Page 16 of Warrioress

Not exactly a safe gamble in her current mood.

“As it happens, I don’t care,” she replied as she flipped the file open. She immediately grimaced and understood why it had been buried. Some people filed complaints about every little inconvenience. “As long as he has worked out what the basic acceptable behavior is and keeps his comments to himself then we will be fine.”

“Really?” Kam’s soft question drew her gaze at him as she gave him a sharp look. He smiled and shrugged. “Vrin is not the sort to forgive and forget. I sometimes think vengeance is what you call a hobby for him.”

She forced her attention back to the file and feigned a smile. “What luck—it just so happens that it’s mine too.”

An amused chuff escaped the male. “Laro will not be pleased if he retaliates, but I will be certain to inform him of your position. If nothing else, this should be interesting.”

His claws scraped lightly against the floor as he straightened once more, and Uma glanced up at him reflexively. He offered her another quick smile before he left her side, leaving her—presumably to return to the training room. Her brow lowered. Kam seemed pretty sure that Vrin would strike back—and likely do so in a way to ensure that he could get maximum pleasure out of his revenge. She scoffed and rolled her eyes as she studiously returned to her work. How juvenile.

Despite that, she stiffened in her chair as he walked past again sometime later. The passing hours had put an odd pep into his step, and his attention was fastened on the armory wall to her left. Even so, he didn’t head immediately there but moved about the room leisurely. Her eyes followed him suspiciously as he moved around the room. She didn’t know what exactly he wanted, but she wasn’t letting him out of her sight until he moved on. He was certainly taking his time too. He loitered at random points around the room, seemingly engrossed in one thing or another—several of which were very large and very sharp weapons mounted on the walls at ready use for the guards.

What exactly was he up to?

Resting a hand behind his back, he leaned forward to peer at several restraints hung on pegs, and Uma slowly folded her hands in front of her as she eyed him. He seemed deeply interested in the lengths of chain in front of him, and the dozens of sets of manacles next to them. The hair at the back of her neck slowly rose as he ran a claw over the heavy links as if contemplatively.

“You have a lot of restraints,” he rumbled after a long moment. “Ragoru have been known to braid grasses and leather for cords, but nothing like this. It must be very useful and keep those you use them on under your complete control.”

“That is one way to look at it,” she agreed. “But we prefer not to use them unless it is absolutely necessary for our safety, or the safety of others.”

“Restraining someone who is a threat to your safety is a good idea,” he agreed as he turned a shuttered look in her direction.

Her fingers curled into a fist against the desk as the air thickened with tension between them. “Not something you are likely to encounter. With the Order gone, you have few threats, correct?”

Vrin paused and his brow raised while his ears pricked toward her. “Sometimes troublesome things can be just as concerning. Little things can be considered a threat to safety as well if you care about your own welfare. Like a female who may poison your food. How trusting should someone be?”

Uma feigned a polite smile, her own eyebrows inching up. “Are you worried I cannot protect you?”

He scoffed, and the sound carried more threat than humor. “I worry about your understanding of the word protection.”

Leaning forward, she gave him a pointed look. “Do you really wish to make an enemy of me during your short time here?”

He turned toward her, his much larger frame looming over her. “Are you admitting to being my enemy? Do I need to demonstrate how I deal with an enemy.”

“What, it is not endlessly offending them with your mouth when not trying to scare them with vague threats?” she fired back as she arched an eyebrow at him.

“That is me being pleasant,” he growled meaningfully as he picked up a heavy chain and curled his fingers around it.

Uma’s eyes dropped to it and her heartrate picked up as she stared at it grasped in his hand. If he restrained her with it or used it as a weapon, she would have very little to defend herself against it.

The corner of his mouth suddenly hitched, and she narrowed her eyes at him in turn. “You are just fucking with me, aren’t you?” she hissed.

“You may never know,” he rumbled as he dropped the chain. “Do not try to poison me again, female,” he growled. His ear suddenly flicked as he straightened to his full height. “As I did not enjoy the experience and do not wish for a repeat of it, and would probably enjoy restraining you more than a male should in regard to a female, he has no intention keeping as his mate, I will keep the peace as long as you do.”

With those parting words, he walked out, his tail lightly flicking in her direction as he passed her desk. Uma stared after him, uncertain whether to be amused or offended at his words or aroused at the mental image they conjured. With a shake of her head, she turned back to her file.

“I’m going to end up just as demented as him by the time this is over,” she muttered.

Chapter 13

Kam was tempted to lick the metal bar of his cell. Two days of bland food because Vrin had either not realized that their meals suffered whenever Uma was displeased, or because the male simply could not learn to keep his mouth shut, was enough to make Kam want to bite him. Granted things had improved a little—at least Uma was not poisoning his triad brother, but the punishments for the male’s relapses were about to drive him to madness. Which accounted for his current problem. At least the bar would lend more flavor than the metal which was a poor substitute already for food that the female intentionally cooked as flavorlessly as possible. And he knew she did by the unholy gleam that lit her eyes whenever she handed them bowls of thick, pasty stew.

And it was always stew that she tortured them with. He never wished to go back to the thick cuts of meat that they had been offered before as much as he desired it now. The only good thing that could be said for it was that it always filled his stomach with warmth in a way that was pleasant in contrast to the drafts of cold air that seemed to slip into their cell.

It was just a shame that it did not taste better. He shuddered but his mouth twitched with amusement. What a terrible punishment... Conniving female.

“I do not know what you are smiling about,” Vrin growled as he pressed his chest against the bars of their cell and reached all four of his arms high to grip the stone above his head as he stretched out his back. “The female is determined to torture us. It is bad enough that the sound of the storm whistling through this miserable human dwelling is threatening to drive me mad, but I am certain that she wishes for our misery. And yet you smile.”

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