Page 88 of A World Enough

They walked over to the dance floor and saw some people making a particular pattern of moves, but extremely slowly, kind of like ballroom dancing.

Others simply had their hands around their partner, moving slowly to the music. Brogan thought, I can cope with that.

Brogan lifted Camber’s hands and wrapped them around her neck, and she put her hands around Camber’s waist.

“Is this okay?” Brogan asked.

“Yes.”

Camber’s excitement was gone. Now she had focused her eyes on Brogan’s, and they moved side to side. The dark lighting made them feel like they were all on their own.

“You have beautiful eyes,” Camber told Brogan.

“Me?” Brogan said with surprise. “They are just eyes.”

“They are not. They are this kind of blue, ocean, and then don’t think I don’t notice that when you become excited, when your wolf becomes excited, your eyes turn this penetrating amber-gold colour.”

Brogan’s heart thudded, and she pulled Camber closer. “I see you’ve been watching me. Working me out.”

“Of course. It’s what I’ve trained myself to do. You might think you’re the predator, but I’ve learned through my years of running to take note of the small things. You weigh them up and decide if someone has good intentions or bad,” Camber said.

“So, you’ve had other wolves wanting you?”

“No, I don’t mean that. I just mean that people have tried this approach with me, like what you’ve tried since you met me. You aren’t trying, sorry. What I’m struggling to say is the Abnobians have tried everything. They’ve sent one or two people undercover that were supposed to get into my heart, make me vulnerable by falling in love with them, and them take me to their bed. But I could see deception in their eyes.”

Brogan moved her head closer to Camber. “And have I had deception in my eyes? In fact, look into my eyes now.”

Camber cupped Brogan’s face with her hands and whispered, “No. I see gorgeous blue eyes with amber spreading around them, meaning you want to kill me or kiss me,” Camber said.

“What do you think?” Brogan whispered.

She trailed her fingers down Brogan’s cheek and pressed her lips against hers. Their kiss was soft and slow, like Camber was stepping tentatively over a mental barrier that she had put up all her life.

Camber pulled back, and Brogan seemed to feel her nervousness. “Let’s go upstairs.”

She took Camber’s hand, and she followed.

Chapter Seventeen

There was a silence in the interrogation room. Ninti was preparing her medical instruments for the mind scan of Vorka, and she was dreading it. Vorka was strapped to a reclining chair with sticky probes on her.

There were two Drazani guards at the door, watching their every move.

“Guards, you may leave,” Ninti said.

They looked at her with surprise, but Ninti said more firmly, “Leave now.”

The guards would never disobey their gods, so they moved out the door.

When they left, Ninti said out loud, “What do you think, Vorka? I believe being alone with a scientist who can cause you terrible pain is much more conducive to information extraction than having guards watching over us.”

Vorka said, “Since I will be feeling the pain, it makes not much difference to me.”

“I think once we’ve started, you’ll regret saying that.”

Ninti brought over an instrument with a tiny chip, hardly visible to the naked eye. She popped it inside Vorka’s ear.

Mentally Ninti said, Vorka, can you hear me?