Bastial Explosion (The Rhythm of Rivalry: Book 3) Read Online Free

lipless mouth bent into a smile—the first Steffen had seen since they’d lost Vithos.
    “You’ll wrestle me off this wall and drag me all the way to your house?” Zoke looked as if he was about to laugh.
    But Steffen was so exasperated, Zoke’s amusement only made his anger worsen. “Yes!” he shouted. “Do you want to see?” He knew how foolish his words were, as he couldn’t even knock Zoke off his feet, but he didn’t care.
    Muscles bulged from beneath the Krepp’s hard skin, Steffen noticing as he strategized how to transport a creature twice his weight to his campus house.
    Zoke let out a laugh that sounded closer to a series of grunts. He dramatically lifted his palms in front of his lizard-like face. “No, please don’t do it,” Zoke said with heavy sarcasm. “I’ll come with you. Please don’t hurt me.” He laughed again as he crossed by Steffen to start down the ramp. “Silly Human.”
    Steffen felt all the anger drain from his body, leaving him weary and shivering.
    I think I got lucky with that one.
     
    Steffen expected to find Effie and Reela sitting at the kitchen table when he came in. But his heart jumped when he saw Gabby there with them.
    She leapt from her seat with a smile and opened her mouth to speak…but then Zoke followed Steffen inside and fear struck Gabby’s face. She tripped over her own feet, then quickly picked herself up and staggered backward until she ran into a wall.
    Effie and Reela burst into laughter.
    “Don’t worry, Gabby,” Steffen told her. “He’s harmless.”
    “I wouldn’t say harmless,” Zoke added, seemingly entertained by Gabby’s reaction.
    “It speaks our language!” she announced stupidly.
    “He, not it,” Steffen corrected.
    “Oh, sorry,” Gabby said a little sheepishly.
    “This one is younger, yes?” Zoke asked Steffen.
    He nodded. “She’s Effie’s younger sister by three years.”
    Gabby found some courage, now approaching hesitantly. “So strong,” she muttered, half talking to herself. She strained her neck forward for a closer look and then gasped. “And with such yellow eyes!”
    Zoke caught Steffen’s attention with a confused glance. “Why is she talking about me like I’m not here? Is this some Human custom?”
    “No, it’s just rude,” Reela answered with a grin.
    “Rude…” The word came from Zoke’s mouth as if he’d never said it before. “I think I remember what rude is, and I welcome it. I like this one.” He turned toward Gabby with a twisted smile, gesturing at her with his black claw. “Your name is Gabby?”
    She twitched as she nodded, hesitantly reaching out her hand. “And what’s your name?” she asked in a near whisper.
    Zoke extended both hands, claws pointed up. Then he shook them by the wrist.
    Steffen put his hand over his face at the sight of it. We still haven’t told him that’s not how we shake hands.
    Gabby retracted her hand, lifting it to scratch her head in confusion.
    “You don’t want to shake?” Zoke asked, still waggling his hands.
    Effie and Reela were both holding in laughter.
    “I’m confused,” Gabby said, looking up to meet Steffen’s eyes.
    Suddenly it struck him how much he’d missed her. With everything that had happened, Gabby hadn’t been in the forefront of his thoughts. But now, as her dark, deep-set eyes found him, he could feel his emotions becoming unhinged.
    Ignoring them as best he could for now, Steffen said, “Zoke, there’s something we’ve been forgetting to tell you.”
    “What?” Zoke finally held his hands still.
    “We don’t shake hands like that,” Steffen replied. “We do this.” He took the Krepp’s scaly hand, careful to avoid his sharp claws, and guided it into his for a handshake.
    Touching seemed to make Zoke uncomfortable, for he pulled his hand away quickly.
    “But if that’s how you shake hands, then what does this mean?” Zoke began to shake them as he had before.
    “That doesn’t mean anything,” Steffen