Let’s see how long he lasts when he thinks I’m keeping something from him.
Horace climbs onto my knee, and I pop him on my shoulder, getting up from the table and going over to the food dispensers to order some fee. It comes out into a cup, hot and fragrant, smelling not like Horlicks for a change but perhaps a bit more like a chai latte.
About damn time.
“What secrets do you have?” Driok growls from above me, one hand planted on the food dispenser as he blocks my exit with his body.
Horace makes a chuckling noise in my ear. He’s about as intimidated as I am by this big Sarkarnii.
And it would appear Driok lasts approximately thirty seconds when it comes to me havingsecrets.
“Why should I tell you?” I ask, taking a careful sip of my fee.
“Because I am your mate,” Driok intones.
“I don’t think it works that way,” I respond. “Because mates don’t abandon each other when something more interesting comes along.”
“I did not mean to leave,” Driok growls. “There was something…”
“Yeah, yeah. I guess there’ll always besomething.” I duck under his arm.
“Something,” Horace says in Driok’s voice, and I have to stifle a laugh.
“Tell me about your comm message.” Driok is in front of me.
“Tellmewhat the fuck we’re doing in space heading away from Vorostor.”
I sidestep him and make it back to the dining table, where I put the cup down and Horace moves from my shoulder to my lap where I think he curls up…probably.
I feel Driok’s presence behind me, but I wait, as it seems my big bad Sarkarnii is not so good on the waiting front. Although he’s good at making others wait, as I found out.
Eventually, he flops down opposite me. His tail lashes, which is always a sign of agitation in Sarkarnii, so I have, at least, irked him a little.
“My job is not to protect Vorostor. It hasn’t been for a long time.”
“I think my friends might have noticed. As well as the other warlords,” I say, keeping my cool and taking another sip of my drink and raising my eyebrows at him. “Rosalie says Dante was very amused at your recent attempt to drug him.”
Driok runs his huge hand over his face, his massive claws making me fear for his eyes.
“Dante will always make up a narrative to suit his purpose,” I growl. “But he does not know what I do.”
“And what do you do, Driok?”
He looks at me, his eyes filled with fire as the entire ship reverberates with an alarm which sends Horace shooting into my hair.
“You’re about to find out.”
DRIOK
Idid not want to involve my mate in this business, but there’s no use pretending to myself I can keep her out of it, not anymore, not with a sarkarnling in her belly and my post rut kicking in with a vengeance.
“What the…?” Maggie exclaims.
I bellow the order into my comm to turn off the alarms and they, thankfully, cease.
“This entire galaxy is under attack. I’ve been working with all the other lifeforms with any sort of tech to keep it together,” I tell her. “This is hopefully going to be the end of it.”
“What is?”
