Page 25 of Defiance (The Intersolar Union #7)

Novak’s heart pounded louder than a bass drum, drowning out the odd music and the hushed whispers. Charlie brought him into the center of the courtyard with a tick in her jaw, shoulders proudly drawn back. She kept her chin high, a challenge for anyone to tell her no.

La?we followed them not far behind. He stopped at the edge of a spotlight with the other spectators, his bulbous black eyes somehow wider than before, mouth open in shock. The corner of his mouth curled up in disbelief and respect, then he cupped his hand around his mouth and hummed with traditional hjarna applause.

The room obliged, but an undercurrent of tension rode through Novak’s scales like a wave. He aired them out, feeling for attacks at his back.

Charlie bowed her head to Director Caher with a gracious smile and raised her voice so that everyone could hear.

“Thank you for allowing us to share this with everyone, Director Caher.”

Novak would have found the director’s pallor funnier if he wasn’t so caught up in potential threats. The jumble of chemia in the courtyard was filled with cortisol, adrenaline, testosterone… There was a distinctly possessive outrage among the crowd, even if they looked on with polite distaste.

“This is a slow dance,”

Charlie informed them all imperiously.

“This is a terrible idea, is what it is,”

Novak hissed privately, curling his tail into a tight spiral behind him.

Charlie slid his hand around her waist. He held her carefully, aware of the havoc his claws might wreak on her delicate dress. She swayed to the music, sliding her palm up his arm to rest there. It was intimate, defying the ring of mild horror and awe that surrounded them.

“Probably,”

she admitted, “but I’m too cross and too grown to give a damn. Let them try to bully their guest of honor into behaving. See what it gets them.”

“Let me guess,”

he purred thoughtfully.

“Censored swearing, traumatized children, and… a food fight?”

“You forgot looting.”

Novak barked with surprised laughter. Charlie grinned up at him and pulled away.

“Just don’t let go of my hand,”

she said, swinging away and spinning gently. She tugged on his fingers and he pulled her in like a rubber band, their other arms winding around each other once more. Novak’s ears perked.

Oh, he liked that.

Charlie, what a tease. Pulling away so he could draw her back. It was like the Hunt, but softer. It tickled the part of his brain that craved pursuit, softening up the spiral of his tail so that he held her a little closer.

Charlie’s mine, he thought. A seductive, damning thought because it couldn’t be true. His colear? swelled as he inhaled slowly, letting himself get lost in her mischievous eyes.

Sath stepped forward with a cough.

“Would you like to dance?”

he asked a random shilpakaari man, extending his hand. He was still infuriating, but that charm was working in Novak’s favor.

“I think, yes, that I understand the steps.”

The shilpakaari man accepted and they swayed onto the stones, looking at Novak and Charlie’s pose for guidance. Charlie critiqued them, laughing in her big, open way while he scanned the onlookers. A couple more searched for willing dance partners, but the murmurs were begrudging. Belittling.

“The human doesn’t know, surely…”

“When you have a woman in your arms, she expects to be your sole focus,”

Charlie teased.

Novak met her eye with concern and she brushed down the plumes of his neck with her fingers. It had the opposite effect, making them stand up and shiver. He stretched his claws at the small of her back, wanting to draw her in despite the growing crowd.

“You have been my sole focus for a very long time,”

he admitted.

“Good. I like it that way.”

Charlie slipped off his bicep again. He let her drift away, then drew her back, feeling that same zing of instinct. She slid her fingers around his shoulder and pulled him closer when they reunited, but her bluster had sweetened into something vulnerable.

“Will it still be that way after you take me back to Renata?”

Novak threaded his tail around her waist, eyes dilated like dinner plates. She smelled so good. Pliant. Aroused… Her edges burned as he drank in more of her scent and the colors in the room began to glow—

A sharp claw gripped his shoulder and ripped him back. A woman gasped and screamed. Feet scurried back. A glass shattered.

Novak’s hold on Charlie tightened. He spun her around so he could see behind his shoulder.

Pioden snarled at him, baring his teeth. Black caps covered his viperous fangs so that they disappeared against the dark bed of his mouth.

“Uncivilized veshtadt—”

Guei’s security detail spat.

“Hey!”

Charlie roared, eyes wide with rage. Novak’s tail wrapped more tightly around her middle, pushing her behind him.

It all happened so quickly.

Hands in the crowd rushed his tail, prying it open. Charlie pulled on his clothes, begging them to stop in a panicked sob. Novak turned around, snarling and spitting, looking for his quarry in the crush of bodies. His claws and plume mail were fully extended, ready to slice them all to pieces for the audacity. His quarry was frightened, and the desperate animal sounds she made grated in his soul.

“I-I have her!”

Sath yelled, staring at Novak with wide-eyed fear. He held Charlie against his chest as a HIXBS doctor pressed an aero-syringe to her neck.

“Charlotte!”

Guei gasped, clutching her cheeks as she slumped in Sath’s arms.

Pioden’s tail whipped around Novak’s neck, pulling him up shirt. Their plume mail scraped against each other like swords on a battlefield as Novak’s pupils widened and his fangs dropped. He roared, digging his claws into Pioden’s tail with vicious precision as he yanked on his own, trying to rip it back from the hands of so many “brave”

people. His feet slipped on the stones as he lost the wrestling match against a dozen other men.

“There are holding cells, yes. The palace guard will know where, Pioden. Take him,”

Guei commanded.

Pioden’s forearm banded his neck, tail winding around his arms and muzzle. Novak’s tongue lolled from his mouth as he fought for air, dragging Charlie’s chemia into his lungs until the edges of the world burned neon. Scent burn consumed his senses until nothing else existed.

Just Charlie’s magenta chemia as the world blurred and her sedated whimpers faded.