Kraving Dravka by Zoey Draven

Chapter Seventeen

45341.

Valerie repeated the numbers in her mind, numbers she’d memorized the moment Eve Tesler had told her them.

Winding through the Downtown District, she dodged a group of businessmen on their lunch break. A couple of their heads turned to regard her, one even smiling. But Valerie paid them no mind, continuing on her way on the busy street.

Driverless cars slid past in endless lines. Shouting and boisterous laughter from the seemingly hundreds of people on the streets at that time made her feel antsy and jittery. Her heart was pounding, short gasps escaping her.

She hated this part of town.

45341.

It was the patch number for Eve Tesler’s friend on Dumera. A male named Gorkan, who had helped Eve and Khiva get off Everton. He was the one who had helped find them a home there.

However, universal patch numbers could only be accessed through the main Coms building in the Downtown District.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the towering building to her left called The Plaza. Luxury homes and flats. Madame Allegria owned the top floor of it. Valerie had never seen it in person, but she’d seen pictures of it in an article spread, run by a magazine that highlighted ‘luxury living’ throughout the New Earth colonies.

So, Valerie knew that it was a large penthouse, with glass windows on all sides, spanning over three floors. It had five bedrooms and six bathrooms—though Valerie didn’t know why anyone would need that many. It boasted a heated pool, the largest closet in existence on all of Everton, and it was staffed by two personal butlers.

Valerie’s lips pressed together as she eyed the top of the building. It made her sick, knowing that some of the credits Madame Allegria had stolen from the Keriv’i males had helped pay for it—credits that were rightfully theirs.

She had a similar home on Genesis too.

Valerie rubbed the back of her shoulder through the thin, plain top she wore. She’d chosen this hour to sneak to the Coms building because she knew that every afternoon, Madame Allegria had lunch with her socialite friends. Every afternoon, without fail. She wouldn’t even think to track Valerie’s whereabouts, or at least she hoped she would be too preoccupied to.

Regardless, it was a risk she would take.

The Coms building loomed overhead and Valerie hurried towards it, feeling a warm breeze brush over her bare arms, just another reminder that summer was approaching fast.

Once she stepped inside the Coms building, however, Valerie wished she’d dressed in something thicker and warmer. It was freezing inside, no doubt to keep the expensive equipment and wiring cool.

There was a receptionist at the greeting desk and Valerie got in line, waiting for her turn. Overhead, there was a projection of a looped commercial for Bell Tech—the company that owned and ran and oversaw all the Coms.

When it was her turn, the girl behind the front desk greeted her.

“I need to make a universal call,” she told the girl, whose name plate read ‘Sienna.’

“To which Quadrant?” Sienna asked, typing on her Nu device, not looking up.

“The Second, I believe,” Valerie replied.

“Calls to the Second Quadrant will be 50 credits each,” Sienna informed her, finally looking up. “Or would you like to rent the box per hour? If you do, then the calls are free and unlimited.”

Of course. Because universal patch numbers were dodgy and unpredictable at best. And the call would only go through if Gorkan happened to be at his patch line at that very moment and saw the signal coming through.

“How much to rent?” she asked, smoothing her fingers over the loaded credit card in her pocket. From the account she’d set up for the Keriv’i. Half the credits from the townhome had already come in.

“150 credits per hour.”

She sighed. The newly acquired credits were all she could use. Madame Allegria didn’t pay her. At all. Her ‘Krave’ got one credit per night, but Valerie didn’t have any money of her own.

“I’ll rent then,” she said, sliding her credit card over the scanner.

“Great,” Sienna chirped, though she didn’t smile. “Box 245. You can take the lift to the second floor.”

Valerie nodded, taking the key that Sienna slid over the desk, and then turned towards the hallway of elevators.

She took the lift up one floor, following the glowing placards on the walls to her assigned box for the afternoon. When she found the correct room, she slid her key inside and then stepped in.

Boxwas right. It was tiny and narrow. A basic Coms unit was set up at a small table, a single chair next to it. A fake plant was in the corner, limp and faded. A fan palm was what she believed it was called.

There were instructions for how to use the unit, ones Valerie read carefully. Then she smoothed her sweating palms down her thighs and dialed the patch number, using the correct prefix code for the Second Quadrant.

X94X567-45341.

She held the receiver to her ear, waiting for the line to signal that it had connected.

Her breath hitched when she heard the computerized chirping sound, to indicate it had located the patch…but then a moment later, it dropped.

Great.

Valerie blew out a breath, charging the receiver back up and inputting the patch number again.

Again, it chirped a few times…then dropped.

It was going to be a long afternoon, she knew.

* * *

An hour dragged by,given the timed clock on the door, which had activated the moment it had been unlocked. Valerie had tried the patch number over fifty times in that hour with no luck, a little under a call a minute.

And as the time dragged, her mind began to wander. She’d long memorized the full patch code and she dialed it on autopilot, all while she thought of Dravka.

That morning, she’d woken in his arms. It had been just before dawn and he’d still been asleep.

Valerie had been very careful not to move a single inch in his arms, wanting to prolong the sensation until she couldn’t any longer. Her head had been using his forearm as a pillow. Their thighs had been entangled with one another, his still-erect cock had been pressing low on her exposed belly.

His scent had been all around her as she remembered the night before—as she remembered his promise to her, that he would take care of her, that she didn’t need to worry anymore.

And wouldn’t that be wonderful? He’d sounded so sure, so certain and determined, that a part of Valerie had begun to believe him.

It had felt so right, lying in his arms that peaceful, quiet morning, watching his eyes flicker behind his lids in sleep. Valerie wondered if Dravka had watched her during the night as she slept, since she knew Keriv’i didn’t need as much as humans did. So, when had he fallen asleep?

It had felt intimate and warm and wonderful.

And it had needed to come to an end all too soon.

Valerie rubbed at her tired eyes, recharging the receiver as she typed in the patch number for seemingly the hundredth time. She’d somehow managed to sneak out of Dravka’s arms without waking him. Quietly, she’d snuck a fresh tunic from his drawers, dressed, and left his room in the early hours of morning. Waking up with him, seeing his beautiful eyes lit by sunlight, would’ve been too painful.

Last night had been a series of highs and lows for her, starting with the dinner at the Larchmonts. Despite sleeping a good portion of the night, Valerie was exhausted—but she needed to do this.

She was still so lost in thought in that second hour that she didn’t realize when the chirping of the patch connection went on a little longer than usual.

And she almost hung up the receiver unconsciously.

Except a crackling, husky sound—a word, in another language, she realized—came over the line.

A gasp tumbled from her lips and she straightened in her chair, her back aching in protest.

“Hello?” Valerie asked, her voice sounding breathless. “Hello, is someone there?”

A pause. A static-filled pause.

“Who is this?” came that same voice, except this time it was in the universal tongue.

“I’m—I’m Valerie. I’m a friend of Eve Tesler. And Khiva,” she said quickly, fearing that the connection would drop. “Is this—are you Gorkan?”

“Yes, I am Gorkan,” came the staticky voice. “You know Eve?”

“Yes,” she said excitedly. “She gave me your patch number before she left Everton. I’m trying to get in touch with her. Do you know how I can reach her?”

Her heart was pounding in her breast and she laid a palm over it.

A long pause came and then the voice said, “You are in luck. She happens to be right next to me.”

Valerie’s breath hitched.

Then she heard a familiar, shocked voice come over the line.

“Valerie? Oh my god, is that really you?”

Eve.