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)
In the meantime, my stomach was growling because I hadn’t had any dinner the night before. I couldn’t wait for a cooking lesson—I needed to eat something now.
The answer to my problems appeared when I opened the last cabinet in the row. It was extra tall with a frosted glass door and I thought at first it must have more cooking appliances in it. Instead, I found what looked like a miniature tree with tiny green leaves. It was about three feet high and it had all kinds of fruit growing from it.
The bottom of the cabinet pulled out and then rotated around like a lazy Suzan, so I was able to examine the mini-fruit tree thoroughly. Some of the fruits that grew on it were strange looking—I saw a purple, knobby thing that looked like the label on the can I’d been puzzling over and a bright pink fruit as big as my fist that looked a little like a giant strawberry—which is one of the fruits we humans had brought with us from the Dying Earth.
Then, to my delight, I saw a fruit I recognized. It was a banana—not very big and a little over-ripe, but I thought I’d never been so happy to see the oblong yellow fruit in my life. There was an apple too—well, it looked like an apple but it had blue skin.
I picked both fruits and then added the giant pink strawberry thing for good measure—I was really hungry. I washed all the fruits in the sink, piled them on a plate, and grabbed a napkin. I was just going to take my breakfast into the living area and eat in front of the fire pit so I could be soothed and warmed by the gold and blue flames—when I heard Slade’s voice, raised in anger.
“No, you find him! You find that fucker!” I heard him growling.
“Goddess!” I muttered to myself, and nearly dropped my plate filled with fruit. Where was his voice coming from and who was he shouting at?
My bare feet made no noise as I crossed the kitchen and went back to the living area. There was a hallway I hadn’t noticed before, curving off around the corner. That was where Slade’s voice was coming from.
I put the fruit down on the small table beside the leather couch and crept down the hallway, keeping my eyes open. About halfway down, I saw a door that was cracked open.
I knew better than to eavesdrop, but I needed to find out what had made the big Enforcer so angry. So I put my eye to the crack and saw what looked like a private study.
Slade was sitting at an expensive looking dark wood desk with his back to the door. In the middle of the desk was a holo projector which was projecting a 3-D image of another Brute.
I caught my breath when I saw him—he had slitted red eyes and wings like the one who had attacked me and tried to kidnap me the night before. But his horns were painted shiny blue, not metallic red.
“It sounds like a male named Skeezex—he was punished and ejected from Clan Ruthless for trafficking under-aged females,” he was saying to Slade, who was listening intently. “I’ll tell the Chief that he’s been trespassing in Clan Cruel territory.”
“Not just trespassing—he tried to kidnap my wife and cut her up for cloning!” Slade growled and I could hear the menace in his voice. “I let my Darkness out, but he flew off before I could fucking catch him!”
“Yeah, he’s a relentless fucker,” the other Brute said, frowning. “Look, Slade, you know we’ll do everything we can to find him. And when we do, I’m sure the Chief will let you name the penalty.”
“No fucking penalty.” Slade’s deep voice was low and ominous. “I don’t want to see him punished, I want him killed. And I’m going to do the killing—I claim Blood Rights on the bastard, do you understand me, Drake?”
The other Brute nodded.
“Got it. I don’t blame you—the male messed with your Fated Mate. He deserves what’s coming to him.”
“He’s going to die slowly…in agony,” Slade rumbled. “Nobody hurts my wife!”
I felt the small hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I had always thought that my new husband had an air of tightly controlled violence about him—all Brutes did. But to hear him talking about killing the male who had tried to kidnap me in that possessive, growling tone did something to me. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but I felt suddenly weak in the knees.
I need to get out of here—I can’t let him know I was listening in on his conversation!
I wanted to sneak back to the living area but I stumbled and knocked my knee against the door to Slade’s study, pushing it open. He jerked his head up and turned towards me. Our eyes met…and held.