It was bizarre to have a stranger open up like this, to confide in Shay so soon, but in a way, it also felt good. Shay lifted her hand, hesitated, and placed it on Samantha’s arm. They both came to a stop. “You were definitely selling yourself short.”
Samantha laughed. “You’re incredibly nice.”
Shay arched a brow. “You don’t know me very well. We’ll see if you still think that by the end of the week.”
Sam’s smile only grew. “I guess we will see. But yeah, I was selling myself short. I came to Arthos to get out of an abusiverelationship. Whatever confidence I had before that asshole, I had nothing left by the time I finally built the nerve to run. There’s no way I would’ve ever brought myself to approach Arc back then. I didn’t believe a man like him could evenseea woman like me. He pushed me to believe in myself…by believing in me when I didn’t. Everyone here did. Drakkal, too, even though he was leery of me at first.”
Shay frowned. “Of you?”
Samantha’s smile widened into a full-fledged grin. “He thought I was a dangerous distraction for Arcanthus.”
A laugh burst out of Shay. “I guess he was right.”
“More than you know.”
They resumed walking, turning right at the next intersecting hallway. Shay’s feet were hurting, and she had to pee something fierce, but she wanted Samantha to keep talking. She needed to know more. There was just something niggling in the back of her mind, something that made her feel uneasy and on edge. It was like that little voice that had kept telling her this was all too good to be true.
“So, if it’s a chemical thing, do they not have a choice in the matter?” Shay asked as nonchalantly as she could.
“Yes and no. They’re drawn to that mate, but it’s all instinctual at first. Emotions have nothing to do with it, other than lust. They can fight it and ignore it. It’s not necessarily easy, but it’s possible. So they can’t prevent themselves from feeling it, but they can prevent themselves from acting on it.”
Which meant Drakkal reallywantedShay.
“What’s he like?” Shay asked. “Drakkal.”
“He can be…intense. I was scared of him, at first. There was the whole him not liking me around thing early on, and he’s pretty hard to read.”
Shay chuckled. “Resting bitch face.”
Samantha smiled. “Yeah. He’s…I don’t know. He’s trustworthy andexceedinglyloyal. He’s very focused most of the time, and he can come off as being overly serious, but he jokes around just like everyone else. Even more, when it comes to Arcanthus. They’ve known each other a long time, and are pretty much like brothers to each other. But Drakkal’s very guarded. He doesn’t like to show much real emotion, even though I know he feels it. He just locks it away and tries to show everyone the big, strong azhera.
“And he’sveryprotective of his friends. Like”—her smile faded, and she dropped her gaze—“like willing to die to keep them safe.”
Those words caused a deep, sharp ache in Shay’s chest, so strong that her next breath was a struggle.
Just like my father.
That reminder hurt, but what hurt even more was the thought that followed—she wasn’t sure if she could endure that sort of pain again. She wasn’t sure she could endure another loss like that. Her fear of it was so strong, so intense, that she didn’t know if she could even bring herself to take a chance on it, regardless of how small the likelihood of her fear coming to fruition was.
And is it really that small? He runs security for a criminal organization. There’s bound to be trouble. That’s how he lost his arm, isn’t it? And just look at what happened at Murgen’s.
Ialmost killed Drakkal down there. What would’ve happened if the rest of Murgen’s security team had been alerted?
“Here we are!” Samantha announced.
Shay looked up to find herself in front of a door; she’d not realized just how lost she’d become in her own thoughts. Samantha pressed the button on the panel, opening the door, and stepped into the room. Shay followed; she was immediately struck by how big and beautiful the room was.
It had to easily be at least three times as big as the apartmentshe’d just left behind. The carpet was a deep violet, which complimented the light blue accents evident throughout the room—and both colors worked surprisingly well with the more neutral gray of the walls. A wide, square light panel hung from the ceiling directly over the large bed, casting a clear, inviting glow on the neatly made, navy-blue bedding.
Samantha moved deeper into the room and brushed her fingers over a control panel on the wall. Several wide drawers pushed out of the wall, and a door-sized section slid aside to reveal a closet. “I got you some clothes. I really hope they fit okay. I wasn’t sure with…” Her gaze dipped to Shay’s rounded stomach, visible between the parted sides of her jacket. “You can put your stuff wherever you’d like.”
Shay smiled. “Thanks.”
Sam returned the smile and pointed at the other end of the room. “The bathroom is through there. Oh, and we ordered some things for the baby. They should come soon.”
Shay moved her hands to her stomach, cradling it, as her heart clenched.
There’s that damned stinging in my eyes again.