Chapter 10
TEN
As the elevator doors closed, Shay peeked at Drakkal from the corner of her eye.
Though she was average height for a female human, she felt incredibly small beside him; his presence seemed to fill the entire lift.
His leather and clove scent permeated the air, and heat radiated from his body. Shay was tempted to move closer to him.
Really tempted.
Spending time with him had been…nice. Nicer than she’d expected.
Beneath his gruffness, he was actually quite funny, and he’d made her laugh several times as they ate.
But his demeanor had changed as soon as they’d left the restaurant.
He grew quieter, more alert, and kept so close to her that it should’ve made her uncomfortable.
But she hadn’t felt uncomfortable, not even a little.
She’d felt protected. For once, she hadn’t had to constantly look over her shoulder, hadn’t had to worry about someone following her and attempting to attack or kidnap her.
While she was with Drakkal, Shay felt like she could overcome anything this city threw at her. And it was nice to let her guard down a little. It was nice to have someone watching her back. To have someone she could depend on.
Getting a little ahead of yourself there, Shay. You barely know the guy.
With a faint shuddering, the elevator began its ascent.
Regardless, she had a feeling that Drakkal was what her father had called good people. That he could be trusted. It had been a long time since she’d known someone like that.
The elevator jerked and stuttered, metal grinding and screeching.
Shay threw out a hand to steady herself, but before her hand touched the wall, she found herself enveloped in azhera.
Drakkal had wrapped his big arms around her and drawn her against his chest, leaning forward to shield her body with his.
He was solid and steady. Warmth cocooned her, and she readily inhaled his spicy scent.
“I’ve got you, kiraia,” he said, his voice a low rumble that she felt as much as heard.
Shay cleared her throat and patted his chest, barely resisting the urge to run her palm over the hard muscle beneath his shirt. Fuck me, this male is ripped. “It, uh, does that a lot.”
The elevator stabilized, but it took Drakkal a few seconds to release his hold on her.
Not that she minded. She actually…liked it.
A lot. She liked his heat, his solidness, liked the way his arms embraced her and the feel of his strong, rough hands on her body.
It was doing all kinds of funny things inside her. Funny, pleasurable things.
When he finally stepped back, she glanced up at his face to find his pupils thinned to slits and his ears forward. His tail whipped through the air behind him, its movements fluid but restless.
“Still, Shay…I’ve got you.”
Somehow, those words found their way into her chest, sparking a warm, fluttering ache. Shay lifted a hand to rub at it. Not a second later, she felt a little kick in her belly. She could imagine her baby giving her a nudge and saying, Well, Mom?
“Um, thanks,” she replied.
Yeah, that was totally not awkward sounding. What the hell, Shay?
The lift came to a grinding halt, and the doors noisily slid open. Shay hurried out. It felt like things were moving too fast with Drakkal, but it was only her lack of alarm about it that worried her. Unfortunately, the move into the hallway did not bring an improvement in environment.
“Aww, hell,” she muttered.
Two males were fist-fighting in the middle of the corridor, and of course they were between the elevator and Shay’s apartment door.
They were both big—something she was getting used to by now—and they didn’t seem to be taking it easy on one another.
The larger of the two was a naked four-armed onigox who looked to be at least a head taller than Drakkal.
The other was one of her neighbors, the cren named Ostik—just as tall as his opponent, but leaner, with a pair of tusks jutting up from his lower jaw.
The onigox seemed to have the advantage, though Ostik was dishing out a good deal of punishment despite his foe’s greater mass and extra set of limbs.
A female cren—Zira—stood a meter or two away from the combatants, her eyes fixed on the melee. She looked far more excited than concerned.
The two cren lived in the apartment two doors down from hers. Whenever Shay heard neighbors arguing—or fucking—it was usually these Ostik and Zira. She’d never seen the onigox before, but her gut-feeling speculation here was that Zira hadn’t only been fucking the Ostik.
Drakkal growled and stepped around Shay.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
He turned his head to look at her. “Your apartment is down the hall.”
“Yeah.”
“So why would we stop here?”
“We’re not. But you got all growly and stepped in front of me, so…” She shrugged, hands out, palms up.
Ostik kicked the onigox and launched himself at his larger opponent with a roar, slamming him into the wall.
Drakkal shifted his attention back to the fight, lifted his hands, and tugged off his coat. He handed it to Shay. “Yeah, because I know how situations like this usually go.”
Shay accepted the coat and watched as he stalked forward, unable but to focus on his ass in those tight, black pants, and the hypnotizing sway of his tail. He really, really had a nice ass.
Stop it, Shay. Eyes up.
Before Drakkal reached the fighting males, Zira pushed herself away from the wall and approached him.
Her yellow eyes were intent upon the azhera, and a flirtatious smile had curved her lips.
She was dressed only in lingerie, similar to a baby doll nightie, its fabric sheer and glimmering—and it left nothing to the imagination regarding the body beneath.
She had long, toned limbs and supple blue skin.
Her tall, athletic figure made Shay feel even smaller and more inadequate, especially with the bowling ball that had taken residence in her belly.
Sorry, Baby. I don’t mean that.
The female cren seemed totally unbothered by the green moisture dripping down her inner thighs.
Shay cringed.
Oh, her man definitely just walked in on her in bed with that onigox.
“Azhera,” Zira purred, reaching out to brush her fingers down Drakkal’s arm. “You look like you need a rough fuck.”
What. The fuck?
Shay narrowed her eyes and took a step forward. Something burned in her chest, something hot and lethal, something she couldn’t identify—but it definitely wasn’t heartburn. This discomfort wasn’t a result of her pregnancy.
She curled her hands into fists, squeezing Drakkal’s coat. She wanted—needed—to hit something. And that something was the female easing closer to Drakkal, about to press her nasty, splooge-covered body against him.
“Bitch, back off,” Shay snapped.
Startled, Zira looked at Shay as though just noticing her presence.
Drakkal glared at the female cren, who’d taken hold of his arm with both hands. Voice barely more than a low growl, he said, “She is my female, and I will not hold her back if you choose to disobey her.”
She is my female.
An entirely different heat bloomed in Shay at the sound of his claim.
Whoa! Simmer down, Shay. No one is claiming anyone.
…Right?
Zira chuckled. “I don’t mind sharing.”
“Never would’ve guessed it,” Drakkal muttered.
“Zira!”
Shay looked past Drakkal at the female to see Ostik—he was the one who’d spoken—and his onigox opponent now separated by a few meters of space.
Both were battered and bloody, their postures hunched with chests and shoulders heaving.
They were glaring at Drakkal now, as though his presence had given them a common enemy.
Ostik’s eyebrows fell low. “I saw you here yesterday, azhera. Are you with my female, too?”
“Kraasz ka’val.” Drakkal shook off the female cren. “I did not come here for a fight.”
Zira stumbled back and bumped into the wall.
Drakkal kept his focus on the other two males.
Though he didn’t assume any sort of fighting stance, Shay noted the slight change of his posture—he sank just a touch lower, shifting his muscles into a ready position, the claws on his right hand extended by half a centimeter or so, and his mane bristled.
“Damn it,” Shay said. Striding forward, she grabbed Drakkal’s right arm and settled her gaze on the male cren.
“He isn’t fucking your woman because he’s fucking me.
Now get the fuck back and let us through.
Then you can get back to knocking the piss out of each other.
Or, maybe, you accept that she’s playing you both and kick her to the curb. ”
She gave Drakkal’s arm a tug as she continued forward, past the males gaping at her and the female glaring at her. Drakkal’s powerful muscles were tense, but he offered no resistance.
When they reached Shay’s door, she shoved her hand into her pocket, withdrew her keycard, and held it up to the reader. The door whisked open. She stepped inside, pulling Drakkal in after her.
As soon as the door closed, she released him, glanced over her shoulder, and pointed at him. “No funny business.”
His brows fell, and he frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means behave yourself.” Shay walked over to the table to drape Drakkal’s coat over one of the chairs before removing her hair tie.
She massaged her scalp as her hair fell loose.
Putting one hand on the table for balance, she kicked off her boots.
Once her feet were free, she sighed and wiggled her toes.
They’d had to stop twice so Shay could relieve herself on their way here from the restaurant. Thankfully, she didn’t have to pee now. Drakkal hadn’t complained, but she was tired of going all the damned time.
He followed her into the room, though he left a couple meters between them. “Why behave? I just heard we’re fucking now.”