MINE! [New World Book 8] by C.L. Scholey Read Free Book Online Page B

his thoughts. His shield slammed over him and Huck was startled. A groan ripped from his throat. He knew the stubborn set of his shield. The shield claimed the female. Huck sensed it. There was no way he could kill her now.
    “You fucking better know what you’re doing,” Huck snarled. “I don’t care if you came from the shield of a six-thousand-year-old warrior. It’s your fault I even need a home. And while I’m at it, fucking warn me with a blip or something before you crash your condescending tail on my ass. Tonans are supposed to lie.”
    Growling Huck put the shuttle on auto pilot. He went to his shield generator and stepped inside. He needed to think, he needed to understand if his feelings were his, hers, or the shield’s. It didn’t take long before his heritage of evil and his fate of Tonan needs settled into a fine line. There was evil inside of him, there was compassion, there was hate and an urge to throw the female from the shuttle.
    Huck envisioned Becky hovering between the shuttle door and the open space. A simple shove and his destiny would be delivered. He would have no choice but to return to the other rebel Tonan. He would die. A thought wandered into his mind, his shield protected him, and his shield controlled certain aspects. When confronted with terrified human females, Huck always allowed his shield to guide him. Huck mentally pushed Becky from the shuttle. He watched her flounder and die in space. The thought didn’t make his heart race, but he heard his shield give a tiny squeal.
    If Huck gave in and killed Becky, his shield would be his alone, free of encumbrance. He could kill his conscience, make it turn off and abandon his thoughts. The shield of his stepfather couldn’t function with pure evil. He would maintain the shield, but the essence would be destroyed. After twelve hundred years it would be odd to control his shield. He would be alone with himself. The idea was disturbing.
    “I won’t kill the female,” he said aloud.
    If he did, Huck sensed he would kill the best part of his shield, the part that cared if he lived or died. His shield would protect him regardless, but it would do it for its own sake. It was no wonder his counterparts were cruel. Nothing cared for them, not even their shields. It was the first time in Huck’s life he realized what his stepfather gave to him. A gift meant for his true son. His stepfather was in must when he mated his mother because Huck wasn’t his, he gave him a part to make him a part of him.
    He wasn’t in fact my stepfather but my half father.
    “Huh, all this time and I never realized,” Huck muttered. “No wonder Castians are such fierce fighters. They want their shield to survive, not just to protect them. My shield loves me. Fuck. That is way too intense.”
    If Huck hadn’t known better, he thought his shield chuckled.

Chapter 4
    For a moment, Becky panicked when she had a hard time moving. She was pinned in a bed. Her gaze fled around the room, and she took a deep breath. She was on the Tonan vessel in the room with the bed, alone. What her arms battled against was a comforter tucked into the mattress keeping her semi-immobile. She hadn’t gone to sleep with anything over her. Huck must have wrapped her in it after she fell asleep.
    “Holy tuck, Huck.”
    If he learned how to do this from his mother, he must have been a restless sleeper when he was young. The idea startled her. His mother? Well he must have had a mother at some point. Picturing him as a little boy while she commando attacked her restraints was strange. At one time that massive warrior had to have been a baby. When her feet finally hit the floor, she breathed a sigh of relief. Trapped with her thoughts while trapped in a bed was unnerving. Now was not the time to think about her captor as anything but the enemy.
    Becky peered into the other room and could make out Huck’s still form. She stepped around the chamber holding him. A warm glow surrounded the