He’s silent, but his arm around my waist clutches me closer to him.
“Stay with me, Zoey. You need to fight. Fight to live.”
It’s ironic, really. Because when he’s around, I no longer feel like someone is sitting on my chest. I can…breathe.
Part of me wishes it had been anyone but Tagiz who helped rescue me that day. Because when someone sees you at your worst, it’s hard to remove that memory from their minds. I’m pretty sure every time he looks at me, he sees me gasping for air and choking on mucus.
Sexy. Real sexy.
I firm my lips. I’m going to make him see me as a woman. And when he does, I’m going to make him beg for me.
Chapter Two
Zoey
Nevada calls a meeting when I get back to camp. The warriors will be having their own meetings, but she acts as our intermediary, keeping us informed about everything we need to know. She also passes any important information on to Rakiz and negotiates with him when we want to do something the Braxians probably won’t approve of.
Usually, we’d all file into one of the spare kradis. But with the new human women, we can’t fit. So we meet in a small clearing instead. Nevada trained our sentries herself, so I know she takes this attack personally. Unfortunately, the Dokhalls are much smarter than the Voildi, and they’re motivated by the fact we have their ship.
Our ship.
I sigh as I glance around the clearing. Sometimes I still have to pinch myself when I wake up to an emerald sky. What would I have changed if I’d known I’d end up on this planet? What would I have done differently?
There’s no point looking back. I know that now—after so many days in that cage, waiting to die. All I can do is look forward, even though I have no idea what my future will hold.
“How are you feeling?” I ask Nevada as she scans the clearing, her foot tapping impatiently as she waits for everyone to arrive.
“Like I have a brick sitting on my bladder,” she murmurs.
I laugh, and she meets my eyes with a smile.
“Here.” She grabs my hand and pulls it to her stomach, waiting a moment, and I grin at her as a tiny hand or foot makes contact with my palm.
“That’s amazing. I’m so happy for you, Nevada.”
By now, I’m close with all the human women I arrived here with. But I have a special bond with Nevada. She saved me when I was certain I was going to die. And she did it in style, blowing up the horrible building where I was being kept in that cage.
Of course, she didn’t do it alone. Rakiz, Hewex, and Tagiz were there with her.
“Just keep breathing, female. I’ll get you out of here.”
I shake off the memories, laughing as the baby kicks my hand again.
“Do you know when you’re due?”
She shrugs. “Moni said it’s not uncommon for Braxian babies to be born after four or five months. Since it’s nine months for us humans, I’m guessing it’ll be somewhere in between.”
That explains the size of the bump. “Wow,” I say. “I don’t know if I’d be able to deal with the mystery of it all.”
She snorts. “You’re telling me. I’m attempting to be Zen about it, but it’s not my best thing.”
I laugh and leave her to wrangle the women as they arrive. I wave across the clearing to Maez, who’s currently deep in conversation with a woman named Emma. She raises her hand with a grin, and I find a seat next to Ellie, who smiles as I plop down next to her. She’s also pregnant, and I take her wrist, automatically pressing two fingers to her pulse. Her smile widens, but she’s quiet as we watch everyone arrive.
“Where’s Charlie?” I ask.
“She and Dragix are doing regular flyovers. Turns out, purple is easy to spot from up high. They’re hunting any Dokhalls they see.”
I smile at that. I never could’ve imagined dragons existed. Or that they turned into incredibly hot men.
Shows what I knew.
The clearing begins filling up as more of the new women arrive, and I study them.
The women were on the ship of Dokhalls, on their way to be taken back to the Dokhalls’ planet after they had been bought at the slave market. Just like we were. It was their lucky day when the Dokhalls were sent to check out this planet instead. The Dokhalls were looking for their “products” that had escaped, and instead, many of them ended up dead.
But not all of them.
Sarissa leans back against one of the trees, her eyes serious as she watches everyone and everything. She managed to keep the other women from losing their minds when they first got free, and since then, she seems to have handed over leadership to a woman called Clara.
Clara immediately heads toward Nevada when she arrives, and they murmur to each other for a moment. I feel a pang as I realize I’ve only spoken to Clara once. I’ve mostly been burying myself in the healers’ kradi.
Alexis steps through the trees, and I jump to my feet, throwing my arms around her.
“What are you doing here? I thought you and Dexar were staying at camp?”
“We were until this attack. I’ve been examining the ship regularly, and Dexar lost his shit when he heard the Dokhalls killed Rakiz’s men.” She chews on her lip. “He says he won’t let me go near any ship again until the Dokhall issue has been ‘resolved.’”
Sarissa snorts from where she’s still sitting against the tree. “Resolved. I like it.”
Alexis grins at her. “Same.” Her grin falls. “But I can’t figure out our next step with this ship until we’ve handled the Dokhalls.”
Sarissa nods and opens her mouth, but Nevada raises her hand, gesturing for everyone to shut up.
“Holy shit,” Alexis murmurs. “Is she wearing a…dress?”
I laugh. “Yeah, there were only so many times she
