Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Pate’s eyes gleamed in the dim room.
“My pleasure, Zach—you know you can count on me!”
“What about me?” Karen demanded plaintively. She’d been standing by during the phone conversation. “I want my money! I brought her to you, didn’t I? You promised to pay me!”
“Get the bitch her the money,” Zach growled. “And hurry up! I want to be sure whatever you do happens while I’m still here in the courthouse where everyone can see me.” He smirked. “Can’t get a better alibi than that!”
“Will do.” Mandrew Pate nodded. “I’ll text you when it’s done.”
“You do that. Let me see her one more time,” Zach commanded.
Pate turned the phone around once more and Molly was confronted with the leering face of her ex.
“I have to go now, babe,” he said. “But I’m sure you’re going to have lots of fun. Wish I could be there to see it.”
“Zach, wait!” Molly exclaimed. “Don’t do this! I don’t want your money—I don’t want anything but to be left alone!”
“You should have thought of that before you sent that fucking Kindred after me,” her ex snarled. “Now you’re going to pay, babe. Enjoy it!”
Then the screen went black and he was gone.
“Seriously, I want my money!” Karen whined again. “Come on, you heard him—he told you to pay me!”
“It’s out in my truck,” Pate said, frowning. He frowned at Karen. “I’ll go get it but you have to make sure she stays put. Here.” He pulled out a gun and handed it to her. “You know how to use this?”
“Went hunting with my Daddy when I was a little girl.” Karen handled the gun confidently. “Don’t worry about this little slut—just get me my money so I can get out of here before you do whatever it is you’re going to do to her.” She sniffed delicately. “I don’t like violence.”
“Fine. I like to keep things private anyway,” Pate said shortly. He went out the door, leaving Molly alone with Karen.
This was her last chance, Molly realized. If she didn’t want to die, she had to say something that would make Karen release her.
She just hoped she could persuade the other woman to let her go before it was too late.
46
TORUS
Councilor Paige’s shuttle wasn’t very far away and he got there in no time to find her husband, Lone, already waiting outside with the golden wire of a Think-me in his hand. He was a Twin Kindred, though it wasn’t immediately apparent if he was the Light Twin or the Dark Twin of his pair, Torus thought distractedly.
“Here you go, Brother,” Lone said, handing him the Think-me. “Hopefully you can reach your Mate on this. I have to warn you though—the range isn’t as great as it is aboard the Mother Ship. Hopefully she hasn’t gone too far to hear you.”
“She was supposed to stay in the general area of the courthouse,” Torus said, taking the Think-me. “She’s probably sitting in an eatery somewhere with her phone turned off.”
But he didn’t really believe that—something was wrong—he was sure of it.
He jammed the Think-me down over his temples and concentrated as hard as he could.
“Molly? Molly can you hear me? Please answer, sweetheart—I’m worried about you!”
But there was no answer. Not even an inkling of one—which meant that either she was ignoring him or she was out of range. Torus desperately hoped it was the former and not the latter. If she was too far away to get his thought message—
“Warrior, your female is in danger!”
The strong, feminine voice startled Torus so much he nearly gasped. At once he knew who he was talking to—or rather, who was talking to him. The overwhelming presence that surrounded him was unmistakable.
“Goddess?” he asked, looking around. Lone, who was still standing beside him, was looking too. Clearly he had heard the Goddess as well.
“Yes, it is I—the Mother of All Life,” came the reply. “Warrior, you have no time to lose. Go at once to the coordinates I have placed in the nav-com of this vessel. You must hurry—your female’s life is in danger!”
Then, as suddenly as it had come, the voice and the presence were gone. Torus exchanged a wide-eyed look with Lone.
“Come on!” Lone beckoned him into the shuttle. “We have to go!”
Torus followed him but inside his guts were twisted into a knot. How far away was Molly? The Goddess hadn’t said—she’d only told him that her life was in danger.
He just prayed he could get to her in time.
47
MOLLY
“Karen, please—you don’t want to be part of this!” Molly pleaded. She shifted on the dirty mattress and the rickety bed frame it was on creaked. There was no other furniture in the dusty backroom but an old wooden table. “You don’t want to be an accessory to murder!” she said.
“I won’t be—because I’m going to be long gone before he kills you,” Karen said coolly. “You know, when I first came down here and contacted your ex, I just wanted to find some way to hurt you and get you away from Commander Torus—I never dreamed he’d come up with such a good plan!”