“If the Nirzks are really the Drakes’ nemesis, why are they delivering these three to them?” I wondered aloud.
Yani shook her head. “I’ve no idea. The two species hate each other. The virus that decimated the Drake females was reputed to be a Nirzk weapon. They’ve been enemies for generations.”
“It was a virus that decimated the Drake females?” My eyes widened.
Her mouth straightened. “It happened a generation ago. They have very few of them left.”
“So why are Drakes taking their own to the Nirzks?”
Yani tugged her sweater a little closer around her. “Much like the Drakes, the Nirzks conquer worlds whose resources might be useful to them. Only they enslave the populations they oversee. Humans might think they got a raw deal with the Earth occupation, but compared to what the Nirzks do, it is nothing.” She sighed. “I do, however, have to wonder just how “official” this trip is, considering they are using us to transport them.”
I saw her point. If this was clan sanctioned, why wouldn’t they be using their own modern, sleek vessels for this project?
But if there was something underhanded going on—I traded looks with her. “They may not want witnesses to this.”
Her grim expression revealed that she was thinking along the same lines. “They don’t know we know what they are shipping, but we will know where they took it.”
“They didn’t give us the destination until we were in orbit.” I bit my lip.
“Exactly. They were reducing any possibility of that information getting out.” She sighed. “I think jumping ship in Givnia just became a survival strategy for an entirely different reason.”
I swallowed. We’d be hours in slipstream transit. And from where it spat us out, we were still a long flight from Givnia.
“We have some time to figure it out.” Yani’s voice remained calm, but her tail curled around her legs, something that indicated how nervous about this she really was.
I looked down at the pics. “Who are these guys?” It was almost a wail from my very soul. “They are Raptors, but why go to all this trouble to give them to the Nirzks?”
Yani shot me a look as she pulled one of the photos over to examine. “Look at the similarities in their features. Raptor Clan is knownfor having triplets—I’m betting they are brothers. Those ties remain strong into adulthood.”
Brothers. My heart twisted.
Yani pulled her hat a little lower over her ears and sighed. “I’d better get Sookie fed. I’ll be back after I’ve run the pre-slipstream check.”
After she left, I took the listening device out of its piano music jail and set it on the table. I’d let it listen to me breathe for a bit.
And maybe fart, if I could manage it.
As I lay back down on the bed, I realized I wasn’t quite as dizzy. I didn’t know whether I was recovering from the serum, or if the conundrum was helping to clear my head. Either way, being able to finally think was welcome.
If not exactly useful.
Yani had left me her datapad, and I thumbed through the images. My gut twisted into a painful knot. It might be the same Drakes, but they’d gone through a lot since that meeting in the alley. No Birkenstocks now. They’d been stripped naked, and all three were bruised and bloody. The big Birkenstock guy had so many tatts that there was almost no bare skin showing, but great gashes had been torn straight through the art.
Yani had said the parallel slashes were dragon talon marks. They were everywhere. Even though the Drakes were a mess, there was no disguising that there was a whole lot of gorgeous male hanging in that cage. I hadn’t realized how similar to human they were in certain physical aspects—only—holy wowsers! Did those really fit… my mind staggered, as much appalled as fascinated.
Rather too fascinated.
I blushed, feeling voyeuristic. Every time I ripped my eyes away, they gravitated right back again.
Despite differences in their hair color, their handsome features were remarkably alike. Brothers, Yani had said.
Threebrothers.
My heart was doing odd gymnastics as I peered closer. They’dbeen hung up like animals awaiting the slaughter. The images contorted something deep inside me. Why was I so bothered by chained Drakes hanging in a cage? I didn’t know them. Didn’t want to. They were Drakes, and they’d shot a tracker into my butt.
Despite my resolve, their state did bother me. A lot.
I wanted to do something about it.
