“Maldenis.”
“Fine.” He huffed. “My mother—who apparently has security cameras all over her home—heard what we talked about and told me I had to be here when you told them. Or else.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Or else what?”
“She says I don’t want to know. In any case, I’m already here and maybe it’s better if we faced them together.”
Liora highly doubted that, but she knew there was no dissuading the stubborn basilisk. “Fine. But, you stay out of my way.”
Brushing past him, she marched down the hallway, all the way to the end where she knew Zara and Hektor were booked in the corner suite. Maldenis followed her, and as she raised her hand to knock, she turned to him. Apparently, this moved surprised him as he barely stopped in time and nearly crashed into her. Thankfully she managed to stop him, her hands planting on his chest. She blinked, memories of their time at the spring flooding her brain. How he held her against him and?—
She quickly pulled back. “Stay out here and stay out of sight,” she warned him.
“Aye, aye, captain,” he said with a salute of his fingers.
Rolling her eyes, she proceeded to knock on the door. “Zara!” she called out. “I know you’re in there.”
“Noooooo…” she heard her sister’s protest.
Obviously she’d interrupted their private time.
Well, tough titties.Hektor was going to have to deal with his blue balls.
“Zara!” she repeated.
“Go away!” her sister screamed.
“Open this door right now,” Liora shouted back. “Or else.”
“Or else what?”
“I’ll knock it down.”
There was a pause, then a familiar male voice answered. “Give us a minute, Liora.”
At least one of them was thinking straight.
Moments later, Hektor opened the door. “Liora,” he greeted.
Truth be told, Liora liked Hektor. The Drakkon was honest and sincere, something quite rare in men these days. “Hektor,” she greeted back as she barged in. “You’re finally back.”
“Yes.” Zara put her hands on her hips. “And? What was so important that had you threatening to commit criminal damage to property?”
“It would have been a misdemeanor at most.” From Zara’s disheveled hair and the fact that the top buttons on her blouse were mismatched, it was obvious she did intrude on their private time. “Sorry to interrupt your…fun times. From that murderous look on your face, Zara, I’m guessing you didn’t get that post-mating boinking?—”
“What do you want?” Zara snapped. “I thought the meeting was at ten?”
Here we go.“I need to talk to you. Before the meeting. A lot has happened while you’ve been gone.”
Zara let out an exasperated sound. “What could possibly?—”
“There you are, I’ve been looking all over for you.”
Liora froze at the sound of Maldenis’s voice.
Oh no.
She prepared herself to tell him off but before she could, about two hundred pounds of protective Drakkon barreled forward. Hektor positioned himself in front of his Zara, his chest burning red—a sign that he was about to unleash his fire. “How dare you barge in here? Leave or else I will burn you to ashes!”
