Page 92 of Owned By Two

“Blor, let’s go,” Uhti said.

I ground my teeth.

Didn’t he even have the sense to use a codename?

I descended the steps and entered the apartment.

I was shocked to see it wasn’t really a basement apartment at all and was merely the ground floor of the entire building!

A pair of soldiers were there to pat us down.

I knew they were ex-military by the way they moved — quick, efficient, and nodded when they saw we had no weapons.

Then they motioned toward an open doorway at the far end of the large open space.

Before we got to it, a large figure stepped from it and, arms held out wide, welcomed Uhti.

His snake-like dreads leaned forward and pecked Uhti on the cheek.

“Uhti!” he said. “Finally, we meet in person!”

“It’s been too long,” Uhti said. “But you know, it’s been very busy for us recently…”

Qeyel cupped his hands in front of himself and nodded sadly.

His snake dreads must have been plugged into the same emotion center as his brain as they nodded too.

“Yes, we were very sad when we learned of James’s passing. We sent Earth flowers. I believe that is the custom of humans?”

“Yes,” Uhti said. “We saw them. They were much appreciated.”

Then Qeyel’s attention shifted to me. “And who is this?”

He reached out an arm to greet me in the traditional Elkik way, and I, hesitatingly, took it and gripped his forearm in turn.

He squeezed my arm tight and I felt him checking my strength, just as I did with him.

There was no doubt to either of us that I could tear him apart if I wished… but that wasn’t really the source of his strength, but in the twin guards he kept close by.

Already, I had checked them out and could see they were armed to the teeth —literally.

Their front incisors, although not as sharp and deadly as my natural fangs, had been removed and replaced with capsules that would break the skin and inject poison into their victims.

Arranged around the rest of their body were military-grade blaster pistols in addition to the large plasma rifles they held slung over their shoulders on a strap.

Their movements were a little slower than they should have been, which led me to believe at least part of their arms and legs had been upgraded with tech.

In short, they were not dudes you wanted to fuck with.

In the old days, before cyborg alterations or “upgrades” as they liked to call them, there would have been dozens of guards dotted throughout the property, but with these kinds of powerful mercs for hire, I doubted there were more than these two on duty.

I hoped everything went well as I wasn’t sure I could take even one of them, never mind both if things went south.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Qeyel said to me.

I nodded back and smiled politely but didn’t say anything — I was liable to offend him or say something wrong.

In fact, even saying nothing could insult those with the most sensitive emotions.

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