Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 108211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
“I was telling you to stop because I was afraid of what you’d think when I had to explain to you later that I took advantage of you while you were mentally incapacitated!” Andi protested.
Cade’s eyes opened wide and he let out a short, startled bark of a laugh.
“You think you took advantage of me?”
“I did take advantage of you!” Andi insisted. “And then I wasn’t brave enough to tell you! Cade, I…” She bit her lip. “I stopped wearing panties. I mean, I only had the one pair, but I stopped bothering with them. I dressed for easy access and I…” She bit her lip, feeling her face burn with shame. “I bent over a lot and…and spread my legs. I offered myself to you, knowing that you’d take me because you didn’t know any better.”
Cade still looked startled.
“You…but you fucking begged me to stop. I remember that, well enough,” he growled.
“At first,” Andi said. “Because I felt so guilty—I was dreading admitting to you what I’d let you do. I should have tried harder to, uh, to tell you ‘no’—should have tried harder to train you.”
“Train me?” He frowned.
“You know—the way you’d train a dog or any other animal,” Andi tried to explain. “At first I tried to use my Sweet Drops to distract you from trying to uh, do other things. But then Goodie Bo-long—who I was staying with—told me there was no point in trying to train you because Manimals do what they want. And what they mostly want to do is, um…”
“Breed,” Cade said grimly. “Fuck.”
“Exactly,” Andi admitted. “But the thing is, the Magroagaricus trisporus spoors that turned you into a Manimal, affected me too.” She shifted on the couch, pressing her thighs together. “And they’re affecting me still.”
He frowned.
“Wait—I thought you were decontaminated, same as me.”
“I was—I am,” Andi said quickly. “I can’t pass them on to anybody, but the spoors will live in my system for the rest of my life. Which means I’ll have to deal with their effects for the rest of my life.”
Cade shook his head.
“And what are their effects?”
“They make you…uh, extremely aroused.” Andi could feel herself blushing again. “And I know that’s no excuse for what I did—for the way I, uh, used you when you were a Manimal and couldn’t really think because you’d lost the use of your higher mind, but—“
Cade put up a hand to stop her.
“Let’s put a stop to this right now—this idea that you took advantage of me or used me. Because you fucking didn’t—I mean, you weren’t inviting me to do anything that I didn’t already want to do, even before I got turned into a, uh, ‘Manimal.’”
“What?” Andi looked up at him, startled. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I fucking wanted you too—from the moment I first saw you!” Cade exclaimed. “When you tripped coming into Commander Sylvan’s office and I caught you. I think it was what you humans call ‘love at first sight,’” he said earnestly. “Or at least, lust at first sight. But when I got to know you, I liked you more and more. I don’t know exactly when it turned to love, but it did, Andrea.”
Andi’s heart was pounding. Was he actually saying he loved her? That he returned her feelings?
“Then why didn’t you ever say anything?” she demanded. “I mean, other than saying my eyes were pretty without my glasses?”
“I fucking couldn’t.” Cade shook his head and Andi thought he looked sad. “I’m a Hybrid—do you know what that means?”
“Yes, of course,” Andi said impatiently. “It means you’re half Blood Kindred and half Beast Kindred.”
“Yes, but it also means I can’t Bond a female to me,” Cade explained. “I knew there was no point starting anything with you, because I’d never be able to Bond you to me.”
“Really?” Andi felt like her heart was sinking down to her toes. “So…you only want me if you can Bond me to you?”
“Hell no, sweetheart! I want you any way I can get you,” Cade exclaimed, surprising her. “But I feel like I already took more than I should—more than you were willing to give. When I…” He cleared his throat and shook his head. “When I woke inside you and saw the fear in your eyes…you can’t tell me that was consensual.”
“Okay, that was pretty rough,” Andi admitted. “But it was only because the Chief Peace Keeper had locked you away from me and let you go Primal. You hadn’t had any of my honey or my Sweet Drops in a day and a night and it made you a little crazy—I’m just thankful you didn’t kill me, the way Goodie Bo-long’s Manimals killed her,” she added with a shiver.
A troubled look crossed Cade’s face.
“I remember feeling fucking enraged. Wanting to kill or breed or both.”
“I know—I could see it in your eyes,” Andi admitted. “I didn’t know what to do at first, but then a voice told me to submit to you—to offer you my throat.”