pit.
“I don’t understand your reluctance? It’s a simple question.”
Geoff marched back, his hands curling into fists. He really wanted to punch the Alphan in the jaw.
“Just drop it.”
“How much do you know about my planet?” Krig asked.
“Some. Why?”
“We have technology, but we choose to live simply. Archaic, probably from your standards. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t cracks through the system. We don’t have orphanages, but we do have runaways. It doesn’t happen often, but being a young male on Alpha can be difficult. We’re a warrior nation, but not all Alphans are born warriors. I’m guessing you might have been one of those runaways. Were you a male prostitute? Is that why you’re ashamed? I won’t be offended if you have lustful feelings for me—”
“Oh God!” Geoff cried. “Enough! No, sorry to disappoint, but I don’t have lustful feelings for you, and no, I wasn’t a prostitute.”
Krig’s eyes narrowed as he studied him, and Geoff felt like the Alphan was reaching into his soul to slowly pull forth out his inner demons. He ran a hand through his hair, absently noticing it was damp. Everything was damp on this fucking moon. It was like he was in a fucking cage.
Shit!
He paced back and forth, unable to rein in the restlessness crackling through his body. The past was dead and gone. It had no bearing on his life now, and the last thing he wanted to do was tarnish his future with shit he’d done when he’d been younger.
“For this relationship to work we have to trust one another.”
Geoff wished he could escape from the probing insight, but where could he go? Inside the pod? That wasn’t far enough to run away from the dreg Krig had just brought up.
“If I tell you about my past you won’t trust me.”
“Why don’t you let me be the judge of who I will and won’t trust?”
Geoff threw his hands up. “Okay, fine. Look, my parents were murdered when I was ten, and I was sent to a state run home,” he finally said, although it felt like pulling teeth. “Keirah arrived a few months later. Some older boys cornered her one night, so I beat the shit out of them. But day in and day out, it was a constant nightmare. If you couldn’t use your fists then you didn’t survive. By the time I was a teenager, I’d hurt so many kids I couldn’t count them all, and after a while things just grew darker and darker. Not even Keirah could help me. So, yeah, I ran away. I ran away every chance I got.”
“What happened when you ran away?”
“Shit,” Geoff muttered. “I wish had a fucking drink.”
“I’m assuming you mean alcohol? I agree that would be nice.”
Geoff snorted. “I was seventeen the first time I got drunk. Hated it. Hated losing control.”
Krig tilted his head. “Me, too. That’s why I’m captain and will one day be admiral. I hate conceding control of anything.”
“Then I must really get under your craw, huh? If you like being in control so much why pick a woman with a husband? There’re a lot of single females out there.”
“Yes, running patrol I’ve met a lot of human women. None of them ever appealed to me until I saw Keirah pointing a blaster at me. She was like a neraezah, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her.”
“A what?”
“A … what do you call them? Beings with wings.”
“An angel?”
“Yes. A warrior angel who takes fallen souls into the afterlife.”
Geoff crossed his arms and leaned against the pod and he stared at the fire. If he opened up about the past would that change him? Not even Keirah knew all the details because he was afraid once she knew it would change how she felt about him. He didn’t know if he could chance that.
“What I did in the past … I had to do shit to survive.”
“Did you steal?”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill?”
And that’s where he froze inside. He couldn’t answer. If he answered, he’d have to say why, and he wasn’t ready to reveal that particular
“I don’t understand your reluctance? It’s a simple question.”
Geoff marched back, his hands curling into fists. He really wanted to punch the Alphan in the jaw.
“Just drop it.”
“How much do you know about my planet?” Krig asked.
“Some. Why?”
“We have technology, but we choose to live simply. Archaic, probably from your standards. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t cracks through the system. We don’t have orphanages, but we do have runaways. It doesn’t happen often, but being a young male on Alpha can be difficult. We’re a warrior nation, but not all Alphans are born warriors. I’m guessing you might have been one of those runaways. Were you a male prostitute? Is that why you’re ashamed? I won’t be offended if you have lustful feelings for me—”
“Oh God!” Geoff cried. “Enough! No, sorry to disappoint, but I don’t have lustful feelings for you, and no, I wasn’t a prostitute.”
Krig’s eyes narrowed as he studied him, and Geoff felt like the Alphan was reaching into his soul to slowly pull forth out his inner demons. He ran a hand through his hair, absently noticing it was damp. Everything was damp on this fucking moon. It was like he was in a fucking cage.
Shit!
He paced back and forth, unable to rein in the restlessness crackling through his body. The past was dead and gone. It had no bearing on his life now, and the last thing he wanted to do was tarnish his future with shit he’d done when he’d been younger.
“For this relationship to work we have to trust one another.”
Geoff wished he could escape from the probing insight, but where could he go? Inside the pod? That wasn’t far enough to run away from the dreg Krig had just brought up.
“If I tell you about my past you won’t trust me.”
“Why don’t you let me be the judge of who I will and won’t trust?”
Geoff threw his hands up. “Okay, fine. Look, my parents were murdered when I was ten, and I was sent to a state run home,” he finally said, although it felt like pulling teeth. “Keirah arrived a few months later. Some older boys cornered her one night, so I beat the shit out of them. But day in and day out, it was a constant nightmare. If you couldn’t use your fists then you didn’t survive. By the time I was a teenager, I’d hurt so many kids I couldn’t count them all, and after a while things just grew darker and darker. Not even Keirah could help me. So, yeah, I ran away. I ran away every chance I got.”
“What happened when you ran away?”
“Shit,” Geoff muttered. “I wish had a fucking drink.”
“I’m assuming you mean alcohol? I agree that would be nice.”
Geoff snorted. “I was seventeen the first time I got drunk. Hated it. Hated losing control.”
Krig tilted his head. “Me, too. That’s why I’m captain and will one day be admiral. I hate conceding control of anything.”
“Then I must really get under your craw, huh? If you like being in control so much why pick a woman with a husband? There’re a lot of single females out there.”
“Yes, running patrol I’ve met a lot of human women. None of them ever appealed to me until I saw Keirah pointing a blaster at me. She was like a neraezah, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her.”
“A what?”
“A … what do you call them? Beings with wings.”
“An angel?”
“Yes. A warrior angel who takes fallen souls into the afterlife.”
Geoff crossed his arms and leaned against the pod and he stared at the fire. If he opened up about the past would that change him? Not even Keirah knew all the details because he was afraid once she knew it would change how she felt about him. He didn’t know if he could chance that.
“What I did in the past … I had to do shit to survive.”
“Did you steal?”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill?”
And that’s where he froze inside. He couldn’t answer. If he answered, he’d have to say why, and he wasn’t ready to reveal that particular
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