Page 73 of The Pleasure Contract

I should really call Niska and ask how she reacts to it-

Actually, scratch that. I should call Niska and report on how I’m getting on with Glex – the answer being ‘abysmally’.

Flopping back on the bed, I let out a long groan. If Glex is at the dinner with the King tonight, I’ve got to try and get him to help us.

32

Az

Lois looks like a fucking dream sitting opposite me in the large city cruiser. Unfortunately, the rest of my team are squeezed in here, too, so I can’t tell her how much I want to rip that pink dress off her gorgeous body and sink my fangs into any body part she’d offer up.

I need to get a grip.

If I keep my eyes on her for the whole journey through the city, I’ll be as hard as stone and leaking venom by the time we make it to the Central Palace.

She’s not even looking at me, too busy going over the notes she’s been working on regarding Glex.

Lois’s brows pinch ever so slightly as she reads, leaving a small crease of concentration between them, and I-

Fuck.

I shift, readjusting myself in my pants.

She looks too damn good, and I can’t do anything about that right now. I feel like I need one of those antique bite sticks to gnaw on.

Vex gives me a strange look as I rearrange my cock. I can feel his glare melting the side of my face as he sits beside me. How did I end up wedged between him and Thax in the back of the cruiser? It’s like trying to share a bench seat with two fully grown draks.

Meanwhile, Ral is seated beside my female, smirking at me like he can read my mind and doesn’t value his next breath, and Zevan and Jorren are bickering about something on her other side. Rykor rides up front with Lois’ staff member, Zek, claiming he enjoys watching the control panels on these driverless cruisers as they take us automatically through the city.

“So,” Lois says out loud to no one in particular, interrupting any other chatter. Her gaze is still on her projected notes as she scrolls through them. “Can someone tell me why Glex has sixty-two kids from the artificial womb place?”

She tears her gaze away from her research to look up at us all when nobody answers. “Sixty-two!” she exclaims. “No one needs that many kids! Why’s he doing it?”

Thax clears his throat and says, “Well… after so many failed breeding contracts, the other great families stopped entertaining him for their daughters long ago. Xoe is the only offspring he’s sired that way.”

“Yeah,” Ral chuckles, “he even had a contract with one of my aunts, and we’re very low-hanging fruit. The only bloodline venom that’s shown up in our family history is one that gives people a headache for a few days.”

“That tracks,” Vex grunts, shifting in his seat beside me.

Ral offers him an obscene hand gesture in return.

“You guys are not getting what I’m asking,” Lois says, shaking her head. “The guy has fertility issues doing it the good ol’ fashioned way, I get that. He wants kids, so goes the artificial womb route, I get that, too. What I’m not understanding is why he did that sixty-two times?! He had a daughter in Xoe, a son in Zyre, maybe sprinkle in a few more for shit-‘n’-giggles, but this guy seems like he’s never going to stop! What’s he trying to do? Single-handedly repopulate this planet? Hell, at this rate, you won’t be able to step foot out of your apartment without bumping into at least one Glex Junior.”

She looks at each of us for answers. When none are immediately forthcoming, her shoulders sag, and her face morphs into a very flat expression. “Is it a kink?”

Zevan spits out the sip of Highhorn Brew he’d just taken, effectively spraying Vex and I with ale. Luckily for me, Varrex receives the majority of the attack. He’s about to start complaining when my Lois continues regardless.

“Because, I swear, whenever a man is weirdly obsessive over something like this, it’s because of some fetish or to get back at his mother or something.”

“It’s not his mother, it’s his father,” I say, getting her attention again.

She points at me, annoyed. “Explain.”

So bossy.

I fucking love it.

“His father’s lineage is rumored to have featured two very powerful bloodline venoms. There’s been speculation about what those are, but only a very select few will know for sure.”