Page 8 of Warrioress

Laro grimaced. “That is flirting? It is painful to watch.”

“That hurts,” Kam protested, biting back a laugh. “You want to speak of something painful to watch? I have been forced to observe your attempts to draw in females quicker than Vrin can frighten them away. And considering that he is the more attractive one between us, that says a lot.”

“Attractive?” Laro gave him an incredulous look before squinting over at Vrin. “How...?”

“I hate to interrupt,” Captain said coolly from so close behind Kam that he barely restrained the instinctive urge to spin around and strike from surprise.

How had none of them notice that she was approaching the cage? He gave his triad an accusing, look but both males slowly flicked their ears and gave a small shake of their heads. They had not noticed either. Fascinating. Fastening a smile on his face, he turned slowly to peer down at the female, his nostrils flaring as he drew in her scent. She was so close that she might have grazed his fur if not for the bars between them.

She was very interesting indeed.

His gaze raked over her appreciatively. Tall and lean with muscle, he had noticed right away how she stood out among the other guards. And yet she was still so small compared to a Ragoru’s greater size.

“If you are here plotting my death or a jailbreak, you don’t need to bother using a covert language,” she continued. “Most likely, however, you are gossiping and don’t believe anyone here is smart enough to catch onto that fact. So I would ask that if you have something to say, you say it to my face and get it over with.”

Though he attempted to adopt a guileless expression, he blinked down at her in surprise. She was also very direct. It was nice. With how straightforward Ragoru were, he found the little courting games humans played to be frustrating and ambiguous at best.

“We are planning nothing of the sort,” Vrin snorted. Kam refused to let his smile widen and give anything away. Vrin sounded especially annoyed, and he only sounded that way when he was amused. “We were critiquing Kam’s pathetic attempts at flirting.”

Captain’s eyebrows shot up, and Kam grinned down at her. Although Ragoru brows were structured similarly, the thin strips of hair were somehow even more expressive and all the more adorable for it.

“Who is flirting with whom... and who is Kam?” she demanded as she peered between them suspiciously.

A bark of laughter burst from Kam, and he gave her an embarrassed smile when she jerked back as her gaze flew back to him.

“That idiot right there in front of you is Kam,” Vrin replied as he casually swept one of his lower hands in Kam’s direction. “As for who he is flirting with...”

“Perhaps we should not seek to offend Captain... or embarrass Kam too much,” Laro interrupted with a sympathetic look in Kam’s direction.

Kam flicked an ear casually toward him. He was not concerned, not when Captain was looking at him that way—as if she were more aware of him than ever. Names were funny like that. They formed a connection and closeness. He basked in her dark gaze until it suddenly abandoned him to squint over at Laro.

“What did you call me?”

Laro’s ears turned out to the sides in confusion, and Kam echoed it. Even Vrin was staring at her watchfully.

Perhaps there were naming rules that they were not yet aware of. He tried to think back to the females that they had met and the names that they had infrequently shared with them. Come to think of it, he did not recall them offering their names all that often. Strange. He had not even noticed before.

“Captain,” Laro slowly repeated. “We heard other females call you this and understood that it is your name. Assuming it is okay for us to use it.”

“Terrible name,” Vrin grunted as he once again looked away.

“It is not terrible,” Kam defended. “It is.... powerful?” he finished, ending a note that sounded more like a question as he peered over at the human.

He was startled, however, to see the female’s lips twitch and gradually split in smile as she chuckled quietly to herself. Kam eyed her curiously. He did not understand what was so funny, but her laughter was intoxicating so he did not mind.

She shook her head slowly, her eyes bright with her laughter. “No, no,” she protested around another burst of laughter. “Captain is not my name. It is my title. I’m in charge of the guardswomen of the lower district—the charming part of the citadel where you found yourselves—because of that, I’m the captain in charge. Captain Uma Stacy.”

“Uma,” Kam repeated slowly, enjoying the way that sound of it rolled off his tongue. It was as pleasing as the female in front of them. Like her it was powerful, magical, and....

“An improvement at least,” Vrin rumbled, breaking his train of thought in the most insulting way possible. Kam gave him an annoyed look, but it was wasted on the male since he did not even bother to look in his direction.

“Right,” Uma replied as she turned away from their cage and headed back to her chair and picked up her papers. “I think it’s time for a break. You boys enjoy your company for a while, and try not to damage my cell,” she ordered as she walked at a fast clip toward the doorway.

Kam stared after her in disappointment, his muzzle hanging between the bars dejectedly. So much for enjoying a pleasant exchange with their guard. He cast an annoyed look toward Vrin with his secondary eyes. “It would not have killed you to at least pretend to be pleasant.”

Laro chuffed quietly and rested his head back against the wall again. “If he could not manage to be pleasant to the females we were trying to attract for a mate, there is no hope for him now. Just pray to the Fathers that he does not go out of his way to insult her and make our lives even more difficult.”

Kam winced as Vrin released a deep bark of laughter. That was not encouraging in the least.

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