Page 31

Leaping to his feet, Ulvus barreled between Igar and Juunn.

Their reaction was impressive but not swift enough.

Ulvus swung a fist, catching her across the chin.

Her head snapped to the side. Pain exploded to the rear of her skull.

Her vision spun as a deep agony pulsed in her jaw.

While chuckling, she staggered back but caught herself before falling to a knee.

A champion never showed weakness. Her armor spread like a bolt from a taser blast. Too fargen late.

While she massaged her jaw with a thumb, she poked the area with her tongue. “It’s been a while since I’ve tasted my blood.” All lies, but confidence planted doubt and fear in her opponents. A habit she had yet to break.

Ulvus struggled against Igar and Juunn, who flanked him.

She smirked. “Why, thank you, gentlemen.”

Bursting forward with her cybernetic speed, she kicked Ulvus in the gut, driving him back.

Such force would have taken down a human.

Ulvus stumbled but righted himself. She didn’t hesitate.

Using his knee to launch herself into the air, she flung out her arm to collide with his throat.

She landed in a roll, vaulted to her feet, then faced him.

He clutched his throat, gasping and fighting for air. Dropping to his knees, then his hands, he gagged like a robo-cat coughing up a fake furball.

“Relax, he won’t die. Just minor asphyxiation.” She pointed to her inhuman arm. “If I’d hit him with this one, then yes, he’d be dead. Now, where the farg am I?”

Juunn and Igar blinked at her, gaping like whale skeletons. The lights flickered again. Juunn dipped to help a glowering Ulvus to his feet, whose cheeks had paled to a dark gray.

“We good? Or do you want me to kill you?” She grinned. “Let me know, and I’ll schedule you in.” She was being too sassy, but farg, she was tired, thirsty, and wanted answers.

Blue-man burst into the room, but that wasn’t what snagged her attention. Behind him was a man she had intimate knowledge of. Farg, hell is mean. Her heart swelled, and she hurried to calm it. He was a figment of her imagination. By no means was he the real Drafe.

He jerked to a halt, his mouth widening into a bright grin. “Vic?” Striding toward her, his gaze scanned the room and settled on Ulvus. “What the foq happened here?” Instead of waiting for an answer, he arched a brow at Vic. “What did you do?”

She rested a hand on her hip, thrusting it out for good measure. “Nothing. Defended myself. Survived. The usual.”

“Ulvus, Juunn, Igar, we will discuss this later.”

A familiar orange alien hovered in the doorway. “Bring her, Drafe Arrak, when you are ready.”

She frowned. Huh?

Drafe closed the distance between them, pausing when he was an inch from touching her. “It is good to see you, Vic.”

“This is the human female with whom you have sullied our tribe’s reputation?” Ulvus rasped, massaging his neck.

“Sullied?” She peeked around Drafe’s wide shoulders. “Do you want to die? Is he always such an asshole?”

Drafe laughed. “Yes.” He laced his fingers through hers and tugged, leading her down a narrow passage. “How did you come to be on my ship?”

“My tether snapped, launching me off the hauler. Not sure yet if it was an accident.” She grimaced, having been minutes from death. That hadn’t been a pleasant experience, and if she found who’d flung her out to die, she’d kill them without hesitation.

He paused mid-stride and faced her, gripping her upper arms. “Who would want to do you harm?”

She forced herself to unfurl her fists. “My question exactly.”

His eyes paled to sunshine yellow. “Why is your mouth red?”

She wiped her split lip, smearing blood across her hand. “Blood.”

His fingers tightened when he tugged her closer to him. “Did Ulvus—?”

“The asshole thought I carried a deadly disease.”

He jerked back, dropped his hands and spun, as if to face Ulvus. “Kreta curse him.”

Vic caught Drafe’s wrist. “He also thought I would explode. Does that happen often?”

Drafe frowned, narrowing his eyes into a brooding stare that sparked heat in her core. Her breath caught, and butterflies skittered from her ears to her lower spine. Oh, wow.

“Come, let me attend to your injury.” He sliced glances at her while they marched along passages before pausing in front of a seamless door. It opened at his touch. “Your blood is a magnificent red. So unusual.”

She smothered a giggle at the odd compliment. “Um, thanks, I think. Wait. What color is your blood?”

“Clear,” he said, as if her question was silly.

Pure plasma? Did that even make sense? She studied her blood-stained, armor-shimmered fingers. Only when the door sealed behind her did she realize where he’d taken her.

His quarters had the look of carved rock. His bed was a shelf with furs draped across it. The lighting shifted and filtered as if sunshine leaked through.

She tilted her face to bask in its pseudo-warmth. “Your quarters are amazing, Drafe.”

“Ivoyans learned centuries ago that a little bit of their homeworld calmed the minds of the warriors.” He tapped the surface of a table.

She climbed onto it, shuffling on her ass until the underside of her knees pressed against the edge. The texture beneath her fingers was smooth metal, so the rock was an illusion. “This is what your home looks like?”

He nodded as he gathered items from a hidden cupboard.

“It’s amazing, Drafe.”

“Recede your armor,” he said.

“Right. Like I can control it,” she scoffed. “Damn thing forms whenever.” As if to make her out to be a liar, her skin shimmered amid weak tingles. In an instant, the heat from his UV lights hit her, and she moaned, relishing the heat.

His touch was gentle when he clasped her chin to run a strange box an inch over her mouth. He smirked. “You have healed already.”

She shrugged. “I still have nanites in me.”

He arched a brow while opening the flat packet, sliding out a sheet of thin white fabric.

With it, he dabbed her mouth. Cool, it soothed as he wiped her chin and lips.

His movements slowed to a caress. He shuffled, spreading her thighs wider.

His nostrils flared, and his yellow eyes darkened to amber.

He tossed the cloth aside, cupped her jaw, then brushed his lips across hers.

She gasped, sucking in his sun-drenched scent. Her heartbeat leaped and danced. Gripping his hips, she tugged him closer to wrap her legs around him.

He groaned and deepened the kiss, sweeping his tongue across hers. A tremor rippled through her. She needed his body against hers, the heat of his skin warming hers. He grunted when she crushed him within her embrace.

“Drafe,” she whispered when he broke the kiss to nip her ear.

He jerked back, met her gaze, then pulled away from her. Not willing to blink, she ogled him when his skin undulated, exposing every inch of him in a breathtaking obsidian and gray. Off went his boots. He stood before her, naked, his muscles rippling with any movement he made.

“Farg, am I in heaven?” she rasped.