Page 155 of Decadence

“No. One credit.”

“One? Are you fucking out of your mind, Kordolian?”

Ikriss just stared at the human. Perhaps I was wrong. Maybe you are stupid. Did you not hear me correctly the first time?

He simply waited.

Above his dark collar, Connor was starting to sweat.

“Jesus,” the human said at last. “Fine. I’ll cut my losses on this one and move on. The old man will kill me, but I’ve survived that before. You can have the damn shop. Give me your legally registered name on Earth, and I’ll sign it over to you.”

“Not to me. To her.”

The human blinked. “To… Sienna?” His face had started to turn red. Ikriss couldn’t tell whether it was because of fear or anger.

“You lost her,” Ikriss said pointedly, leaning forward. “You cannot get her back simply by purchasing a building. You had your chance to claim her, and you threw it away. She is mine now, and if I ever see your face near her shop again, I will kill you.”

The human froze, his eyes reflecting pure fear.

Ikriss put his holo-glasses back on, feeling a faint tingle as the false image settled over his form. “Arrange the transfer. You have one Earth hour to get it done.”

Without sparing Connor another glance, he silently exited the vehicle and walked past the confused, angry guards, disappearing into the crowds thronging the snow-covered pavement.

He effortlessly blended in with the humans, becoming just another face in the crowd of thousands.

In this strange, mesmerizing melting pot of human activity.

Her city.

And now it was his, just as she was.

To protect until his last dying breath.

Epilogue

Two Weeks Later

“This is the last one for the night,” Sienna declared triumphantly as she placed the dish onto the pass. It was a simple old-school sticky date pudding with copious amounts of butterscotch and a little twist—a dollop of spiced crème fraîche spiked with copious amounts of brandy.

“For the humans,” Eva corrected as she whisked the plate away. “Cute couple,” she said with a wink. “They’re going to share this one with two more glasses of champagne. They’re celebrating. Apparently, their Syndicate debt got written off. Weird, that seems to have been happening a lot lately. Oh well, not that I’m complaining.” As she left, Eva couldn’t help but glance over Sienna’s shoulder into the kitchen beyond, where a small army of very serious and rather dangerous looking white-haired men with glasses quietly chopped, severed, and filleted various carnivorous delights that ranged from Earth fish to curious looking off-planet species that she had never seen before in her life.

This food—prepared raw or cooked; spiced and flavored very simply—was rich in fat and protein. It wasn’t for the main dining room. Instead, it would be sent upstairs to the second floor, which had been converted into a general mess for the warriors of the Darkstar Mercenaries.

Unbeknownst to her, Ikriss had somehow managed to buy the entire freaking building and put the title in her name. Then he had set about modifying to the upper floors into a Kordolian fortress. The rooftop was now a landing pad for alien cruisers. The upper floors had been converted into a headquarters where various intelligence gathering and training activities were carried out.

All this had been done secretly and impossibly fast—in the space of two damn weeks.

Most humans would never know it, but The Whisk and Pin was now one of the most heavily fortified and guarded places on Earth.

And it was busy. Like crazy busy. After the shutdown, people had streamed back in, and strangely, she’d found that the rumors about Kordolian occupation had actually drawn a whole bunch of new customers—humans that were intrigued and fascinated with Kordolians in spite of their fearsome reputation.

There were always those types.

In the first week, Cleo, Emmett, Eva, and Sienna had struggled to keep up with the demand. At the end of each day, she’d been so exhausted she’d even turned down sex with Ikriss.

She’d turned away the sexiest creature in the Universe.

That was total insanity.

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