I felt the same need for the human female.
I knew that Alcide would feel it, too. I was relying on it, relying on his instincts overriding his logic – and his conscience. I’d kidnapped her, after all, the very thing Alcide had spent months trying not to do. I studied his profile, watching his instincts – the core of him, what made him Roth – war with his morals – the things that made himAlcide– through his flickering expressions. Her unconscious state would be wreaking havoc with his hormones: he’d feel anxious, restless. His stomach would churn with the pressure to protect, to eliminate any potential threats. And when he caught her scent …
His hand went to his sword as his eyes turned to me.
I held up my hands. ‘Calm, Prince,’ I said softly. ‘It’s me. It’s Callan.’
‘Callan,’ he repeated, my name rolling off his tongue, igniting a flare of desire that licked up my spine. I tried to ignore it. Alcide was handsome, with a strong jaw, high cheekbones, and a nose that would have been straight had it not been for his father’s fists. He was tall and muscled and graceful, but it was more thanthat; he wasAlcide, the male I’d known since before we could speak. He was as much part of myself as my own hands, as my ownsoul– not that I’d ever tell him.
I’d be killed on sight if the King ever found out, and even if it was only ever one-sided, I couldn’t bear to think about what the King might do to Alcide.
My Prince took another deep breath, inhaling the female’s scent, then rubbed his eyes with long, strong fingers. ‘You’re going to be the death of me, Callan.’
Never, I vowed. ‘So …?’
His black eyes swept over her small form; his expression was at once possessive and full of regret. ‘Where will we put her?’
I pushed away a thrill of triumph, and the stab of guilt that immediately followed it. ‘She can’t go to the cells.’ The cells should have been full of the females we were sent to collect; instead, they were locked and empty. ‘And she can’t go anywhere near the crew.’
‘No. It won’t be safe.’ He paused. ‘Nowhereon this ship is safe, Cal.’
‘She’ll be safe in here with you.’
‘I can’t keep her in my room,’ he snapped. ‘What would she think?’
‘Or,’ I said tentatively, steeling myself, ‘you could keep herherebutnot here.’
Alcide rubbed his temples. ‘Callan –’
I gestured to the door at the far end of Alcide’s quarters, the door that only Alcide could open. It hid a short corridor with a single window, and, at the end of the corridor, a cell.
He frowned at me. ‘Youcan’tbe serious.’
‘Think about it. Only you have access. No one will be able to get to her. No one will know she’s there.’
‘No oneexcept the beingalready chained in there, Callan.’
‘He’s neutralised,’ I argued. ‘He can’t do anything with that dark matter chain wrapped around his ankle, Cide. He can’t evenmove. He won’t be able to touch her.’ I paused. ‘When it comes down to it, will she be safer withhim, or with your crew?’
Alcide stared at the human, then leaned down and covered her in the blanket from his bed, careful not to touch her. ‘Fine,’ he said softly. ‘I’ll adjust the security overrides to give you access.’ He looked up, pinning me with his gaze. ‘She is your responsibility, Callan.’
I saluted him. ‘Yes, Prince. You won’t regret this.’
I gathered the female in my arms and carried her to the door as Alcide tapped on the screen next to his bed. I wasn’t far away enough to miss what he said.
‘I think I already do.’
A burning pain shotthrough my finger as I tore another nail.
I stared at the hand –myhand, I reminded myself. ‘What good are you?’ I asked it. ‘What is thepurposeof fingernails?’
It didn’t answer.
I couldn’t decide whether I was disappointed or relieved at its lack of response. On the one hand –ha– I was entirely, exceedingly, mind-numbingly bored. On the other, I was slightly concerned that I was dancing on the edge of madness, and surely talking body parts would signal that I had slid over the precipice and fallen straight into that abyss.
I wasn’t made to be alone. And Iespeciallywasn’t made to be alone and trapped in a form as dull and soft as this one.
‘Stupid fleshbag,’ I muttered.
