He wanted her as hismate.
Why did that word seem more permanent thanwife, more powerful thanmarriage?
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 hiscar. 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 wascomfortable.
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 meansfuck 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 fangsdefinitelydidn’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.