Read Ride the Stars/once Bitten for Free Online Page B

and hungry. But did he want to interfere?
    The memory of her hurt rushed him, and he slid out of the booth. Belsi had already cleared the way, joining her sister on her side.
    Degoth looked at him inquiringly as Domino neared his table. Bali ignored him.
    Domino nodded to Degoth and addressed Bali. "My party would like to meet you."
    She smiled cynically and refused to look at him. "Your party is large enough. I’ve no interest in joining whatever activities you have planned for the evening."
    A muscle jumped in Domino’s jaw as he drew in a slow breath. "You misunderstand the nature of our engagement."
    That won him a cold look. "I don’t approve of casual flirtation," she said as primly as if she were not engaged in that very thing.
    Degoth looked between them, his expression leery. "You two have an understanding?"
    "No."
    "Yes," Domino countered, staring down her angry shock. "We had a misunderstanding, and now she’s punishing me. And since she’s not the kind of woman to engage in a casual flirtation...." He left it hanging, grimly satisfied by her mute outrage.
    Degoth regarded him, then her with a long stare. He inclined his head. "Good evening, then."
    Mortified at the clear dismissal, Bali turned her face away and slid out of her chair. She still refused to look at Domino.
    He took her arm.
    She snatched it back and hissed, "Have you no sense of privacy? What is he, your brother?"
    His own temper at a simmer, Domino reclaimed her arm, steered her past his booth and into his private office, which was next to it. The noise level dropped to nothing the moment he closed the door. That was good--they needed a moment to yell at each other. He let her go and retorted, "No, but I was not about to get into a fight over you. That was a brainless move, woman."
    Slits of blue fire glared back at him. "We do not ‘have an understanding,’ Drac. I can talk to whomever I want."
    "Not when your motive is revenge." He took a step toward her and regretted it. Instantly wary, she moved back. Changing tactics, he held his ground. "Those women out there--"
    "Are no concern of mine!" she spat out so quickly that she nearly tripped over her tongue.
    "They’re my sisters." He winced. Draconian protocol frowned on mentioning family ties to outsiders, but under the circumstances....
    Bali crossed her arms and looked at her toes. After a long moment, she said lightly. "Oh." There was an awkward pause.
    He let it drag. Sometimes there was nothing as telling as silence. Jealousy and chagrin over it was stamped in every line of her body. It was so expressive, it was almost as good as reading her mind. She cared and didn’t want to. The effort to deny it was costing her. She cleared her throat, but didn’t speak.
    Anything she might venture on the subject would be very revealing.
    Domino held his ground, refusing to help her out. An apology from her would acknowledge that she owed him some emotional allegiance. Interesting possibility, and not one he was sure he wanted to address yet. Argument he’d interpret as guilt.
    She chose evasion. "I promised Icki I’d call tonight. If I wait much longer, he’ll worry."
    Oh, that was lame. By the way she grimaced, she knew it, too. Domino snorted. "Bali?"
    Reluctantly, she looked at him. "Yes?"
    He couldn’t help a half-smile for her sheepish look. "Come meet my sisters."
    Bali exhaled noisily, "Domino, about this thing with us--"
    He held up a hand. "Not tonight." She opened her mouth, but he cut her off. "We don’t know enough about ‘us’ to make any decisions. I’d rather wait."
    "I can’t do that." She chewed the inside of her cheek, then worried her lips. Quickly, as if she’d never get it out before she lost her courage, she said, "Sirocco pretended he was normal. I fell for his tricks and he used me to break into my private labs. He didn’t find the cure he was looking for, and when I figured out what he’d done and confronted him...." She took a ragged breath. "He unleashed,