Chapter 11
ELEVEN
Drakkal took a swig of gurosh, hoping the fiery-sweet beverage would help force his attention back to the here and now—if only for long enough to complete his turn and keep the game moving.
He understood the rules and gameplay of Conquerors well, even if he’d never been quite as good as a few of the people he usually played with, but he was struggling tonight.
The gameboard—a large holographic map depicted in hexagons of varying elevation and pattern—made little sense to him, and the colors on it, which marked the territory claimed by Drakkal and his opponents, seemed to bleed together.
It would have been easy to tell himself he was just feeling off, but he knew the real reason for his distraction.
Shay.
“Come on, azhera,” Arcanthus whispered. “How are we supposed to beat Sam if your head’s not in the game?”
Samantha, who was seated to Arcanthus’s right, turned her head toward him and narrowed her eyes. “Is that how it is?”
Arcanthus’s mouth fell open, dragging his brows down along with it. “And what exactly are you accusing me of, my flower?”
A mischievous smirk lit upon Sam’s lips. “Being bad at Conquerors and secretly plotting against your mate.”
Urgand, the vorgal sitting to Drakkal’s left, sucked in a sharp breath. “I’d better go get my medkit.”
“Why’s that?” Arc asked, frowning with exaggerated hurt in his eyes.
“She just bludgeoned you with the truth.”
Warm laughter erupted around the table, even from the big cren, Razi, who never seemed to take his attention off the board when he was playing Conquerors. Drakkal joined in, grateful for anything that could take his mind off Shay, even if it was only for a few moments.
Drakkal finally selected a holographic card from his hand and placed it on the board. Two of the empty hexagons bordering the one upon which he’d played his piece changed to his color—a muddy orange brown. The majority of map, as usual, was divided between Sam’s and Razi’s colors.
“The gurosh is hitting you hard tonight, Drakkal?” asked Sekk’thi, the female ilthurii seated beside Sam.
“Just more fun to get a rise out of the sedhi by throwing the game,” Drakkal replied with a smirk.
“We had a deal.” Arcanthus shot Drakkal a glare as he reached out and made his own play. He set his card down without looking—directly beside one of Sam’s hexes. Arc’s card changed to her color, crimson.
“Maybe you should pay attention to what you’re doing, Arc,” Drakkal said.
Samantha, Urgand, and Sekk’thi laughed.
Arcanthus turned his head toward the board and grumbled, “Damn it. I knew I shouldn’t have let you use my favorite color, Samantha. It was bad luck.”
“For you,” Samantha said with a snicker. She didn’t take her eyes off her mate as she reached forward and placed down her own card without hesitation. Four spaces—four of Arc’s spaces—flipped to crimson.
Impossibly, Arc’s look of feigned indignation only strengthened. “Give me another gurosh. If I’m going down, I’m going to enjoy it however I can.”
Razi produced a fresh bottle of the stuff and passed it across the table to Arcanthus as Sekk’thi assessed her options.
“She is your master in the game, sedhi.” Sekk’thi tilted her head and shuffled her holographic cards, choosing one from her hand and placing it on the dwindling unclaimed space. “We must assume she is in control elsewhere, as well.”
The innuendo implicit in her tone produced smirks from everyone but Samantha herself; the terran looked down, her cheeks pinkening.
“Samantha is my master whenever and wherever she chooses,” Arcanthus replied smoothly, sliding a hand onto her thigh. “Hence the installation of sound dampeners in our bedroom and workshop.”
“Just need them in every other room and we can all sleep in peace,” Urgand said.
Samantha’s cheeks darkened to a red that rivaled her color on the gameboard, though there was a soft, loving smile on her lips as she peeked at Arcanthus from the corner of her eye.
Arcanthus grinned. “I strive to please. Samantha, that is. Not the rest of you.”
“I do lead him around by a leash, after all,” Samantha said.
Though it didn’t diminish his amusement, Drakkal felt for Arcanthus in that moment—and was even a bit envious. All Drakkal wanted to do was please his mate. But Shay needed to choose him first.
“About time someone put him in his place,” Drakkal said with a chuckle.
Arcanthus’s grin took on a fiendish slant. “Just wait, azhera. It’ll be you in a collar eventually. I already picked out a nice one to gift your lucky female.”
“No collar for me, sedhi,” Drakkal replied, baring his fangs in a grin of his own.
“My female will need a saddle.” Saying those words aloud conjured a mental image of Shay riding astride him, her golden hair unbound around her pale shoulders, and her delectable breasts bared to his hungry gaze.
It sent a jolt of heat straight to his cock.
Razi—looking much too large for his seat—leaned forward and continued his careful examination of the gameboard with a furrowed brow. “Where are you going to find a saddle small enough for your hand?” he asked casually.
For a moment, silence reigned around the table. Drakkal stared at Razi. Though he was sharp, the big cren rarely took part in such banter; he often caught everyone off guard when he offered insults like that.
Arcanthus broke into laughter so intense that it began almost soundlessly, and he was quickly joined by Urgand and Sekk’thi.
Only Samantha restrained herself, pressing her lips together to contain laughter that shook her shoulders.
At least she had the decency to cover her mouth and hide some of her mirth.
Drakkal’s attempt to hold in his own laughter resulted in a snort. “Kraasz ka’val, Razi. If your head weren’t so hard, I’d knock some sense into you,” he said with a grin.
For what might’ve been the first time that evening, Razi looked away from the game to meet Drakkal’s gaze. He was smirking around his pronounced tusks. “Afraid you’ll break your hand?”
“Yeah, and I don’t want to spend a night all alone,” Drakkal replied.
That only intensified the laughter from the others. This time Samantha joined in, too.
Razi finally made his move, and Urgand, who’d carved out his own respectable little pocket of territory, placed a card decisively once the cren was done.
A faint buzzing ran through Drakkal’s neural link with his prosthesis, and an instant later, his holocom chimed with an incoming call.
He often received calls from the security team—usually to report that there was nothing to report, just the way he preferred it—so he didn’t bother checking the comm ID on the display. He quickly chose a card and played it.
Two of Arcanthus’s hexes flipped to Drakkal’s orange brown.
“This is what all our years of friendship mean to you?” Arcanthus demanded.
“Quite whining, cub,” Drakkal said as he lifted his left arm and accepted the call. “Yeah?”
“I’m in. Pick me up tonight.”
The call disconnected before his distracted mind fully registered what had just happened. He knew that voice, he’d been waiting to hear it, but that didn’t ease the shock of Shay calling him.
I’m in.
Was that simply an acceptance of the offer he’d made her yesterday, or was it something more? She’d looked at him several times with unmasked desire in her eyes. Had she finally decided to accept her attraction to him? Had she decided to accept…him?
Thinking into it too much, Drak. She’s accepting the job, not me…not yet.
Silence reclaimed control of the room, causing Drakkal to realize that he’d not used his earpiece. Everyone had overheard the brief call. All of them—even Razi, who normally appeared disinterested—were staring at Drakkal intently, questions brimming in their eyes.
“Who was that?” Samantha asked.
Arcanthus leaned forward, propping his arms on the table. “And what is she in on?”
Sam’s eyes brightened, and her voice filled with excitement. “She’s human, isn’t she? She sounded human.”
“Since when do females call you?” Urgand asked. “Apart from Sekk’thi.”
“I do not count,” Sekk’thi said.
“Oh, you count. Just not for him.” Urgand grinned; for a moment, the heat in his eyes was reflected in Sekk’thi’s.
Vrek’osh, what is going on here?
“Are you bringing her here?” Samantha asked.
“Yes, are you bringing her here?” Arcanthus echoed.
“Can I answer a single damned question before you ask twenty more?” Drakkal demanded.
Arcanthus turned to smirk at Samantha. “It must be that human Drakkal’s grown fond of.”
Samantha’s brow furrowed. “Wait…the one who robbed him?”
“A terran robbed Drakkal?” Urgand asked incredulously. “You’re never going to hear the end of it from Thargen, azhera.”
“I’m aware of that,” Drakkal grumbled. “Now if you’ll all shut the fuck up—except for you Sam, you’re fine—I’ll tell you what’s going on.”
Sam flashed him a toothy grin.
For a few moments, Drakkal relished the quiet, though it didn’t do much to help him collect his thoughts.
“It is the same terran,” he finally said. “I freed her from a zoo in the Gilded Sector a few weeks ago, and she robbed me once we got out.”
“Took the clothes right off his back,” Arcanthus added, absently brushing his cybernetic fingers down Samantha’s hair.
“So glad you’re here to add in the juicy details,” Drakkal muttered.
“So far she sounds like the kind of female Thargen would appreciate,” said Razi.
An unbridled, involuntary snarl rose from Drakkal’s chest, and the claws of his right hand gouged the table as tension seized his muscles. “She’s mine.”
Five sets of wide eyes stared at Drakkal; he met each of his friend’s gazes one at a time.
“Just want to make sure that’s clear from the outset,” he said, forcing his lips into a more neutral expression and dropping his hand onto his thigh. “Her name is Shay. She’s been struggling to make her way in the city.”
“And she’s coming here?” Samantha asked. “Tonight?”
“Yes. I offered her a job, and she accepted. She’s joining the security team.”