Page 47 of New World

That damn tingle ran up his spine again as he watched the tip of her pink tongue swipe at a droplet on the rim of the glass before she locked her lips over the imprint of his lips. His body was instantly hard.

How could such a simple act be so arousing?

Dorane shook his head, more at himself than anything. “You know, for someone who’s spent the last week tracking me like a bounty, you’re awfully reluctant to share details about yourself.”

Mei’s soft laugh sent a flush to his ears. “Where’s the fun in giving you everything at once? Besides, it is not me that you have to worry about. It is the orange and black lizard man.”

“You know about Zoak?” he hissed, his eyes narrowing.

“Yes. He’s been following you and I’ve been following him,” she said, her expression as serene as if they were discussing the weather instead of a brutal assassin with an agenda to kill not only him—but the beautiful, fragile alien woman sitting across from him.

Shit a Torrian viper’s nest! Life is getting too fucking interesting now!

Mei was playing with fire and she knew it. She just didn’t care.

From a distance, she’d thought her attraction to Dorane was manageable—a curiosity, a quiet pull, nothing more. But up close? This was different. This was consuming.

She hadn’t planned on flirting with him. Hell, she had never flirted in her life. She wasn’t the type. It had never appealed to her. If she wanted a man, she told him. Simple. Direct. Efficient. No need for coy glances, subtle touches, or veiled innuendos.

Yet now?—

Her gaze flickered to the rim of his glass, at the faint trace of his lips still imprinted against the crystal. The moment she’d noticed it, something inside her had tightened. The desire to take a sip had been overwhelming.

She hadn’t calculated the move. Hadn’t planned it. She had simply reached for the glass, turned it, and drank from the same spot. The moment she did, her world shifted.

Dorane’s pupils dilated. A slow, dark hunger swept through his eyes, and his expression became intense. He had noticed. The power of seduction swept through her—not as a weapon, not as a tactic, but as something raw, unbidden, and deliciously dangerous.

A thrill shivered through her, curling deep in her stomach. The realization that she had such an effect on the man sitting across from her was heady. She forced her eyes to lower to the glass, her fingers curling around it. She couldn’t afford to be distracted.

The flirting, if that’s what it was, had been a mistake. She had unconsciously tried to steer him away from his questions, but she wasn’t naïve enough to lie to herself. The truth was she didn’t want him to know everything just yet. Until she knew whether he would help her or not, the less he knew, the better.

That was why she had mentioned Zoak.

It had been a way to redirect him, to pull them both back to the real danger waiting in the shadows. She could feel it—lurking, watching. She had seen what happened when people let their guard down. Her father had taught her that lesson in the most brutal way possible.

She wouldn’t make that mistake.

Dorane’s sharp gaze narrowed as he leaned forward, the easy charm from moments ago shifting into something far deadlier.

“How long have you known about Zoak?”

Mei lifted the glass, running her fingertip along the rim before answering. “Since the first attack with your cyborg friend a week ago.”

Dorane’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t interrupt.

“I noticed him watching you,” she continued, keeping her voice steady. “At first, I thought he was another hired gun. Just one of the many eager to collect the bounty. But he was… different.”

“How?” Dorane asked, his tone deceptively calm.

Mei met his gaze. “He’s patient.”

Dorane’s lips pressed into a thin line. Patient killers are the most dangerous kind.

Mei set the glass down and folded her hands. “I started tracking him, but it wasn’t easy. He’s good. Very good. He moves through this moon base like he built it. I suspect he has been here a while, scoping things out. He’s been watching you in your office, following you whenever you leave your headquarters. The last few attacks? They weren’t just random bounty hunters.” She paused, letting the weight of her words sink in. “He was behind at least two of them.”

Dorane cursed under his breath, his fingers flexing against the table, and then he glanced over his shoulder at the bar and gave a silent signal to Jammer.

“He’s been studying you, Dorane.” Mei’s voice dropped lower. “He’s learning the way you fight. He’s learning your defenses, your movements. He’s waiting. You aren’t the only one he’s following either.”

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