Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75388 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75388 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
And they love her for it, too. The tribes-people have been learning sign language to speak to Lila and to make her feel welcome. I’m glad they’ve accepted her so readily, but it also makes me jealous…which makes me a terrible sister.
Everyone in the tribe adores her and they can barely tolerate me. I’m like a stinky fart that’s lingering in the cave and everyone tries to ignore.
Not that I can blame them for treating me like a turd—I haven’t exactly been Miss Pleasant to live around while my sister was gone. I was frantic with worry about her after she was stolen, and when they wouldn’t let me go after her? I was kind of not nice about it.
Okay, I was a bit of an ass.
Well, more than just a bit.
But I was worried about seemingly fragile Lila on this hostile, cold planet. So I took it out on everyone else. I might have picked a few fights and dragged my feet and okay, I threw a few things at people’s heads. So what? Anyone else would have done the same if they were in my shoes, uncertain about the fate of their baby sister.
They don’t understand what it’s like to be so alone, even in a sea of people.
Everyone here’s part of a family. There are happy women with babies, and men utterly devoted to their ladies. As I look over, the chief—Vektal—is tossing his baby daughter into the air and giving her exaggerated kisses just to make Talie laugh. And boy, does that baby laugh. It’d be adorable if it didn’t make me feel so sour inside. He’s got a wife and a baby. All of the humans here have someone.
I have Lila. Like I have in the past, I’m ready to shield her from the world’s harms and interpret for her when someone doesn’t know sign language.
Except my sister doesn’t need me anymore.
Scared, timid little Lila has returned utterly confident in herself and in love with Rokan.
That leaves me…well, it leaves me sitting here by myself on a mat, mopping up someone else’s spilled drink.
I sigh and stare out at the entrance of the cave, feeling alone and yet trapped at the same time. I don’t fit in with these people, but I also don’t have the option to find another people. There are no other people.
Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I just upped and left. Would they hunt me down like they hunted for Lila? Or would they be all “good riddance” and not care because I’ve been a bitch?
I scowl into the shadows of the cave’s entrance. It would be so easy to get up and just walk out while everyone’s drunk and partying. But even as I stare, glowing blue eyes blink back at me, and a big, bulky form emerges from the shadows of the cave entrance, spear in one hand, a dead animal in the other. It’s a hunter, returning from a late-night jaunt out into the snow.
And not just any hunter.
It’s Hassen. The bastard that stole my sister. The one that decided he wanted a mate so much he’d just up and fucking steal her.
Him? He can kiss my fat ass.
Though the look he’s giving me right now? That tells me he’d enjoy that far too much. That he’d do more than just kiss it if I bared it for his inspection.
And for some reason, I find myself prickling with arousal at the thought of Hassen folding his big body down to give my plump ass a kiss. Which is all kinds of wrong. He’s exiled. He’s a dick. He wanted my sister. None of these put him on the ‘Ice Planet’s Most Desirable Bachelors’ List.
As I glare at him, his mouth twists into a fang-bearing smile.
I jerk my gaze back around to the fire, scowling. Totally not gonna keep picturing him with his mouth on my ass. Biting one of my rounded cheeks. Dragging his fingers over my body and exploring the fact that I have no tail…
I give my cheek a hard slap to bring me back to earth.
Nearby, Farli gives me a startled look. “Are you all right?”
“Just distracted,” I tell her. Farli’s a good kid, and the closest thing I have to a buddy here, for all that she’s, like, fifteen years old. Right now? She’s my ride or die, because, well, I don’t have anyone else. Even my sister Lila is off in a corner somewhere, making out with her new hubby. I can’t even be mad about that—she’s so happy and she is such a wonderful person that she deserves every bit of joy. I’m thrilled for her.
I’m a little jealous of her radiant happiness, sure, but still thrilled for her.
I’m just a selfish jerk of a sister who doesn’t know what to do with herself when she’s not needed anymore and suddenly finds herself with no friends. Funny how I always thought I didn’t need friends. Funny how being stranded on an ice planet can totally change your perspective on things like that. In a small community like this, not playing by the rules gets you left behind.