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 haveto pee now. Drakkal hadn’t complained, butshewas 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.”
Shay turned to face him, ready to put him in his place if he really thought her words in the hall had meant anything, but stopped when she saw the amusement—and traces of heat—in his eyes. She smirked. “You wish, azhera.”
“Yeah, I do,” he replied.
His gaze lingered on her for a moment before he turned away to study her little apartment, walking slowly as he examined everything—not that there was much to see. At least it spared her the embarrassment of him seeing her reaction to his words—the way her skin flushed, the way she squeezed her thighs together to ease the ache of her clenching pussy. The heat that had been in his voice, in his eyes, paired with his total lack of hesitation in answering…
I’m too damn horny for this. I’m blaming the pregnancy hormones. Ithasto be the hormones.
“So?” she prompted, desperate to change the subject.
“I’m willing any time,kiraia,” he said, continuing his slow perusal of her apartment.
“Azhera, you know that’s not what I meant.”
When he didn’t immediately answer, Shay frowned and glanced around the apartment. The place was already familiar; she knew it wasn’t much to look at, knew it was a dump. That was no fault of her own. But she still couldn’t stop the shame that was pulsing up the back of her neck now, feeling like flames spreading over her skin.
She cared about what Drakkal thought. She didn’t want him to look at her any differently now that he’d been in her apartment, now that he wasreallyseeing it.
You’re acting like a teenager, Shay. Get your shit together.
She pulled out a chair and eased herself onto it. “Tell me all about your super-secret criminal career.”
Drakkal leaned close to the wall and scratched at a stain with a claw—one of many that had been present when she moved in and would likely be present long after she was dead. He scowled and made a decidedly disapproving grunt before turning and walking toward the table. Before he reached the empty chair, his eyes flicked to her pallet, and he paused, tilting his head. He gave her a questioning glance and stepped over to her bed.