Despite his intimidating size, obvious strength, and three-centimeter-long tusks, Razi’s smile was warm.
“So, who is your partner?” Shay asked Drakkal.
“Let her guess,” Thargen suggested. “More fun that way.”
Drakkal shook his head. “Don’t you have a new gun to shoot or something?”
“Yeah, but I wanted someone to shoot it at before I used it.”
Shay jabbed a thumb at Thargen and grinned. “I like him.”
One of those low, threatening growls rolled up from Drakkal’s chest.
Urgand patted Thargen’s shoulder. “It’s a shame. All you wanted was a new friend. It’s been fun, Thargen. Die with honor.”
Those doubts Shay had long been harboring about this whole thing rose to the forefront and finally died. Drakkal hadn’t been lying. This place, these people, really were nothing like anything she’d known before. Sure, she’d been in groups whose members had slung shit at one another, but never in this good-natured, familiar fashion. The people she’d run with in the past had often taken to beating each other bloody rather than laughing and moving on. It had all been about reputation and ego for that sort—if they were insulted, they had to escalate their response to save face.
This made her think of the few times she’d been with her father while he was with other soldiers, when every word, no matter how insulting or rude on the surface, had been exchanged with an underpinning respect and admiration that completely altered their meanings. Dad had often called the men and women he’d served with his brothers and sisters. Wasthiswhat he meant? Was this the sort of camaraderie he’d known?
Drakkal turned his head toward Shay and eyed her. “You’re not allowed to like him.”
She tilted her head and arched a brow. “Excuse me?”
“I’m your boss now, remember?”
Shay shifted her weight from one leg to the other, crossed her arms over her chest, and held his gaze, tryingreallyhard not to let the corners of her lips twitch up. “Yeah, and?”
“And…you’re supposed to listen to me?” Drakkal cringed at his own words.
“You’re myboss, not my master. Wanna know what happened when my last boss tried to push me around?”
Drakkal scowled. His ears drooped, and his tail lashed behind him.
A few of the others covered their mouths—likely to hold in the laughter sparkling in their eyes.
“I like her too, Drak,” Arcanthus said. “So glad I decided to let you hire her.”
With a final glare at Drakkal, Shay turned her attention to Arcanthus. She took him in again, this time in his entirety—the confidence, bordering on arrogance, of his stance and expression; his silky crimson robes; his sleek and expensive-looking cybernetic limbs.
“You’rehis partner?” she asked.
Arcanthus’s brow furrowed, and his amused grin fell. “Why did you ask like you don’t believe it?”
Shay shrugged. “You just don’t put out that commanding vibe.”
Thargen barked laughter. “Finally, someone said what we all?—”
“Time to get back to work,” Urgand said quickly, cutting the other vorgal off. “Doors won’t guard themselves.”
Arcanthus kept his center eye on Shay while turning the other two to glare at Thargen. “Attacked in my own home. And here I mistakenly thought us all friends.”
“We are friends,” Kiloq said, grinning around his tusks.
“That’s why we tell you these things,” Koroq added, picking up where his brother left off.
Samantha wiped her eyes, seemingly unable to stop laughing.
Arcanthus leaned aside to look down at Sam, who he was still holding against his side. “You too? Is there no loyalty to be found in this place? Why do I pay all of you?”