Page 67 of Shielded Heart

Sekk’thi pushed back her chair and joined Koroq, turning to give him her back as she pumped her hips and chest to the beat. Her long, thick tail brushed his leg. He reached out, grabbed it, and tugged her closer, placing his hands on her hips.

Samantha smiled and swayed gently in her chair as she watched them, continuing to sip her drink. Her body was relaxed, and her skin was flushed; she felt warm and fuzzy. She feltgood.

A blue-gray hand appeared in front of her.

Samantha tilted her head back and blinked up at Kiloq.

“Come dance, terran,” he beckoned.

“I don’t know how.”

“Doesn’t matter.” He rolled his shoulders and twisted his hips. “Just feel the music and move to it.”

Samantha didn’t allow herself any more time to think; she set her bottle on the table and placed her hand in his. She laughed as he pulled her up out of her chair. Her laugher became a delighted shriek when he spun her, and the room whirled around her.

She really was feeling quite giddy.

Razi leaned back, folded his fingers across his abdomen, and said in an oddly warning tone, “Careful, Kiloq.”

The cren caught her hands, and they swayed to the hypnotic music. His eyes were locked on hers, and his lips were curled in a playful smirk. Samantha’s cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

“We’re just having some fun, Razi,” Kiloq replied. “Boss doesn’t need to worry.”

Thirteen

“So there’s nothing?” Drakkal asked.

Arcanthus shook his head and turned his chair to face the azhera. “The Syndicate uses rather advanced encryption for their offworld communications, but I’ve been able to crack it. I can’t find any chatter about this situation. Locally, they’re fairly silent. I would guess they prefer face-to-face communications on Arthos to avoid leaving any more of a trail than they already do.”

Drakkal folded his arms across his chest. “Any logs of them sending word about it earlier?”

“None that I can find. And that worries me more. They have some big players here on Arthos, but there should’ve beensomething. The sort of firepower they threw at us doesn’t get used without someone up the chain approving it.” Arcanthus sighed and tipped his head back against the headrest. “I have a bad feeling about all of this.”

Drakkal snorted. “Of course you do. They tried to kill you, Arc. That’d give anyone a bad feeling.”

Arc turned toward his desk and stared at the screens. He’d spent hours hacking and scanning Syndicate communication channels. Though that was a small amount of time in the big picture, it was odd for him to search for so long without findinganythingof significance. “There’s something more here. Something I’m missing, something I can’t see.”

“Guess that third eye really is for nothing.”

“This is serious, Drak.”

“That’s whatI’vebeen tellingyouthis whole time.”

“We can argue over who said what to who later. For now, we need to focus on the task at hand.”

“Ancestors, grant me the strength to spare his life,” Drakkal muttered. “The only thing I’m going to focus on right now is getting some food in my gut. You should do the same. You’ve been in here all day, and I know for a fact you haven’t had anything to eat.”

Arcanthus waved a hand. “I had a few of those Kalatharian nuts.”

“You did. Yesterday.”

“Oh. Well, I—”

Drakkal grabbed one of Arcanthus’s horns and dragged him up out of the chair.

Arc snarled.

“No excuses,” Drak said. “Being short a few limbs is no reason to treat your body like garbage.”

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