Sarazen's Vengeance: Book 1.1 by Isabel Wroth Read Free Book Online Page B

feelings, he did an amazingly eloquent job of it. If it got any better, she would have been sobbing. She sat curled up in his lap. Finding the weirdest sort of peace inside herself.
    Andi had a flash of memory from her childhood. Sitting in a corner of engineering with a stolen pad of paper and a stubby stick of charcoal. Drawing a planet under the red lights of the reactor core. A planet where she would have a home. Maybe a family. She remembered drawing trees and mountains, a castle. All the things a little girl alone would dream of having for herself.
    “Someday, this will all be over. It will be worth it. I’ll have a home. Somewhere I belong and it will be worth it.”
    Her six year old self had been right. Every horrible moment had been worth it. Worth the suffering, just to experience this one shining moment. Sitting here curled up in Ohlen’s arms. Feeling his warmth. Feeling like she had a place to belong now. The promise of a home with trees and mountains. A family.
    She twisted to hug his unbelievably broad shoulders. Clung to him for dear life. Moved to tears by the tender way he palmed her hair and rested his lips on her throat. By how purred a soft, alien sound, just for her.
    “Every moment I had to wait for this. For you. It was worth it, my one.”
    Ohlen whispered the words to her like he’d read her mind. Calling her his one with such reverence she fought not to break down into a sobbing mess. Instead, she held onto him. Onto the belief that all she’d been through, all she’d endured, had led to this. To him.
     
    Six
     
    Three days later, Andi sat at the large table with the rest of the human crew. Her body ached from the rather grueling strength training sessions Ohlen had set for her. He had offered her tonics to help her muscles regenerate faster, but after so long of feeling nothing but dead inside, she somewhat welcomed the proof of her exertions.
    The media room two decks up was equipped with a running track. Within the holographic walls, Ohlen took her hiking through mountains. Jogging alongside rivers. Running through the forests of his home. Several times he’d had to end the program to get her to stop because she was so eager to see more.
    “You are in adequate physical shape, my one.” He’d told her seriously, “But not so good as to run, climb or swim for hours on end. Not yet. We are building your strength. Not attempting to cripple you.”
    Every day, she was growing more and more accustomed to his towering presence at her side. Accustomed to waking up to find him sitting in that same chair. Waiting for her to wake up with a little smile on his handsome face. She could feel that fragile thing he called a bond beginning to take root and grow inside her. Like the most delicate electrical filament sending sensations and insights into her mind. Into her heart, directly from Ohlen’s.
    She was beginning to feel him, like a warm buzz behind her eyes. A comfortingly constant pressure.
     
    A second warship had come into proximity of theirs. Another Sarazen vessel authorized to seek out what remained of the humans, if any, and bring them back to the Sarazen home-world. The commander of the second ship had asked to stop and allow his warriors a chance to see if any of the human women were potential mates.
    The human women had agreed to that yesterday. Cautiously agreed, but agreed all the same. Agreed because of the way Commander Tarek treated Clary. How Ga’rae treated Gwen. How Falken handled prickly Cassie with such patience. Mostly she’d been told that they had agreed, because of how caring Ohlen was with her.
    So now sitting here with the crew, listening to Clary explain in pained, angry details about the Sarazen Breeding Festival. It felt like someone had reached inside her and torn out that fragile bond by the roots. Wires sparking and sizzling as they tried and failed to connect.
    Fear surged. Turning the warmth Andi had gathered to insidious black ice. Freezing her straight