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“Cocksuckers?”

“That’s the name,” I murmured, a haughty smile plastered to my face.

“Hello, gentleman,” Sha boomed. A natural actor, they held their human arm out to me as if they’d done it a thousand times. “Thank you for your warm welcome. I’m Count Borrdaff Kahcksuccerce, and this is my daughter…”

Oh shit. Did they remember my name?

Sha turned to me with a wink. “Countina Sass Kahcksuccerce.”

Whew. I curtseyed. “Delighted.”

The Gaming Ambassador bowed both their waists low to the ground. “Welcome to the Aeon Trillium Cabaret and Casino, Count and Countina,” one head said. The other inclined our way and spoke. “Daddy Skirkild the Unrighteous is pleased that you have chosen his humble palace for your gaming delights and nefarious trading.”

Humble? The casino was built into Skirkild’s fortress floating at the edge of a mountain range near the top of a trio of waterfalls. The palace was five square miles of luxury, and the casino alone was one-fifth of that. As we walked into the structure, I counted no less than twenty spires reaching high into the clouds, all ringed with balconies.

“Daddy Skirkild the Unrighteous is expecting me, of course,” Sha said in Count Borrdaff’s voice. “I’ve been working on some globular disintegrating blasters that the Unrighteous will find most usefulandentertaining.”

We passed through the long foyer of the casino and were spirited through the weapons check.

“Is this necessary?” Sha asked, lip curled beneath a silky mustache.

I held my breath as the guards powered the weapons finder. The screen lit up the dainty blaster tucked into my garter, but thank Dilf, none of my real weapons. I always liked to leave a little something small and dainty for them to find so they could feel like they were doing a good job.

A rather handsome Brachinme guard set his talons to his hips and his gaze on me. “Hand over the weapon, ma’am.”

I turned on a full pout. “But you wouldn’t take away a girl’s only protection, would you?”

The Brachinme shrugged with a lascivious grin. “House rules.”

I stepped my heeled foot up onto the weapons finder, the slit in my skirt running high up my leg attracting all the guards’ attention. Most aliens considered humans attractive, so I played it up as often as I could.

I pulled the little pink blaster from my garter and handed it over with an eye flutter, tiptoeing my fingers up the Brachinme’s chest. “Thank you for keeping us safe.” I winked and smoothed my hands down my hips, flicking my finger across the muzzle of the untraceable sonic blast nullifier attached to my belt, hiding in plain sight.

Sha complained loudly to the Gaming Ambassador about the guards taking his weapons—also sacrificial for surrendering—then we were admitted into the elevator up to the casino.

Three steps in, I sized up the primary gaming room, which I’d only seen on visual record. A small, shallow balcony policed with guards encircled the top of the room, and the main floor was clogged with nearly a thousand beings collecting around gaming tables, several bars, and at least two stages. But I didn’t see a single Llurren among them.

“Let me set my daughter up to play. Darling,” Sha said to me, “here’s eighty thousand credits to play with.” Sha dropped a small fortune of the highest quality counterfeit credits on the exchange table.

The banker didn’t blink one of her eight eyes at the gross display of wealth. She simply piled two slim trays of citrus-scented gaming chips before me, and I took them.

“Thank you, Pappa.” I kissed Sha’s cheek and let him lead me deeper into the room. Still no sign of a Llurren. This Dr. Tyos should’ve stuck out like a sore thumb—gold skin was pretty rare, even for a Llurren.

At least Sha and I had planned for a long game. It might take us days to locate him—if he was even on this planet—and even longer to extract him. I slid leisurely onto a stool at the castingo table, taking care to let my full leg show through the slit of my gown. A horned Ristoquarian raised his four eyebrows as his eyes scanned up my leg. I winked at him.

“Darling,” Sha said, “will you be okay here while Pappa takes care of business?”

Code forI’ll pull off some of the heat, and you find out if anyone’s seen the Llurren.

“Yes of course, Pappa. I’ll be fine.”

Sha nodded to the Gaming Ambassador. “Bring me to Daddy Skirkild.” A large contingent of guards followed Sha and the ambassador. I’d chosen the Count for this ruse for a reason—as a business partner, he notoriously offered both a high reward and a high risk. As predicted, Daddy Skirkild took the bait of illegal arms we dangled, but he knew well enough to keep the “count” guarded by his best men.

Dilf, this room was hot. I pulled my long hair back from my neck and shook it out, running my hand down my chest. Live music began from the direction of the stage, a pounding, sexual beat under the high notes of the brass and the low bass of the strings. The whooping and hollering of the crowd rose around the stage.

My next inhale caught a hint of the most intoxicating scent—spicy and fresh, almost like cinnamon and pine. A rush of aching pleasure infused my whole body, and my pussy stung from the rapid flow of blood. I grasped the table reflexively as a level of arousal I’ve never felt before overtook my senses. Sniffing the air like a cat on the hunt, I squirmed in my seat. Of the hundreds of smells in the room—the gambling chips, the body odor of at least three dozen alien species beneath snatches of perfumes and colognes—only one scent enthralled me, and its faintness was a tease.

There it was again. I shuddered, and with an effort, refrained from digging under my dress to pleasure myself in the middle of this room full of people. Had I been drugged? But no, I hadn’t ingested anything. The human at my table seemed unaffected, and Skirkild wouldn’t be drugging the whole populace—that would shut his lucrative enterprise right down. By all accounts, Skirkild awarded death to anyone who endangered his patrons.