Page 73 of Sublime Target
“No,” one of the mysterious men said. Now that Clarissa could study him close-up, she decided his features definitely weren’t human. He could pass as human from a distance, or if one weren’t looking too closely, but she knew what to look for. “Just know that no harm will come to you.”
“You’ve been watching me the entire time?”
The other man smiled enigmatically. “The boss sends his greetings.”
Then they were gone, a pair of wolves camouflaging themselves in the crowd. They slipped away surprisingly quickly, disappearing before the lifeguards arrived on their hover-carts to rescue the two unconscious men. There was a flurry of activity as the would-be attackers were hauled onto stretchers and whisked away, monitoring nodes applied to their necks, oxygen masks placed over their faces.
Clarissa was pretty sure they were just unconscious, but still…
The disguised Kordolians must’ve hit them with something more than just punches.
Some sort of sedative, maybe?
Bea raised an eyebrow. “I still think we should get out of here before someone thinks we’re somehow involved with all this.”
“Agreed. Let’s go up to Freshwater Beach. Hopefully, it’ll be a little quieter there.” Clarissa wasn’t about to let this incident ruin her precious time off.
And Bea wasn’t involved with this, but she was.
All this time, Jerik’s people had been watching her, and she hadn’t even noticed.
Was she under constant surveillance now?
As she pressed the button that made her little umbrella retract into a compact stick, Clarissa sighed.
Being away from everything was nice and all, but she was going to have to pay the man a visit sometime soon.
She missed his gruff presence and his deep, growly voice. The way he smiled indulgently when she was annoyed with him. His unending patience and the fierce decisiveness he displayed when dealing with enemies and nuisances alike.
His kiss. Was. So. Good.
“Earth to Clarissa,” Bea said, her voice a distant second to Clarissa’s heated thoughts. “Come on, girl. Whatever you’re thinking about can wait. Let’s get out of here.
“Sure thing.”
And so it was decided.
She was going to this damn Cultural Event after all, wasn’t she?
Now, she just had to figure out what to wear.
As payback for all the shocks he’d given her, she wanted to make sure he was absolutely floored.
TWENTY-SIX
He was in agony.
What in the Nine Hells did I sign up for?
Jerik had tried everything to suppress the Mating Fever—injections, intense sparring sessions—even with some of the First Division guys, who always won, but he’d managed to give them a headache—a swim in the icy waters near the southern pole of the Earth, sedatives to knock himself out so he would just sleep it off…
Some of it worked for a short time, but the effects quickly wore off, and he found himself in the same predicament: aching horn-buds, headache that felt like an ice-pick was stabbing through his temple, irrational rage welling up at even the slightest infraction.
He’d asked Tarak to remove him from command for the time being. He wasn’t rational right now; definitely not in the right mind to be making decisions or giving orders.
And everyone knew to stay out of his way.
He must be a sucker for punishment.