Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 66904 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66904 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
I’ve done this so many times before as a pirate that I start to feel quite safe, ironically. Familiarity starts to settle in as I pause behind barrels and boxes to allow passing saurians to go by. They all speak common galactic, which is a little odd for a city where aliens are forced to remain in port when transiting. We’ve actually docked there once or twice, but they started to get suspicious, and sneaking past security out into the city was almost impossible. We’ve landed the ship in a few places on the planet, thanks to the cloaking mechanisms — but now we know they don’t really work, that leaves us with many fewer places to hide.
I keep thinking about that big building made of bones. Usually, big, scary species who make buildings out of their fallen aren’t the good guys. I wonder if these saurians could be considered good. Then I remember something Sullivan told me a long time ago when I first started piracy and had some moral issues with the whole thing.
There’s no such thing as good or bad, there’s just perspectives.
It didn’t really sound entirely true at the time, but it sounded true enough. Tigers hunt deer, she said, and it doesn’t really matter to the tiger that the deer doesn’t want to be eaten, because what choice does the tiger have? It’s not bad for hunting, and neither are we.
I believed that for a while. I told myself that I was a tiger even though I spent all my time scuttling in the dark like a frightened mouse. Now I don’t know what to think. There’s something charismatic about these saurians, something that makes me want to trust them. But nothing they’re doing is trustworthy. We need to get off this planet. We can’t all fall for these super sexy alien masters. I’m worried that Sullivan might be beyond help. The way she was with Thorn… the way he was with her… I feel like we’ve lost her. I know she’ll try to free us, but I don’t think she’ll come with us. I’ve never seen her so contrite, content, and happy before. I’ve never seen her soften the way she did for him.
Then, going to the bone church, that didn’t give me much more in the way of hope. Everything about that encounter scared the hell out of me. I don’t know who is more imposing, Avel, or Raine. Raine might actually hurt me if she gets her hands on me. Avel looks like he hurts anyone and everyone. If I had to decide who was worse, him or Thorn, I’d have a hard time…
“There you are!”
I shriek as Shan grabs me, looming out of the shadows like a vengeful beast. He gives me a little shake as he holds me aloft in front of him, my feet nowhere near touching the ground. I am so confused. How on earth could he have tracked me down here in the middle of the city so quickly? I am very sure I should have largely escaped detection. I was so close to getting back to the alpha’s place and letting Sullivan know what the plan was, and now I have no chance of making that happen. I’m going to be dragged back to Shan’s lair, beaten, and mated again.
“I told you what would happen to you if you ran away, didn’t I?”
I stare at him with wide eyes, that black gaze searing deep into my soul. I was just trying to work out who I fear most, and in doing so I appear to have manifested the ultimate terror.
I can’t get any words out. I’m horrified to have been caught for a second time by this alien with the black eyes who somehow seems to evade my senses every time.
“I had to run away. I have to try to escape!”
His expression softens just a fraction. I wonder if he understands the scope of the desperate situation I find myself in, a reluctant broodmare for an alien I barely know, the captive of a creature who intends to use me to further his aims.
“I can’t allow it. I need you.”
For a brief moment, I let myself imagine that he means he needs me in terms of loving me and wanting me, and not being able to live his life without me. Then that illusion fades in the realization that what he actually means is he needs me to keep himself in good standing with Wrath. He’s going to whip me into submission because my obedience makes his life easier and allows him to continue with whatever agenda he’s engaged in. I don’t trust him. Trusting him would be insane. But there’s some part of me that softens when he says even the slightest kind thing to me, or even modulates his tone away from the harsh, taciturn growl that he usually speaks in.