FOR A MOMENT STELLA didn’t know how to react to the hot lips covering her own. But only for a moment. Instinct slammed into her and she curled her fingers into his nape and slung her other arm around his back to pull him closer. She opened her mouth under his, brushing her tongue against his like it belonged there.

Arest was hesitant, either out of shock or inexperience. But when she didn’t pull away, he gently flattened his hands against her back, hyper-conscious of his claws, and pressed close. His cock prodded hard between them, an invitation and reminder that he was as much man as beast.

She knew she shouldn’t want to kiss him, but Stella didn’t care. Not when his eyes burned that hot fire-blue and he held her like something precious. Not when he called himself bad and spent every moment since they’d met protecting her.

A soft scrape of teeth reminded her to be careful of his sharp edges, but nothing could make her pull back, not just yet. She needed to be closer, to take his warmth and make it hers, to hold him tight and blunt his sharp edges until he was something that fit perfectly beside her.

He tasted of wildness and danger, wicked and unrestrained and completely hers for this minute. And she had control over him. When she leaned closer, he pulled her in. When she brushed her tongue against his, he returned her caress, but he took nothing she didn’t first give and made no move to push her beyond a kiss.

Desire sizzled through her as she realized he was holding himself back, and she wanted to break that leash, to set him off until he covered her and lit her up, until she exploded around him in a pleasure she’d never before known.

Human guys were fine. But they weren’t Arest.

And because she wanted it—him—so bad, she forced herself back. Her hands rested on his shoulders and she breathed deep, the taste of his lips still heavy on her tongue. He stared at her, eyes wide and mouth swollen, a little shocked and a lot aroused. She wanted to take his lower lip and bite down, drag him back towards her and have her way with him.

But they were still stuck in the middle of the tunnels of mystery and her throat was getting scratchy. They needed water, and food. Her candy bars wouldn’t last them more than another day. Still, she and Arest could steal one more minute.

He lifted a hand and cradled her cheek, his claws no longer as terrifying as they’d once been. She leaned into his palm, unsure of what to say. Unsure if anything needed to be said.

“Stella,” he whispered.

“Arest,” she responded just as quietly.

He stared for another few moments before giving her a nod as if deciding something. “Food?” he asked.

So they weren’t going to talk about the kiss. Good. What was there to say? “Water first.”

There wasn’t much of a camp to clean up since all they’d done was sleep. But before they left, Stella thoroughly searched the room. The ceiling was as tall as a building back home, but mostly in shadow since the light came from the floor. No convenient skylight offered them a way out and she wondered how deep underground they were. She expected to feel claustrophobic, like the whole place could collapse and bury them at any second.

As soon as she thought it, her throat started to get tight and her heartbeat kicked up. Best not to dwell. She looked back over at Arest and caught him watching her with open interest. There was no hurry in him, he simply watched as she made her rounds.

“Did you find anything interesting the first time you came in?” she asked him. It had been too dark for her to see anything when she was in there alone, but it seemed his eyes were far better than hers.

He strode toward her and then past, over to the far wall, and knelt down. Stella followed quickly. Flush into the stone floor was another one of those strange handles they’d seen on doors in the rest of the tunnels. Doors that Arest hadn’t liked.

“Bad?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Safe.”

She glanced over her shoulder to the panel beside the door. All night it had remained lit up, along with the lights on the floor. She hoped that meant that they’d be able to open the door to leave in a few minutes. Worry niggled at her. This place was full of traps and if they opened the door here, some other trapdoor might open and release one of those monsters that had already attacked them twice.

But Arest said safe. She would trust him.

She flipped up the first part of the handle and freed the depressor. Taking a deep breath, she pressed it down and the door slid aside, revealing a small storage cubby. Jackpot.

They weren’t lucky enough to find liters of water and meal bars, but Stella grabbed a compact blanket and a small pouch, a lighter, and two collapsible bottles that could be used to carry any water they found. Everything she took could fit in her pockets, at least until they found water. Stella unpacked the rest of the cubby, looking for anything else that they might use.

No food. No weapons. No detailed map leading out of the tunnels. Just some old cleaning equipment and a tattered book.

When she was done, Arest reached in and ran his hands along the edges of the cubby, but he didn’t find anything else. Stella stuffed everything back in except for her newfound treasures and closed it back up, tidiness a habit ingrained by long travel on confined spaceships.

Arest gestured for her to stay back from the door when it was time to leave. She didn’t need to be told that it was in case there was another monster waiting for them. She shuddered to think what the one they’d left there all night looked like now. But she kept her eyes open and shoulders forward. She wouldn’t flinch, not from this. If Arest could protect her, she could deal with the aftermath.

The door slid open with a whisper and the lights lowered. She braced, waiting for the attack that didn’t come. Arest checked outside and waved her through when he was satisfied that it was safe. When she stepped outside, Stella didn’t see the monster’s body from the night before. She looked around and then at Arest, the question in her eyes.

He shrugged.

Strange. This place held secrets and she didn’t want to find out any more.

***

THE AIR SLOWLY GREW damp around them and the sound of water tinkled in Arest’s ears. It grew into a lapping call as they moved deeper into the tunnels and the walls became more like caves. Stella walked beside him, her face set with determination.

His shoulder brushed against hers, a reminder that they were together in this. Had they only known one another for a day? Perhaps a little more, as it was impossible to note the passage of time without a sun or any sort of clock. She’d already dug her blunt human claws into him and he knew that their parting would tear out some part of his heart he’d thought long ago destroyed.

But part they must. With every step, his thoughts became clearer and his hunger grew. Hunger for the fight, for blood and pain and misery. Whatever drugs had been used on him weren’t only to blunt his resistance, but also his anger.

Each time his arm or his hand touched Stella he could remember that there was a man buried somewhere under the layers and layers of beast. But he feared that soon it might not be enough, that he’d turn on her and show her the same horrors he’d shown to that trainer. And the ambassador.

And the merchant.

And the princess.

And the knight.

And the king’s guard.

And the priests.

The list of victims went on and on, pictures of horror dancing through his head like a macabre holovid. But he could remember the blood on his hands, the screams that pierced his ears and set his blood aflame. Whoever had done this to him had taught him to love it, to revel in it. He’d become their beast and lived for the kill.

Stella placed a hand on his shoulder and Arest sucked in a steadying breath.

“Are you alright?” she asked. “We can take a break.” She smiled at him gently, but her fingers were firm and cool against his skin. He studied her, assessing whether she was the one who needed a break. They’d been walking for hours, but this time no trouble had come their way. Still, his companion didn’t show signs of fatigue, though her stomach had growled several times, pressing on him how important it was to find food.

“Rest soon,” he said. “Water.”

Her eyes lit up. “You think so? I know it’s getting damp, but I was too scared to hope.” She gripped his shoulder and grinned, bouncing on her feet. A small hint of red colored her cheeks and pleasure sank into him. Water made her happy—he’d made her happy by sensing it.

The demons retreated, the call of the hunt turning to the search for resources. Even his own stomach had begun to churn. He’d gone for many days without food before, but he didn’t know the last time that he’d been fed. He’d been saving the energy bars in his bag, but they would feast on them when they stopped.

The hallway they walked through turned steep, the path drawing them down into a darker area, one that was wetter and promised water, if not food.

Little of the light from the hallway filtered to the end of the tunnel, and once they got to the end of the smooth floor and walls, Arest could hear the slap of water, but he couldn’t see it. No light filtered beyond the hallway. Stella took the light stick that she’d looped through a hole on her pants and held it up, giving them a faint trail to see by.

It wasn’t a doorway so much as a hole in the wall, one that had been punched through with much force. Rubble littered either side, and jagged stone threatened to tear into them if they lost their footing. Arest kept a hand on Stella to make sure she didn’t fall. The thought of her injured, bleeding here where there was no hope of help, sent a completely different kind of demon loose.

Maybe he was wrong about the chaos. Maybe there was nothing that could make him hurt her.

A fall of rocks blocked the path when it turned to the right. Only a small opening above his head peeked through and Arest doubted that even Stella could wiggle herself through. But the hole in the broken wall beckoned, space more than large enough for an adult to maneuver through, though they’d need to shimmy and crawl through the tightest spots.

“This is...” Stella trailed off and ran a hand against the wall, letting her fingers bump along the broken edges. “Are you sure we should be down this far? This looks,” she sucked in a breath, “unnatural.”

The entire place looked unnatural, but this tunnel hadn’t been bored with drilling equipment. This hadn’t been planned. “Water,” he replied. His lips were chapped and his skin cracked and Stella seemed just as bad. “No bad smells.” Damp hung over them and he knew water masked a lot, but he didn’t get the tiniest hint of danger. Not in his nose, at least.

Stella looked at the blocked path and then back up the way they came. From where they stood, the path was steep and long. They hadn’t had water in days and even Arest was daunted by the thought of climbing back up. Stella looked back to the hole and smiled. “Water.”

With a final test of the air, and the confidence that none of the monsters they’d already faced lurked nearby, he ducked into the hole and Stella followed close behind him. The path was short and narrow, and halfway through, they both clambered to their hands and knees, scraping along the jagged rock under them. Stella cursed behind him and Arest’s heart twisted, but she said nothing else and Arest kept moving.

His muscles bunched up, tension coursing through him at the thought of being trapped right here. The sound of the door to the outside slamming shut echoed in his memory and he moved faster. It didn’t mean a thing that this opening didn’t look like it belonged in the tunnels. A proper trap didn’t look threatening until it was sprung.

But after another minute the pathway opened and Arest stood. A few more steps brought him to a ledge overlooking a huge cavern, big enough to fit three or four of the space ships that had brought them here.

Stella stood behind him and gasped. Far below them, a lake pooled, the water an inky blue in the dim light. And even though they stood deep underground, they could see. Far far above them, too tall to climb, cracks in the ceiling let sunlight filter in, diffusing light throughout the entire cavern.

“It’s magical,” she whispered, pressing a hand against his back.

A stark beauty, one that could only be appreciated in hardship. The satisfaction of the place settled into his bones. Arest could grow to love something like this, given the time to settle.

But when he spotted something moving against the rocks below him, satisfaction dissolved and the killing drive rose to the fore once more. Arest bounded off his safe perch, Stella’s yell echoing on the stone around them.