Theo glanced down at the sand between her feet. She knew Vasil was fond of her; he’d made no effort to hide his want since the beginning. But was she enough? She was a nobody, unwanted by most everyone she’d ever known. Why was he different? What could he possibly see in her that no one else did?
“Stop it,” Kane said.
“Stop what?”
“I know what you’re doing, Theodora Velenti. You’re in your own head, telling yourself that you’re not good enough, that he’s not going to come back for you because everyone that was supposed to care for you abandoned you.”
“I thought you couldn’t read my mind.”
“I don’t have to. I know you. And it’s bullshit. Malcolm didn’t leave you, he died. What was he supposed to have done about it? The others — your mother and your aunt — were not worthy of having you in their lives. You lost nothing in them. And who the hell is here talking to you right now? They would’ve removed me against my will when your term of service was up, but now you’re stuck with me until you’re dead, so stop the damned pity party!”
Theo smiled despite herself. “Wow. Thanks, Kane. You know, you’re not bad at this whole uplifting speech thing.”
“If I could, I’d have just kicked you right in the ass, Theo. I don’t have any other choice.”
She chuckled, glanced at the dry ration bar, and tossed it away. The thought of taking another bite nauseated her.
For several moments, she was quiet, running her fingertips through the sand and listening to the waves.
“Would it have been against your will, Kane? Would you have missed me?”
“Of course it would’ve been against my will, Theo. And what’s worse is they would’ve wiped my memory of all that after they extracted the information they wanted. I know us being stranded here isn’t ideal, and there’s still some underlying IDC protocol coding in me that says I should be helping you find a way off-planet, but…I’m glad for it. You are like an irritating and less-intelligent younger sister to me.”
Theo smiled. “Losing you would have been like losing a limb. I’m…glad this happened, too. I don’t think I could have gone through losing you. Not after Malcolm.”
And I don’t want to lose Vasil, either.
“Which limb?” he asked.
“Probably my head. I can’t live without that.”
“Good answer. I’ve taught you well.”
Theo laughed. Running her fingers through her hair, she looked up and stilled.
The sun had not yet fully risen over the jungle behind her, leaving the ocean a bleak, dark gray, but the figure wading toward her in the surf was immediately identifiable — Vasil. He moved forward at a steady pace, swaying as the tide continued its endless back-and-forth between shore and sea. He held a large, chest-like container between his hands, but his movements seemed unhindered by either its size or its weight.
His smile was radiant when their eyes met, in total defiance of the gloom.
Leaping to her feet, Theo ran toward him, heart pounding so rapidly that she felt as though it might burst from her chest. Vasil dropped the container on the beach and held his arms out to her. She slammed into him, embracing him tightly, and he wrapped her in his arms to hold her close. She didn’t care that he was soaking wet, or how cold his skin felt against hers because of it; all that mattered was he’d come back. He was safe.
“You scared the shit out of me,” she said.
“I am sorry, Theo,” he replied, tightening his hold on her. “I had little choice.”
Kane’s voice was soft through the neural link. “Um, Theo…there’s another one.”
Eyebrows falling low, Theo glanced up.
Another kraken stood in the surf not far behind Vasil. Theo’s eyes widened as she took him in; he had to be nearly half again as large as Vasil, with impossibly broad shoulders and thick, powerful muscles. She wouldn’t be surprised if he weighed more than three hundred and fifty kilograms. And, as though his size weren’t enough, his piercing amber eyes shone with a predatory glint, in stark contrast to his black skin.
Theo drew back from Vasil, keeping her eyes on the larger kraken. “Holy shit…”
Without removing his arms from her, Vasil twisted to glance at the other kraken. “He is Dracchus. Dracchus, she is Theo.” He turned his face back to her. “Did I perform the introduction correctly?”
“Huh?” Her understanding of his words came slowly. “Oh, uh, yeah. Vasil, he’s very…large.”
“Yes,” Vasil said.
Dracchus grunted. He also held a container in his arms; Theo guessed it was the same size as Vasil’s despite appearing smaller in Dracchus’s hold.
“Um, Hi.” Theo wiggled her fingers in greeting. She leaned closer to Vasil’s ear and whispered, “Why does he look like he wants to rip off my arms and beat me with them?”
Vasil glanced at Dracchus again and tilted his head. “That is just how he looks. Randall suggested it is some sort of medical condition called RBF, but he would not elaborate on what it meant.”
Theo pressed her lips together to hold in her laughter; she succeeded only in snorting.
Dracchus’s brows fell low over his unsettling eyes. “I do not mean you harm, human.” His voice was the deepest she’d ever heard — so deep that she wondered if it pained him to speak.
“Good. I wouldn’t want to have to hurt you,” Theo said, smirking. “There’s an old saying where I come from: the bigger they are, the harder they fall. And you look like you’d make a crater when you hit the ground.”
“I am not sure I like her,” Dracchus said.
“She is showing her lack of fear. Is that not what your mate would do?” asked Vasil.
“Humans do not speak that way when they are unafraid,” Dracchus replied.
“I’ll be honest,” said Theo, “you’re terrifying. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t try getting a few shots in before you grind my bones to a fine dust.”
Brow furrowed, Dracchus looked at Vasil for a moment before returning his gaze to Theo. “Why would I grind your bones to dust?”
“Just a saying. Annnnd since you don’t plan to, we don’t need to worry about it.” Theo pointed to the container in Dracchus’s hands. “What are those for?”
“For holding things,” Vasil replied.
“Kane, I believe your sarcasm is rubbing off on Vasil, and I don’t know how I feel about that.”
“You should feel thrilled,” Kane said aloud, causing Dracchus’s eyes to widen infinitesimally. “He just became that much more interesting.”
“That was the computer inside her?” asked Dracchus.
“Computer is such a diminishing, impersonal term. My name is Kane.”
“It does not sound like Sam or the Computer in the Facility,” Dracchus said.
“Unless you want to be referred to as it, kraken, I suggest you accept that I am not an object to be dehumanized by your lack of consideration.”
Dracchus frowned deeply. “It speaks, but not our language.”
Theo rolled her eyes. “He is not an it. It’s not that hard to understand.”
“It is easy to understand when you say it. Tell your computer to speak plainly, like you.”
“I can obviously hear you, kraken,” Kane said.
“Kane, this is Dracchus. Dracchus, this is Kane,” Vasil said. “Are we done now?”
Once again, Dracchus grunted.
“We’re so not starting off on the right foot — or tentacle,” Theo said with a smirk. “Anyway, back to my original question: what are those containers for?”
Vasil removed his arm from Theo, turned to the container he’d set down, and opened it. He removed a small black suit from within. “This is so you can swim with us. The containers are to hold your belongings along the way.”
Theo arched a brow. “Looks a little…undersized.”
Taking the suit by the shoulders, Vasil held it up in front of her body. It looked perfectly sized — for a six-year-old. “It will
accommodate you.”
“If you say so,” she said, eyeing the suit skeptically. “I assume you found your home, then?”
He nodded. “We will go to the Facility first. The journey to The Watch, where I keep my den, is too long to make in one day.”
Turning, Theo looked back, running her gaze over the pod, the circle of stones that served as their fire pit and the wood piled nearby it, and the line she’d put up to hang-dry her clothing. The little camp had become special to her — the place she shared with Vasil, a place of healing.
In many ways, it had been more of a home than anywhere else she’d ever lived.
“We’re leaving now?” she asked.
He took her chin between his fingers and guided her face back toward his. “We are not safe here, Theo. We will leave as soon as you are ready.”
Theo searched his eyes. Vasil was right. While most of their needs were met here, it wasn’t an ideal place to live, and it had been the company that made her time here memorable. The rest was just scrap and sand.
“Okay,” she said.
“Is that the pod?” Dracchus asked.
Theo glanced at the big kraken to find him moving inland. Vasil released his gentle hold on her chin as they both turned to watch Dracchus slowly advance on the pod; it reminded Theo of a predatory beast creeping up behind its prey, and the thought of a fierce-looking being like Dracchus stalking an inanimate object nearly made her laugh again.
“So why is he here?” Theo asked.
“In part because he does not trust you,” Vasil replied, “but primarily because he does trust me. It will be safer to travel with Dracchus along.”
Dracchus dropped his container a few meters away from the pod without altering the speed of his cautious approach.
“Well, it could be worse.” Theo stepped closer to Vasil and pressed a kiss to his lips. “You didn’t trust me at first, either.”
Vasil’s mouth didn’t seem certain whether it wanted to smile or frown. “That seems a lifetime ago.”
“Not that long.” She gestured at the container on the sand. “Come on, let’s see how much we can fit into those.”
With a nod, Vasil dropped the suit into the container, closed the lid, and stooped to lift the whole thing into his arms.
Dracchus was examining the exterior of the pod when Theo and Vasil neared him. As Vasil placed his container beside the other, Dracchus lifted one end of the pod up from the sand, revealing the extent of the damage it had suffered on its underside.
“That is impressive. And rather unsettling,” Kane said in her mind.
His strength? Theo asked.
“Not just that, but how effortless it looks for him. Probably best to stay close to Vasil if this Dracchus doesn’t fully trust you.”
“Good idea,” she muttered.
“What happened to this?” Dracchus asked, turning his head to look at Theo.
“Debris from the explosion.”
“What explosion?”
“I was a crewmember of an IDC battlecruiser, the CSC Agamemnon. There was an evacuation alert. I boarded one of the maintenance-level escape pods and was jettisoned into space, and the ship blew up behind me.” Theo folded her arms across her chest and held Dracchus’s gaze. “You want my full name, rank, and serial number, too?”
Dracchus lowered the pod onto the sand and moved around to its front. “Do you have more than one name like the other humans?” He stopped at the open hatch and grasped the edge of the opening. Rather than pulling himself up, he pulled the whole pod down, angling it to see inside. Some of Theo’s belongings clattered and clanked within.
She hurried toward him. “Hey! Be careful!”
Dracchus glanced at her over his shoulder, holding the pod in place — with one hand — for several seconds. Then he slowly released his grasp, returning it to its prior position. He turned to face Theo fully, his face a neutral but surprisingly intimidating mask — likely because she had to look so far up to meet his gaze.
“You have no contact with them?” he asked.
Theo rolled her eyes and looked at Vasil as though to say really?
Vasil’s expression fell into something darker and more frustrated than she’d seen from him yet. “I already told you, Dracchus.”
“I want to hear it from her.”
Theo glared at Dracchus as she climbed into the pod. Once she was inside, she turned to face him, bracing her hands on the edge of the opening. “Since Vasil’s word doesn’t seem to be good enough for you, I’ll give you mine. I have no contact with the IDC. If I did, I would have already called them for a rescue a long time ago. There are no satellites near this planet, and I don’t have a signal strong enough to reach them. Happy?”
Dracchus held her gaze unflinchingly; he certainly didn’t look happy.
Vasil moved up next to Dracchus and put a hand on his arm. “I trust her, Dracchus, as I have told you. She is my mate.”
Theo turned her attention to Vasil, eyes flaring. Warmth spread through her chest at the sound of that word — mate — and were Dracchus not present, she would have leapt upon Vasil and had her way with him that very moment.
“You made her change color, Vasil,” Dracchus said. Though his tone was as flat as ever, the corners of his mouth tipped slightly upward.
Theo chose to ignore his comment, as though that would somehow ease the heat reddening her cheeks. “Oh my God, you can smile! I was afraid your face was permanently stuck like that.”
Dracchus grunted, and his mouth returned to its prior state. He turned to Vasil. “She is spirited. I have decided I do like her.”
Vasil frowned. “I was not seeking your approval, Dracchus.”
“And yet you have it,” Dracchus replied.
Shaking his head, Vasil collected one of the containers and carried it to the pod, where he held it up for Theo to take. She set the container on the pod’s floor, opened it, and pulled out the child-sized diving suit.
“You’re wanting me to change into this, right?” she asked.
“Yes,” Vasil replied as he raised his body to fill hatch opening. “You cannot wear any clothing beneath, or it will not function properly.”
Theo grinned at him. “You just want to see me naked.”
“Of course. And I want to make sure he does not see.”
The possessiveness in his voice produced a flare of heat in her core.
“I have my own mate,” Dracchus said from outside.
“That does not matter.” Vasil drew himself into the pod and, without looking away from Theo, reached up to grasp the handles on the hatch and pull it closed. His position blocked the window with his back and made the space inside feel suddenly very, very small.
The intensity in his eyes only increased that feeling.
“I guess tight spaces don’t bother you anymore, huh?” she asked.
“I have something to distract me.”
Theo raised her hands and released the jumpsuit’s seal. As the material loosened, she slowly lowered one sleeve to reveal her bare shoulder.
“Think we could squeeze in a quickie?” she teased.
His eyes dipped, gleaming with undisguised want, and his nostrils flared. “Yes. But Dracchus would know.”
“So?”
Vasil grinned. “I have missed you, human.”
He had no idea what those words did to her; no one had ever missed her. She smiled, the heat spreading from her core to consume her entire body, turning into something deeper, something more intense.
Two of his tentacles swept behind her back, drawing her against his body. He lowered his head and captured her mouth, kissing her fiercely, confidently — a far cry from the first, uncertain kiss he’d given her.
Dropping the diving suit, Theo took his face between her hands and returned the kiss with equal fervor. She nipped his lower lip before pulling back to meet his gaze.
A low, rumbling sound vibrated from his chest. “We have a long journey ahead, Theo. It is best we waste no d
aylight.”
“Later then,” she said, rubbing her body against his, “so we can take our time.” She felt the hard press of his cock against his slit even through her clothing.
“You make an already difficult task nearly impossible, female.” Releasing his hold on her, Vasil turned away, tension rippling through the muscles of his back.
Theo stepped forward and kissed between his shoulders. “The wait will be worth it. Besides, I’m sure you’re exhausted.”
“Never too tired for you,” he said over his shoulder.
She laughed. “Keep saying things like that and see how I reward you.”
Catching her lower lip in her teeth, she trailed the tip of a finger down his spine. His back arched, and a gentle tremor shook his shoulders. She smiled to herself as she removed her jumpsuit. Once she was naked, she snatched the diving suit off the floor and held it up in both hands.
A blue outline appeared around the suit, and an instant later, Kane highlighted the internal systems, revealing intricate networks of wiring within the material. It all connected to two sets of controls, one at the wrist and one on the chest. A series of model numbers and technical specs scrolled through the corner of her retinal display.
“It’s a Tureon Industries Personal Diving System,” Kane said aloud, “commissioned by the IDC three hundred and seventy-nine years ago. I’m displaying the model and specs, but I know you’re not paying attention. All you need to know is that it will stretch to fit your body.”
Theo’s brows fell. “Let me get this straight, Kane — you can identify an obscure piece of equipment from four hundred years ago by sight, but you don’t have any relevant information on survival in your database?”
“Well, it’s not like you had much relevant information on survival, either,” he replied.
Theo bent down and slipped her legs into the suit. The material stretched easily around her body as she tugged it up. Despite how much the material stretched, its fit was comfortable — she’d expected it to constrict her half to death. “Yeah, but you’re supposed to be my AI. You know, my intelligence.”
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