* * *
I’ve tucked myself into the corner where I’m juggling my knives when I hear the lock disengage from the door.
Without waiting to see who’s on the other side, I catch a knife by the blade and hurl it at the door as soon as it slides open. Lucky for whoever thought to engage the electromagnetic screen, there is a sharpzap,and the knife bounces back, landing harmlessly on the ground between my bent legs.
Shame.
Kurrahstka glares angrily at me through the faintly pink-hued screen.
“Have you come to apologize to me?” I ask sweetly from my spot on the floor.
Kurrahstka looks as if he would love nothing more than to cheerfully kill me. Lucky for me, it seems I have something he wants more than to end my life.
“Where is the rest of your crew?” he asks from the safety of the doorway. “Even you wouldn’t be stupid enough to come here without some kind of backup.”
I laugh. Because I am exactly that stupid. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
His already red face turns a shade deeper, and his dark eyes flash yellow with rage. “If you won’t cooperate, then there is no sense bothering to keep you alive.”
“Ah, ah,” I tut, despite my stomach suddenly turning to lead. “If you kill me, it will bring a wrath down on you and this house unlike anything you’ve ever seen.”
“I’m willing to chance it,” he snarls.
Reaching forward, I pick up the knife I threw when he came in. I hope he can’t see the small tremble in my fingers as I run them over the blade, examining it.
“Seems like a waste,” I say, trying to sound much less worried than I really am. “To end up dead, all because of one—“ I flip the knife, catching it by the blade, “—stupid—"my eyes flick up to meet his, “—female.”
“You’re in no position to threaten me,” he scoffs.
My eyes widen to feign my surprise. “Oh, that’s not a threat.” And it’s not. I have no doubt that if something happens to me, not only will Rovos make this male regret the very day he was born, but my mate will be right beside him.
My mate.
A smile quirks the corner of my mouth up. “It’s not just Rovos you need to worry about, you know. I’m mated now.”
Kurrahstka loses some of his red coloring. It’s a well-known fact that getting between mates is considered highly dangerous. “Who would ever voluntarily saddle themselves with the likes of you?”
The barb falls short of his mark, and I grin even wider. “The universe decreed it. There was no choice for us.”
Coming between mates is dangerous, but coming between afatedpair is basically suicidal, and Kurrahstka knows it. Oh, yes. I can’t help but enjoy the way he sputters, trying to find a comeback but knowing that if he wants to end my life, he will likely forfeit his.
Behind him, even his lackeys have the aptitude to look worried.
“You think you have me in a corner?” Kurrahstka chuckles humorlessly. “You think I can’t defend my house? That your words scare me?”
Oh, but they do.
“I only want some simple information from you,” he drops his voice to a gentler tone.
Twirling my blade between my fingers, I pull my knees up to my chest and tilt my head to the side. Waiting.
Kurrahstka clears his throat and folds his thick arms across his chest. “How did you know of the human females?”
I widen my eyes innocently. “Oh, they arehumanfemales?”
“Don’t act coy,” he growls, dropping the pretense of being reasonable once more.
Holding my knife between my hands by the tip and hilt with just my fingertips, I shrug. “Treto is mated with a human female who was part of the group auctioned and bought by Madam Athea.” I give the knife a spin. “It wasn’t a stretch to assume that some of them ended up here as well.” This seems to appease Kurrahstka some.
