The now lustful haze in Drakkal’s mind prevented him from realizing what she was doing until it was too late to react. She detached the earpiece from her holocom, slipped it in her ear, and selected an option on the menu.
The holocom built into Drakkal’s prosthesis chimed—out loud. Were he even a few steps farther away from her, she likely wouldn’t have heard it over the din of the crowd, buthe’d come within a couple meters during her scuffle with the sedhi.
Shay’s head turned toward the sound—towardDrakkal—and her eyes skimmed over him briefly. Almost as soon as she looked away, she snapped her gaze back to Drakkal, eyes going wide.
Of all the times to forget to silence this damned thing…
He almost always wore the earpiece for his holocom, keeping its speaker silenced. That was part of his typical day, so much so that he rarely thought about it. But today, he’d been so focused on his task, so focused on her, that he’d not bothered with his earpiece. He’d wanted to keep his full attention on her.
Shay ended the call and removed her earpiece. “For real? You’re stalking me?”
If he should’ve been embarrassed, the feeling never came. He’d told Shay that he wanted her safe above all else. There was no shame in following through with that.
He reached up, tugged down his hood, and shook out his mane as he approached her. “I am.”
“Just like that? No excuses? No lies?” Her brows furrowed as she tilted her head. “You…you realize that doesn’t necessarily help your case, right? Just makes you creepy.”
Drakkal shrugged. “Creepy but honest. You hungry?”
Startled, she opened her mouth, closed it, and studied him with a furrowed brow.
He could feel her gaze on him like a physical touch, and his skin tingled beneath it as though she were looking right through his clothing. There was something inexplicably exciting about that. “Doubt you have anything better to do, terran. I heard you just lost your job.”
She looked down at the flyers littering the ground and kicked one with the toe of her boot. “Actually”—she lifted her gaze to meet his—“I quit. You buying?”
One corner of Drakkal’s mouth rose in a smirk. “I don’t know. Heard you came into some money recently. Shouldn’t it be your treat?”
“You asked. I can go eat on my?—”
“Yeah, it’s on me.”
She grinned. “That’s what I thought. Let’s go. I’m starving.”
As surreal as this turn of events had been, Drakkal didn’t dwell on it. The only thing that mattered was that he’d found his mate, and she was both surprising and extremely capable. His want for her grew by the second.
They fell into step side-by-side, with Drakkal altering his gait to match her pace.
“Anything you’re particular to?” he asked.
She glanced up at him from the corner of her eye and shrugged. “Any recommendations?”
Half a dozen options flitted through Drakkal’s mind. He knew the city well—at least chunks of it—but his knowledge of terrans wasn’t remotely as solid. Even living around Samantha for a year hadn’t taught him enough about their species, especially because he rarely thought of Sam as a terran anymore—she was just part of his crew, part of his family.
What did Sam say? No…bugs? Nothing still alive?He wished he could remember for sure.
He turned his head toward Shay and looked her over, as though that could somehow tell him her dietary necessities. “What do your kind eat?”
She arched a brow at him. “Food.”
His expression fell, and he fixed her with a droll look. “You don’t get to complain if you don’t like it.”
“Kitty, as long as it tastes good, it’s not moving, and you don’t tell me what it actually is, I’ll eat it.”
“You call me kitty again and I’ll eatyou.” The words came out with an unintended hint of lust.
“Promise?”
Based on the surprise in her expression, Drakkal guessed she hadn’t intended her sultry tone, either.