“That doesn’t make dragging you into the heart of danger easier.”
He flashed a vicious smile. “You couldn’t drag me anywhere. I’m going, end of discussion.”
I knew I wouldn’t be able to convince the stubborn male, so I let it go. “Did you eat?”
“Yes, Vuldrex brought me a meal as soon as I got here. Where were you, anyway?”
“I had something important to attend to.”
He lit a smoke. “I can smell her on you. But since when is rutting more important than your brother?” He flopped into a chair and smiled with a glint in his eyes that was all too familiar and made me brace. “I think it’s time you tell me about this female who supposedly has changed your mind about taking a mate.”
Chapter 37
Arrazyl had spent the last two days holed up in his office with his brother, Kyvar, some warriors, and now Zyroth. I hadn’t met any of them and spent my days with Thyra and my nights being woken late when Arrazyl came in and ravaged me. To say I was sore was an understatement, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
“Tell me about the marking claim.” I asked Thyra as she sat in a plush chair fussing while I got dressed.
That seemed to pull her away from an oncoming panic attack. “Well, it is more than physical. A male releases his mark inside his true mate and while it burns a piece of him inside of her, it also is like a mark on the soul. There are a lot of different parts of the bond I’ll tell you about later.” She got to her feet and helped me pull on a tight shirt over my tank. “Are you sure about this?”She fretted as she adjusted the thin material that hardly seemed bulletproof.
“Yes.”
“Arrazyl won’t like it.”
“Arrazyl doesn’t have to.”
Her fangs bore into her bottom lip. “You are his mate now. He will be more protective.”
“That doesn’t mean he can keep me from doing anything I want to.” I turned to pick up the laser rifle Thyra had procured for me.
“Unless he ties you up,” she muttered behind me.
“He knows that would break my trust, and he doesn’t want to do that again.”
She breathed a heavy breath through her nose. “I’m worried about you.”
I turned to her. “I have to do this.”
“I wish there was an easier way.”
I smiled faintly, “my life stopped being easy the moment I trusted the Consortium.”
She reached a wing out and curled it around me in a vorpyr version of a hug. “Be safe.”
“I’ll try. Thank you for everything.”
“Don’t say that. It makes it sound like you’re not coming back.”
“It’s nothing like that. I just wanted to let you know I appreciate you.” It was partially true, at least.
“Just be careful.”
I had to hurry so there was time for the inevitable conflict that would ensue. My stomach flipped when I approached the door to Arrazyl’s office. I swallowed down the nerves and knocked on the door before stepping inside. I’d gone into meetings and spoken at conferences with mainly men, so I shouldn’t have been intimidated, but when all eyes swung to me, my heart kicked in my chest.
“I apologize for interrupting, but I wanted to make it known that I will be going with you.” My voice came out firm.
Arrazyl’s eyes blazed, and he stepped toward me. “Absolutely not.”
“I’m not asking. This involves me, it always has. Besides, I’d like to find out if Jaron and Tatiana made it back to Earth safely.”
