Page 60 of Shielded Heart

“Foundwho?”

“The groalthuun from the mall. Now let me in so we can talk. I’m not talking to a door anymore.”

Samantha turned her head, her gaze averted as she hurriedly righted her dress, covering her breasts and shielding her sex from view.

Arcanthus groaned and terminated the intercom connection. His head fell back; his body was suddenly too hot and too heavy. “Do you know your way back to the bedroom, Samantha?”

“I…can find my way.”

He released a weighty sigh. “I’ll have someone bring you some food in a little while. Just make yourself comfortable until then. I’ll meet you as soon as I’ve spoken with Drakkal.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

After carefully climbing off his chest, she took a single step away, paused, and turned toward Arc to peck a kiss on his lips. She pulled back before he could catch her, smiling.

That simple little kiss struck him hard; he’d never been kissed like that before. It hadn’t been an impassioned kiss, hadn’t been a lustful kiss, but anaffectionatekiss. Its warmth spread across his face, flowing directly into his heart.

Absently, he brought up the control on his holocom and opened the nearby door for Samantha—the same one through which she’d entered—keeping his eyes on her as she walked away. There was a sway to her hips now, extremely subtle but undeniable; she’d not once walked that way in the time he’d known her.

Only after the door was closed did he sit up fully, swinging his feet onto the floor. He lowered a hand to his protruding cock and squeezed it, hoping in vain to alleviate its ache. He shuddered; there’d be no relief now.

The door alert sounded again.

Arcanthus’s nostrils flared with an exasperated exhalation. He flicked the command to open the hidden entry on the platform before he dismissed the holocom screen, leaned back, and stretched his arms along the sofa’s backrest. He laid his tail on the cushion beside him, unable to keep its tip from thumping up and down in irritation.

Drakkal entered the chamber on the platform, passing dozens of screens on his way to the steps. He descended and stopped in front of Arcanthus, staring down with his brows low. “Do I really need to see that?”

Arcanthus dipped his gaze to his groin, where his erect cock created a distinct, writhing bulge in the fabric of his loincloth. “Yes. It’s one of the consequences for interrupting me.”

Drakkal shook his head and rolled his eyes. “I know she’s your mate, but wedohave other things to take care of.”

“Taking care ofheris my first priority, Drak.”

“And did you?”

“Not to my satisfaction.”

The azhera dipped his chin toward Arc’s crotch. “Clearly. You ready to be serious now?”

Arcanthus tipped his head back onto the backrest and sighed. “I’m always serious, Drakkal.” He couldn’t stay angry at the azhera for wanting to address the problems they were facing, but it would be difficult to focus on anything when his body craved Samantha so badly it hurt. “What did you find?”

Drakkal eased himself down on the couch across from Arcanthus’s. His tail lashed restlessly over the cushion. “We pulled surveillance holos from the Ventrillian Mall. Managed to get some good images of the groalthuun who was taking pictures of you. He pops up on yesterday’s feed from outside Samantha’s apartment building, too.”

Lifting his head, Arc met Drakkal’s gaze. “Show me.”

A few motions of Drakkal’s fingers in his holocom’s controls brought up a wide, projected image in the air between them—the groalthuun, standing in the crowd at the mall. The image split to show the same groalthuun from a different angle, this time in front of the entry door to Samantha’s building, with the large orange onigox beside him.

“That’s the one.”

“It took a lot of digging, but we found numerous aliases for him. Most common one is Straek.”

Arcanthus tipped his chin toward the onigox’s image. “The orange bastard said that name at one point. That he was going to haveStraektake Samantha after I was dead.”

Drakkal dismissed the image and lowered his arms, resting them over his thighs as he leaned forward. His expression was grim—grimmer than usual, anyway. “He’s part of the Inner Reach Syndicate.”

Something icy slithered into Arcanthus’s gut, and his eyes widened. He pushed off the backrest and leaned forward himself, subconsciously mimicking his friend’s position. “The Inner Reach? You’resure, Drakkal?”

The azhera nodded once. “Obviously, there’s not much information beyond that, not without you looking into it yourself. They keep their activities under tight wraps.”

---