Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
All her grief and guilt came out, along with a rush of tears. Thrax just held her and listened to it all without comment. Andi told her partner what her ex had said about her being a bad mother and how she felt guilty for leaving Lindsey, even though she knew her daughter was all right.
“So he’s trying to make you feel bad enough to come back to him and using your young one to do it,” Thrax had rumbled at last when she had gotten it all out.
Andi nodded and swiped at her eyes.
“Exactly.”
“Do his words have any merit? Lindsey seems fine to me,” he said, frowning.
“She is fine. She had one bad semester when we first split up but now she’s doing great in school. She has a lot of friends, too—that’s one reason I didn’t try to get full custody and bring her up to the Mother Ship full time,” Andi told him, sniffing. “I thought it was important for her to finish high school where she knows everyone instead of uprooting her.” She sighed. “Of course, she was unhappy when Brian and I first separated, but she seems adjusted to it now.”
Thrax gave her a mystified look.
“Then why are you letting that fucking idiot of an ex-mate make you cry? His accusations are groundless.”
“I know they are.” Andi sniffed again and shook her head. “It’s just…I never expected to end up like this—divorced, I mean. I thought my marriage was going to last. I wanted so much to make a stable home for my daughter.”
“And you do,” Thrax told her. “Lindsey is safe and she’s doing well in her studies. She has friends and she seems to enjoy coming up to the Mother Ship with you on the weekends.” His face had darkened. “I don’t think your ex-mate wants you to come back to him for your daughter’s sake at all—I think it’s much more fucking likely that he wants you back for his own gratification.”
“You’re right—he just wants someone to cook and clean and give him sex,” Andi agreed. Of course, this was exactly what she’d told her ex, but somehow talking about it to her partner made her feel better—stronger.
“A male like that doesn’t deserve you.” Thrax had cupped her cheek and looked into her eyes. “You’re beautiful and smart and an excellent mother, Andi—don’t let him steal your joy.”
Andi’s heart had started pounding as they locked gazes and for a moment—just a moment—she’d almost thought that her partner was going to kiss her.
But of course, he didn’t. He just looked at her for a long moment and stroked her hair while he held her close. After a while, when he was sure she was feeling better, he had proposed a late night “snack run.”
The two of them had gone down to a little eatery in the parklands at the center of the ship and split an order of Brenzian cheese balls—which was a tangy, stringy cheese a little like mozzarella except it was bright blue and had tiny bits of hot and sweet peppers sprinkled throughout it.
Andi had felt immensely better afterwards, but when she had thanked Thrax for being there for her, he just shrugged his broad shoulders and gave her half a grin.
“Hey, that’s what partners are for, right?” he’d asked. “Gotta stick together or we’ll fucking fall apart.”
It was those words that stuck in Andi’s memory as she wondered what their new mission was going to be like. Maybe Kat would have some insights for them…
“Oh—here we are,” she said, looking down the hallway. “This is Kat’s place.”
They stopped in front of a shiny metal door and Thrax rang the door indicator chime. A moment later, the door whooshed to one side, revealing Kat—the woman in charge of getting Agents ready for their missions. She was a full-figured red-head, much like Andi herself, though considerably taller.
“There you two are!” she exclaimed, looking at Andi and Thrax. “Come in—you’re folding space in half an hour so we don’t have a minute to spare!”
And she dragged them into her suite before Andi could even say, “hello.”
4
THRAX
“Ihave to wear this?” Thrax frowned down at himself skeptically. The male-wife clothing Kat had made for him wasn’t exactly to his liking. The top was made of black leather. It had a high collar that went halfway up his throat and long sleeves which covered his shoulders and arms. However, it ended just under his clavicles and showed his entire bare chest and abdomen and also his bare back. So really, it was just half a shirt—or more like a fourth of a shirt, he thought.
Besides baring most of his torso, Thrax didn’t like the collar around his throat. It felt too much like a pain collar—the kind the cruel Mistresses of Yonnie Six forced their bodyslaves to wear. He tried to push the thought away as he tugged at the high leather collar with one finger, trying to make more room.