severely outnumbered was simpler than this interaction. He’d never retreated from a battle in his life, but…

“ You could start with an apology ,” Exxo suggested.

Ved growled quietly at his neurolink before saying, “My world is dangerous.”

She crossed her arms over the blanket.

“Very dangerous,” Ved tried again.

“I receive enough lectures, Ved Qon Cleave. You already informed me that I’m not meant for your world. Was it necessary to do so again in the middle of the bloody night?”

Never had his name and title sounded so scathing.

“ Oh ,” Exxo said cheerily, “ she is angry .”

“I apologize,” Ved rumbled, and refused to shift his stance like a shamefaced youth. As qon, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d uttered those words. Even when he and Kravis disagreed, they settled it with their fists and quickly moved past it.

“For what?” she asked.

Perhaps he should beg the death gods to take him then and there. He didn’t regret telling her to go and gritted his teeth to keep himself from saying so. He’d needed to get her out of there quickly before the Blood Vultures decided to show up. And he’d meant to stay away, he really had, but—

“I actually appreciate what you did,” she said after his silence had gone on for too long.

Did she?

“ It is a trap ,” Exxo warned.

“I don’t really belong here, in this world, but it is good to know that I don’t belong elsewhere, either.” A wetness that Ved didn’t understand welled in her eyes. It collected on her curled lashes before spilling over to roll down her cheeks like dew on a leaf.

She took a shaky breath in that had her lips trembling. “Just leave me be, Ved. I’m tired,” she said stuffily before she rolled over on her side, giving her back to him.

Nevskol . Ved had hurt her in some way he didn’t fully comprehend. Her emotions were overwhelming to him—all salt and heaviness. In that moment, she was nothing like the curious, energetic female who’d once thrown a book at his face.

He let out a sound of disgust with himself and moved forward. The room was small, and everything was as delicately crafted as she was. Carefully, he crouched, bringing himself as low as he could. “Isobel Nott,” he rumbled, “look at me.”

She stiffened, and for a moment he thought she was going to ignore him, but she finally rolled over. Her honey eyes gleamed with that odd wetness as they met his gaze.

“What is this?” he murmured, gesturing to her face.

“Tears. From crying. We do it when we are sad, Ved.”

“I had no desire to make you sad.”

She lifted her shoulder up in a shrug.

He wetted his lips beneath his mask. Stars be damned, but he was so far out of his depth that he might as well be drowning beneath the Cascade Fall.

The desire to touch her, pull her into his arms and somehow take the sadness away with his bare hands, was unhelpful. That would definitely be on her list.

“It was an honor to have you on my ship and to share your company,” he said instead .

“But it’s dangerous,” she concluded with a sniff.

He grunted.

“I know your world is, Ved, and I know I don’t belong, but…” Her lips wobbled and something tore at his hearts at the sight. “I wanted to.” Her voice broke.

“It isn’t that you don’t belong, it’s that I couldn’t keep you safe from the Kroids,” he confessed, the words rushing out of him in a harsh rasp. The truth of it dug its claws into him. Shame. It was the same shame he felt for having failed Kravis and for being unable to fight in his youth.

That same weakness.

“You did, though,” she said, wiping tears away and revealing the expanse of flesh beneath her throat again. “And I trusted you would. I’m only sorry that I’m not a warrior, so that I didn’t need saving in the first place.”

“You are Isobel Nott. That is enough. I apologize that I made you feel like it wasn’t.” This time, he meant it.

More tears welled in her eyes.

He’d made her sad again? “If your trust in me hasn’t faltered, come back. My ship needs your help, and Exxo needs to be kept sharp,” he said quickly, not wanting her to cry anymore.

“I spoke to Exxo. He wasn’t rude in the least, and he helped save me from that terrifying creature.” A shudder ran through her, and he had to refrain from touching her. Damn her rules.

“Not rude? Don’t let him fool you,” he grumbled.

“Well, he has my undying gratitude. Please let him know.”

“ At least someone appreciates me ,” Exxo said.

Ved grunted. “Will you come back?”

“I’m not certain,” she murmured as she peered up at him .

With a huff, he searched her gaze. The way she looked at him sometimes, it felt like she could see through his mask. See beneath all his armor—into his very hearts. What more could he say?

“You hurt my feelings. ‘You don’t belong in my world,’” she mocked his deep voice. “And you’re only asking me to return because your ship and Exxo would like it?”

May the void take him. “It would please me, too.”

The silence sat heavy for a long time. Then she smiled for the first time that night. It was a radiant thing that captured his focus immediately, and he took it in hungrily. The violent urge to destroy everyone who’d ever witnessed it or been the cause of taking it away coursed through his veins.

“I will visit tomorrow,” she said, “as long as there are no Kroids.”

“No Kroids,” he agreed. Because if any more came—or the Blood Vultures, or the entirety of Clan Rax themselves—he would simply destroy them all before he let them harm her. In fact, after what they’d done to her, he may just make it his life’s mission to wipe Kroids from existence entirely.

“Then I must get some sleep,” she said with a tired smile, “so I’m ready for battle with Exxo tomorrow.”

“I’ll stay. I’d like to watch you sleep.”

An uncertain expression came over her face. Something told him that this, too, was not proper. He made no move to leave but tensed in preparation for her dismissal.

“Is this some Xaal custom?” she asked.

“Vay,” he lied.

“ It is a shame I cannot self-destruct, ” Exxo said.

“I see,” she murmured, then pulled the covers up around her again. “Goodnight, Ved. ”

“Goodnight, Isobel Nott,” he muttered as she closed her eyes and curled a hand beneath her chin.

He stayed long after she fell asleep, watching her chest rise and fall shallowly with slumber. Everything from the way her lips parted to the small furrow in her brow affected him.

Something warm curled in his chest, something unfamiliar and dangerous. Forbidden. He rubbed his knuckles hard over his sternum, willing the feeling to go away. Instead, as she made a soft sound and muttered nonsensical words in her sleep, it only grew fiercer.

“ You should have killed her when I told you to ,” Exxo said.

But even he lacked conviction.

They were both nevskold.