Chapter 12
TWELVE
One bag. That was all it took to fit everything Shay owned—one measly bag.
And the backpack wasn’t even full; it only held clothing, toiletries, and a few other essentials.
Her weapons were on her belt, hidden beneath her oversized jacket, and her holocom was securely around her wrist. But she wasn’t going to let herself be depressed over it.
This was her new beginning, wasn’t it? Everyone started somewhere. It’d only get better from here.
For her baby, it had to get better.
She hadn’t given Drakkal a specific time to pick her up when she’d called him earlier.
It had been a hell of a wait, and she cursed at herself several times for not just saying pick me up in thirty minutes.
It’s not like she’d needed time to pack or settle her affairs.
The moment he’d messaged her to say he was on his way, she’d leapt off her chair, scooped up her backpack, and left the room for the last time without a backward glance.
And now here she was, standing outside the rundown apartment building, anxiously awaiting Drakkal’s arrival.
She hadn’t bothered telling that bastard Vrisk she was leaving. He was a big boy; he’d figure it out on his own. If he had any complaints, he could shove the credits he’d extorted from her right up his scaly asshole.
Not that she thought he’d care. He was basically getting a month’s rent—or three weeks of rent, since the fucker didn’t seem to know how long a month was—for nothing, and he’d get some other desperate sucker in the room the moment he discovered she was gone.
Hell, even if her room had been painted in blood, she doubted he’d ask any questions.
Shay adjusted the backpack’s shoulder strap and frowned. She was familiar with feeling like her life didn’t matter to anyone. It’d been like that for her on Earth while she was working amongst drug lords, thieves, pimps, and mercenaries. But she had mattered once.
And you threw it all away, didn’t you Shay?
Her throat tightened, but she refused to let those feelings, those memories, suffocate her now. It wasn’t the place or the time.
When will it be the time? When will it ever be?
Shay shook her head and looked to her left, glancing at the people walking through the dark, alien-made canyon running between the nearby buildings. They all looked different, but she recognized kindred spirits—all these people were just trying to get by and live their lives.
There was someone who claimed she mattered. Someone who was alive, someone who was coming for her right now. Why did that knowledge scare her a little?
More than a little.
Drakkal’s intensity scared the piss out of her. Plenty of guys had shown interest in her, but they’d always been drawn to nothing more than her body. Drakkal… He wanted Shay. All of her—mind, body, and soul.
He wanted her as his mate.
Why did that word seem more permanent than wife, more powerful than marriage?
The air between Shay’s old building and the structure across the broad alley seemed suddenly alive, vibrating with a barely perceptible hum.
Shay turned her head to see a hovercar descending between the buildings to her right, its lights bathing the otherwise dimly lit space with brilliant luminescence.
Its sleek body was black, polished so highly that it reflected the lights from other hovercars high above.
The people outside scurried away from the vehicle, a few of them casting it annoyed glares.
The vehicle approached Shay slowly, hovering about a meter in the air, and eased to a smooth halt within a couple meters of her, where it sank closer to the ground. The drivers’ side door swung open, and Drakkal drew himself out.
“Ready to go, kiraia?” he asked, his green eyes aglow with reflected light.
A warm, comforting sensation chased away some of Shay’s anxiousness. Her baby shifted within her, giving a few swift little kicks.
Yeah. I kind of like him, too, Baby.
The corners of Shay’s mouth quirked up. “I’ve been ready. Where have you been?”
Drakkal walked around the front of the hovercar to open the passenger side door. “Driving. In case you haven’t noticed, this city’s on the large side.”
“Must have slipped my mind,” she replied as she moved to the passenger door, tilting her head back to look up at Drakkal.
He was wearing black pants and a dark gray tank top that showed off his broad shoulders and the muscles of his arms—which were evident despite being covered in fur.
His left arm ended several centimeters above his elbow; from that point down, it was a cybernetic prosthesis even more sleek than his car.
It matched the size and proportions of his flesh and blood limb, but it was more graceful, run through in places with glowing red highlights.
Drakkal smirked. “Hmm. Maybe you’re not a good fit for a security team, after all.”
“Guess you’ll have to find a better use for me, then.”
“I can think of a few,” he rumbled. His heated gaze moved over her, and his lips stretched wider. “Can even try some right now, if you’re not ready to be on our way.”
Shay laughed even as her body responded to imagined scenarios his words sparked. “I guess I walked into that one.”
“I did leave the door wide open for you.” He gestured to the interior of the hovercar. “Let’s see where it goes, kiraia.”
Shay placed a hand on the door for support and eased herself down into the passenger seat.
It wasn’t all that long ago that she could’ve climbed into a car without a second thought, but now every movement was a unique ordeal.
Carrying a little extra person in her belly—a person who was pressing against internal organs, including her bladder—had definitely disrupted her grace.
She buckled her harness and settled her pack on her lap.
Drakkal closed the door once she was fully inside.
Shay studied the interior as he circled to the driver’s side.
The seats were big and supple, cradling her body in a loving, soothing embrace; it was easily the most comfortable seat she’d ever sat in.
The hovercar’s controls looked both highly sophisticated and simplistic, with a few unfamiliar symbols here and there.
In some ways it was like climbing into any hovercar back on Earth, but in others it was entirely new.
She’d never been in a car this nice, for starters. He wasn’t kidding when he’d said he was comfortable.
The vehicle swayed when Drakkal climbed into the driver’s seat.
He closed his door, and the ambient noises from outside—the soft flit of hovercars high overhead, muted conversations, and a subtle but constant drone of unseen machinery—ended abruptly.
There was only Shay and Drakkal now, and this felt like a moment from which there was no turning back. This was it.
Drakkal strapped in before settling his hands on the controls—one on the wheel, one on the directional throttle.
Screens and displays flashed on, the most central of which was a hologram of the vehicle from the outside, depicting the locations of nearby objects.
The gentle hum of the vehicle’s antigrav engines pushed back the silence.
“Say goodbye to this dump,” Drakkal said.
Shay turned to look at the building through her window. She raised a hand and flipped it off.
Drakkal glanced at her as he guided the hovercar into a smooth ascent. His eyes flicked to her extended middle finger. “What’s that?”
Shay dropped her hand back into her lap. “What’s what? The finger?”
“Yes. What does it mean?”
She chuckled. “It means fuck off.”
The vehicle cleared the top of the apartment complex, and Drakkal turned his attention forward, lips parting in a grin that displayed his wicked fangs.
Those fangs definitely didn’t turn her on. Nope. Not…at…all.
Shay shifted in her seat, refusing to squeeze her thighs together and give in to her body’s reaction, refusing to acknowledge the sudden ache pulsing in her core.
Her resistance was made more difficult when something brushed along the side of her calf.
She glanced down to see the tip of Drakkal’s tail running slowly along her leg, just like it belonged there.
She clenched her bag in one hand. She should’ve moved her leg, should’ve broken the contact with him…but she didn’t. She liked being touched. Liked his touch.
“So, what’s kiraia mean?” she asked. “You’ve called me that a few times now.”
“Kiraia are creatures from a planet I once called home. They are small, and very beautiful, but they are also dangerous predators.” He looked at her from the corner of his eye, his grin falling into something closer to a smirk.
“They’re especially dangerous when provoked.
Many hunters carry scars from underestimating a kiraia. ”
Something in her chest warmed, and her heart skipped a beat. That was…quite flattering. And wholly unexpected.
Shay grinned. “Guess I’ve been taking it too easy on you, then.”
“I’ll take anything you want to give, Shay, and ask for more when you’re done.”
She shook her head and laughed. As her cheeks warmed, she scrunched her nose. “You naughty, naughty kitty.”
Drakkal laughed, too; the sound was deep and rich, and only warmed her further. “You can keep calling me kitty only if you let me pretend they are also powerful, deadly animals.”
Unable to help herself, she reached toward him and slowly ran her finger down his furred arm. “Some are,” she said in a husky voice.
His ears perked, and his tail quickened. His scent filled the cab—and so did his presence. It would be so easy to forget about everything else and focus solely on the azhera beside her. So easy to accept what he was truly offering. To accept…him.
“I promise you, kiraia, I put them all to shame,” he purred.
This time, Shay did press her thighs together. He might as well have stroked her downstairs with how much his voice affected her.