Page 59 of Sublime Target

A thought entered her mind—one she’d had a hundred times before.

One of these days, I’m going to quit, I swear.

Maybe today.

She would tell it straight to Garner’s face.

That is, if Jerik didn’t kill him first.

TWENTY-TWO

Jerik was in a good mood—mostly.

Despite the aggravation of being interrupted in the middle of one of the most important meetings in his life—a meal with the very human he wanted to entice—he felt he’d accomplished something.

Even though he’d leveled a dire threat at those involved in this idiocy, she hadn’t shied away from him. Instead, she’d looked at him with an air of mild exasperation—as if he were a wayward child.

Nobody treated him like that.

Coming from her, he rather liked it. He hadn’t scared her off, and that was a good thing.

Things were looking promising.

And now that he’d gotten what he wanted—an opening—he had no reason to hang around this infernal place any longer.

He didn’t even really need to bother about negotiating over the disputed parcel of land.

The only reason he was riding this infernal metal box to the very top of Garner Tower was because he needed that human to understand one thing.

He didn’t really care about the land deal—they would secure that regardless—but he did care about Clarissa, and she was far too tolerant to rail against her boss’s ridiculous demands.

And this Garner clearly held no true respect or consideration for the lives of his employees—especially her. He’d gone and done the one thing that was unforgivable in Jerik’s eyes.

The moron had knowingly placed her in danger.

Standing in the elevator flanked by a pair of armed human mercenaries, with Clarissa just behind him—so she was unknowingly shielded from any potential harm, he quietly wondered at the paradox of these soft-skinned creatures.

On one hand, they could be innocent and trusting. On the other, they could be dangerously ignorant and reckless. And more often than not, they harbored wild levels of delusion about their place in the Universe.

Such a weak, defenseless civilization.

But some of them were blessed with poise and elegance and foresight, and astonishing amounts of patience.

She was like that.

And her presence alone was powerful enough to make him both calm and frantic at the same time.

Suddenly, he understood how his battle-brothers—even the most feared and lethal amongst them—had succumbed. Humans were everything Kordolians weren’t.

Thus, they were exactly what they needed. The urge to find a mate was driven by something deep within Jerik’s subconscious. A yearning he hadn’t even realized until she was right before him, drenching his senses with her pure, primal essence.

She didn’t even realize…

The effect she had on him.

How could she? Human senses weren’t as sharp as those of his kind. Existing in darkness for eons had honed their hearing, dark-sight, touch, smell…

They tasted things differently. The sweetness humans enjoyed was overpowering. Bitterness and salt were pleasurable.

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