Chapter 24
Arrazyl’s smile was brilliant, and I relaxed into his arms when he guided me to the dance floor and slid them around me.
The realization that I only knew ballroom dance and a little samba hit me and my stomach tightened with nerves. I’d seen vorpyr dancing, but I hadn’t paid attention to their movements.
As though he read my mind, Arrazyl leaned close. “I’m a very good lead. Just hold on.”
I was happy to cling to him as he moved us around the dance floor expertly.
The night passed in a swirl of dancing, delectable treats, and fireworks that hung in the night sky twinkling for great periods of time, allowing others to be shot off and the images to change from intricate battle scenes to parties and groups of animals flying or running.
After a while, I had to get away from the crowd and went for a walk, thinking about things I had no right to. Arrazyl chief among them. He’d even started to translate and tell me different vorikaan words as vorpyr conversed around us.
The stars in the sky were unfamiliar, and I traced what I could imagine were constellations with my gaze.
The sounds of laughter and chatter had faded and now I could clearly hear the sounds of the jungle.
Calls of those huge birds, along with sounds I couldn’t possibly decipher, floated to me. There was so much life in this place.
I looked around and realized I hadn’t paid attention to the path I’d taken.
Great, I was lost. Crossing a walkway, I walked further into a floating courtyard, around lattices covered in what I’d dubbed purple ivy.
Groaning sounds made me turn. Was someone hurt?
I strode in the direction of the sound, wondering who I could get if someone was injured.
They may be able to fly, but Earth had them beat on communication with wrist phones.
I rounded a massive tree that grew out of the cliff and around which the platform had been built. On the other side, I skidded to a stop, shocked at the scene in front of me. Tatiana was straddling Kyvar, and they were kissing and exploring each other, hands moving under clothes.
I turned and fled. I was so occupied by my discomfort from seeing that, that I ran straight into a solid chest. Hands gripped my arms to steady me, and I gazed up into Arrazyl’s gleaming emerald eyes. I was glad for the darkness that hid my flush.
“What’s wrong?” He hadn’t let go of me.
“Uh, nothing. Let’s go that way.” I tried to turn him in the direction I wanted him to go, but he didn’t budge. Instead, to my horror, he looked in the direction I’d come from and tilted his head.
“I see.” He looked down at me and smirked. “There’s no need to be embarrassed. It’s natural.” I didn’t have an answer to that. I was mortified by what I’d seen. The fact that I knew both of them made it that much worse. His eyes glittered, and he leaned close. “Do humans hide when they mate?”
“We don’t hide, we just don’t typically do it out in the open or with others watching.”
He snorted a laugh and slid his hand down my arm to take my hand. “Then come, dhysa. We’ll indulge your sensitive nature and go somewhere without the sounds of pleasure.”
A thought came to me and I froze. How had I never asked this question before?
“What’s wrong?”
My stomach dipped painfully, and I suddenly didn’t want to know. “Nothing.”
“Jacqueline?” His voice was low, intimate. “Tell me.”
“I just…” I steadied my breathing and told myself it didn’t matter. “I just wondered if you had someone.”
A frown stole over his features and he studied me. I couldn’t hold his gaze. “It’s personal, sorry, I just wondered since…” we’d kissed.
Strong fingers gripped my chin and turned me to face him. “Do you believe me to be a male that would touch you the way I did and then have someone else? Just because we don’t feel the need to hide the act of mating doesn’t mean that we don’t honor those who we spend our lives with.”
I tried to hide my relief, but he saw it, I knew he did.
He released my jaw and trailed his fingers down my neck.
Closing my eyes, I shivered at the pleasure that coursed through me at the light touch.
His other hand cupped my face, and a claw scraped across my bottom lip.
I parted my lips, gaze hooded as I tipped my face up to him.
Pulling me flush against him, he cupped my ass with one hand and tangled his other one in my hair, holding me to him as he dropped his lips to mine and we explored each other’s mouths.
My hands drifted, and I marveled at the sheer size and power of him.
And yet the way he held me, the way he moved his mouth over mine, was gentle, and I wanted to stay wrapped in his arms all night.
He pulled away first but continued to massage the back of my head, scraping his claws across my scalp in a way that made me want to moan.
I rested my hands on his chest. “How do you have this effect on me?”
A laugh rumbled through him. “You are not the only one asking that.”
The only reason I parted from him was that I heard voices getting closer.
Two males came into view. When they saw us, the smile disappeared from one’s face while the other looked uncertain. Arrazyl twitched a wing in acknowledgement of them. Instead of continuing on, the cranky looking one came marching toward us while the other followed more sedately.
“He looks friendly.” I murmured.
“Being difficult makes him good at his job.”
“Which is?”
“He’s one of my advisors.” He raised his voice as he neared. “Hello Ihyl.”
The vorpyr didn’t even look at me and responded in vorikaan. His voice was grating and there was something about his demeanor that made my hackles stand up.
Arrazyl said something in a tone that brokered no argument and the vorpyr both clapped their wings and turned to go, but not before the more vocal vorpyr, Ihyl, cast me a derisive glance.
“You’re a busy man.” I commented, watching them walk away.
“You missed one thing.” he tucked his wing around me. “I’m no man.”
I grinned up at him, “that’s obvious.”
“What gave me away, the horns or the wings?”
“Your fangs, hands down.”
He laughed and guided me around. “Come watch this performance, you’ll love it.”
“Do you ever miss having someone hold you at night?” Tatiana asked as we lay in our beds, going to sleep as the sun rose.
“You mean having a boyfriend?”
“Yeah.”
“No.”
She snorted a laugh. “I could have guessed that.”
I smiled softly up at the ceiling. “Actually, I’ve been thinking lately about how it would be nice to have someone. Isn’t that strange? We’re on a foreign planet, it should be the last thing on my mind.”
“I don’t know about that. Wrapped in the arms of your love makes you feel safe, and having that right now would mean more than ever before.”
Sleep pulled at me, but I wanted to know what was bothering her. “What’s on your mind?”
“I just... sometimes I think, what if we had a real chance at life here?”
“Is that something you want?”
She was silent for a long moment and I thought she might have fallen asleep. “It depends on how things develop.”
“Well said.” I could get behind that line of thought. I drifted off.
When I woke, I groggily got to my feet. The time showed late afternoon. I’d gotten plenty of sleep but felt like I’d been dragged by a stampeding horse. Tatiana wasn’t in bed or in the living room, but Jaron’s door was closed, so I knew he must be here. Still sleeping, lucky jerk.
I don’t know how long I sat in the living room, but Jaron eventually stumbled out. “Good grief. I don’t know how they have the energy. It doesn’t matter how old they are, they have the stamina of a college student on spring break.” he mumbled.
I hummed my agreement.
“Did you make coffee?” he asked. I stared at him with half-lidded eyes. “Never mind. I’ll make you a cup too.”
“Thanks.” I was content to stay curled in the chair.
“Here.” He deposited both a mug and a folded paper in front of me.
“What’s this?” I picked up the paper. “Who uses paper anymore?” He gave me a look. “Besides me.” I amended.
“I don’t know, it was on the counter.”
I read aloud. “Everyone meet me at the top of the cliff as soon as you can. There is a small stairway to the right of the Northernmost park that leads to the top. Arrazyl.”
“It sounds urgent.”
“Yes. It says everyone, but I’d rather we find out what’s happening right away instead of waiting for Tatiana.” I pushed myself to my feet and took a gulp of the coffee before heading back into the bedroom to get changed.
The walk did me some good, slowly clearing my groggy mind. I hadn’t ever been a partier and the past week had wiped me out. I’d still loved it. I’d taken so many notes on cultural nuances I’d noticed, and the time with Arrazyl had been wonderful.
“I wonder why he didn’t just have someone get us and fly us up?”
“He took me to the top of the cliff before, but it was way over there”—I waved my hand in the direction I meant—“not right above the city.”
“Oh did he now?”
I narrowed my eyes up at my brother. “I’m not the one disappearing most nights these days.”
He held his hands up, conceding.
The staircase was steep and tiny, clearly not used often or by many.
“Out of all the species we could get stuck with, it had to be ones that don’t believe in railings.” Jaron muttered behind me.
I agreed. I hugged the cliff wall, trying not to think about the drop a few inches away.
After what seemed like nearly an hour of tense walking up the steps with the sun beating down on us, we finally made it.
I was happy to be on solid ground, but no one was in sight. “Arrazyl?” This part of the clifftop was covered with small stones and sparse greenery, giving me a view of the entire area. No one was there.
Jaron came to a stop beside me. “Maybe he—” wingbeats interrupted him and we turned toward the noise.
The sun was at his back, so I couldn’t see his face, only the powerful movement of his large wingspan. But when he landed, I realized it wasn’t Arrazyl.
“Ihyl? Did Arrazyl send you?” I stepped closer to Jaron. He noticed the action and stiffened as we faced the vorpyr.
He stared at us with a contemptuous twist to his lips that showed his fangs prominently.
“There has been a problem.” His tone was pompous and preachy and I had a feeling I wouldn’t like where this was going.
“And it started when you came here.” He waved a hand when Jaron started to say something.
“Do not speak. I have watched this go on for far too long. The Vorazyr will forgive me without a doubt once he realizes the folly of keeping you pets.”
Shit. Not again.
“Imagine my horror when I found out that our Vorazyr, our guiding flight, had succumbed to the disgusting seduction of you. I saw him purchase gifts for you, dance with you, and kiss you! You, vermin.” He shuddered.
“It is a temporary distraction. I have already sent proper vorpyr females of good standing to keep his interest today. It is time he took a mate, anyway.”
“When the Vorazyr finds out you’re going against his will, you will be punished. Look what happened to Jzulyk.” I kept my voice calm even as Jaron trembled with anger next to me.
“Once he realizes what I’m saving him from, he will not be angry. Even if mating with a beast is possible, it is still a horrific act. One I am saving him from.”
“My sister is not a beast you rabid pig.” Jaron snapped, taking a step forward.
I gripped his wrist and used all my weight to hold him back. “We need to get out of here.” I hissed at him. I was acutely aware of how close we were to the edge of the cliff.
Ihyl stepped forward. “You will not be going anywhere. I am a kind vorpyr and will kill you mercifully, like one of the herd animals I hunt. It will be quick.” he spoke as though he were doing us some great favor.
“Jacqueline.” Jaron said in warning.
“I know.”
Then everything happened at once.