Captured (Garrison Earth, #1)

by V.K. Ludwig

Odd how not killing him made me feel like a murderer.

The Commander wasn’t all that hard to look at. That thought was fucked up with a capital F, but I quickly justified it by telling myself it could have been worse. He had no horns. No tentacles. Wasn’t a six-legged insect. We had already established he had a penis.

Of all the things she could have said. All the things she could have asked. She turned to look at me, whispering, “Who is Torin da tak Kanagal?”

Throughout the brief mating last night, I restricted myself from moaning Eden as I bonded myself to her. And she didn’t know my name?

“You share that link because you’re fated to be together. Our scholars discovered that ages ago, and we established a databank to help couples find each other quicker. I swear, Eden, our language doesn’t even have a word for divorce anymore, or anything that indicates a split between a couple.”

“That’s a bunch of crap. And I don’t believe in fate.” “As if fate gives a shit about what you believe in,” he scoffed.

“You can dissolve a marriage, but a bond is forever.”

muscle. I had poked the bear, with a branch in the nuts, and it showed in the way his green gaze penetrated me soul deep.

“There is more in you than a warrior and Warden. And fate saw it.”

“I never had to be gentle with anything,” he whispered, a shaky hand stroking my lips. “But I will force my body to be gentle with you.

Torin could no longer pretend he was that strong, impenetrable Commander. It shifted our energy. He was less of a jerk. In return, I was a little less of a bitch.

“At least it explains how you seem to have no trouble invading another planet. Can’t expect much compassion from something grown in a plastic bag.”

“I agreed because I didn’t know then just how fascinating you are,” I whispered. “There’s a whole different woman underneath that fierce creature who shot me. And I like her. A lot.”

“Many a Vetusian believes fate is supposed to make things easy. Fate binds you to your mate not to spare you difficulties, but to give you a partner who will face hardship with you.”

“Scream out my name and forget whoever came before, for I will be your last.”

For the first time in my life, I walked this hallway to my bridge, feeling a little less broken. A little less defective. A little more deserving of her.

“It will ease, child. And one day, you will see yourself as the link between our two species that you are. There will be peace between us, and we will flourish together.”

God did I hate how he had grown to know me so well. No matter how often I lost my shit and acted like a bitch, he had stopped fighting me long ago. Instead, he held me, knowing full well I was madder at myself for letting my strength slip, than at him or anything else, really. He just stood there, strong for the both of us until I was ready to meet reality head-on again.

“I didn’t shoot you because I thought you were ugly. I shot you because you came after me.”

I thought I had known darkness. But not like this. Not like this.

Love is never easy, no matter if it was fated or not. It makes you rise as high as it makes you fall deep the very next moment, for love is no constant. It is a changing current that traps us, and we either swim with it or drown.”

“The moment they pulled the kids from the strati and returned them to their families, the teachers started to have issues with the Vetusian children. And I get it. They want to leave as well. Go to those families the humans talked so much about. Problem is, they have no family to go to.”

“Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will be Garrison Earth.”