As the human tried to defend herself, Caeyin held her gaze, unimpressed. She had already lied to him once about the presence of others of her kind, so he was sure she was also bluffing about the creatures that were more frightening than the Lunairans. Alone in the world, he felt certain that she was just putting on a tough façade to discourage him and seem stronger than she really was. Whatever her motive was, he didn’t buy it. The reality was that she was one of the last humans—or possibly the very last—on the Earth, and her death was drawing near now that his people were preparing to make their settlement. He believed she was secretly afraid, and he would just have to keep doing his best to exploit that until her calm exterior splintered, and he could kill her.

He stretched his legs as she turned back to her plant and gave him a self-gratifying speech about how important it was to value life. Despite what she seemed to think, his kind did value life. That was why they were getting rid of the human race. He knew the history based on the lessons he’d been taught in school when he was younger. When the Lunairan people had first discovered the Earth, they had seen how violent and threatening the dominant species was, and that was what had led them to clear them out to make room for themselves. Their determination to survive outweighed their concern for other life until they were stable enough to afford to care. Once they were able to settle comfortably, they would tend to the planet better than her kind ever did.

However, there was no point in arguing with someone who was so clearly biased against his species that she would call him a monster. Choosing to ignore her instead, he absentmindedly fingered the chain around his wrist, indicating with his silence that he wasn’t in the mood to keep talking to her about it.

As he let his thoughts wander to other things, he was caught off guard when she suddenly backed away from a window and said something that sounded like a swear. He looked up again and watched as she began running around, apparently searching for her weapon. For a moment, he was tempted to brush off her fluster as another petty trick, but then he wondered. What if she had actually seen something outside that would give her cause to panic?

His eyes widened slightly. It had to be the other scouts. The Lunairan vanguard had found her hiding place and were on their way to investigate it. His heartbeat quickened in his chest with a mixture of excitement and anxiousness. On one hand, he was eager to get out of his prison and return to the mission he’d been assigned, but on the other hand, he would have to suffer the humiliation of being caught tied to a pole. He had mixed feeling about the scenario he painted in his head, but as long as he got away from the human, he supposed the humiliation would be worth it.

Shifting his weight on the ground, Caeyin repositioned himself so that he was sitting on his heels, ready to get up as soon as the opportunity presented itself. The human was still frantically hurrying about the vehicle, seeming to take no notice of the change in his demeanor. He glanced at her once more, just in time to see her bump into a shelf and scatted its contents to the floor. Following the displaced objects with his eyes, he froze as he spotted something amongst them that snared his attention. It looked like a key. His violet eyes darted to the key hole in his chain, and he quickly swiped the little metal piece and plugged it into the slot. It was a perfect fit.

Reenergized by the prospect of breaking loose from his bonds without help, he twisted the key and felt the restraint pop open, no longer tying him to the pole. He slipped his wrist out and rose to his feet, turning toward the human the instant he was free. She was still distracted, arming herself with both her weapon and his, and had turned her back to him. [i]Wrong move,[/i] he thought with a victorious smile.

In a flash, he crossed the distance between them and caught hold of her wrists, forcing her arms behind her back and spinning her so that he had pressed her body between his and the nearest wall. “Looks like death finally caught up with you,” he growled in her ear from behind, stealing the silencer back from her waistband and pressing the barrel to her head. With his other hand, he gripped both of her wrists tightly to encourage her to loosen her grip on her other weapon, which he then brushed out of her hand with his leg and kicked underneath the bed, out of reach.

In the second that he’d pinned her, he could have fired his silencer and ended her life, but he hesitated. She had made a fool of him when she’d knocked him out and made him her prisoner, and now he wanted to do the same to her. What better way than to flaunt her as his trophy in front of the other scouts?

Deciding to make her regret what she’d done, he let go of her and stepped back, though he still kept his weapon trained on the back of her skull. “You say we don’t scare you, so let’s put that to the test,” he challenged her haughtily, backing toward the door of the vehicle. “I’ll let the others in to join us, and then we’ll see if you’re still as brave as you claim you are.”