She grins, her eyes glassy. “Liquid courage helps.”
A passing woman smirks. “Fucking lightweight. You’ve had one shot, Tess.”
“It’s Tessi,bitch,” my female snarls back. “And fuck off, Carielle. You don’t know a damn thing about earning what you keep, you little rat butt sniffing, daddy’s money will get me out of anything…ho.”
Carnas snorts a laugh as he passes with his female under his arm.
I make a mental note of the pink-banded female’s flawless light tan skin, highly painted face, and exceptionally smooth curls to her bleached hair. Her brown eyes are cold, not warm, and she carries herself with an air of smugness that reminds me of Tahliel. “You know her?”
Tessi sighs and eases me back. She glares after the woman. “She likes to hunt me when I’m scavenging. She’s shot me off of hillsides, cliffs, towers, and often takes what I drop.”
Anger surges through me. “Why didn’t you report it?”
“Carielle has a powerful family with corporate money. I have no one. Nobody believes me. They all think I am trying to weasel my way to their fortune. So I just…” She tightens her ponytail and tugs at the collar of her race suit like it itches. “Figured out how to survive while being shot at.
“Falgus and Reji hunted me, wanted a three-way. Then there’s Eian, the sneaky bastard that slips in and steals shit while people sleep or are away from their camp. Geist is a code name for another guy I never actually got the name of, but he’s known for manipulating people into trading for lesser goods, then using any information we divulge against us. He cleans out new sites before we even get there. It’s just a salvager’s life.”
She seems so broken and sad, and her life has been hard. The way she scans the room like she’s expecting another attack proves to me she doesn’t see what I do.
I lift her chin and summon her eyes to mine. “It has made you a fighter. You’re resilient. You probably improvise a lot.”
“More than I like.”
“Those skills are really important in this era. Let go of the wrongs, of your hatred of them.”
Let me destroy them for you.
“Focus on what you can build from the lessons their shitty behavior has taught you.”
I’ll teach them a lesson or two.
She squints at me. “Sorry for ruining the moment.”
“You didn’t. Pretty sure nothing can.” I sweep my lips over hers. “I got torn up by Myndrous, and I’m still here, desperately trying to control my urges to carry you back to my room and make youmine.”
It comes out more of a growl than I anticipate, and I realize my Shifter is not on his best behavior today.
Tessi pants a breath. “There’s no way you can feel like that so fast.”
But it’s true. I can’t quite quell the longing deep in my groin or the pulsing heat that thrums in my bones. “Your scent ignited my rut, one that’s been absent for a long time. I want you. My Shifter wants you,needsyou.”
A light laugh eeks out of her as she peers up at me. “Then why hold back?”
“Because…” I curl my lips and hang my head. “I now have orders to keep you safe. There are a lot of things to discuss with Viriden when he is ready for us. Tonight, I just want to look at you, savor finding you, even if I can’t…”
“I feel so yanked around right now.” Tessi slides back on the barstool and returns to her former, calm self. The fiery, passionate female she was just moments ago is gone.
Now I definitely hate Carielle.
Tessi runs her hands down my chest. “Please just be yourself. I don’t think I can handle any more lies and deception.”
I’ve already come close to losing her. I don’t want to risk is again. “Trust me, how I feel hasn’t changed and isn’t going to. I just have to put your safety first.”
She licks her lips and nods. “Okay.”
A Mindoran with a Luna Pack paw mark tattooed on his chest shoulder-checks me, then leans in close. “Do not shift off-world. Or did you forget your oath, soldier?”
I bare my teeth at him. “Back off before I silence you…permanently. And get your eyes checked,Captain Maw.There were four Myndrous threatening this human.”
