Vanya looked largely unchanged by the years. Her fur was the same rusty brown, her eyes the same gold—and just as cold as they’d been the last time he’d seen her. She was tall and athletically built, standing with the confidence she’d always displayed; as much a natural, beautiful huntress as ever. Even her attire harkened back to their younger days—a leather harness on top, little more than a series of straps and buckles that crossed over her mounds, a broad belt with pouches, a knife, and a blaster, and a skirt formed of swatches of drab cloth and strips of tristeel-reinforced leather.
It was the same sort of clothing she might’ve worn on one of their hunting trips two decades before.
Drakkal’s old pain faded quickly, but it left an emptiness inside him, likely the result of shock. He should never have seen this female again, and he wasn’t sure what to think, what to feel. Drakkal’s arms fell away from Shay. “Vanya.”
She smiled and stepped closer. “You remember me,” she purred, reaching out to touch his face.
Shay smacked Vanya’s arm away. “Don’t fucking touch him.”
Drakkal hadn’t seen Shay move, but there she was, standing between him and Vanya like a small but terribly formidable wall, every bit as confident as the female azhera—and infinitely more beautiful.
Vanya reared back in surprise for an instant before her features contorted into a snarl. She growled at Shay, baring her fangs and spreading her claws.
That was more than enough to spark something in Drakkal, something he hadn’t allowed himself to feel toward Vanya in all this time, something heshouldhave felt long ago. Fury. It wasn’t only about what she’d done, it was about what she was doing. Drakkal would not tolerate threats to his mate.
He growled and wrapped his arm around Shay’s shoulders from behind, drawing her back against his chest and twisting to turn her away from Vanya.
“Who the hell are you?” Shay demanded before Drakkal could speak.
Vanya’s expression remained hard and cold as she moved her eyes over Drakkal. Her gaze shifted to Shay and dipped; she undoubtedly noticed the swell of Shay’s stomach. Envy flared in Vanya’s eyes.
“His lover,” Vanya said, raising her chin and sensually rolling her shoulders. “Who are you?”
“I’m hismate, so you better fucking back off.”
Vanya laughed, her grin wide and mocking. “His mate? Hardly.” She leaned down so her eyes were level with Shay’s. “You’re nothing but a weak, soft-skinned terran. Easily…broken.”
Shay lunged for Vanya with startling strength. “Bitch, I’ll show you who’s easily broken!”
Grunting, Drakkal wrapped both arms around Shay and held her back. Despite the disparity in their size and weight, he was losing that struggle until he lifted her off her feet—but even then, she didn’t stop.
“You’re about to have your ass kicked by someone who has to waddle to the bathroom three times a night!” Shay shouted.
“It would be too easy to take you apart, terran,” said Vanya.
Drakkal’s ears flattened, and his fur bristled. His muscles tensed with another wave of rage that coaxed a fresh growl out of his chest. He turned fully, giving Vanya his back, and set Shay on her feet. “Stay,” he grated through his teeth.
He barely registered her glare before he turned toward Vanya. She had a mirthful spark in her eye and that smirk on her lips that had once lured in a young, lonely, naïveazheran male. It had been too late by the time Drakkal had recognized the cruel, icy void lurking behind her humor.
“You ought to put a leash on yourpet, Drakkal,” Vanya said, sauntering a little closer.
Were they in the Undercity, he might’ve killed Vanya right then. His old feelings for her didn’t matter—they were long dead. He would not abide insults and threats to his mate, and Vanya herself was a walking threat. But his surroundings stayed his hand; violence here would be noticed, and the peacekeepers would act. He could not bring that sort of attention to himself or Shay.
“She is my mate, and I will not allow a traitorouszhe’gaashto speak ill of her,” he said in as slow and measured a tone as he could manage. “I know you for what you are now. Leave, or I’ll treat you accordingly.”
Her ears dropped briefly before they rose again. “Time changes us, Drakkal. I’m not what you remember.”
He stared into her eyes, his shoulders rising and falling with deep, heavy breaths. He made no effort to mask his bitterness and hatred. “Neither am I.”
She sighed. “Oh, Drakkal, you loved me once. Surely you haven’t forgotten everything.” She eased closer still and flicked her tail out to brush his leg. “We were fierce lovers.”
That reminder only further agitated the maelstrom within him. There’d been something there once, something he’d mistaken for love even for years after she betrayed him…but it had never been that. She knew it as well as he did.
“I remember all of it.” Though he kept his hands lowered, he flexed his fingers, extending his natural claws and forming his prosthesis’ hardlight claws. “You have three seconds, Vanya. Walk away, just like the last time.”
Her voice lowered and grew huskier as she said, “Mmm.When you strike, Drakkal, you strikedeep.” She reached out despite his warning and caressed his cheek.
He snarled and batted her hand away.