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Without thinking, he found hiive Lundric orders, didn’t pause for anything He put his oxygen helmet on The hatch opened and closed behind him He boarded his ship and flicked on the switches With the ship in cloaking mode, he took off, on the most direct course for the palatial pod

Veck the vow Veck everything

Leora was his

~~

Leora pushed her damp hair out of her face and swiped at her tears with the back of her hand She couldn’t cry forever There had been worse things in her life She’d had her three-year-old taken from her Had lost her mate Had survived as a slave for over forty solar cycles

Life was easy for her now She’d been offered freedom She wasn’t required to work She lived in beautiful, luxurious surroundings with servants who tended to her needs Why, then, did it feel like she couldn’t go on?

She voice-cohts off and curled up on her sleepdisk, even though she knew sleep wouldn’t come

The door to her chamber slid open

She jerked the covers up to her chin and blinked A huge Zandian male stood silhouetted in the doorway By the breadth of his shoulders and the tilt of his horns, she knew it must be her Zandian

“Seke?”

The door shut, enclosing them in darkness

“Forgive me, Leora”

She flew off the sleepdisk, throwing herself in his direction, unable to see but knowing he’d catch her

He did

She wrapped her legs around his waist, ar her tightly against his warm body, one arm hooked under her botto her from side to side