Page 130 of Untamed Hunger

“Secondly,” Shay continued, “this is a baby’s birthday party. We’renotbreaking out the booze.”

Thargen’s jaw fell, and he threw up his hands. “What is this, a damned nursery now? First the azhera—who has knives for fingers—says no knife for the kid, now you say nothing to drink?”

“Weallknow how you get with booze,” Sekk’thi said.

Thargen jabbed a finger at her. “I getfun.”

“The sort offunyou mean isn’t appropriate with a youngling underfoot,” Arcanthus drawled, curling his tail around Samantha’s leg. “If you’d like, I’m sure Samantha would be up for some Conquerors andguroshlater.”

“Um…no,” Samantha said, patting Arc’s chest affectionately. “I’m pregnant. No drinking for me.”

Thargen turned back to his cake, picked up the remnants with his hand—it was at least half of a big slice—and shoved it into his mouth, smearing frosting on his lips. He chewed noisily as he stood up, licking pink frosting from his fingers, and said, “Been a while since—mmm—I went out. Damn, this is good…I’m gonna—mmm—go get a drink.”

“Take it easy out there,” Urgand said, frowning.

Thargen waved a hand dismissively before crouching in front of Leah. He patted her head—thankfullynotwith the hand he’d just been licking—and smiled. “Keep everyone out of trouble, kid. They’re bigger babies than you are.”

Leah beamed up at him with a giggle.

Thargen’s eyes softened, and his grin widened. “Yeah, you know it. I’ll, uh…find you amore suitablepresent, I guess. See ya later.”

“That does not mean a blaster, Thargen,” Sekk’thi called after him as he exited the room.

His deep, booming laughter sounded from the hallway just before the door closed.

Drakkal’s arms slid around Shay from behind, and he pulled her against him, lowering his chin to rest atop her head. She settled her arms over his and smiled. She never tired of this, any of it—the closeness, the companionship, thelove. It was all here, in this room…

But it was the closeness, companionship, and love from Drakkal she enjoyed most of all.

Kiloq gathered all the ripped wrapping paper into a pile. Leah stood up from Razi’s lap—with a bit of help from him—and dove into the paper with a high-pitched laugh.

Shay glanced at Samantha and Arc, who were now cuddled on one of the sofas, speaking softly to one another with their love plain on their faces. There was awe in Arc’s eyes as he again covered Sam’s belly with his hand.

Over the last several months, Arcanthus and Drakkal had been working to steer their business away from illegal activities. Shay wondered if that process would speed up now that Sam was expecting. They’d already become even more selective in accepting clients than before, and they’d even helped a few of the former prisoners from Murgen’s zoo with ID chips free of charge.

Most of the animals and intelligent beings there had been left to the Eternal Guard’s care; the Consortium had programs to help victims of kidnapping and enslavement that extended even to species not yet integrated on Arthos, but a few of those prisoners had wanted to leave with Drakkal, Shay, and the others. Arcanthus and Drakkal had worked to get those individuals established, to help them acclimate to life on an alien world—a world of technology far surpassing anything some of them had ever seen on their homeworlds.

Fortunately, no one had started a crusade to find Murgen’s killers and bring them to justice after it had all gone public—none of the other wealthy elite wanted to risk calling attention to themselves by speaking out, lest their own dirty secrets come to light. Not that they would’ve found much anyway. Arcanthus had brought in cleaners within an hour of Murgen’s death; they’d removed all the physical evidence while Arcanthus wiped the computer records and surveillance recordings, effectively making it like none of them had ever been there, including Shay and Drakkal.

Just like it was difficult to believe Leah had been born a year ago, it didn’t seem like months had passed since the incident at Murgen’s. Those experiences had helped Shay finally understand what her father had meant when he’d said those life and death situations never really faded from your mind. They stuck with you forever; you just had to learn how to live with them.

But here, now, surrounded by her friends—her family—she could look back and be grateful for all of it. Those hardships had led tothis.

As if sensing her thoughts, Drakkal slid his hand down to Shay’s belly, covering it possessively, and pulled her against his body just a little more firmly. Heat stirred in her core.

He moved his face to the side of her head and brushed his lips over the shell of her ear. “I’ve got you,kiraia. Always.”

Shay smiled and raised a hand, sliding her fingers into his mane as she turned her face toward him. Her lips grazed his. “I know you do.” She turned fully in his embrace and looped her arms around his neck. Their eyes locked. Those familiar fires burned in his gaze; their effect on her had only seemed to strengthen as time passed. Her heart fluttered and her breath quickened.

“Kraasz ka’val, Shay, Iloveyou,” he said in a low rumble that vibrated into her before he cupped her backside and slanted his mouth over hers in a hungry, scalding, breathtaking kiss.