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)
It was the second time I had watched my home world recede into the blackness of space and I wondered if I would ever see it again.
Goddess, I hoped not!
But what did Slade have planned for me? What would he do to me once he got me to the privacy of the penthouse?
I didn’t know and a glance at his scowling face let me know it wasn’t safe to ask. Anything could happen—anything at all.
And there was nothing I could do to stop it.
49
SLADE
I was still so fucking upset and infuriated I could barely pilot the fucking ship. I was basically flying blind until we hit the Space Gate and then I finally managed to take some deep breaths and calm down. As I watched Rigelis Nine appear on the viewscreen, I knew what I was going to do.
I was going to take Aurora to the penthouse and leave her there.
I would send someone over to collect my things later and move into another place—anyplace where she wasn’t, I told myself. I couldn’t stand to be around her because I wanted her so fucking badly.
Already, sitting beside her in the ship and smelling her sweet scent had The Thirst raging inside me. It was all I could fucking do not to put the ship on autopilot, drop to my knees, and taste her then and there. My shaft was rock-hard and the knot was aching—everything inside me was begging me to take her, to make our Binding permanent. But I couldn’t do that—not after what she had done!
Just have to ignore the urges, I told myself sternly. Leave her at the penthouse and get away!
And that was exactly what I intended to do.
50
AURORA
I had no idea what Slade was thinking—there was a permanent scowl on his face and he wasn’t looking at me any more than he had to as he piloted the ship. I was still angry at him—angry for not giving me a chance to talk and explain my side of the story…angry for leaving me on L’Crist for three agonizing weeks without a word and most of all, angry at him for being such a stubborn pigheaded male.
But I missed him too. Being so close in the cabin of the ship I could smell his warm, enticing, masculine scent for the first time in weeks. It was invading my senses and making me feel weak in the knees.
The Need, which had been barely kept in control for the past three weeks, had woken up and was roaring inside me like a hungry lioness, demanding to be fed. My nipples were so tight they ached and the V between my legs was getting wetter by the minute.
But Slade didn’t seem to be in the mood to slake my lust. When we finally got to the luxury resort he called home, he came around to my side of the ship and lifted me down without a word. When he tried to put me down, though, I wouldn’t let him.
I clung to him, my arms around his neck, my body pressed to his. Goddess how could I be so angry with him and want him so much at the same time? I didn’t know, but I didn’t want to let go of him.
For a moment Slade froze with his hands on my waist. Then he hugged me back, dragging me to him in a spasm of need I felt run through my whole body. He was nearly smothering me but I didn’t care—I just needed so badly to be near him. I gripped him tighter, digging my nails into his broad back as though I could keep him with me always and mark him as my own.
Slade hugged me so tightly I couldn’t breathe for a moment. Then he pushed me backwards so hard I almost stumbled.
“Goddess damn you, Aurora,” he said hoarsely. He grabbed me by the wrist. “Come on.”
He dragged me through the hotel lobby, ignoring the shocked stares of the normally friendly staff. I tripped and stumbled and barely kept up with his long strides. The only thing that kept me going was the thought that finally he was touching me again. Also, I knew something now.
Slade wanted me as much as I wanted him. He’d been missing me too all these long weeks apart. I could feel it in the desperate way he hugged me—could smell it like a cologne, sharp with desire. And I imagined, that I must smell much the same to him—even more so, since Brutes had sharper senses than humans.
I was still angry with him for abandoning me, but I wanted him anyway, I decided. We could figure out our differences after we came together again and slaked the rampant lust growing between us. Until then, I just had to find a way to keep him with me.