6. Shana

6

SHANA

M y clenched stomach heaves and along with it comes anger. I finally get ready to talk and I get interrupted? Now? Someone up there hates me.

"What?" I snap as I step to the side so I can see Dan on the other side of Kosh.

Kosh turns to face him too. Dan stops inside the door staring fixedly at Kosh, but not at his face, at his middle. I look over and a burning flush races across my face and chest. Kosh is hard. Really, really hard. His cock tents out his loose pants and there is no way to mistake that's what's happening.

"Hum-uh-huh-urgh," Dan stumbles over some kind of an attempt to say words.

His face is as beet red as I'm sure mine is. He trembles then blinks and forces himself to look away.

"What is it, Dan?" I ask, doing my best to fake the idea that nothing is going on here.

All is business as usual. Dan turns his entire body so that he's looking at me, but his eyes repeatedly dart over to Kosh's bulging cock.

"They, uh, Nyan—, uhm," he closes his eyes and takes a breath before continuing. "Nyanna is asking for us. She wants to tell everyone about the, uh, the problem."

"You have got to be kidding me? Does she want to start a panic?"

"That's what I said!"

"I do not understand," Kosh says.

"If she tells all the humans," I say, glancing over and noticing that his cock is drooping, thankfully, "it's likely to cause a panic."

"Panic?" he asks, frowning.

"Freak out, they'll riot, they'll go nuts," Dan says. "This place is barely more than a powder keg ready to blow!"

Kosh watches Dan with his hyperbole blinking rapidly and clearly not following along with the words. He isn't fluent in Common and Dan seems to be forgetting that.

"It will be bad," I say.

Kosh gives me a grateful look, and a half-smile, then he nods.

"Bad," he says.

"Bad!" Dan yells. "That's an understatement if I ever heard one. Horrific is more accurate."

"Dan, calm down," I say. "We'll handle it."

"Calm down, she says," he mutters tossing his hands around as if they might change the world if he only gestures sufficiently.

"I'm coming, we'll handle it," I say, moving towards the door.

Kosh places his hand on my shoulder, stopping me. I look at his hand on my shoulder, memorizing the tiny overlapping scales on the back of it. Their edges have a rich blue tint that I haven't seen before. I know that the tints of his scales shift with his moods, but I'm not sure what the colors mean or if that's something that all Zmaj do, or if it's unique to him.

"Talk?" he asks.

"Talk? Of course, we're going to talk, how else do you think we'll fix all this?" Dan interjects.

"Dan, give me a minute," I say.

"We don't ha?—"

"Dan, I need a minute, okay?" I ask, more firmly, leaving no doubt I mean it.

I hear Dan snap his mouth shut but I've only got eyes for Kosh.

"Fine," Dan grouses. "I'll… I'll be in the hall. Waiting."

The door opens and shuts. Kosh still has his hand on my shoulder while I stare up and up into his warm eyes.

"Kosh," I say.

"Talk? Important."

"I know," I say, placing a hand on his cheek. "It is. I know, but this… we have to do our duty first. Duty, you understand?"

"Yes," he says but it's a heavy sigh as he drops his shoulders. "Duty."

He takes a deep breath filling and expanding his chest, and he squares his shoulders. He nods sharply and then takes his hand off my shoulder and gestures for me to lead the way.

I'm sorry Kosh. I'll tell you soon. I think I'm ready. I hope, but duty first. We have to keep Nyanna from blowing the lid off.