Page 47 of Sawoots Story

I giggle, playing like I’m looking forward to it. Hell. Half of me is. “Don’t worry. I can handle a couple of men. In fact, if you want to take your time…”

Tasha bites her lip, and I see a flash of jealousy painted on her face. Gods. If she’s jealous, it must have been good. Life-changing good.

Her legs jerk. She’s taken two steps towards the door when she stops. “Dammit! He’s in my mind!” She looks at me in shock, and I realize that Aelon must have sent her a command to come to him, a command that made her legs jerk before she even realized what he said. “They can send telepathic messages. Did you know that?”

I shake my head. I suspected Aurelians could communicate with their own triad, but I never knew a human could be part of it. “No, my friend never told me aboutthat. I wonder what else there is with the Bond we don’t know about? Anyways, who was it? And what did he tell you?’

“It was Aelon.” She rolls her eyes. “Heorderedme to come to his chambers. No ‘please.’ No ‘thank you.’ Just ‘get my ass in gear.’” Tasha shakes her head. “It’s like he thinks heownsme.”

As if anyone could own Tasha.

She’s wild. Free, after my own heart. Captain Aelon’s going to have a rude surprise when he realizes not all human women are submissive little toys to be tamed and claimed. When she escapes his grasp, he’s going to gnash his teeth in impotent rage.

It’s…hot though.

The idea of a powerful, alien warrior who aches to control you. Who tries everything he can to tame you. I never thought that would be a turn-on, but all the men who have tried to control me in the past fell woefully short.

No man has ever been able to make me crave submission.

I smile. “Dammit. I mean—I get it. He’s arrogant and everything… But it’s kind of hot. Fuck. I wish I was Bonded to Garrick. I know you say it’s not all it’s cracked up to be, but I want tofeel that connection. He saved my life. You have no idea what Kit was going to do to me. His triad were like animals—hungry animals.”

“Maybe youareBonded to Garrick,” she teases me. “I guess you’ll find out tonight.”

I don’t let her see my pain. Because I ache for that, in a way I never knew I could want something, and I know it will never be true.

Kit was a hungry animal.

Garrick doesn’t feel that. It doesn’t take a spaceship engineer to put two and two together. If any triad was Bonded to me? It was the three cursed beasts who got their heads removed from their bodies.

“Ugh—I’d better get going. I don’t want to do everything he says, but there’s no reason to disobey Aelon today and make him suspicious. He just does whatever the fuck he wants anyway.”

“Don’t all men?” They do what they want, and they lose what they need because of it.” I almost feel bad for guys. Sometimes I think all that testosterone marinates their brains.

Tasha snorts. “That’s why men need a leader.”

If there’s any woman who could lead Captain Aelon and his headstrong triad, it’s Tasha. Aelon’s getting off easy with our escape attempt. He wouldn’t know what hit him if she stayed with him. I bet she’d have him picking out fabrics and patterns at a rug dealer within a week.

Or within a decade. Tasha’s got time to mold him into the man she needs, if she wanted to. I’m going to watch myself grow old while my best friend stays young.

I force that out of my mind.

Tomorrow isn’t promised to anyone. I just need to get off this warship alive. I can have my existential crisis later.

“Alright, Sawoot, next time I see you, we’ll be running for our fucking lives. Get ready—The Instigatoris going to be in our rear-view soon enough.”

“Don’t be late, Tasha,” I warn, “or he might just spank you again.”

She leans forward to give me a shove, but I dart back, laughing. Gods. It feels good to tease my best friend.

“You know…I didn’t tell you at the time, but you know when he was punishing me? Right about halfway through, I couldn’t handle any more, so I asked Aelon to go easy on me. Hedid. All that yelling and screaming was just an act.”

I remember the instant I realized she was playing along, and it made me imagine being put over Garrick’s lap. “Of course I knew. You think you can fool me? You wouldn’t have been crying like Theme unless it was an act.”

She scowls. She’s always been protective of the boy. “Don’t you start with him! He’s going to be the reason we get our asses out of here.”

“I know, I know, I’m awful. Alright—go see what your Aurelian wants. I think I know, though...”

“Shut up,” she says, walking away. The doors open and close, leaving me alone with my thoughts, again.

---