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“Anton will help you, but Braxia is a krillik’s nest. I fear for your safety.”
“You know I can take care of myself,” I said, both touched by his concern and annoyed by his overprotectiveness.
“Yes, Mercy, I know you can fight,” he said in a conciliatory tone, “but even Anton wouldn’t face off against a pureblood.”
“He’s a hybrid, I’m a Veredian Warrior,” I countered. “I’m faster.”
“That, you may be, but a Braxian Warrior can also kill you in one blow. One mistake is all it would take.”
I pursed my lips. “Fair enough. I’m not going there to fight, anyway. I just want to shutdown whatever operation my brother may have had running there and find the clients list. The Goddess willing, I’ll be in and out of there in a handful of days.”
“Good,” William said as the vehicle pulled up alongside the busy walkways in front of the Venus Hive HQ.
William got out and circled around the car to help me out, but I’d already exited. He gave me an annoyed look that made me chuckle. Human males had this endearing thing about beingchivalrous, an archaic set of behavioral rules towards females meant to denote respect and courtesy. It personally struck me as often inconvenient for the male, but sweet nonetheless to be on the receiving end.
A handsome, young security guard approached, nodded at us, then entered the car, no doubt to go park it somewhere. We headed inside the gleaming white building.
“I cannot free myself right now to accompany you to Braxia,” William said, “but I’d like you to let me assign one of my guards to your security detail so…”
“Fuck no!” I exclaimed as we entered the sleek building that both housed the Venus Hive HQ and Anton’s private penthouse. “I’ve had enough of the whole chaperon bit on Guldar.”
“I knew you’d say that,” William said, rolling his eyes.
“Then why did you offer?” I deadpanned.
“So that, when you get spanked and finally put aside that ridiculous pride of yours to ask for help, I’ll be able to say I told you so.”
I caught myself almost making a face at him. In the few weeks spent on Xelix Prime with my niece and her children, her mischievous ways had already started rubbing off on me.
As we headed toward the elevators, my gaze lingered on the sexy but tasteful paintings that graced the white walls of HQ. They differed from the ones I’d seen the last time I came here but remained in the same spirit; sexy couples of all pairings locked in steamy embraces and various BDSM scenes artistically posed with no naughty bits on full display, just heavily hinted at.
The receptionist, a pretty redhead named Dana, nodded at us before opening her com, probably to inform Anton of our arrival. We headed for the elevator at the back of the gleaming white and chrome hallway beside the reception desk. Five numbered elevators stood on each side of the corridor. The door of Elevator One, located at the end of the corridor, opened at our approach, the luminescent tribal patterns framing and lighting it up.
“With that said, your timing couldn’t be better,” William said as the elevator flew upwards to the penthouse. “The Magnar will arrive shortly. He normally wouldn’t have visited Anton before next week, but the Gladiator Annual Championship ends tomorrow night and, of course, Braxians are dominating.”
I snorted. With their average height looming over seven-and-a-half feet and average weight of 330 pounds of pure muscle, the mere sight of those giants sufficed to make most opponents freeze in fear. Despite my earlier bravado, William was right to warn me off from engaging in battle with them.
“Well, I cannot wait to see what the purest bloodline of Braxia looks like,” I said in a teasing tone.
William chuckled and shook his head. The elevator door opened on the large entrance hall of the penthouse overlooking a luxurious living area. We didn’t go down the three steps into it but instead followed the same hallway, left of the elevator, that William had taken me through the last time I had visited.
“I will never understand you,” William said, teasingly. “Beautiful women like you usually go for the most handsome men.”
I shrugged. “I like my pets to be pretty. I like my men beastly and ferocious.”
“So I’ve learned,” he mused with a wink.
I affectionately bumped shoulders with him as he knocked on the door to Anton’s office.
We’d met a couple of decades ago during a business deal. He’d been interested, but while I greatly enjoyed his personality, he hadn’t attracted me that way. Being a good sport, he hadn’t turned into a jerk as men often did after getting rejected and hadn’t tried to mess up the deal to screw me over out of spite. From there, a slow friendship had blossomed. I could go months, even years, without speaking to him. Yet the moment we met, it always felt like we’d last talked the day before.
William opened the door when Anton’s muffled voice bid us enter.
“Your guest has arrived,” William said to Anton as he waved me in.
“Ms. Vrok,” Anton said in greeting, rising from the chair behind his massive, dark wood desk.
“Mr. Aldriss,” I responded after a thank you nod at William.
