Page 30 of Defiance
Gaul’s scales rose, his tail whipping the air. The tip snapped against the wall and left a dent.
“Right,” I said, smacking my palms on the table and rising to my feet. “I really am going to go.”
“We’re not fucking,” Xata informed me, crossing her arms with a huff of bitter amusement. “Not from lack of trying…”
“You can find a joyride at any port.”
“Not anadvenanjoyride. It’s the one notch left on my belt, Novak. Do a girl a solid, won’t you? Be a pal. Break some laws with me.”
I leaned my palms on the table and set my jaw. “He said no. Fuck all the way off.”
Xata’s glare drained of fire. Her lips pursed in defeat, then she laughed under her breath. “Another hand lost to humans… Seems convenient how many rounds you’ve won.” She pushed away from the table. “I have duties to attend to, anyway. Both of you get out.”
She picked up Agent Gaul’s half-full glass of milky white alcohol and took it with her down into the living quarters. A list of contacts popped up on her holoscreen, all blaring with messages. She chose one, falling back on her bed. She started a comm and a man on the other end answered sounding stressed. Her mane purred soothingly, but the words were too hushed to make out.
I wasnotgoing to sit there while Xata sex-commed a rando on the alien internet. “Did you get what you need?” I asked, looking at Gaul over my shoulder. Hiscolearaflared, but he gave me a stiff human nod. “Then let’s go.”
I didn’t wait to see if he followed me towards the lift.
13
Novak clamped hiscolearashut hard, taking thin, slow breaths. Charlie looked and smelled like fire and spice. Likehim.Herchemiaflared strong, laced with a heavy dose of cortisol and arousal hormones that suggested she wanted to punch something. His muzzle tingled where she’d hauled back and done exactly that. She’d been ablaze with fury, her edges singed with a neon aura that overexposed everything around her and made his helices weep.
Now she was exactly the same, stalking down the hall beside him, grumbling under her breath.
“The bloodycheekof that woman…”
Novak’s venom glands throbbed and he lashed his tail between the narrow sides of the hallway. Letting Xata rile him up had been a mistake. She usually stopped quickly if he ignored her, but this time was different. Shilpakaari could taste pheromones in the air and sheknew.So like the maestro of manipulation that she was, Xata had conducted a symphony designed to push Charlie over the edge. To make her smell like all the things Novak craved so she’d have something to hold over his head. It didn’t matter if someone was friend or foe, the commander always looked for levers she could pull.
Novak pressed his palm against a glowing white panel by the portal of his quarters and the door slid open.
“After you,” he said, inclining his head down towards Charlie. She walked in and he captured his tail in his hand before it could claim her ankle when she stopped at the foot of his bed.
Charlie put her hands on her hips, taking in the narrow room with its bare walls and a bed that stretched from end to end. “I was expecting a bunk, to be honest,” she said with begrudging thanks, examining the room. She sat on his sheets and hiscolearaflared greedily.
“Yours are across the hall. This one’s mine,” he clipped, opening the in-wall wardrobe and withdrawing his duffel. He set it down at her feet and knelt, claws pausing on the latches. “I’m sorry for Siat. She’s a difficult woman.”
Charlie blew a curl of silk from her forehead. “Don’t be. She doesn’t owe me anything.”
His ears turned back. “Perhaps not, but she owes me plenty.” He opened the latches and sifted through his undershirts and pants. “When her clients need her, I pick up her off-ship duties.”
“And in exchange, she lets you hitch a ride from place to place? Seems like fair rent.”
Novak grinned, looking up at Charlie from the floor. “Do I really owe her anything if the pilot pilots and our boss pays for fuel?”
Charlie smirked and Novak’s tail plumes shivered with excitement. It was the first real smile she’d given him all day.
Not that he could blame her. He’d been cold on purpose. Distant out of necessity for both their safety. He had to learn how to let go when they were in public. Now that they were alone though, the muscles that had been as tense as bowstrings were softening up like butter. He watched his tail as it flirted with the arch of her boot, struggling not to follow its lead.
Swallowing hard, he leaned back and drew his tail away. “About last night…”
“Business is business. I know,” Charlie said.
It stung to put it that way, but she was right. He’d sold himself for years in the bullpens and auctions. Was this really any different? The privilege of the Hunt, but still shackled. Bought and sold for a play on the war table. It was all an advenan was good for. Novak bore the ache under his plume mail, moving on like it was nothing. Like he always did.
He lifted a large white bag from his duffel and opened it with his claw. The scent ofhefi,the Union’s favorite hot beverage, filled the room. Charlie leaned in over his ears to get a look at the orange, earthy powder.
“This issakharel,”he explained. “It’s used to makehefi,a universal version of yourkauphee.Potent, served hot, strong aroma. It also has a lot of nitrogen in it that can cover up our mingled scent.”
