Racing Toward Desire

by Lily Thomas

  Vlek stood up on a log. “My mate and I are going to retire for the night!”

  Everyone let out a cheer, and she covered her ears because of the amount of noise, but she let out a couple whoops of her own.

  “Seriously?” Olivia complained at his announcement.

  With that, the happy couple disappeared into their hut, and Sophia smiled. It was time for her to get some food before she went to the communal human tent and got some rest.

  As she approached the other smaller cooking fire, she searched for Zro’eq but didn’t find him anywhere nearby. Good. She could grab some food and then disappear, which would make him happy, she was sure.

  Thank goodness Zro’eq hadn’t been the leader of the clan or he would have left them to die in the forest or he would have sentenced them to death. She wasn’t quite sure which one he would’ve chosen. That was man was a big mass of grump.

  “What would you like?” A Feosua male asked her as she eyed the cooking fire.

  “How about a leg?” She looked at the crispy skin of the animal in front of her. It wasn’t a donut, but at least it looked greasy and delicious. Whatever she could get.

  He took it off the fire and handed it to her on a large leaf.

  “Thank you.” Sophia walked away as she dug into the leg. Yum! Her eyes slid closed as she chewed on the meat.

  It looked like they were finally letting the bonfire die down, probably because the happy couple had gone to bed. It was time for the festivities to die down and everyone to get a little rest.

  Finishing off the leg, she tossed the bone into the fire and went in search of her tent. Time to get some rest and hopefully the happy couple would wake up at a decent time so she could run an idea she’d been toying with by them.

  Chapter 2

  Sophia looked around the camp as she stretched her arms high above her head. The sun was just peeking out from over the horizon. Its rays brightening up the day. She was the kind of person who liked to rise with the sun, especially here on this planet where the clouds were being lit up with pleasant hues. It had to be one of the best planets to be stranded on.

  Her eyes slowly skimmed the village, and she found Zro’eq leaving his tent.

  Oh jeeze. She groaned.

  It appeared he was an early riser too. She rolled her eyes and made her way to the still warm coals of the bonfire from last night. Holding out her hands, she enjoyed the warmth from the fire.

  Then she saw Zro’eq grabbing some food that was left over from the celebration last night, and despite her best intentions, she found herself staring openly at him. He glanced over and their eyes collided like two asteroids, nearly felling her with their intensity.

  His golden eyes seemed to pierce straight through her, and she shuddered as he skimmed over her, assessing her. She could still feel the hate radiating off of him, but there was an interest in those golden depths that she didn’t even want to think about.

  Turning on a heel, Sophia broke the contact and headed back into the center of the village. She wanted to see if anyone else was awake other than herself and Zro’eq, the grumpiest man alive.

  Her eyes lighted up when she spotted Olivia walking out of her hut that she now shared with Vlek.

  “Olivia!” Sophia held up a hand and waved.

  Olivia waved back, but her eyes were still a little glazed, and there were bags developing under her eyes. Someone had a long night last night.

  “You look tired but happy.”

  “I don’t think I got a lick of sleep last night.” Olivia yawned, trying but failing to cover such a large yawn with her hand.

  She wiggled her eyebrows. “Vlek kept you busy then?”

  “I did.” Vlek pushed through their hut doors and wrapped his arms around Olivia’s waist, bring her firmly against his chest. “And we still aren’t finished.” He leaned down and nuzzled her neck.

  Sophia’s heart squeezed a bit. That kind of love that Vlek showered Olivia in was hard to find.

  “You two are just the sweetest.”

  Olivia beamed. “So, what is it you need or did you just hail me down to see how my night went?”

  “Well,” Sophia ventured, “I was hoping I could get a team together and search for the missing women. They are still out there, and we should find them. We can’t just forget about them.”

  “No one will be able to assist you today.” Vlek shook his head his golden eyes meeting hers. “They won’t be awake until much later today. The festivities went late into the night, and they all need to rest it off.”

  Sophia glanced around the village. He was right about that. Barely anyone was up.

  “And I plan on going back to bed the moment I have something to eat.” Olivia agreed. “It was only the growling of my stomach that got me up and out of the tent.”

  Vlek leaned down and growled something in her ear that Sophia couldn’t hear, but Olivia’s cheeks heated. “We will not! I need sleep, or I’ll be a zombie!”

  She was almost a bit envious of what those two had.

  Vlek cocked his head to the side. “What is a zombie?”

  “A dead person who is still able to move.”

  Vlek’s eyes widened. “Your world is stranger than I could’ve ever imagined.”

  “They aren’t real.” Olivia rushed to tell him. “They are just a scary story to terrify people.”

  “So, I’ll have to wait?” Sophia asked feeling a pit of dread enter her stomach. Those two women, Emma and Harper, were still out there. It didn’t feel right to her that they were all here safe and sound in a village while those two might still be lost in the rainforest.

  What if their translators had failed, and they were unable to talk to any of the natives? Vlek’s tribe wasn’t the only village in the area.

  Olivia frowned. “I’d hate to wait too long to find them because you have a good point, they’re still out there, and we need to rescue them.” She turned in Vlek’s arms. “What can we do?”

  “I say we send her out to find them, and I know of one Feosua warrior who didn’t join in the festivities that can join her.”

  “You do?” They both said in unison.

  “Zro’eq!” Vlek yelled across the village. “Come over here! I have a task for you.”

  Sophia turned to see Zro’eq still eating near the warm coals of the bonfire.

  “Oh no.” She groaned.

  “What’s wrong?” Olivia asked.

  Sophia turned back to her. “Don’t you have anyone else? Anyone other than him?”

  “What’s so wrong with him?” Olivia cocked her head to the side.

  “He glares at me every day all day. I don’t know why, but he clearly hates me.”

  “Do you want to go out and find the other women or not?” Olivia rubbed her forehead clearly still trying to recover from the party that’d been thrown last night and her lack of sleep.

  Sophia was going to guess the night’s festivities were catching up to her. “I do want to find them.”

  “What do you need?” Zro’eq pulled up beside her, and she noticed his golden eyes glance at her before focusing in on Vlek.

  “I’ve got a task for you. You are the only warrior who is currently capable of heading out with Sophia to find a couple of missing women.” Vlek informed him, and Sophia could see Zro’eq’s eyes harden.

  “Just us?” Zro’eq growled.

  “Get whatever you need, and Sophia will let you know what they know and then you two can head out to find the other women before something else does.” Vlek guided Olivia away from the group, done with the conversation.

  He was the leader, and his word was law here.

  “I just want it to be clear that I didn’t ask for you.” Sophia turned to Zro’eq and pointed a finger in his direction.

  “Yet I still ended up being paired up with you.” He growled, baring his canines. “Get yourself ready and meet me by the cliff when you’re ready to leave.” With that, he spun on a heel and left her to stand there and glare at hi
s receding back.

  “I can’t believe this.” She muttered to herself and shook her head. He was the only warrior she didn’t want to be paired with, and now she was stuck with him for a journey that could end up being super long. Ugh.

  Hope you enjoyed your excerpt! Comes out January 31st 2019! If you sign up for my email list, you can be sure that you won’t miss a single book!