Page 51 of Shielded in the Shadows

Minutes later, we emerged with glasses of dark purple wine that smelled heavenly. I’d barely managed not to wheeze at the price listed for a single glass of this particular vintage. The merchant had the grace to pretend not to notice my reaction and instead smiled politely as Felina complimented the wine using terms known only to connoisseurs.

Once we left the shop, though, she immediately reverted to the language of the unrefined.

“It’s simply delicious, isn’t it?” she said, beaming as I sipped from my glass. “And quite strong! Have you eaten, Adelaide? No? Oh, then we must have a light snack as well while we find you the right clothes!”

Which was how I found myself in a private room in Felina’s favorite clothing store, eating hors d'oeuvres made by a chef at one of the nearby restaurants, browsing the shop’s inventory of human-friendly apparel, and listening to my new friend’s wild stories of her adventures traveling with Byx aboard his corsair vessel before they’d decided to make their permanent home here.

Despite how much I would have thought otherwise before we’d arrived at Trakhan, shopping with Felina was a thoroughly pleasant experience, as long as I didn’t dwell too much on the creeping realization that I’d never had a female friendship that was more than serving together as crewmates. I’d certainly never shopped for clothes while drinking wine and eating tiny plated foods. The fact I didn’t hate it was causing a mild existential crisis.

And of course Felina proved to have utterly impeccable taste. Once I’d made it clear the shop’s more unusual designs were not for me—including a dress made entirely out of iridescent pebbles and another outfit that consisted of hundreds of triangles of fabric tied together piece by piece directly onto the wearer—she helped me choose what she referred to a “lovely, classic piece” with shoes to match.

When I hesitated about purchasing jewelry, citing how rarely I wore it, she waved her front legs and insisted she had the perfect pieces in her own collection and I must borrow them. She also declared she would style my hair.

The shop’s owner, an effusive Ivarian who had ambulated in and out of our private room a half-dozen times, came in literally glowing when she heard I’d made my final choice and handed the dress over to one of the employees for some quick alterations.

“Wonderful! Wonderful!” the Ivarian exclaimed, her voice coming from somewhere within her blue gelatinous body. “I’m so pleased you found the perfect clothing for such a momentous occasion! You will devastate your mate with your beauty.”

Face warm from embarrassment or too much wine, I waved my hand. “Devastate might be overstating things.”

“Nonsense!” Her body rippled with excitement. “Mark my words: absolute devastation will occur.”

“Well, thank you,” I managed to say despite the strong urge to laugh. “Has my…has Garon been shopping too?”

“Oh, yes!” the shopkeeper said with a distinct note of aggravation in her tone. “He has just left Oparion’s shop with his own purchases. That contrary male will not tell me what Garon bought, but if Oparion has made it, surely it will be magnificent.”

“Oparion,” Felina gasped, her front hands clasped to her chest. All ten eyes wide, she turned to me. “Oh, Adelaide, your beloved wishes to look his very best for you indeed. I am so glad we found the perfect gown. Now we must go to my rooms and complete your ensemble!”

The situation had gone from strange to surreal to almost comical thanks to the shopkeeper’s assertions about absolute devastation, but knowing Jarrix was doing so much to create a perfect evening for us gave me a bubbly feeling in my stomach that had nothing to do with the wine or hors d'oeuvres.

I finished the last of my drink and set the glass on the tray next to my plush chair.

Shopping excursions with pink-furred best friends and a romantic rendezvous in a deep space outpost’s arboretum were not who I was or who I’d ever been. I’d been born in the dust, fought in the sand, and bled on dozens of worlds. The only devastation I’d ever wrought was with the weapons in my hands.

But maybe for just one day—just one evening—I could let go of all that, put on a lovely gown and borrowed jewelry, let a princess style my hair, and have dinner with a male who’d met a scrap from Ganai in a bar and promptly walked away from everything for the chance to be her weapon, her shield, and the kind of mate she needed him to be.

CHAPTER 13

JARRIX

At 2100 hours, I stood alone in Trakhan’s spectacular arboretum, awaiting the arrival of my mate.

Our meal, which I’d personally carried here from the outpost’s finest restaurant, was laid out on a small but elegant table Byx’s people had set up in a grassy area surrounded by brilliantly colored foliage. The only light came from floating orbs and bioluminescent plants and flowers. A clear dome offered an unobstructed view of the nebula and the stars beyond.

A glowstone walkway led through the foliage to a private viewing area next to the enormous windows overlooking the Nalin Nebula. There, I’d meticulously created a nest of the finest and softest materials Byx could source on such short notice.

Everything was perfect.

I was sweating.

My tail twitched nonstop. My horns tingled. And my cocks…my cocks were utterly unruly, and had been ever since the scent of Keela’s arousal had perfumed the air in Byx’s observation lounge.

Byx had reported Keela had purchased clothing and put herself completely in Felina’s hands to be pampered and dressed prior to dinner, but neither he nor Felina would reveal a single hint as to what I might expect to see when my mate arrived. In a way, it didn’t matter. I would be equally thrilled if she wore a flight suit, a grain sack, or the most couture clothing available on the outpost. I only wanted to see her. We’d been parted for hours after many days in each other’s close company. The necessary separation from my mate had felt interminable despite everything I’d needed to do to make this evening match my vision.

In the distance, through the thick foliage and at the other end of another illuminated walkway, the private lift that connected the habitat ring where Byx and Felina lived to the arboretum activated with a distinctive hum. My hearts sped up their rhythm and my cocks leapt.

Keela was almost here.

I glanced down at myself one last time. The clothing I’d chosen was a calculated gamble. It wasn’t what Tal Noku would have worn, certainly. Nothing about the outfit suited a GAIS operative either.