Page 39 of Third

And for now, it was enough.

Chapter10

TOR’VEK CROUCHEDover Anya, his body a solid wall between her and the creatures that prowled the wreckage below. His rij vibrated softly against his wrist, feeding him raw environmental data, but he barely needed the input. Instinct—hot, violent, twisting under his skin—already told him everything he needed toknow.

They were not Marauders.

The ship’s scan confirmed it. Primitive hominids. Low intelligence. Minimal technology. But numerous, opportunistic, and dangerously unpredictable.

Tor’Vek exhaled slowly through his nose, the heat of rage prickling under his skin, his muscles twitching with the roaring impulse to rise and crush them all. Every muscle in his body vibrated with restraint, adam straining against the flood of fury unleashed insidehim.

Beneath him, Anya shifted, her body sweeping against his. The light contact seared across his awareness, abrand of heat against the cold steel of hisrage.

She made a soft, broken sound—half whimper, half gasp—and he realized with brutal clarity that she was fighting her ownwar.

Lust.

The bond between them pulsed, alow throb that matched the frantic pace of her heartbeat. Her scent—sharp with fear and sweeter with craving—hit him hard, scraping against the frayed edges of his control.

His fists curled into the dirt, fingers digging into the broken soil as he forced himself to stay motionless. Protection was paramount. Logic demanded it. But his body—the primitive, brutal core of him—wanted something else entirely.

To seize. To claim. Tomark.

His jaw locked. His rij chimed quietly again, drawing him back from the edge. Environmental threat: Moderate. Recommend immediate disengagement or escalation of deterrent force.

He chose.

Subvocalizing the command, he triggered the rij’s defensive pulse.

A soft, invisible shockwave rippled out from the ship, triggered remotely by Tor’Vek’s command through his rij, carrying a frequency calibrated to disrupt nervous systems without causing lastingharm.

Below them, the hominids shrieked—araw, animal sound—and scattered in a chaotic tangle of limbs and hoarse cries. Some fled into the dense foliage. Others dropped to the ground, writhing briefly before scrambling to escape.

The tension in the air fractured, the immediate threat scattering like dust on thewind.

But the tension inside him did notease.

It sharpened.

He shifted his weight subtly, his body still covering Anya, his hand flattening instinctively against her lower back to keep her in place.

She trembled beneath him, her small frame vibrating with need and terror, her pulse a frantic drum against his senses.

Tor’Vek closed his eyes for a heartbeat, wrestling his instincts back into theircage.

They weresafe.

Fornow.

But if he stayed this close to her much longer, safe would mean surrendering to the violent, ravenous need tearing through him—aneed that might shatter both of them beyond repair.

He forced himself to lift his head, scanning the clearing with sharp, ruthless precision. No more movement among the wreckage. The primitive creatures were in full retreat, their disorganized ranks broken.

The rij fed him new data: the environmental scan was complete. Terrain mapped. Immediate threats catalogued. No other life signs within kilometers.

Good.

Tor’Vek subvocalized a new command, pulling a streamlined map overlay onto his visual field. There were scattered depressions and fissures farther out—possible natural shelters—but none offered the defensive integrity of the ship itself.

---