Dragon in the Dark (Kindred Tales)

“Only to help with the pleasure poisoning,” she protested. “Not for any other reason. I mean, I barely know you.”

“Well, we’re about to get to know each other a lot better on this mission, cherished wife,” Dra’vik growled. “So you’d better get used to it.”

Iyanna’s lovely dark eyes opened wide.

“We’re not getting to know each other that way though—we’re just pretending to be married.”

“Yeah, well—who knows what the Lix’dorians expect a male and his mate to do together,” Dra’vik told her. “The point is, you’re going to have to give me permission to touch you at least in a general way—like picking you up if I need to—or they’re going to suspect we’re not really together.”

She seemed to ponder this for a moment. Finally, she nodded—though somewhat reluctantly, Dra’vik thought.

“All right, deal. But you have to try and warn me first, especially if you’re going to pick me up. I know little bitty girls might like that kind of thing but I’m considered pretty big and tall for a woman back on Earth and I’m definitely not used to it.”

“Agreed.” Dra’vik nodded as he finished tightening the straps of her harness. “And now we really do have to get going—we’ll be lucky if we don’t miss the shuttle.”

He went around to the pilot’s side of his ship and swung himself in with practiced ease. Damn it, now they were even later than they had been and all because he couldn’t seem to stop talking with the sassy little Elite! What was it about her that got under his scales so much?

Dra’vik wished he knew but there was no time to analyze the situation now. If they didn’t hurry, they really would miss the shuttle and that was the last thing he needed.

TWENTY

“I’m so sorry, Sir, but we have only one seat left—I fear that you and your cherished wife will have to share it. Or you could always wait for the next shuttle.”

The Sythian flight attendant had bright yellow skin and three separate eyes that hovered on flexible stalks which grew out of the top of her head. The eyes bobbed nervously as she spoke, smoothing her bright purple uniform down with all three of her hands.

Clearly she didn’t like giving customers bad news—especially ones as big as Dra’vik, Iyanna thought. Not that she blamed the poor woman—the big Drake’s face was like a thundercloud as he absorbed the news.

“What? But I was told that two seats had been reserved for us,” he growled, looking extremely unhappy.

“Yes, but as you did not arrive one solar hour prior to our departure time, we sold one of your seats to another gentleman who had requested passage and was on our waitlist,” the flight attendant explained. “However,” she added brightly, before Dra’vik could protest. “The seat I can offer you is in our Premium compartment. It’s extra large and right at the front of the shuttle. In addition, you’ll only have one neighbor who will be located all the way across the aisle from you. It will be like having the entire shuttle to yourself and you’ll have the best view imaginable!”

It all sounded really nice, but Iyanna still wasn’t sure about sharing a seat with the big Drake. Despite her attempts at small talk, he had remained mostly stubbornly silent during their journey to the moon the shuttle took off from.

He had told her what to expect when they folded space, which was nice. It had been an interesting experience to say the least, but the way he was acting made it clear to Iyanna that Dra’vik did not want to be on this mission with her.

If only he would stop brooding and being such a damn grumpy-ass, she wouldn’t have minded sharing a seat, even if she would be somewhat squished, sitting beside him. But it was going to be an awkward flight, being crushed against each other for three hours if he didn’t let go of his dark mood.

Dra’vik didn’t seem to want to share a seat either because he asked,

“When does the next shuttle run?”

“In three days time,” the attendant said promptly.

“That’s no damn good!” Dra’vik growled. “The Lix’dorian Minister of Botany will be waiting to meet us in the spaceport! We can’t keep him waiting for three days!”

“Then I guess we’d better suck it up and share a seat,” Iyanna said, frowning up at him. She was tired of the big Kindred’s primadonna routine—the shuttle was about to leave and they needed to be on it. “We’ll take it,” she said to the flight attendant, who was staring at her, all three eyes wide in apparent amazement.

Instead of answering, the attendant turned back to Dra’vik.

“Sir?” she asked uncertainly. “Is this correct? You will take the seat? You allow your wife to speak for you when making final decisions?”

“Yes, damn it, I do,” Dra’vik growled, shooting Iyanna a warning look from the corner of his eye. “We’ll take the seat.”