“How would you feel if I was naked?” The words popped out before I’d at all considered them, and my face immediately heated.
Yani almost dropped the cloth, but Rhodes merely said, “Are you offering?”
“Definitely not.”
“Then we will never know.”
His dark eyes gleamed a deep garnet, and my breath caught. Buthe didn’t mesmerize me, so Zyair must have been speaking the truth about them being able to control it.
Rhodes was so much more than handsome. Every cell of him screamed arrogance, yet unlike the Taziers, it only added to his mystique.
Mystique? What the hell was wrong with me?
Then Yani poked the wound, and I flinched. The injection was working, and she was being gentle, but the talons had sunk deep into the muscle. Washinghurt.
I gritted my teeth as I set out to establish Drakonian boundaries. “The only remaining bad guy is in chains,” I pointed out to Rhodes. “I am sure I am quite safe.” Although my damned voice betrayed me by vibrating, ever so slightly.
“The moment we drop out of slipstream, we will be in Nirzk territory,” Rhodes stated. “I am certain that Brentoq will send a reception committee. So no, we are quitenotsafe.”
Right. My pulse accelerated again. “This manticore wants you pretty badly.”
“Brentoq had Zyair once. He was lucky to survive.”
I wasn’t sure how many more of these adrenaline rushes I could tolerate. He seemed to sense my conundrum. A muscle jumped in his jaw. “I am confident we will avoid capture this time. Zyair is an excellent pilot.”
I raised my chin and spoke through clenched teeth. “So am I. And I know this ship better than anyone.”
His dark eyes flared again. Very unsettling. “You lack the required combat experience.”
“Do I need combat experience to outmaneuver a bunch of fucking Nirzks?” I asked. And did it ever feel good to use the wordfuckagain.
Xandros reappeared in the entrance in time to answer me. “Nirzks do fly like—” he used a word I didn’t know.
I stared at him. He was much cleaner after what had to be a record-setting fast sonic shower, although now you could see everycut he’d sustained. But I was distracted by how he’d squeezed his lower half into a pair of human coveralls—kind of. They were no doubt the largest size available, and the fabric stretched, but the pants strained to contain him. He winced as he swayed from one foot to the other. Then he reached down to yank hard at the crotch.
The upper half hung from his waist—there was no containing that torso, or the wings that now arched over him, in anything designed for humans. Even marred with half-healed scars—these guys healedfast—the artwork stretching across his skin was impressive.
Wings? I glanced to Zyair, to see that his also had been freed from the metal mesh. As had the long, narrow tail that poked through the butt of the coveralls—he’d sliced a hole for it. It was then I realized that the manacles were gone, too.
He waved a metal key at Rhodes. “Raided Senaik’s quarters. Turn around.”
Rhodes did so, and a moment later sighed in relief as the metal slid to the ground with a clang, and he moved into the hall so he could stretch his own wings. His tail whipped back and forth. Then Zyair used the same key to remove the heavy metal manacles as well.
“The Nirzks will be waiting at the slipstream portal,” Rhodes stated calmly, taking the coveralls Zyair handed him. He cut the hole for his tail. As he turned away to don them, I saw the incredible flying dragon tattooed across his back, extending up between his wings.
“Maybe Brentoq will be content to wait for us to be delivered to Givnia.” Zyair had the least ink of all three brothers, and his pants were only a bit better off than Xandros’s. He’d torn the sleeves and most of the back off the top half. Doing the coveralls up beyond his abs was a lost cause. And judging by the occasional grimace and readjustment, he didn’t seem any more comfortable in them than Xandros.
With all that muscular real estate remaining exposed, I struggled to keep my brain operational. It would have been helpful to know where Senaik had planned to meet this Brentoq guy, but we weren’t likely to get that information from the Tazier. And communicationswere disabled while we were in slipstream. There was no way to contact anyone until we were spat out at the other end.
So, there was no way to call for assistance, either.
Zyair helped rip the back off the coveralls destined for Rhodes. The auburn-haired Drake’s slim form fit them better than the other two, but even he didn’t do the zipper all the way up.
These were damned big guys. In every respect.Woah.
Drakes. They wereDrakes. I would do well to remember that. My freedom meant that I needed to get away from them.
When theStardriftercame out of slipstream, we’d be in Nirzk territory. And if Yani and I wanted to be free, we’d have to find a way to escape.
