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Zyair paced away, as if his feet were in sync with his thoughts. “How did the Nirzks know that Raptor Clan would be there that day? Azrome had his suspicions. Maybe we now have our answer.”

I looked from him, to Senaik. What was he talking about?

Yani leaned close and whispered. “The battle where Raptor Clan was almost wiped out by the Nirzks.”

My mind raced. Was Zyair implying that they’d been betrayed by Tazier Clan ?

He swung in front of Senaik, while Rhodes and Xandros moved to each side, leveling their rifles to point against the Tazier’s skull.

Zyair seized the Drake by the throat and lifted him into the air as though he weighed less than a hedgegopher. The raw strength that it took robbed me of breath.

Senaik hung there, glaring at him.

“Betrayer,” Zyair snarled, bringing his face to within inches of the other. “Only scum would call the Nirzks their allies. You stink like a manticore.”

I’d heard the Nirzks called that before. Manticores were in Earth’s myths too—but I’d never seen a Nirzk, so I didn’t know if there was any connection.

Senaik’s eyes flared, and he answered in their native tongue.

It was so rapid-fire that I only understood snippets of the complicated language.

Something about the Raptors being a bunch of “sanctimonious do-gooders”, and that someone named Azrome would have brought the Drakes to ruin with his policies.

He finished with something along the lines of “their kind being better off with him dead”.

Zyair hit him. Not a talon slash, but a closed fist, full force bash to the face that sent the Tazier flying across the bay.

While Senaik gasped for breath, Zyair dragged him by the wings to the cage and threw him in.

Xandros seemed disappointed, and asked something in Drakonian that I barely grasped—something equivalent to gutting him, but wasn’t up on my Drakonian slice and dice lingo.

“We might need him,” Rhodes replied with reluctance.

“Can we at least rip his balls off?” Xandros complained in English.

“The fact we were destined to be delivered to Brentoq explains why we still have ours,” Rhodes stated in the same language.

Both still had their rifles leveled on the Tazier.

Much as he was letting the Tazier live, Zyair’s green eyes spat fire as he turned to me.

“Are you okay?” His blazing eyes were on my arm, and the blood clearly visible there.

The big redhead moved closer and eyed me with concern. “Humans are breakable. She requires healing.”

“We are tougher than we look,” I protested. “It’s nothing the machine can’t fix.”

I didn’t think either of them believed me, but Zyair’s gaze moved to Yani. “Chain the gate closed.”

He was covered in cuts, and naked on top of it. I’d begun to shake all over, with my thoughts swirling like paper in a tornado. But his comment gave me something to focus on.

Chains. Right.

“We have the tie-down chains,” Yani stated.

Zyair grimaced. “Bring the heaviest you have, along with locks.”

We soon ended up with both Senaik and the cage door wrapped and secured. The Drakes then dragged the five Tazier bodies to the airlock. I figured we’d keep them there until we were out of slipstream, and then cycle them through to the great beyond.

Rhodes closed the airlock door, and we stared at each other. They were naked. I was clothed. We all required medical attention. But I struggled to keep my eyes on their faces, and the way they looked at me had my skin flushing all over again.

Xandros winced and rubbed at his ears. “What is wrong with your slipstream drive? The noise is most irritating.”

“Hold on.” Yani vanished through the opening we’d created. A few minutes later, the vibration I sensed dissipated to nothing.

All three Drakes appeared relieved. Senaik looked furious.

Yani reappeared. “Medical bay.” She gestured to the outer door. “Now.”

The three brothers moved to follow her, but hesitated when I walked up to the cage and met Senaik’s glower. I opened my mouth and said two simple words.

“Fuck you.”

As we marched down the hall, all three Drakes hovered around me.

My arm throbbed as the adrenaline wore off. When I staggered into Zyair, I suddenly found myself swept up in strong arms.

I was now pinned against a naked, if rather messed up chest. It was both upsetting, and reassuring at the same time. However, there was a point to be made. Namely, that I was not a helpless female and had not requested that I be swept off my literal feet.

Especially by a Drake, regardless of how scrumptious he was.

“I can walk, dammit,” I protested with an emphatic squirm.

“You were not walking. You were wobbling,” Zyair stated. His arms tightened slightly, and fresh drops of blood soaked into my shirt.

I didn’t want to hurt him any more than he already was, so I stopped squirming. He had, however, an odd note in his voice, and I peered up at him suspiciously. Was he enjoying this? “You’re bleeding all over me.” I glared at him.

“Yes, I am.” This time, he did sound apologetic. A little, anyway.

“What the hell?” squeaked an outraged male voice.

I twisted in Zyair’s arms to see Kurt standing in the hall.

Interesting that with all the ruckus in the storage bay, our security man had managed to stay well clear of it.

Coward. That’s what happened when you relied on machine-produced bulk to intimidate, rather than any kind of actual fighting skill.

Of course, being Kurt, he would have fought for the wrong side.

My theoretical human mate’s voice was definitely hostile, but three large naked blood-embellished Drakes seemed to distract him from the fact that one had me in his arms.

Frowning at Zyair, he asked, “How did you get loose?”

I gaped at him. He’d known about the captive Drakes? He must have been more effective at cozying up to the Taziers than I’d thought …

“Just lucky,” Xandros said. He was, however, glaring at the human.

Kurt visibly recoiled from seven-plus naked feet of pissed off behemoth. But he did manage, “Where is Senaik?”

“Where he belongs,” Rhodes stated calmly. “In a cage.”

Kurt’s eyes widened. Then they moved to me, and narrowed again. “What have you done?”

“Fuck off,” I swore, as Zyair pushed past him. Natural that Kurt would blame me. However, this time, he was right. But I didn’t owe him an answer—only my contempt.

“She seems to like profanity,” Rhodes rumbled.

“It kind of suits her.” Xandros’s lips curled in a smirk.

With a muttered curse of his own, Kurt vanished back into his quarters. As we continued down the hall, I heard the door swish shut.

Xandros said something else, this time in Drakonian. I think it was, “Is he going to be a problem?”

“If he is, we will handle it.” Zyair replied calmly.

I didn’t think they expected that I understood them. Most humans did not know any Drakonian. I’d learned some of it while ferrying them across the cosmos.

“I think Kurt was making friends with Senaik,” I said.

“Senaik has no friends,” Xandros growled in English.

Yani led us to the medical bay, where they rather ridiculously insisted I get stitched up first.

It was not a spacious compartment. Three naked Drakes filled it to capacity. Zyair lowered me to sit in the center of the cot. Yani filled a pan with hot water and numbed my arm with a quick injection above the injury.

The three Drakes continued to hover over me as she washed it, and she waved at them.

“I’m not touching any of you while you are like that.

Go wash off that blood and find something to wear.

The access hatch has coveralls in the lockers, first room on the left off the ramp.

Senaik had the quarters just off of there, you can use his shower. ”

I’d always assumed the Drolgoks to be subservient to the Drakes, but her tone bordered on an order. The three brothers looked at each other, and then Zyair turned to Rhodes.

He lifted his chin. “Stay with her.”

“With who?” I asked.

“You,” he answered.

“What am I, chopped liver?” Yani demanded.

“No, you are a Drolgok.” For a moment, Zyair seemed genuinely puzzled.

She planted hands on her stout hips.

His brows rose and fell. “You are formidable,” Zyair stated, his lips twitching. “You do not need defending.”

“Neither do I!” I shouted after him as he and Xandros headed off down the hall. Damn it. Just who had rescued who, here?

Rhodes took up his station near the door, and crossed his arms. He’d fared much better than his brothers—the only noticeable fresh damage were parallel talon slices across one arm, and shallower ones along his ribs.

But as I met his gaze, and he raised a brow, I placed him rather high on the pure arrogance scale.

“I do not need a large bleeding hovering guardian,” I insisted.

His brow twitched. “The bleeding has almost stopped.”

My mind groped and came up with, “You are naked .”

“Yes.” He didn’t sound the least bit repentant.

“It is disconcerting.” Yani was nothing if not supportive.

“How would you feel if I was naked?” The words popped out before I’d at all considered them, and my face immediately heated.

Yani almost dropped the cloth, but Rhodes merely said, “Are you offering?”

“Definitely not.”

“Then we will never know.”

His dark eyes gleamed a deep garnet, and my breath caught. But he didn’t mesmerize me, so Zyair must have been speaking the truth about them being able to control it.

Rhodes was so much more than handsome. Every cell of him screamed arrogance, yet unlike the Taziers, it only added to his mystique.

Mystique? What the hell was wrong with me?

Then Yani poked the wound, and I flinched. The injection was working, and she was being gentle, but the talons had sunk deep into the muscle. Washing hurt .

I gritted my teeth as I set out to establish Drakonian boundaries. “The only remaining bad guy is in chains,” I pointed out to Rhodes. “I am sure I am quite safe.” Although my damned voice betrayed me by vibrating, ever so slightly.

“The moment we drop out of slipstream, we will be in Nirzk territory,” Rhodes stated. “I am certain that Brentoq will send a reception committee. So no, we are quite not safe.”

Right. My pulse accelerated again. “This manticore wants you pretty badly.”

“Brentoq had Zyair once. He was lucky to survive.”

I wasn’t sure how many more of these adrenaline rushes I could tolerate. He seemed to sense my conundrum. A muscle jumped in his jaw. “I am confident we will avoid capture this time. Zyair is an excellent pilot.”

I raised my chin and spoke through clenched teeth. “So am I. And I know this ship better than anyone.”

His dark eyes flared again. Very unsettling. “You lack the required combat experience.”

“Do I need combat experience to outmaneuver a bunch of fucking Nirzks?” I asked. And did it ever feel good to use the word fuck again .

Xandros reappeared in the entrance in time to answer me. “Nirzks do fly like—” he used a word I didn’t know.

I stared at him. He was much cleaner after what had to be a record-setting fast sonic shower, although now you could see every cut he’d sustained.

But I was distracted by how he’d squeezed his lower half into a pair of human coveralls—kind of.

They were no doubt the largest size available, and the fabric stretched, but the pants strained to contain him.

He winced as he swayed from one foot to the other.

Then he reached down to yank hard at the crotch.

The upper half hung from his waist—there was no containing that torso, or the wings that now arched over him, in anything designed for humans. Even marred with half-healed scars—these guys healed fast —the artwork stretching across his skin was impressive.

Wings? I glanced to Zyair, to see that his also had been freed from the metal mesh. As had the long, narrow tail that poked through the butt of the coveralls—he’d sliced a hole for it. It was then I realized that the manacles were gone, too.

He waved a metal key at Rhodes. “Raided Senaik’s quarters. Turn around.”

Rhodes did so, and a moment later sighed in relief as the metal slid to the ground with a clang, and he moved into the hall so he could stretch his own wings. His tail whipped back and forth. Then Zyair used the same key to remove the heavy metal manacles as well.

“The Nirzks will be waiting at the slipstream portal,” Rhodes stated calmly, taking the coveralls Zyair handed him. He cut the hole for his tail. As he turned away to don them, I saw the incredible flying dragon tattooed across his back, extending up between his wings.

“Maybe Brentoq will be content to wait for us to be delivered to Givnia.” Zyair had the least ink of all three brothers, and his pants were only a bit better off than Xandros’s.

He’d torn the sleeves and most of the back off the top half.

Doing the coveralls up beyond his abs was a lost cause.

And judging by the occasional grimace and readjustment, he didn’t seem any more comfortable in them than Xandros.

With all that muscular real estate remaining exposed, I struggled to keep my brain operational.

It would have been helpful to know where Senaik had planned to meet this Brentoq guy, but we weren’t likely to get that information from the Tazier.

And communications were disabled while we were in slipstream.

There was no way to contact anyone until we were spat out at the other end.

So, there was no way to call for assistance, either.

Zyair helped rip the back off the coveralls destined for Rhodes. The auburn-haired Drake’s slim form fit them better than the other two, but even he didn’t do the zipper all the way up.

These were damned big guys. In every respect. Woah.

Drakes. They were Drakes . I would do well to remember that. My freedom meant that I needed to get away from them.

When the Stardrifter came out of slipstream, we’d be in Nirzk territory. And if Yani and I wanted to be free, we’d have to find a way to escape.

It was then that I realized that a part of me wasn’t sure it wanted to be free—of these Drakes, anyway.

My pulse pounded harder.

Which only emphasized that I was, indeed, in damned big trouble.