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)
Rising, he looked down into her eyes, which were wide and uncertain.
“Are you all right?” he demanded, motioning to the corpses of his slain enemies still scattered around them. “Really all right? Did they…get to you?”
She shook her head—a quick, jerky movement of negation.
“Nobody hurt me. You got to them before they could…” She swallowed hard, and T’zaren heard a dry click in her throat. “Before they could do what…what they wanted to do,” she finished.
“Good. Stay behind me and we’ll see what these new males want,” he ordered.
Placing himself directly between her and the approaching males—there were two of them with light green skin, dark hair, and humanoid features—he faced off against the new threat.
“Who are you?” the first one demanded, as they came closer. “And what are you doing here?”
“Besides servicing your Dom’mesque right out in public,” the second one added, smirking.
“I could ask you the same thing,” T’zaren growled. He recognized their uniforms from the guard he had seen during their viewscreen conference with Twa’linda earlier. “Aren’t you guards of Twa’linda of the Two Faces?” he demanded. “Where were you when this village was being invaded? When my female was being attacked?” He pointed at the bodies of the lizard men lying around them on the ground. “Can you tell me why you couldn’t be bothered to come help me defend her honor?”
The two of them shifted uneasily.
“We aren’t here to guard the village,” the first one protested. “We guard only our Dom’mesque—she of the Two Faces!”
“That’s a nice excuse,” T’zaren growled sarcastically. “I’m sure your Dom’mesque would be happy to hear that you couldn’t be bothered to come to the aid of another Dom’mesque—one who she had invited as a guest to her stronghold.”
“Oh, do you serve the Lady Lucille Heartwood?” the second guard asked. “We were sent here to find you and guide you across the chasm. “You must come with us at once—our Lady is waiting for you!”
Behind him, T’zaren heard Lucille clear her throat.
“I’m not exactly dressed to meet anyone right now,” she pointed out, poking her head out around his shoulder to speak to the guards while making sure to keep her mostly bare body hidden.
“Nevertheless, you must come at once,” the first guard said. “Our Dom’mesque ordered us not to return without you. The dinner hour has been moved up due to the fleur’igan soup. It’s to be finished sooner than expected and it must be eaten at once.”
“The what?” Lucille demanded. “Look, never mind—just give me a moment to, er, confer with T’za—with my manservant,” she told them.
T’zaren turned to face her, making certain to keep her small, curvy body hidden with his larger one as he did.
Lucille was rapidly pulling down her skirt, though her full, bare breasts were still exposed by the ripped sweater.
“What do you think?” she murmured to him. “Will it really offend Twa’linda if I run back to the ship to change?”
“I…I think we’d better not take a chance.”
T’zaren tried not to stare at her breasts as he spoke but he couldn’t help noticing how much darker her nipples were than they had been earlier. Had he really sucked them that hard? The events that had occurred when he was lost in the Rage were kind of a blur, but he thought he might have.
“I’m afraid I hurt you,” he said stiffly, nodding at her tight peaks. “I must ask your forgiveness for that.”
“Oh, well…” She blushed, her cheeks going dark with embarrassment. “You didn’t mean to. You weren’t, er, exactly in your right mind when you, uh, did what you did.”
“When I sucked your nipples,” T’zaren said, wanting to put it out in the open. “Forgive me—when I saw those bastards attacking you, I went into Rage. It’s a state of berserker fury Monstrum Kindred go into when their female—or the female they are protecting—is in danger.”
“I could certainly tell something was going on with you. Er…your back changed colors too,” she added, tentatively. “I wasn’t sure if that had something to do with it or…” She trailed off, looking up at him expectantly.
“What you saw was my Sen Stripe,” T’zaren said stiffly. He refused to explain the significance of her touch causing his Stripe to flare. It would only make her think he wanted her as his S’rentha which was false.
When Lucille saw she wasn’t going to get any further explanation, she shrugged awkwardly.
“Oh…um. Okay. Well, I guess I’d better try to make myself decent.”
She took the ends of the torn sweater and knotted them under her breasts but the loose, knitted fabric still gaped open showing most of her breasts and her tight nipples.
Lucille looked down at herself and swore under her breath.
“No panties, no bra…this isn’t exactly how you’re supposed to dress for a business meeting,” she muttered to herself as she pulled the sides of the torn sweater closed and held them in place with one hand.