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JARDUN
Luzardees were notorious for their treachery, but they had the resources to obtain the information I’d needed. I knew the risks I’d face when dealing with them, the possibility of betrayal once they’d been paid. It was one of the reasons I had involved Burke. Now those same risks were impacting Laria, and once again, I wondered why Burke chose to put a female in harm’s way.
Seeing her retrieve a blade, then handle it as if it were a natural extension of her arm was perplexing. During the war, I had heard whispers about human females skilled with the ability to fight and had shrugged them off as embellished rumors. Was it possible Laria was one of these females and the reason she was associated with Burke? If that was the case, and the stubborn female intended to defend herself against the other males, then she would not be doing it alone.
I glared at Kowhl, angered by his betrayal. It was one thing to come after me, but hearing what he planned to do with Laria was unacceptable and further fueled my rage. I did not want him touching any part of her gorgeous body. The male would be lucky if he survived to see another day.
Kowhl’s shouted command had the other two luzardees springing from the walls. The male hovering near Laria arched through the air. His move was unpredictable, agile, fast. Instead of a direct approach as I’d expected, he bounced off the sandy surface next to me, then landed on my back. The fabric of my coat and the leather vest underneath were no match for the sharp nails he dug into my shoulders. He’d removed his boots before climbing the wall and used the claws on his four toes to anchor himself to my thighs. Ignoring the sharp, pulsing pain and the metallic smell of my blood, I staggered a few steps forward under the impact.
“Laria,” I called out, too late to warn her about the luzardee who’d landed on the ground next to her. In order to help her, I needed to dislodge the male clinging to my body. I reached behind me and fought to get a grip. He dodged my grasp, sinking the nails of one hand in deeper as he wrapped an arm around my neck. Whether his intent was to push me into oblivion or end my life, I did not know. Either way I needed to remove the tightness restricting my airway.
The shackles were an annoying hindrance to my fighting abilities, but would not keep me from protecting Laria or myself. I stopped trying to grab him and managed to loop the short length of chain behind his head. Immediately shifting with my back facing the wall, I propelled myself backward. The male’s smaller frame was no match for my much larger, more muscular build. The impact forced the air from his lungs. With a painful groan, his grip loosened.
I pushed away from the wall, then jerked my arms to the side, using the chain to pull him off me. Once I had him in front of me, I wrapped the chains around his neck and squeezed.
“Let go.” Panic filled his croaky snarl, followed by breathless garbles. He wrenched his body, flipping from side to side like an animal with its head caught in a trap. He clawed at the wide cuffs covering my wrists, the strong metal partially protecting my flesh. I continued to apply pressure until his body slowed to mild jerks, then slumped before me.
I tossed his dead body aside, uncaring that it landed in a heap near the wall. I turned to assist Laria and found her facing off with the luzardee who had attacked her. She handled her knife with ease, brandishing the blade at any attempt he made to get near her. She’d already gotten in several good swipes. Blood trickled down his arm, rage flushing the scales on his cheeks a deep green. If he got his hands on her, I had no doubt he would end her life.
“Jardun, we’ve got company.” She jutted her chin toward the end of the passageway as she continued to protect herself.
I was glad she no longer viewed me as a threat. I was not, however, happy to see the three new luzardees who’d arrived and were taking instructions from Kowhl. They did not remove their boots to access us using the walls. Instead, they approached us in a synchronized manner, their footsteps pounding on the hard walkway. Other than the stun stick Kowhl stood off to the side clutching, the other males were not armed. They had no reason to use a blade, not when their claws made much more effective weapons.
“Move away from the female.” I took a threatening step toward the male she held at bay with her blade. He jerked his head toward me, then caught a glimpse of his dead comrade.
His low growl turned into a high-pitched shriek. “You will pay for hisss death.”
The distraction was the advantage Laria needed to plunge her blade into the male’s side below his ribs. “Not today.” She gave him a shove as she pulled out the knife, the blade coated with a thin layer of pale green blood. He gasped and grabbed his side, taking several wobbly steps before collapsing on the ground. The glint of sadness and remorse that passed across her face were quickly replaced with a mask of determination. I understood well that killing was never easy, even if it meant surviving another day.
Overcoming the males, taking their lives if necessary, was the only way Laria and I would be walking out of the passageway alive. She knew it too. It went unspoken in the silent glance that passed between us.
The other three males wasted no time retaliating for their two teammates. Two of them rushed toward me, the other toward Laria.
LARIA
There were times when the conditions on this planet were harsh, and doing unpleasant things to survive was a necessity. I didn’t enjoy taking a life, never had, never would. I would’ve preferred rendering the luzardee unconscious, but they’d made their intentions clear. They’d already betrayed their deal with Burke by coming after us. If they were planning to kill Jardun and turn me into a sex slave, it wasn’t going to happen. Not if I could help it.
My gaze locked with Jardun’s. There was no judgment in those deep green eyes, only understanding. The connection between us was brief, interrupted by snarls and hisses coming from the three luzardees rushing toward us, prepared to attack.
Two launched themselves at Jardun. The third focused on me. He eyed my knife, then sidestepped, first one direction, then another. He was looking for an opening, a way to get at me without being sliced. I wanted to know how Jardun was faring, but one glance, no matter how quick, would give my opponent the edge he was searching for.
“When we are through with the ketaurran, he will not be able to help you.” The luzardee shuffled to my left. “It would be better if you surrender now. I would hate to injure such a well-made body.” He flared his nostrils, his beady-eyed gaze roaming over me from top to bottom, lingering on my breasts before returning to my face.
He was purposely provoking me, trying to break my concentration. “Why do I get the feeling you aren’t being truthful?” I mirrored his steps, certain he was one of those males who took great pleasure in hurting women.
“Your intelligence rivalsss your beauty, female.” His snort turned into a snicker. “I will enjoy avenging my friend’sss death when I spread your legsss.”
“And I’ll enjoy cutting off a particular body part if you get any closer.” My taunt succeeded, and he lunged. I dodged the grab, his claws barely missing my chest. Unfortunately for him, my aim was better, and I left a thin cut on his arm. The need for retribution resounded in his snarl. He was letting his emotions guide his moves, a mistake I planned to use to my advantage. When he spun and grabbed for me again, I held my ground, letting him shove me backward into the wall.
The impact jarred my body, but I ignored the burst of pain along my back and the claws digging into my shoulder and upper arm. I adjusted the angle of my knife and thrust as hard as I could. The sharp tip of the blade easily penetrated his vest and sank into the flesh below.
“Female, you...” His eyes widened, a shocked sheen over the glassy black. He pulled away from me, clutching his midsection. Blood seeped between his clawed fingers, more gurgling from his scaly lips. He’d underestimated my abilities, and it had cost him his life. If he was responsible for enslaving women as I suspected, I wouldn’t be losing any sleep over his death.
As soon as he hit the ground, I turned to see what had happened to Jardun and the other two luzardees. Their fight had moved them away from me and taken them toward the other end of the passageway. One luzardee was already lying facedown in the dirt. Whether he was dead or not, I couldn’t tell. Jardun was straddling the other. He threw a hard punch, the blow knocking the male into unconsciousness. With a groan, he got to his feet, his gaze immediately landing on me. “Are you all right?”
“Fine, I...” There was movement above Jardun’s head. Kowhl, the sneaky male, had waited until we were preoccupied. He was clinging to the wall with one hand and carrying the stun stick with the other. “Behind you!” My warning came too late. Kowhl was already on the ground, jamming the pulse-emitting end of the stick into Jardun’s ribs.
“Did you really think I would allow you to kill my crew, then walk away?” Kowhl’s eyes flared with a feral savagery. “There are those who will pay well for proof of your death, vryndarr.”
Vryndarr? Shocked, I hesitated to react, certain I’d misunderstood what he’d said. There was no way Jardun could be a vryndarr. They were warriors, the drezdarr’s elite guard. And if they’d survived the war and still existed, they would never leave their leader’s side. Nor would they ever be in a situation where they were shackled and traded for a pouch of coins.
Jardun growled through gritted teeth. He was big, strong, and had barely flinched when he’d been shocked earlier. He should have been able to withstand the jolt, not been forced to the ground. Not unless someone had modified the stick with a lethal setting.
With Jardun on his hands and knees, struggling to get up, he was vulnerable. When he swished his tail trying to defend himself, Kowhl pinned the end to the ground with his boot, further causing Jardun to tense with pain.
Continuing to apply the stick to Jardun’s ribs, Kowhl leaned forward and retrieved a short, thin-bladed knife. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who liked to conceal blades in their boots. The muscles in my chest tightened when he raised his arm, poising the blade over the center of Jardun’s back.
There was no honor in what Kowhl planned to do to Jardun. Without hesitation, I pulled back my arm and threw my blade. Death would be too easy an end for the traitorous male, so the knife, true to my aim, caught him in the shoulder. I’d learned enough about the luzardee anatomy to know that the blade missed any organs, only penetrated muscle, and wouldn’t leave any debilitating damage.
The force caused Kowhl to falter. He shot an unbelieving glare in my direction, then growled a guttural word in his language which translated to a female dog in mine. Not that I cared. I’d been called worse. All that mattered was keeping Jardun alive.
I rushed at Kowhl before he had a chance to recoup and yank out my knife, then propelled him into the wall. I grabbed the stun stick out of his hand and rammed it into his scaly belly, then knocked his knife from his hand. As he doubled over, I withdrew my own blade. His body tensed and jerked, but I continued applying the zapping pressure until he slid down the wall and landed in an unconscious heap. He wouldn’t die from his injuries, but he would be in a lot of pain when he woke up.
Jardun had recovered quicker than I’d expected, a lot faster than it would have taken a human male. He seemed a little unsteady, but at least he was on his feet. He blinked several times, then glanced from me to Kowhl. “Female... I mean Laria.” He quickly amended when I pursed my lips. “You did this...for me?”
“Yeah, the slimy reptile was going to knife you in the back.” I knew it was a cultural thing, but he needed to get over his hang-up about women being able to fight and defend themselves. It hadn’t taken me long to discover that the males on this planet also had massive egos, and I didn’t want to bruise his by pointing out that I’d just saved his life. I crouched and used Kowhl’s pants to clean my knife before returning it to its hidden sheath.
“Are you injured?” He held out his hands as if he were going to reach for the cut on my cheek, then changed his mind and dropped his arms.
“I’ll be feeling the bruises later, but no, I’m fine.” His ribs had taken quite a bit of abuse. “And you?”
He rubbed his side, his chains rattling. “I will heal.”
“We should go.” I kept the stun stick handy in case I encountered any more of Kowhl’s crew on our way to find my friends and get out of the city.
He gave me a nod, then fell into step next to me. I gave his profile a quick glance. The male intrigued me. He’d had more than one opportunity to escape during our fight with the luzardees, yet he’d stayed, just as he was staying now. Was it possible he truly was a vryndarr? If so, why was he in shackles? And why had Burke sent my friends and me to retrieve him?
We hadn’t gone far when Celeste and Sloane made a miraculous appearance and brought my pondering to a stop. Though the difference in height between my friends was a contrast, Sloane being shorter, with a stunning blue gaze, the confident way they carried themselves was similar. They both had long brown hair pulled back in braids. Celeste’s was a few shades lighter and matched the deep cinnamon of her eyes.
“Looks like we missed all the fun,” Sloane said as she stepped over one of the downed luzardees.
Celeste used the tip of her boot to turn over the only other luzardee besides Kowhl that hadn’t met his demise. “Laria’s losing her touch. This one’s still breathing.”
I was relieved nothing bad had happened to them, but I wasn’t over being mad that they were late. “Nice of you two to finally show up. Mind telling me what took you so long?”
“I can honestly say it wasn’t my fault this time.” Sloane shot Celeste an accusatory glance. “Somebody took her time haggling at the market again.”
“Hey.” Celeste smacked Sloane’s arm with the back of her hand, then pointed at her dark leather, calf-high boots. “Do you know how hard it is to find someone who makes these boots?” She shoved her hands on her hips. “And is willing to sell them for a decent price?”
Any rant I’d wanted to make dissipated. There was a deeper meaning buried beneath Celeste’s defensive behavior. Old memories, old scars, pushed to the surface in my mind. Losing members of our families during the war was the one thing the three of us had in common. Finding a way to help others was how we’d reconnected. We’d lived off the streets, scrounged, fought, and stole to survive. I’d die to protect either one of them and knew they’d do the same for me.
It wasn’t what Celeste had purchased, it was understanding why she’d been driven to spend time haggling for a pair of boots she didn’t need that concerned me. It meant the nightmares were back. We all had them, but hers were the worst. Sloane and I didn’t have any siblings, but Celeste had a younger sister. Or at least she did until Sarus’s soldiers attacked the settlement and she’d been forced to watch her die.
There was nothing she could have done, but she’d taken the death hard and blamed herself. It didn’t help that she was also twisted in knots over a guy, a ketaurran no less. I didn’t know his name, didn’t think she’d tell me even if I asked. All I did know was that he’d promised to help get her family somewhere safe, then abandoned her two days before the attack. No one, especially not me, could fault her for using shopping or helping children, any orphan who’d survived the war, as a coping mechanism, a way to feel in control.
“Besides, this is partly your fault.” Celeste aimed her glare at me.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, sure I’d missed some critical part of the conversation. “How is you two being late my fault?”
“When we showed up at the bar, you were already gone. The bartender was less than helpful, so it took us a little longer to figure out where you went,” Celeste said.
Sloane beamed with excitement. “Did you know he had a blaster?”
“Please tell me you didn’t take it.” I glared at Sloane, the skilled negotiator, sometimes thief in our group.
Sloane smiled and cracked her knuckles. “It was tempting.”
“Until I reminded her about the design flaw in the older models,” Celeste said.
Sloane shrugged. “Yeah, not really interested in a weapon that shoots the wrong direction.”
“Laria, who are these females?” Jardun had been standing off to the side, listening to our conversation with a skeptical scowl.
“The better question is who’s the hottie, and where did you find him?” Sloane interrupted, then sauntered toward Jardun, her gaze rolling over him with admiration.
I didn’t find my irritated reaction to her perusal amusing and had to stop myself from stepping between them.
“Hottie. Is that a human insult?” Jardun furrowed his brows and looked at me for an answer.
“No, she was complimenting your appearance.” I bit back a grin. “To answer your other question, these are my friends, Celeste and Sloane.” I pointed at each of them in turn. “And this is Jardun.”
Sloane took a step closer to Jardun and touched the chain hanging between his wrists. “Don’t tell me this is the package Burke wanted us to retrieve.”
“Since when are we doing bounty work for Burke?” Celeste huffed.
“Since never.” A deep male voice I’d recognize anywhere echoed off the walls around us.
Celeste, Sloane, and I jerked our heads in Burke’s direction at the same time. I was surprised to see him in the city and not back at the settlement. I was even more bewildered to see two more ketaurrans trailing on either side of him.
Burke’s dark hair and stubble covering his angled jaw were a contrast to the two males pacing next to him. His height topped six feet, yet he was still shorter in comparison. Both ketaurrans had the same broad-shouldered, muscular build as Jardun. One had dark chestnut hair with cinnamon streaks, a pale blue tint to his skin and scales. The other appeared gruff, intense, almost deadly, with piercing amber eyes and golden hair a few shades darker than his skin. If Jardun really was a vryndarr as Kowhl had said, then I assumed the other two males were probably ones as well.
Burke strolled toward us with a confident, take-charge-of-any-situation swagger.
His arrival triggered an uneasy suspicion that I’d been used as a pawn in a bigger game.
Before I had a chance to ask him what he was doing here, Jardun had moved forward and was glaring at Burke. “Thaddeus, please explain why you did not send me the males I requested.”
“Wait.” Sloane, always the first to point out the obvious, interrupted by waving her hands. “You’re first name is Thaddeus?” She winked at Celeste and me. “How did we not know that?”
“Because it’s none of your business.” Burke’s cheeks reddened, and he curled his fingers into fists. “Sorry, Jardun, I don’t recall your request for help specifying males.”
I knew Burke had a first name but hadn’t given it much thought, but the fact that Jardun knew him on a friendly basis was disconcerting. It furthered my belief that my friends and I were being used in whatever plan, mission, game, the two, or rather four, of them had concocted. Judging by the passive looks on the other two ketaurrans, I was certain they’d been included.
Anger bubbled inside me, the simmering heat bursting along my neck and cheeks. I wanted to know why I’d risked my life battling luzardees for a male who was pretending to be something he wasn’t. Determined to get answers, I faced off with Jardun first. “You need to get over your hang-up about females. And you.” I shook my head and took a deep breath. “What the draeck, Burke? Why are you here, and who are these guys?” I didn’t bother keeping the sarcasm out of my voice.
“More importantly, why did Jardun need rescuing at all?” From the stories I’d heard, the vryndarr were the ones who did the fighting, the rescuing, not the other way around. The tingling dread was back, crawling along my spine like an annoying insect. Instinctively, I knew I wasn’t going to like whatever Burke had to say.
Sloane was a little slow to catch on with where my thoughts were going, but Celeste didn’t need any prompting. Her trust issues were far worse than mine, and her gaze hadn’t left the two ketaurrans since they’d arrived. “Yeah, Burke. Want to tell us what’s going on?” She calmly tapped the hilt of her sword and positioned herself on my left.
“Sloane, Celeste, Laria.” Burke tipped his chin at each of us in turn. “I would like to introduce Zaedon.” He pointed to the chestnut-haired male on his right. “Garyck.” He motioned to his left, to the male with the golden hair and amber eyes. “And their leader, Jardun.”
I glanced at Kowhl, who was still slumped against the wall, then back at Jardun. “He was telling the truth, wasn’t he? You’re a vryndarr.”
“Yes.” A glimmer of guilt flashed in his eyes, then was gone. Jardun cocked his head in Zaedon’s direction, holding out his shackled wrists. “Would you mind?”
“Tired of bondage already?” Zaedon grinned. “Even with such beautiful company?” His flirtatious smile was the kind that made women melt.
“Save your humor for later,” Jardun growled.
Zaedon chuckled, then slipped a narrow, translucent blade from the hem of his vest. He worked the tip back and forth inside the lock until it clicked, releasing the cuffs. “Better?”
“Much...thank you.” Jardun rubbed his wrists, then picked up the shackles where they’d clanked on the ground. With a satisfied smirk, he secured them to Kowhl’s wrists.
“So you’re a vryndarr, huh?” Sloane, who was easily distracted by curiosity, derailed the direction of the conversation completely by moving closer to Garyck.
The male seemed more than a little scary, and I had no idea why she thought it was a good idea to pester him.
“Are those real?” Sloane was short, her reach stretched when she squeezed the thick, bare muscle of Garyck’s forearm.
“I wouldn’t do that.” Zaedon took a hesitant step toward her, then stopped when Garyck grunted and encircled Sloane’s wrist with the end of his tail. “He doesn’t like to be touched.”
Sloane stopped groping his arm, seemingly more amused than intimidated. “Well, that’s too bad.” She winked at Garyck, earning her a snort.
My friend’s complete disregard for dangerous situations always worried me because it usually got not only her, but Celeste and me into trouble. “Sloane,” I warned, then tugged the sleeve of her shirt, encouraging her to leave the grumpy ketaurran alone.
“What?” Her innocent tone spiked my nervousness even more. “He’s cute, in a tough, brooding kind of way. Just because he’s got all those impressive muscles and doesn’t know how to smile doesn’t mean I’m afraid of him.” Sloane patted his arm one last time, then took a step back.
My friend was quick with her hands, possibly the best thief I’d ever met. If I hadn’t seen her in action and known what to look for, I wouldn’t have noticed her tuck something shiny into the bag hanging by a thin strap across her chest and resting against her hip.
I elbowed her in the rib. “Give it back.”
“Give what back? “She placed her hand protectively over the bag.
I rolled my eyes and smacked her arm with the back of my hand. “You know what.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I crossed my arms and glared at her, patiently waiting for her to crack. I ignored the curious stares I was getting from everyone in the group except Celeste.
Sloane rolled her bottom lip into a frustrated pout. “Okay, fine.” She reached into the pouch and retrieved a thin silver band inlaid with green and deep blue stones. She turned to Garyck. “I was keeping it, you know, hanging on to it in case it fell off those bulky muscles of yours.”
“How did you...” Garyck stared with astonishment at the metal band in her palm, then at his arm where it used to be. I’d bet a week’s worth of coins he was wondering how she’d managed to remove the valuable metal without him feeling it.
“One of my many talents.” Sloane smirked and slid the band back into place, then ran her fingertip over the gems one last time before giving me a scathing glance. “Happy now?”
“Extremely.” Not to mention thankful that no one had said anything about whisking us off to a secluded prison. Maybe it was my imagination, but I could’ve sworn there was a hint of a smile teasing the ends of Garyck’s lips. For a male who didn’t like to be touched, he didn’t seem to have a problem with Sloane standing so close to him. And what was with the sniffing? Jardun had done the same thing to me shortly after I’d dragged him from the bar.
I directed my attention back to Burke. “Now that we’ve got the introductions and the touchy-feely part of the program over with, would you like to explain why you went to such extremes to introduce us to your friends?” Unless I was satisfied with his answers, my anger wasn’t going to disappear anytime soon.
Jardun glanced at the luzardees on the ground, then at the fading green-and-gold hue in the sky. “It will be dark soon, and no doubt more of Kowhl’s males will be searching for them. Perhaps it would be wise to take our discussions indoors.”
“We should probably do something with these guys?” Sloane waved her hand at the luzardees.
“She’s right. We can’t leave them here for someone else to find, especially not the children.” There was a sadness in Celeste’s eyes.
“We could always dump them in a trash recycler,” Sloane said.
“That will not be necessary. We will take care of them,” Jardun said.
“Okay.” I dragged the word out. “Any suggestion on where you’d like to have this meeting?” I was hoping for someplace public where we could easily walk out if I wasn’t happy with what they had to say. The bar wasn’t far away, but it would be the first place other luzardees would start looking.
“If you will follow us to our vehicle, we have secured a residence with sleeping quarters near the outskirts of the city,” Zaedon said.
Celeste, Sloane, and I had used my transport, a smaller version of a solarveyor, to reach the city. Though it was comfortable and accommodated our needs, including a place to sleep when necessary, it wasn’t big enough to carry all of us.
“We have our own vehicle and will follow you.” Transportation was hard to come by after the war. It had taken me a long time to find the run-down vehicle I sometimes used as a temporary home. There was no way I was leaving it behind and risk having someone steal it.
Besides, I was still raw about being deceived, especially by Burke, and had no intention of making things easy for any of them. Until I was satisfied I could trust Jardun and the others, I wasn’t going anywhere without a means of escape.
Jardun
There was a time when I would not have worried about staying on the streets of the city after the sunlight had faded from the skies. The war, generated by the old king’s brother and his need to obtain the throne, had taken many lives, destroyed many communities, and left many of the planet’s inhabitants trying to rebuild their homes. Out of those who had survived, there were some who had embraced a dark path that utilized deadly and greedy means.
I had no idea how many males Kowhl commanded, but the arrival of more luzardees posed a threat I preferred not to deal with. Our upcoming discussion was necessary, and one that should be handled discreetly. It was why I had suggested using the dwelling my friends and I currently occupied.
My thoughts and gaze drifted to Laria. She was unlike any female I had ever encountered. Even though she fought as well as any male, it did not keep me from worrying about her safety or that of her friends. Before Burke’s arrival, I had been relieved when the disarray of her hair and the scratch on her cheek were the only outward signs she showed of being in a battle. It had taken every ounce of my willpower to keep from touching her, to convince myself that she remained unharmed.
She did nothing to hide her anger. The color burned brightly on her cheeks. Though she had been deceived and her emotions were warranted, I feared if she was allowed to return to her vehicle, she would leave the city before I got a chance to explain my situation.
“You will not need your transport,” I said.
Laria pinned me with a heated gaze. “I don’t know who you think you are, but you do not get to tell me what I need and don’t need. I’m not leaving my transport behind, and that’s final.”
I was a vryndarr, a feared warrior, yet her fierce words had me cringing like an inexperienced soldier taking orders from a higher ranking male. I glanced at Burke, silently asking for assistance. I had assumed he was aware that if our teams combined efforts, those working for him would follow my orders without question. I did not know why Laria was being so obstinate about a means of transportation, but I wanted to appease her and would do anything to remove her heated glare.
Burke puffed out an exasperated sigh and stepped in front of Laria. “Come on, be reasonable.” He rubbed her arms in a calming manner. “Let’s go back to their place and hear what they have to say. We can retrieve your transport in the morning.”
I did not understand why I had the overwhelming urge to remove the male’s fingers from her skin. Nor did I understand why I was pleased when she shrugged him off, then punched him in the chest below his shoulder with enough force to make him stagger a step backward.
“You know as well as I do that there’s a good chance Trixie will be stripped before I get back to her in the morning.” Laria clenched her fists as if one wrong comment from Burke would gain him a punch to the jaw.
I thought Laria was upset about her transport and had no idea who this other female was she now mentioned. As if sensing my confusion, Zaedon leaned closer. “I believe the female has given her vehicle a name.”
Naming inanimate objects was another human behavior I’d heard about. One I would add to my continually growing list of things I did not understand about the other race.
“If you want me”—she glanced at Celeste and Sloane who each gave her a nod—“us to go with you, to listen to what any of you have to say, then Trixie goes too.”
It was apparent that making concessions rather than arguing was the only way the females were going to cooperate. Before Burke could say anything that would anger Laria further, I moved between them and held up a hand to interrupt. “It is obvious that your vehicle holds great importance to you, so we will accompany you to retrieve it.”
“You will?” Laria’s tone held a note of suspicion.
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Fine.” She turned to the other females. “Let’s go.” She headed toward the opposite end of the passageway without waiting for a reply.
Celeste immediately followed, with Sloane bringing up the rear and stopping long enough to snatch the knife Laria had knocked out of Kowhl’s grasp earlier off the ground.
Zaedon crossed his arms and chuckled.
“What do you find so humorous?” I asked, confused by his behavior. If my longtime friend continued to annoy me by staring at Laria’s backside, he would soon earn a strike to the jaw.
“It is amusing to watch your interactions with the female. If I did not know better, I would say you liked her.”
“She is an excellent fighter with admirable skills.” I did not mention how her scent and nearness set my body on fire and made my cock hard. The desire to make her mine grew steadily stronger the longer I was in her presence.
“I do not think it is her skills you are admiring.” He smacked the back of my shoulder. “Come, let us go retrieve her Trixie.”
