Until he noticed where his friend’s attention was centered.
“Rue?” he said, calling her name where she was still somewhat hovering behind his back. “I’m going to take Lucy back to our quarters. Do you mind if I have Matrix walk you back to yours?”
“Who? What?” she asked quickly, blinking as if just now noticing they weren’t alone in the room. “Which one of these guys is Matrix?”
Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to the woman where she was looking at everyone but the man in question.
“M-me,” Matrix said gruffly before clearing his throat and stepping forward with a purpose. “Me. I’m Warlord Matrix.”
Stepping forward like the bold female Sparx had recently figured her to be, she thrust out one hand. “Veruca Salazar. Nice to meet ya.”
“Sparx called you Rue.” Matrix picked up her hand in his own and turned it over. While everyone was watching, he kissed the back of her wrist, the pulse there hammering before their eyes.
“I know him,” Rue pointed out saucily, cocking her hip. “I do not know you from Adam.”
“Who’s Adam?” Matrix asked with a frown, the scar wrinkling at the expression.
“I don’t know.” Rue shrugged with a teasing grin. “Didn’t I just say I don’t know him?”
Matrix stared at her with an expression of utter confusion, while Sparx laughed on the inside. He knew exactly what Matrix was thinking and feeling. Looking down at where Lucy was still snuggled against his chest, he let out a satisfied sigh. It may be a bit confusing, especially for someone as tough to break through to as Matrix, but he’d find out how it was worth it in the end.
“Don’t worry about me though, I can find my own way back.” Rue walked towards the door she’d dragged Lucy through just moments ago. “My sense of direction got me here, and I didn’t even know where here was. Unlike that one.” She stopped and pointed her finger at Lucy. “I’m serious about not letting her wander around here solo. We got separated once at Target for over half an hour, and I had to walk around blaring a goose call to find her.”
“A goose call?”
“Yeah.” Rue shrugged as if it made perfect sense. “It’s like our own personal version of Marco Polo. She hears my honks and yells at me to shut the fuck up before I embarrass her anymore, and viola, I find her.”
Then she made an awful sound, cupping her hands over her mouth to make the noise louder.
Lucy giggled against his chest.
“Really?” Matrix asked, his eyes wide and disbelieving.
“Yeah, really.” Giving Matrix a frown, she turned and looked at Sparx. “Who’s this guy again? One of your helpers?”
Sparx snorted, trying to contain the laughter that was threatening to escape at the look of offense Matrix was sporting. Lucy, still hiding in the front of his shirt, made a choking sound as she tried to keep from laughing as well.
“I am Warlord Matrix, reigning warlord of Gunninng.” Matrix’s announcement had everyone in the room standing at attention, except for the woman he had intended to impress.
“Oh dear,” his mate whispered, looking up at him with a look that didn’t bode well.
“Well howdy-do, Warlord Matrix from Gunninng.” Rue eyed him up and down before raising one of her eyebrows in challenge. “I’m Ms. Veruca Emmaline Salazar…but I guess you can call me Rue. I mean, any friend of Sparx is a friend of mine.”
“Oh,” he said, stepping forward with a wicked smile. “We’re going to be much more than friends, Rue.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, stepping back as he walked forward.
Sparx watched as she backed up to the wall behind her, Matrix in front of her the entire way. Stalking her as if she were prey he was hunting.
Which, if what Sparx had picked up on was true, was exactly what Matrix was doing. He was hunting the most important prey he’d ever come across.
Lucy, most likely sensing the seriousness of the situation, turned her head to watch the encounter. They both stayed quiet as they watched whatever was about to happen, happen.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“I’m worried.” Lucy nibbled the edge of her thumb nail anxiously, her eye trained on the door they’d just walked through.
“Don’t be worried,” Sparx said, kicking his boots off by the door. “Everything is as it should be.”
“Rue’s gonna kill me,” she moaned, flopping back onto the couch in the apartment she shared with Sparx now that they were mated. “Ouch.”
“What did you do?”
“Just injured myself being overly dramatic.” Lucy leaned forward to show him the spot on the back of her head she’d bonked.
He kissed the back of her head where she showed him her injury was, the ritual quickly becoming one they did often with how frequently she had her Lucy goosey moments.
“You’re not being overly dramatic. Rue seemed fairly angry—” Sparx raised his eyebrow at her when she snorted. “All right, she was very angry. Better?”
“Fucking pissed would be more accurate. I mean, if her eyes were flamethrowers—which for a minute there, they kinda resembled—we would have all been d-e-a-d. Scorch marks would have been the only thing left of us,” she corrected with a nod. “But yeah, I guess very angry works too.”
Lucy went back to chewing her nail, while this time jogging her leg up and down nervously. She could still hear the sound of Rue screeching at her to do something ringing in her ears.
“Will you feel better if I assure you that I don’t believe she will kill you?”
She didn’t even look at him as he sat down next to her, tossing an arm behind her shoulders.
“Nope,” Lucy answered after a tic. “Because you’re right.”
“See—”
“Because first Rue’s going to kill Matrix. Probably as painfully as she possibly can.” She turned and pointed a finger directly at Sparx. “Then, she’s gonna kill you for backing him up.”
“I had to—”
Lucy held up her hand.
“I know. Believe me, I know. But that’s not going to be
