Page 1 of Gravel and Grit

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ZAEK

Zaek hovered midair for a long moment, sensing something was off, before folding his wings and dropping fifteen feet to land in a crouch on his driveway. He could scent the presence of one of his kind, but the trace was maddeningly hard to pin down, almost as if they had found some way to hide from his usually impeccable sense of smell.

A growl vibrated his throat, and his tail whipped side to side in agitation as recognition finally hit.

Spy class. Sneaky bastards. Why inMacerois a spy class Khargal at myfucking house?

He’d only just learned of the beacon’s activation himself, so there was no way anyone else could have discovered it and made their way to his home already.

Drawing in a deep breath through his snout, he took in more of the elusive scent. There was something familiar about it. Khargal yes, but with a human undertone and a lingering edge of… gold?

Roc.

It had been decades since Zaek had seen the irritatingly gregarious male.

While he would not normally welcome a visit from anyone, let alone a sticky-fingered thief like Roc, he was actually glad the hybrid had shown up.

Saved him from having to track him down.

Standing from his crouch, he walked across the yard and up the stairs to his front door. He imagined he’d find Roc tranqed on the floor of the foyer,

either from the pressure plate hidden in the tile or the laser sensors, both of which triggered diamond-tipped darts to shoot from hidden recesses in the walls.

The image caused a smile to pull at his thin lips, baring his sharp fangs.

Zaek had designed the darts to puncture most any human-made armor, and, as a side-effect, they were strong enough to pierce his kind’s tough hide.

Did he really need to fear an assault from the humans on his off-the-grid home in the middle of nowhere? Probably not, but spending the vast majority of a millenium alone had provided him with a few… quirks. Paranoia was, occasionally, one of them.

Tapping a claw on the hidden security panel, he disengaged the still-active alarm system and opened the unlocked door, but his smirk promptly disappeared when he was not greeted by a sedated body on his floor.

Turning quickly to the screen set into the wall, he tapped a few buttons and felt his wings quiver with irritation when he discovered Roc had managed to not only circumvent the alarm but had somehow added himself to the system.

Growling obscenities that the other male had succeeded in bypassing what he’d thought was an impenetrable electronic defense, he slammed the door behind him and followed the faint scent trail to his living room.

His gaze landed on a grinning Roc, sitting in Zaek’s favorite chair, with his boots propped negligently atop his coffee table, rolling a tranq dart between his hands.

“How’s it hanging, Sour Puss?” the impertinent male asked, casting Zaek a shit-eating grin, before turning his attention back to the news playing quietly on the television.

“Youare about to be hanging lopsidedly if you do not remove your fucking feet from my furniture,” Zaek threatened lowly, using his favorite Earthian obscenity to express his displeasure.

Does the ill-mannered hybrid not realize that is my favorite table?

Obviously, he does not.

Expecting to be immediately obeyed, he was instead dismissed with a wave of Roc’s nearly clawless hand as the other male focused on the TV.

Taken aback, Zaek frowned. Eyeing the news Roc had playing, to see what life-changing information was more important than his very genuine threat, he saw mention of an archeological dig in Canada.

“Oh, please. You can just mangle a tree and make another. It’s not like

it’s a Louis XIVth.”

Snorting, Zaek dismissed that when he realized why Roc appeared so interested in a dig where no treasure was likely to be found.

“Your sire is close to that, yes?” he asked, looking back in time to see a barely perceptible flinch cross his face.

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