Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 130081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
The light in his pale blue eyes was so fierce it nearly took Sonya’s breath away.
“I believe you,” she said. “But…how can you stop Grox from taking me?”
He sighed and raked a hand through his thick, black hair.
“I have several ideas—several plans but we’re going to have to be careful. I’m afraid that things got heated on my side during the negotiations and we’re going to be watched carefully by the guards from now until the end of our week together.”
“They’re always watching,” Sonya said grimly. “They patrol the halls constantly.”
“But they do change shifts occasionally.” Davrik sounded thoughtful. “I know Thorians—they’re big and extremely strong, but they need a great deal of sleep because they burn energy so quickly. We need to find a time when they’re changing over and everyone is thinking of something else.”
“They change shifts early in the morning—around two or three o’clock—and then again during dinnertime,” Sonya said. She’d made a study of the guards too, back when she’d first come to The House of a Thousand Flowers—before she’d decided trying to escape on her own was a non-starter.
“Good—all right, that’s useful,” Davrik rumbled. “There would probably be less people around in the early hours, but that’s when they’d expect us to try and get away.”
“It’s more crowded at the dinner hour when everyone is going back and forth to the restaurants,” Sonya offered. “Lots of people come into The House of a Thousand flowers just to eat—you know, for a night out on the town.”
“That should be our best bet then,” Davrik said thoughtfully. “We’ll act like we’re going to Last Meal and see if we can slip out the front door while the crowds are coming and going.” He tilted her chin up to look at her. “But I want you to know something, baby girl—even if the plan fails, I’ll still come for you. I’m not leaving you here in this place—I swear I won’t.”
“I believe you,” Sonya whispered, looking up at him. “But I don’t understand—why do you care so much about me? I mean, we haven’t known each other that long.”
“I’ve known you for years, baby girl,” he murmured, stroking her cheek. “I know you don’t understand that now, but I promise I’ll explain everything once we’re safely away from this place.”
Sonya didn’t understand, but she did trust him. For some reason, the big Kindred cared deeply for her—maybe even loved her. Though she found it hard to understand how he could become attached to her in such a short period of time, she believed that he would save her.
She had no idea, though, how wrong their plan would go when the time came…
FORTY-THREE
LAN’ARA
“Kindred Mother Ship, this is Commander Lan’ara calling. Mother Ship, please come in.”
Lan’ara waited impatiently for the answer. Beside her, in the passenger seat, Nate was sitting. His broad shoulders were slumped and he was looking out of the viewscreen, not seeing the swirl of stars against the velvety blackness of space. Instead, all his attention was turned inward.
Lan’ara could feel his self-loathing clearly—it came through the Bond they had started forming from the moment they began Dream-sharing so many solar weeks ago. Most people thought that the only way to achieve a Soul Bond with a Kindred was through Bonding Sex, but what they didn’t understand was that the Bond began forming from the earliest moment of their relationship. Bonding Sex sealed and solidified it, but it was perfectly possible to form a partial Soul Bond which was strengthened with every look, every touch, every act of intimacy or tenderness.
Right now Nate’s negative emotions were coming through their own partial Bond like poisonous gas, making her feel like she was suffocating. All his feelings were so intense—so strong. She could feel his negativity draining her reservoir even though all he was doing was sitting there, hating himself. She needed to get away from him—away from those toxic feelings of self-hatred because he felt bad for hurting her.
At last, to her vast relief, the Com-link crackled to life and a female voice replied.
“Commander Lan’ara, this is the Kindred Mother Ship. We regret to inform you that our Spatial folding equipment is down for routine maintenance and won’t be back up again for several hours. Recommend you wait in place—we have your coordinates and we will send you a signal letting you know when we are able to fold space to bring you back.”
Lan’ara clenched her fists. Several hours? She didn’t know if she could survive Nate’s relentlessly negative emotions until then! But what else could she do?
“Understood,” she said in a strangled voice. “We’ll be waiting for your signal. Commander Lan’ara out.”
The Com-link clicked off and Nate stirred in his chair.
“Well, I guess we’re fucking waiting,” he rumbled.
Lan’ara wanted to answer but all she could do was put her head in her hands. His bad feelings were beating at her like waves and she didn’t even have any of his positive emotions like lust or desire to counter them—it felt like she was drowning!