Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Lucy frowned and shook her head. Where had that thought come from? Why would she even consider doing something like that with a man she didn’t even know?
But still, the mental image lingered—the thought of her ripe nipple sliding into his mouth and his eyes holding hers as he sucked and circled her tight point with his hot tongue…
Ignoring her overactive imagination, Lucy slipped the blindfold over the big Monstrum’s head and adjusted it carefully, making sure he couldn’t see out the sides or bottom.
She noticed that when her fingers brushed his skin, he stiffened and she heard a little hiss of indrawn breath. Was she hurting him in some way? Did he dislike her touch?
Her eyes dropped to his crotch, where a substantial bulge had appeared in the tight black leather trousers.
Well, I guess he doesn’t dislike it when I touch him, she thought dryly. Though it’s certainly affecting him.
The big warrior’s reaction had a strange effect on her as well—it made her want to touch him even more.
“Hang on—I think the blindfold is on crooked,” she murmured. Deliberately, she cupped T’zaren’s face in her hands and watched as he drew in a deep, ragged breath as her palms and fingers came in contact with his cheeks. “Hmmm…” she murmured, tilting his head a little and enjoying the rough feel of his stubble against her palms. “No, I guess I was wrong. Sorry about that. But here—just let me fix this…” She ran her fingers through his thick, black hair, feeling the silky, springy texture and watching as a shiver ran through the big warrior. “There now—that’s better,” she remarked, finally taking her hands away.
Inside, she wondered why she was acting this way. Did she enjoy making this complete stranger uncomfortable? Or did she just like the effect she had on him? A glance between his thighs showed that the bulge in his leather trousers had grown to remarkably impressive proportions. Was that because of her? Lucy was inclined to think it was, which made her hot.
Commander Rarev had been watching her without comment but now he nodded and said,
“Very good. Give him the stones in any order, please.”
Lucy plucked the smooth pebble off the desktop.
“Hold out your hand please, T’zaren,” she said.
The big warrior did as she commanded, lifting his large right hand, palm up.
Lucy cupped her hand under his, enjoying the feeling of touching him again—though she didn’t know why—and dropped the pebble into his palm.
“Feel it very carefully,” she murmured. “Tell me what you think.”
“It…it’s just a pebble.” His voice came out low and slightly choked.
“Correct,” Lucy said and took the pebble out of his hand, making sure to brush his palm with her fingertips as she did so. This time she gave him the dimriel crystal, watching with interest to see what would happen.
T’zaren cupped the deep ruby crystal in his palm and a shudder went through him. The crystal lit up and began to glow, just as it had for Lucy.
“Gods,” he muttered hoarsely. “This is the heart-stone—this is the dimriel, isn’t it?”
“Correct,” Commander Rarev said. “Dr. Heartwood, you may remove the blindfold now.”
Lucy did as he said, slowly sliding the blindfold off and watching as T’zaren looked up at her, blinking, and then down to the dimriel crystal he still cupped in his palm.
“It glows for me too,” he remarked, frowning uncertainly as he looked back up at her.
“Yes, it does. Good job,” Lucy nodded, though why she should praise him for something that was clearly out of his control, she had no idea. For a long moment she just stood there looking at him, meeting that golden gaze of his unflinchingly as they stared into each other’s eyes, both seemingly helpless to look away.
“Very good,” Commander Rarev sounded pleased. “You’ve both passed the test admirably well.”
“Er…thank you.” Finally Lucy dragged her eyes away from T’zaren’s. Taking the piece of dimriel from his hand, she put it back on the desktop and sat back down. “So I’m guessing you need both of us to go to this stronghold place?” she asked.
“The stronghold of Twa’linda on B’ron Three. Yes.” Rarev nodded.
“I still say it’s not safe for Dr. Lucille to go,” T’zaren growled.
“That’s kind of sexist of you, don’t you think?” Lucy remarked, raising an eyebrow at him.
He shrugged, his broad shoulders rolling.
“I’m only stating the truth. As I said before, Twa’linda of the Two Faces is a Twainer.”
“Okay, so what’s a ‘Twainer’?” Lucy asked, frowning.
“A being with two faces,” Rarev supplied. “Or rather, two beings in one.”
“One light, one dark,” T’zaren growled. “One angelically good and the other pure, sadistic evil. The relative safety of your stay there depends upon which one of them is dominant at the time you visit.”
“Wow…” Lucy shook her head. “That’s…a lot,” she said at last. “I don’t know what to say.”