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“Judgeandexecutioner,” she said coldly. “How you must have enjoyed all that power.”
He flinched as he stretched one wing out, revealing a bloodied and significant tear in the thin, leathery appendage.Shit.He’d really hurt himself protecting her. She resisted stepping toward him and taking a closer look.No.He deserved the injury. He was a stone-cold killer!
He folded his wings carefully behind his back and crossed his arms. “If I enjoyed that power I would never have left the business of killing the bad guys.”
A sour taste filled her mouth. “No, you’d prefer earning oodles of money being a bounty hunter.”
He’d certainly enjoyed her body while dragging out any information he could about the Dronians. What a stupid, bloody fool she’d been! She’d even believed he’d cherished being with her, that their coming together had meant as much to him as it had to her.
He frowned. “This is getting us nowhere. I’ve told you a big chunk of information about myself while you’ve yet to give me a slither of news about anyone or anything.”
Her pulse pounded in her ears, her voice shaking. “That’s all I am to you, aren’t I? A nameless piece of flesh to interrogate and extort information from by fair means or foul.”
His lips pressed together as his eyes narrowed, his expression stern. “I didn’t sleep with you so that I’d get answers out of you.”
“Didn’t you?” she gritted.
He stepped toward her, then stopped. “No, I didn’t.” His pupils were slits in his eyes that blazed an eerie gold-yellow. “I had a thing for you from the moment I was sent holo-images of you and the six otherrareswho survived the near-extinction of your species. I chose you without any intel whatsoever. From the very start, I was drawn to you.”
She ripped off her T-shirt, her whole body quivering. “Then take a good, hard look at the one woman who got away.”
With one of his wings next to useless, he’d never catch her underwater now.
His nostrils flared and his eyes bulged. He lunged for her but she leapt backward, then spun away and ran for the river, throwing herself over its bank into a neat dive, before she was swallowed up by the glorious water.
The river was shockingly cold on her human skin, but so full of nutrients she could have wept with relief. Her scales formed without thought, along with her webbing. But her fin was her major focus. She needed all the underwater speed she could get, followed by her gills so that she didn’t drown in her effort to get away.
Plunk.
Gray wasn’t going to let her get away so easily. Even if she hadn’t heard his body hitting the water, she would have sensed him behind her. She drew her fin back and forth, her body torpedoing through the water. The hole in Gray’s wing meant he’d never catch her.
So why did that make her sad as much as it made her glad?
She pulled a face.Whatever!She’d been stupid enough to sleep with Gray, but unlike every other man she’d screwed in the past; she’d be paying the price of getting over Gray for months, perhaps even years, to come.
A school of silver fish darted out her way. Of all the men she could have fallen for it had to have been the one male who’d held her captive against her will.
She’d like to chalk it up to a lesson in life, but she doubted she’d learn from her mistake. She’d want Gray to the day she died.
Her talk-stone abruptly warmed, alerting her to the fact anotherrarewas near. Her eyes going wide, she searched the river left then right, but her talk-stone as quickly cooled. No doubt Gray’s floundering had alerted her fellow comrade into hiding.
Shit.
She swam faster and peered ahead through the water at the faintest tinge of sparkling red.Zander!She flipped her fin, chasing down the trail, but the color rapidly receded, then disappeared.
Fuck!
It’d been her one real chance to catch the male and let him know about the meeting. Now she mightn’t ever see him again.
It was enough to bring tears to her eyes. She’d been so close!
Unless she wanted to live permanently in the water—tempting!—in the hope she might stumble across another of her comrades, she now had no clothes, no weapons, and no way of knowing if thoseraresshe had been in contact with were even still alive.
A shudder of dismay went through her. Whywerethe Dronians targeting her now if Nero was still alive? Had they killed him in the last few days? She pushed a long strand of river weed away from her face. She had to find out if he was alive...or dead.
She didn’t want to think about the possibility of the latter. Not only would she have lost a close friend and ally, but without him and his powers, therareswere a whole lot closer to extinction.
She’d have to risk returning to the riverbank where she’d stashed her clothes and where Gray had also stashed her rapier. She couldn’t exactly walk through the streets naked while hoping her mind control ability was still powerful enough to ask someone for clothes.
