Page 48 of The VaDorok's Unexpected Mate
“Doctor Xixon is a creep,” she confirmed, her nose wrinkling in a distinctive look of disgust.
“If he tries anything, I am here,” Ren piped up from just behind them, and Kull snorted in amusement. His brother hadcertainly become actively protective of Katie ever since they arrived.
“What are you going to do?” Kull asked as he looked back at the male questioningly.
Ren frowned in response, a sullen look coming over him. “I do not know yet. I would do something. I would not merely stand by and allow anyone to steal or harm my sister.”
Kull nodded with approval. Despite their difficult start, that was gratifying to hear. Now, if only he could make it through the space station without stepping on anyone or disrupting anything with his considerably larger size. He had already accidentally knocked over a vendor’s display with his tail the day before, and he did not wish to think too much about the bed that he broke while rutting Katie. Just thinking of it brought a sense of shame for the ease with which he seemed to damage things.
“Our hanger is just ahead,” A’Jular called over his shoulder and pointed. “There’s the ship. Not much farther now.”
Finally. He was tempted to lift Katie off her feet and wade through the crowd to get there quicker when the crowd suddenly parted enough that he was drawn short by a glimpse of a thin Agraak male staring at him with hard eyes.
Dr. Xixon.
The male’s eyes darted to Katie, his expression shifting to a merciless look of possession and hunger that made Kull’s fur aggressively rise to stand on end. Worse, he knew the moment that Katie saw the male. Despite her words, she froze as she stiffened with a fear that beat through his external and more inward senses born of the ulukskinon. Regardless of his own feelings about the male, he would not allow him to cause his ulukska such fear. He bared his teeth at the male, a growl rising from his body.
The Agraak frowned and straightened as he appeared to speak rapidly to the males closest to him. With his face twistedwith disgust and a look of superiority that made Kull want to rearrange his face, the male marched toward them, his spines rising along those of his companions in preparation for the confrontation. Kull’s growl deepened with aggression, his fists clenching until his claws ripped through the thick, callused flesh there. He could smell his own blood in the air, and he knew he was drawing looks of concern from the other males of his tribe as aliens skittered out of the path between him and Xixon.
He was fully prepared to rip the male into a mass of bloody parchment hide and bait as the male crossed the space. Nudging Katie behind him, he flexed his claws, eager to take anger out on yet another alien who wished to harm a mate of his. He would gladly separate the male from his life; except he did not have the opportunity. He jerked in surprise as a click echoed in the air and A’Jular and E’budar casually raised blasters and pointed them at the males.
“I believe you heard the verdict with your own ears,” E’budar said, a grin spreading slowly over the male’s face. “This means that if you come any closer and try anything that we will be perfectly within our rights to violently protect this VaDorok’s human mate. And really, any of them if your friends are having strange ideas.”
Xixon froze in the middle of the walkway, his expression hardening as he glowered at the Edoka. He appeared as if he was about to argue except something moved along Kull’s peripheral and he glanced over just in time to see Katie lift a blaster and also point it at the male.
Where did she get a blaster?
Unlike the Edokas, she lowered the nose of the blaster and pointed it at the doctor’s crotch, her eyebrows raising when the male stared at her with a look of shock.
“Just try it. You better hope that they don’t miss because if I hit you, you are going to really regret coming any closer to me,” she said, her voice dripping with a feigned sweetness.
The Agraak’s face grew pale as the blood drained from it, and he retreated a step, his hands raised.
“Very well, Katie,” the male crooned in an intimate way that made Kull’s desire to dismember him grow exponentially. “I meant no harm. After so many months caring for you, and weeks longer isolated in the lab, I was merely concerned for you. Dorok is not a hospitable world for your species, and you are such a small and delicate female that I—”
“Need to mind your own business,” Katie finished, a hard note creeping into her voice. “You are not fooling anyone here, so I suggest that you leave... now. I know exactly who I should be with and who I should trust, and it sure as hell isn’t you. Now get moving,” she said with a wave of the blaster.
A look of anger broke through the male’s calm mask. For a moment, it appeared that he would try to argue as his spines rose higher and dripped with venom. But then he snapped back his arm and spun before stalking away with his little contingent of Agraaks following behind him. The males gave them uncertain looks but seemed to be relieved at being spared from conflict with the VaDorok as they followed the doctor from the hanger. The nose of Katie’s blaster remained trained on them until they disappeared from sight, and it was only then that her armed sagged with the weight of the blaster as a strangled groan escaped her as she handed it over to A’Jular who holstered both it and his own blaster with a grin as E’budar let out an appreciative whistle.
“Are you sure you would not rather upgrade to an Edoka?” E’budar asked cheerfully and, though Kull shot him an offended glare, Katie laughed and shook her head.
“Not a chance,” she said, hugging Kull’s arm. “I know exactly where I want to be... and it is with Kull in our den in our woods on Dorok.”
Warmth filled Kull’s chest, and he bent to press a kiss to her brow. This was exactly as it should be. How had he ever doubted in the beginning that it could not be possible with her? A long life stretched out ahead of them, and he could not wait to get Katie back home. Whether together in their woods, or in their den—with Katie was where he belonged and he wanted nothing more.
