Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
I was the only one of us who had golden horns, which showed my status as Head Enforcer of my Clan. But unlike my friends I hadn’t been raised to the position I was in—I was born to it. As the only son of the Chieftain of Clan Cruel, I never had a choice about what career path I wanted. As soon as I was old enough to understand him, my father had made it pretty fucking clear that I was going into the family business.
Of course, the family business included all kinds of criminal activity like prostitution, gambling, weapons running, cloning, gene splicing, smuggling, and anything else you can think of that’s against the law. But since we’re on one of the outside arms of the galaxy, the Imperium mostly leaves us alone. It helps that we keep order in the far arms of the Galaxy where the Emperor never cares to spend his royal resources. So the Brutes, (that’s all of us in the Four Families,) have free reign.
Four members of all four of the Families gathered in a bar like this wasn’t usual—the Clans mostly keep their distance. We’ve divided our galaxy into sectors and mostly keep to ourselves except for a yearly meet—which was where I’d met Turk, Drake, and Rath when we were all younger. The four of us had bonded as kids and remained tight all these years.
Which was why I had invited them to come celebrate with me—tomorrow I was taking a bride. Not that she knew it yet and Turk was right—she wasn’t going to be happy when she found out her pure human DNA was going to be mingled with my mixed-up Brute genes.
See, though we’re divided into four Clans or Families, the Brutes all share a common ancestor—one who was capable of making genetic trades with other species. This ability to mate with outsiders to gain their best physical and mental attributes has always worked to our advantage—it also means we can find our Fated Mates anywhere in the galaxy. Hell—in the whole universe.
Most other species don’t mind mixing with us—well, aside from the fact that we’re fucking criminals. But it’s the fact that we run the rackets they object to—not our mixed blood. There are a few, however, that don’t like it. And humans are number one on that list.
Centuries ago they came here—running from a planet they called “Earth”—a world they had killed themselves through neglect and abuse of their natural resources. They settled in the distant arms of our galaxy, finding small unclaimed planetoids or carving out places for themselves in the wilderness of some of the larger habitable worlds.
Some of the humans mixed with us. They didn’t have wings or horns or the ability to read minds or emotions or any other useful physical or psychic attributes—but they did bring a certain cunning intelligence to the genetic trade that our ancestors found intriguing. Indeed, it wasn’t until after we mixed with the humans and learned their ways that the Four Families began dividing up territory and running our schemes. So I guess you could say it was a good trade.
But as I said, there are some humans—quite a few in fact—that want nothing to do with us or any other species for that matter. They call themselves the “Untainted” because their DNA is still pure human. To an Untainted, the worst thing in the whole fucking universe is being forced to mate with an “Impure” which is what they call us mixed-blood Brutes.
And yet the woman I was about to claim—Aurora of L’Crist—was as Untainted as they come. She was actually the Princess of a tiny kingdom on a planetoid on the very farthest edges of my Clan’s territory. No, she was not going to be happy to see me. But I had been watching her for years—waiting for the right time to swoop in and take her and now…
“There he goes again—he’s got that look in his eyes,” Turk said, breaking my train of thought.
“Dreaming of his Fated Mate,” Drake said and bellowed laughter.
“How are you going to get her to come with you, anyway?” Rath asked, frowning. “You can’t just snatch her—it’s against Clan Law.”
“I’m not going to just ‘snatch’ her,” I said stiffly. “I’ll make her an offer she’s going to find extremely difficult to refuse. Then once I have her, I’ll make her want to stay.”
“Good fucking luck with that, Slade. You’re going to be sorry when The Thirst hits you! You should do a full Soul-Binding right away,” Turk advised.
“I’m not worried,” I said, shrugging. “And I’m not going to do a full Binding until she’s ready. She’ll come around and let me drink eventually.”
“Riiiight.” Drake arched an eyebrow sarcastically. “The sweet, untouched, Untainted virgin is going to spread her legs for your Impure ass and let you drink as soon as you ask her to. You’re dreaming, my friend.”