His brows dropped, just a little, shadowing his most remarkablefeature—those eyes. They mesmerized me—such a pure, intense color. As I met his scrutiny, he inhaled again, harder and longer, and the pupils shrank to vertical slits, before they expanded, almost swallowing the green.
Gorgeous Drake eyes.
Where did that thought come from? My self-preservation instincts insisted that they possessed the piercing regard of a predator.The enemy, Jaz. They are the enemy. The very ones you want to run from…
At some point, my dazed and dim-witted self backed rather uselessly against the rusty bin, where I stood trapped with my heart thundering in my ears. I didn’t recognize the rampant tattoo that ran from one corner of his eye and along the top of his cheekbone. An alien bird of prey, and it wasn’t the tribal tatt of the Taziers, resident overlords of this human city.
The Drake to his right also lowered his hood. Still compelled, I couldn’t look away from Lion guy, but I was struck by the impression of russet hair and a face with distinct similarities to the first. Somewhat more rugged, and less sculpted.
His voice rumbled when he pointed to my eartag. “That not official.”
The words sent a pulse of terror straight through me. No. No, it wasn’t. All females were supposed to be eartagged when they reached their 21st birthday. I was two months beyond it and had so far escaped the procedure. Even my brother hadn’t realized that the metal encasing my ear was put there by me, not by the Drolgok regulators.
But these guysknew. How? The fake metal eartag had cost me an arm and a leg.
I needed to get out of here.
Still locked in the emerald stare, I was desperate for a distraction. Arms. I could move them—I pulled the fruit from my cloak pocket and tossed it roughly in Grizzly’s direction
“Carrot?” I asked.
I’d hoped for him to have to bend for it, and even better, for green eyes to look away from me, giving me a possible moment to escape. But his long arm shot out to snatch the fruit from the air. His eyes lit right up—and out of the corner of mine, I caught a glimpse of sapphire blue.
He then proved that he had at least a rudimentary knowledge of Earthling produce by commenting in English, “Banana, admirable.”
He peeled it and popped the whole thing in his mouth. Great. I’d fed him. Did that mean he and his friend would let me go?
Smacking noisily, Grizzly leaned closer to Lion, and muttered, “Rhodes—he will be displeased.” Spoken in their native tongue, but this time I understood him. It was almost as though he were worried about something—but what could a Drake possibly be concerned about?
The incredible green eyes on his companion narrowed. Then he glanced toward the speaker?—
His hold on me broke, so I rolled around the corner of the garbage bin and bolted. Straight up the alley, into the darkness, and toward gang territory.
But my traitorous boot caught on an errant bit of debris, and pitched me into more of it. My cloak flared upward, carrying my fake tail with it, and exposing my legging-wrapped ass cheek for just an instant…
Something slammed into it, the merest kiss of piercing pain. I scrambled to my feet, skidded around the corner, and ran for all I was worth.
A mile of twisted alleys later, I stopped. Slid my fingers down my butt and felt a hole in my leggings.
My fingers came away dotted with blood…
2
Jaz
I used the alleys to twist and turn behind the crumbling stone buildings.
Breathing heavily as I ran, mist venting from between my lips, I pushed myself to keep going. I didn’t dare slow down until I regained the street three blocks from where the Drakes had tagged me. There was no sign of them, but as long as this thing was in my butt, they could find me.
My pulse pounded. My panic was about so much more than escaping—my reaction to them had alarmed the hell out of me. What was up with that?
I pushed the worry deep and cursed my stupid luck. Leaving the family compound was a risk I embraced despite my brother’s wishes—be damned if I was going to let him dictate my life. Fortunately, he seldom paid me much heed because he was so busy ingratiating himself with the Drakes.
I was surprised he didn’t offer them blowjobs.
On second thought, maybe he did.
My brother—he was only a half-brother, a fact that I often found reassuring—seemed to have learned slightly different life lessonsfrom what our father had taught me. I supposed that survival of the fittest took on many faces.
