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)
“What? Why would you put a stick up your ass?” Dra’vik gave her a confused expression. “Please tell me that’s just an Earth saying and not a real thing your people do,” he said to Iyanna, who burst out laughing.
“It’s just a saying, honey—it means acting all stiff and never having any fun,” she told him.
“Oh, good.” Dra’vik looked relieved. “For a minute, I thought there was a whole new Earth kink we might have to explore together.”
“No thank you,” Iyanna said firmly, still grinning.
“I second that!” Lucy added, laughing. She sighed. “I just wish T’zaren was a little less stiff and formal and growly. Right now he doesn’t seem like he’s going to be much fun to be around.”
“Well, you are going on a very serious mission together,” Iyanna pointed out.
“I know—but it’s going to be my first time visiting a different planet. I’m excited,” Lucy said. “You know how I get!”
Iyanna nodded.
“Oh, I know, believe me. I’d want to go with you myself if it wasn’t for this little guy.” She stroked her rounded belly. “Can’t fold space when you’re pregnant—it’s not safe for the baby.”
“I understand. Don’t worry about me—I’ll be fine,” Lucy said firmly.
She tucked the black blazer that matched her skirt under her arm and lifted her suitcase. It was lucky that she hadn’t unpacked yet, she thought—seeing as how this mission might be an overnight stay.
She knew that Commander Rarev had told her not to worry about clothing, but she couldn’t help it—she always worried about what to wear. It was just part of her personality. She might be a curvy girl, but she still liked to look fashionable and sexy—in fact, she often dressed to emphasize her curves and if people didn’t like it, well, that was just too bad. What was important to Lucy was that she was feeling sexy and confident—she didn’t care what anyone else thought.
“All right—Dra’vik and I can walk you to the Docking Bay,” Iyanna offered.
“No you don’t—you walked me all around the ship yesterday and I saw how tired it made you,” Lucy said. “I’ll be fine—I know the way. And I’ll be back in a few days—hopefully we’ll still have plenty of time to spend together before I have to go back home and help Aunt Delilah decorate her shop for Halloween.”
She gave her friend a final hug and headed out the door.
“Be careful!” Iyanna called to her.
“And remember what I told you about Stri’vor males,” Dra’vik added. “If I were you, I wouldn’t push T’zaren too far.”
Well if asking him to pretend to be my bodyguard so we can get a new dimriel crystal for the Mother Ship is too far, then that’s just too bad, Lucy thought to herself indignantly. He’s just going to deal with it because there’s no way in Hell I’m coming back here without it!
She had no idea all the crazy things she would go through before she came back to the Monstrum Mother Ship again. If she had, she might have turned around and stayed right there with Iyanna and Dra’vik.
But by the time she found out, it was much, much too late to turn back…
NINE
T’ZAREN
T’zaren paced beside the sleek, gold long-range shuttle they would be taking to B’ron Three. He wasn’t happy with the ways things were working out at all.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go on the mission, he told himself. The Mother Ship was his home—she had given him sanctuary when the Darklings swallowed up his home world—he wanted to save her if he could. He just didn’t like going on what might be a dangerous mission with the little blonde—with Dr. Lucille Heartwood, he corrected himself.
Dr. Lucille didn’t seem nearly serious enough to deal with a Twainer, in his opinion. The strange creatures, who were two people in a single body, had also been present in his old universe. T’zaren knew they could be dangerously unpredictable.
Also, he didn’t like having to pretend that Dr. Lucille was his S’rentha. It was too close to the truth for comfort, considering the way his body reacted whenever she was around him.
Unbidden, the memory of her blindfolding him came back in a burning instant. He felt his back flare as he remembered her small, soft hands placing the mask and then cupping his cheeks. And after that, she’d run her fingers through his hair, making him shiver helplessly with need as his Sen Stripe flared over and over in a mixture of pain and pleasure.
Had she had any idea at all of what she was doing to him?
T’zaren didn’t think so. She didn’t understand his kind—she didn’t know that the touch of a S’rentha could bring a Stri’vor male to his knees—or bring out the extreme lust that lived inside him.
Every touch of her small, soft hands on his body made his desire to reach out and touch her—to taste her—stronger. By the end of the ordeal, his shafts were both so hard he’d felt like he could fuck through solid granite and he had wanted her so badly it was all he could do to stay in his chair instead of rising and pulling her towards him.