Page 25 of Dreikx

Raven rolls his eyes and jerks his head at Seer. “Meet me later with news. Got a fire to put out.” The two leave.

Arkin stretches out and yawns. “Stayed up all night. Going to bed.” He leaves too.

I glance at Sotay. “Anything smart to impart to me?”

“Can you purr?”

“Goodbye.” I exit, laughter following me out. Of course I can purr. Pfft.

Chapter 10

Dreikx

In the break room, I grab a box of dinner then stare at the stack of boxes, tapping my finger on the fridge. I would call Tamey, but our communication may be breached. The longer I can delay the Swarm’s knowledge of a Regha princess on Earth, the better. The house security will not fail, and I’m comfortable working and being away from her even with an enemy so close to her.

Untrue. I’m lying to myself.

I’m deeply concerned.

I grab another box and exit the office space, then get into the pod. Minutes later, I’m hovering over my house. Tamey drew down the shutters so I can’t see inside. I park on the lawn, triple-check the security system, and scan the perimeter, extending the scanners as wide as they’ll go.

I’m paranoid. Always have been. Right? Of course.

I enter my home and wait by the door. Tamey doesn’t come. Footsteps upstairs tell me where she is. I climb and announce myself so she isn’t startled, then knock on the door and wait. Tamey opens, and I stare. Her eyes are almost completely black. Tiny flecks of hazel dance around the pupils. She’s showing all her markings, the colors bright and inviting, and when she speaks, her voice sounds like strokes of a violin. “You’re home early,” she says and fluffs up her hair. She steps out and closes the door, standing between me and the door.

“You are entering heat,” I say.

She nods.

“The timing is terrible. Why so soon?”

Tamey looks away. “I can’t really control it, you know.”

“Certainly.”

“I’m sorry about the inconvenience.”

“Thank you. Would you like to have dinner?”

She takes the boxes out of my hands and descends the steps. I follow her. Tamey wears white again. I can see everything through the cloth, and I’m unsure why she even bothers with clothes. At the table, she flings my box at me. It slides and stops right before my seat. She sits on the far side of the table and opens her box.

I sit in my place and watch her.

Tamey flips her hair back and forth, picks up the fork, takes a bite, then drops the fork. She gets up for water, drops a bottle next to me, and takes her seat again.

“Is there something wrong?” I ask.

She looks up from her box. “I’m not hungry. For food,” she adds.

I purse my lips. “The mating hour hasn’t come upon me yet. It is nearly impossible for me to mate before then.”

“Why?”

“Because I have conditioned my body into celibacy for too many years, and reconditioning before the mating hour is nearly impossible.”

Tamey blinks her long eyelashes. “I don’t understand what that means.”

“It means I have not allowed lust or similar feelings to arise for many years. I simply remove such thoughts into a compartment in my brain where they’re either destroyed or locked away so that such emotions don’t distract from my logical thinking process.”

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