Seeming to understand Shay’s silence, Sam went on, her smile unwavering. “If you need anything, just let me know. And, uh…just so you know, since he basically demanded it, your room is next to Drakkal’s.”
Shay huffed a laugh. “Of course it is.”
The other woman chuckled. “Anyway, it’s late, and I’m sure you’re exhausted. I’ll have some food brought here so you can eat and get some rest.” She moved to the door and opened it. Before she stepped through, she looked back and said, “And honestly Shay…I’m glad you’re here.”
Once Samantha was gone, Shay eased herself onto the bed.Floored—that was the word. She was absolutely floored. These people didn’t know her,Samanthadidn’t know her, and yetthey’d opened their arms to Shay and welcomed her into their home.
Part of her wanted so badly to distrust them, to see them as the criminals they’d admitted to being and treat them with the appropriate caution and skepticism, but she couldn’t. And that left her utterly off balance. The world—theuniverse—wasn’t a nice place full of nice people. It was cold, and hard, and lonely, and people were mean and selfish.
Mom and Dad weren’t. I wasn’t.
I’m not anymore.
Shay shrugged off her jacket and settled her hands on her belly, smiling as she rubbed it lovingly. “This could work, Baby.”
Even if it didn’t…she’d earn some credits and get out. She’d left bad situations before, and she could leave this one if necessary. It wasn’t like she’d put permanent roots down here; this was just another stop along the way, hopefully better than the others she’d made.
But she found that she didn’t want to leave. She wanted to make this work. A safe place, food, good people—it was perfect for her and her baby. This could behome.
Shay breathed in deeply and lifted her gaze toward the door.
There was just the matter of hermateto sort out.
THIRTEEN
Four days passed with impossible speed, hastened by a flurry of potential clients that required thorough background checks and careful planning. Drakkal had been afforded almost no time to spend with Shay—a frustrating issue he couldn’t solve even thoughheran this whole operation alongside Arcanthus—and each day his hunger for her deepened and grew more insistent.
Every moment he spent separated from her had been its own unique bit of agony, all of them coming together to create a mosaic of suffering that shouldn’t have been possible considering the female he so desired was in the same damned building as him the entire time. The days had passed quickly, but the seconds had dragged on forever.
He’d long known that the passage of time was relative, but he’d never experienced it as so terribly fast and brutally slow simultaneously.
Kraasz ka’val, I’m losing my mind.
By all accounts, Shay was settling in well. The crew’s initial assessment of her hadn’t changed; they all liked her, and that admiration had only grown. She fit in perfectly, and part ofDrakkal hated that—because everyone else had spent hours and hours of time with her.
Drakkal had known his share of hardships, had faced injustices and been wronged more times than he cared to count, but this was the first time in all those years that he ever felt the universe was unfair. Why the hell had business suddenly picked up the morning after he brought his mate home? Why was he being kept apart from his female when he’d only just brought her close?
Maybe I shouldn’t have been so hard on Arcanthus when he was trying to win over Samantha…
Now Drakkal stalked along the corridors, breathing deeply through his nose to pick up every scent on the air and filtering them all out of his awareness until only that sundrinker perfume with its exotic flair remained.
This was it—he was making time with her,takingit if necessary, and he wouldn’t let anything stop him. He’d waged a ceaseless, internal war against his instincts over the last four days. Having his mate so close and knowing he’d yet to claim her was a torture unlike any he could’ve imagined. He’d resisted his urges to focus on work, telling himself repeatedly that said work was necessary to maintain everyone’s safety.
But right now, his only concern was Shay. The others were adults; they could take care of themselves for a few hours. Mama Drakkal needed some personal time.
His search was complicated by the fact that her scent was everywhere in this building by now. After he’d checked her room—she wasn’t there—he should’ve just pulled up the surveillance feeds on his holocom to find her, but something inside him had railed against the idea. He couldn’t tell if it was a deep opposition to violating her privacy, which was an almost comical thought after he’d spent a day stalking her through the Undercity, or a more primal, instinctual need to track her.There was a drive in him to learn her scent so intimately that he could find her even were he stricken deaf and blind.
His skin prickled, his fur bristled, and his tail lashed as he searched the likeliest places. He opened the break room door, pressed his hands against the door frame, and leaned through the doorway, sniffing the air and scanning the room. Like everywhere else, her scent was there—but she wasn’t. Only Razi, watching two teary-eyed volturians profess their love for one another on the entertainment screen.
Snarling, Drakkal shoved away from the doorway and continued the hunt. He needed to claim her, yes, but she wasn’t likely ready for that yet. Just being near her would be enough for now. It had to be enough.
Vrek’osh, I hope it’s enough.
He stopped at the gym next. The air smelled like sweat and greased tristeel, but it was the scent of Shay’s sweat that stood out the strongest to him—not just because he was actively seeking it, but because it was the freshest. She’d been here recently.
Ears flattening, Drakkal clenched his fists and continued to the only other place she might’ve gone while off duty. Her scent strengthened as he descended into the lower level and approached the building’s training facilities, one of the only areas that had required little remodeling when the forgery operation had been relocated here. The stairs let him out in a short corridor with the door to the shooting range directly ahead and the control room for the simulation chambers to his right.
He entered the shooting range first.