Page 17 of Her Lawless Prince

Did she know how torturous she was being?

The thin trails moved over her hip. His hand flexed in response as if he could feel the curve of it beneath his fingers. One zigzagged up her thigh, and he wished that were his tongue as it concentrated along the apex. When she lifted her hands to her hair, letting the waves fall through her fingers, he couldn’t breathe. The lights danced over her breasts and along her stomach.

He’d had so many fantasies of her, an alien princess, but none of them compared to this reality. Before, she’d been like an intergalactic celebrity created just for him—a familiar image that his mind could play with. But now she was flesh and bone, a woman within crawling distance.

His mind could not control her actions. He couldn’t make her look at him, beckoning him to join her in the small space—a space so narrow they’d be forced to touch. He couldn’t make her whisper how much she needed him. And he found he didn’t want to. Yes, he wantedher, but he didn’t want to control her like a fantasy.

She picked up the shirt from the floor and held it in front of the lights to clean it. The lasers concentrated on the tear where the blaster had hit his arm to remove the blood.

When the lasers shut off, it cast them into a dim light. The ship’s environment had changed to mimic nighttime darkness.

“It’s like a cave in here,” she observed as she held the shirt in her hands. “I’m tempted to sleep shifted. It will be more comfortable.”

Nyle tried to speak, but no words formed a response.

Payton chuckled. She tossed his shirt onto the platform. “Don’t worry. I won’t eat you.”

He watched as white fur rippled over her body. He heard the soft crack of bones as she fell forward to her hands and knees. Her body expanded beyond the confines of her human form. Claws clanked softly on the metal floor. His heartbeat quickened to be in a room with what looked to be a wild beast.

Payton’s fanged mouth opened wide as she yawned. The low rumble of her voice crackled. Nyle would have preferred to sleep next to a human woman rather than a cat, but it was probably for the best. After what he had witnessed in the decontaminator, he wasn’t sure he could keep his hands to himself all night. There was only so much space in the small room to lie down, and knowing she was close would surely mess with his dreams.

Payton leaped onto the hard platform, walked in a circle, and then settled on her bed for the night. It seemed she did not intend to rest next to him on the floor mats.

Nyle watched her for a moment before going toward the decontaminator to bathe. Her head did not turn in his direction.

He knew he had no right to feel disappointed. It wasn’t like he could act on his attraction. She was a princess. He was the last living person who could be held accountable for the tragedy on Cysgod. In no universe would they end up together.

6

Nyle’s presumptionhad been correct. Their mercenary captors didn’t trust him unsupervised with tools. They also didn’t trust Payton within ten feet of them. After the first night, they forced Nyle to carry Yevgen to another part of the ship, leaving her alone, locked inside the small room.

The fear had been easier to manage when Nyle was trapped with her. He gave her something to focus on outside of herself.

Payton longed for the fresh air, the feeling of dirt under her feet, and the sound of the wind crashing through the leaves overhead. The rows of lights did not change. The air did not move. She had run her hands over the walls, looking for secret compartments. There were none.

The metal walls, ceilings, and floors created an oppressive prison cell, and she felt the panels pressing in on her. It made it difficult to breathe. She even left the corner decontamination booth open for the few extra feet that it allowed and the variance in the horizontal patterns.

Payton tried to tell herself to focus on the future, on the next task that needed to be done. Only, in a cell, that meant one thing—don’t lose her mind. Without a sky, there was no counting the minutes ticking past. She closed her eyes and tried to picture herself running through the forest. It worked for a moment, but then she’d come up against a large tree and would be unable to pass as it grew around her like the cell walls.

She thought of her parents, of those moments when the days she’d been missing became months and then years. Her father would tear up the entire planet looking for her. Her mother would tear up the high skies. That search would become their lives.

Would they blame the Federation?

Would they blame the Draig and start the old wars against the dragons?

Would they blame her?

Would they blame themselves?

Her stomach growled in protest, and she frowned. She should’ve eaten the dirty leaf foam.

Payton saw the fear in their captors’ eyes when they looked at her. Would they starve her in this cage instead of facing her claws again?

What if Nyle didn’t return? What if Yevgen turned on and gave away his secrets? What if Yevgen never turned on again?

Payton had spent plenty of time alone, but never like this. She paced in endless circles, trapped with her thoughts. This could not be how her life ended. She wasn’t prepared for it. She should have at least five hundred more years before she had to think about dying.

The sound of the door sliding open caused her to jolt in alarm. She swung around to face whoever intruded upon her mounting panic.

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