Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 130947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 655(@200wpm)___ 524(@250wpm)___ 436(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 655(@200wpm)___ 524(@250wpm)___ 436(@300wpm)
“I guess,” Liv said grudgingly. “I don’t know, Jillian. I’m just feeling kind of…betrayed right now. And I think it’s going to take me a little while to get over that.” If I ever do at all.
“Whatever it was Baird did, you can be sure he didn’t do it on purpose,” Jillian said earnestly.
Liv frowned. “You don’t even know him. How can you say that?”
“Because I know the Kindred—I know how they are. They love their women to distraction and would never hurt us on purpose.” Jillian sighed. “Just…give him a chance. Will you at least promise me that?”
“I’ll try.” It was the best Liv could do. “I really do need to get going,” she said. “But thanks for a great time, Jillian. I hope we can do it again.”
“I hope so too.” Jillian pressed her hand affectionately and gave a little wave. “See you next time then.”
“Okay.” Liv gave her a strained smile and then looked down the long metal corridor. Then she thought at the Take-me, “Home, as fast as possible.”
“I’m tellin’ you, Sylvan, I have a bad feeling about her. I’m worried.” Baird glared at the lighted control panel of the shuttle that was bringing them back from the meeting on the Earth’s moon. The entire conference had been one long painful session of “let’s remember” with his superior officers trying to get information on the AllFather by reviewing what had happened during his numerous torture sessions.
Baird had tried to tell them that the leader of the Scourge had been too busy sucking out his emotions and twisting his memories to let anything slip about his battle strategy but they didn’t want to hear that. They had heard from somewhere that the AllFather was looking for something or someone—a girl from Earth who could fulfill the strange prophesy about the fate of their dark race.
Baird had tried to tell them he didn’t know anything about the prophesy but his superiors didn’t want to listen—in their opinion, any warrior who had been a prisoner as long as he had without breaking mentally under the strain should also have had some way of extracting information from the enemy. Baird was exhausted from telling them he didn’t—it had been all he could do just to keep his sanity. Without Olivia, it would have been impossible.
And now, just to make a bad day worse, she wasn’t answering the holo unit when he tried to call her at the suite.
“Try her again,” Sylvan said reasonably. “Maybe she’s just not answering because she’s still upset with you. You did say that you had a disagreement before you left, correct?”
Baird sighed. “Yeah, we did. She’s still determined to hold out. But I think by now she’s getting the idea that she can’t—that she won’t be able to. And since tonight is the start of our tasting week I was hoping to bond her to me permanently.”
Sylvan frowned. “What about not wanting to bond her unwillingly? From what you’re saying, her body is willing but her mind isn’t. I thought you didn’t want an incomplete bond.”
“I don’t.” Baird ran a hand through his hair as he punched in the coordinates of his home holo unit again. “But after what the priestess told me, I’d rather have an incomplete bond and have her safe by my side than no bond at all and know she was in danger somewhere.”
Sylvan looked skeptical. “I don’t know, Baird. I know Father raised us to revere the Mother and believe me, I do. But I’m not sure I’d make such an important decision based on what that priestess told you. Didn’t you say she was vague about the details of her vision?”
“How many details do you need?” Baird growled as the holo unit beeped over and over with no answer. “She said Olivia would be in danger. How can I protect her if she’s not with me? And what better way to keep her near than to bond her to me? Besides, her body needs it. Her scent has been so hot lately you can smell it from two corridors over. I don’t even dare to take her out of the damn suite since she won’t let me scent mark her.”
“That must be hard,” Sylvan said neutrally as he guided their shuttle into the docking bay.
“You have no fuckin’ idea. With her smelling so sweet and not wanting me to touch her…it’s worse than if she was walking around naked all day. All I can think of is how much I need her under me.” Baird sighed and punched the button, cutting off the unanswered call. “You don’t think she tried to run away, do you?”
“Where would she go? And didn’t you say she agreed to stay in the suite while you were gone?”
“Yeah but she might have changed her mind. I got the feeling she thought I was just trying to order her around.” Baird sighed again. “Damn it, maybe I should have told her what the priestess said. But I didn’t want to scare her. And I—” He broke off as a strange presence filled his brain. “What the hell?”