Pursued: A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Romance (Raider Warlords of the Vandar Book 4) by Tana Stone (ebook reader txt) 📗

in your head. That was what one of my academy instructors had drilled into me. And none ever had. Until now.

It didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to think about Raas Bron and the fact that I still needed to kill him. Not now, at least. Now I needed to contact the empire. Once they’d locked onto the Vandar horde and started their onslaught, I could use the ensuing chaos to take out the warlord.

Satisfied with my new strategy, I picked up my pace. Rounding a corner, all thoughts of the distracting male flew from my mind.

“What is this?” I walked forward, and ran my hands over the chain that surrounded the battle ring. I hadn’t set foot in a practice ring in longer than I could remember. My heart pounded as I eyed the sparring weapons hanging on the inside of the circular cage.

Glancing around, I saw no one and the only sounds were the far away echoes of footsteps. The ring appeared to be in the bowels of the ship and away from the action. Surely no one would see.

I moved quickly up the short flight of stairs and entered the ring, my gaze locking on one of the sparring axes. “Let’s see how hard it is to fight like a Vandar.”

Chapter Twelve

Bron

“We’ve heard from Lodvak, Raas.”

My majak’s voice pulled me from my thoughts of Alana lying naked beneath me. I shifted from one foot to the next as I stood overlooking the command deck, adjusting my cock and grasping my hands in front of me. “What do they say?”

“They welcome the human refugee.” Svar glanced at me from his console, his hands gripping the curved edges. “She may either remain with them, or repatriate to her home world at a later date.”

I choked out a rough laugh. “Her home world being Earth? It has long since been designated a wasteland.”

Svar twitched one shoulder. “It will be her choice.”

I nodded. “Good. It is done.” I turned to face forward again, swallowing a hard ball of regret as I thought of the human leaving to live on an alien planet. I would most likely never see her again.

Which is a good thing, I reminded myself. She is a distraction you never asked for and do not want. I growled low and rested a hand on the hilt of my axe, the cool metal comforting beneath my fingers, which still buzzed hot from her touch.

“Raas?”

I looked back at my majak, whose eyebrows were raised. Had I growled loudly enough for him to hear? A quick glance at the other command deck officers told me that I had.

I cleared my throat. “I was thinking about the Zagrath, and how I long to spill their blood.”

Several raiders rumbled their agreement, and I allowed myself an inaudible sigh, although Svar did not look so easily convinced.

The door to the command deck swished open, and Corvak stomped through them, his face set in a glower. He clicked his heels together without missing a step. “Raas, I have news of the human you will wish to hear.”

“She was taken back to her quarters, yes?” I did not want the shock of walking in on her naked in my quarters again.

Corvak inclined his head while frowning. “She was, then she left.”

That made me turn fully toward him. “Left? Where did she go? Did she attempt to escape?”

A brusque shake of my battle chief’s head. “No, but the raider I tasked to follow her at a distance reports that she has been wandering the ship for quite some time now.”

Curious. Why would a human female who claimed to be running from the empire care about exploring a Vandar warbird?

Perhaps for the same reason she was inspecting your headboard, a little voice in the back of my head whispered. She is not a victim like she claims to be.

“Has she found anything that should concern me?”

Corvak planted his feet wide and braced his hands on his hips. “I would have thought a female prisoner wandering the ship would be of concern, Raas.”

“She is not a prisoner. She is merely a female we are transporting.”

“Too bad,” my battle chief grumbled so low I could barely make out his words.

I did not like Corvak’s obvious disapproval of my handling of the female, but I could not fault him his opinion. There was something about the human that gave me pause. She’d struck me as both weak and scared when we’d found her, but I’d seen flashes of a tough and shrewd female beneath the bruises and tragic story. Even if she was who she claimed to be—and my doubts were growing by the second—I could not have her moving freely throughout my ship. She might not have found anything yet, but who was to say she wouldn’t?

“Where is she now?” I asked.

The edges of Corvak’s mouth twitched up. “She is currently in the battle ring.”

I stared at him. “The holographic one?” How would a human who claimed to have been enslaved on a mining colony have any clue how to operate a holographic fighting program?

“No, Raas. Our old battle ring.”

My stomach clenched. I had many memories of practicing with Raas Kratos in that iron cage. My former Raas and friend had often sparred with me while discussing his strategy or working out problems. We’d spend a good deal of time lunging at each other with sparring axes, starting when we were apprentices trying to learn how to fight, and continuing through the time that Kratos ruled the horde.

I hadn’t returned to the old ring since Kratos had hung up his battle axe and named me Raas, partly because I feared it wouldn’t feel the same without Kratos. I’d spent all my practice time in the new holographic battle simulator, instead of the cage that held so many memories.

“Should I have her removed and returned to her quarters?” Corvak asked when I didn’t respond to him.

I drew in a breath and drummed my fingers across the carved hilt of my