Page 48 of Owned By the Hvrok

He led her through the corridor in silence, toward the cockpit—toward the heart of the ship—where he would try, for the first time, to show hersomething. To see if the nav system could translate even the barest scrap of information—just enough to help herunderstand.

And as they walked, he heard everything.

Her footsteps—soft, hesitant, barely audible against the corridor floor. The faint rustle of her strange, body-clinging garment. The shallow rasp of her breathing as she followed behind him, quiet but alert.

She was afraid. He couldsmellit.

But she still followed.

He supposed, for such a defenseless creature, she was... brave. Not suicidal. Not reckless. But not broken either. Even now, collared, captured, and stranded on a hostile world, shekept herself upright. Kept moving. Kept watching him with those wary, jewel-toned eyes.

It was unexpected.

And strangely... admirable.

Under different circumstances—during the predictability of a quiet, stable journey—he would have begun her conditioning already. Not force, but training. Gentle correction. Controlled exposure to his expectations. Letting her adapt slowly, until they reached Ivokka—his home.

A planet forgotten by most. Wild. Unspoiled.

Where his pod-dwelling waited among the verdant meadows and low stone hills. Fortified. Hidden.

Safe.

But now… none of that mattered.

Now they were marooned onAnakris.

He needed her to comply. But not blindly. Not out of fear. That would only invite panic later, when he wasn’t there to restrain it.

She had tounderstand.

No running.

No defiance.

And above all, no fear that would drive her into the wilds where theNalgarwould scent her blood before the snow even stopped falling.

A low growl vibrated from his chest, audible only to himself beneath the helm.

This wasridiculous. Unplanned. Inefficient.

She wasn’t supposed to matter this much.

They reached the cockpit.

The door opened with a dry hiss, revealing a dim command center lit by the pulsing amber of damage alerts. Holo projections flickered across the console—power failures, depleted reserves, a dozen systems offline.

He stepped aside to let her enter, watching the way she hovered near the threshold.

Then she stepped forward... and saw it.

The window.

The world outside.

Snow-swept peaks stretched endlessly in all directions, jagged mountains rising like white knives. Mist coiled between the cliffs, heavy and slow, and through it, the red sun sank low on the horizon, casting a blood-tinged glow across the landscape. It bled through the vapor like an open wound, staining the snow in shades of rust and crimson.

The light was dying.

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