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)
“Okay, then good.” Kat nodded. “You’d better get going. Good luck on your mission—Commander Kier is a friend of my guys so both Deep and Lock are rooting for you to bring him back.”
“We’ll do our best,” Andi promised her. She looked up at Thrax. “Come on—let’s get to the ship.”
“Right behind you, Queen.” Thrax made an elaborate “after you” motion with one hand and his partner laughed and slapped him on the arm.
“You don’t have to start that until we get to Salacious Delta, you know! Come on, let’s go.”
They left Kat’s suite but inside Thrax was hoping that the mission would be simple…and quickly over. He truly didn’t mind playing a submissive male…but he didn’t want his past to bleed into his present, which was what he feared would happen if they played these parts for too long.
5
ANDI
“Kindred vessel you are cleared for landing,” a strong, female voice said over the com-link of the long-range shuttle.
Andi leaned forward.
“Thank you, my male-wife will be landing our ship at the designated spot momentarily,” she said.
“Oh—you allowed your male-wife to learn to pilot?” The voice sounded surprised.
“Er…” Andi cleared her throat and thought fast. “Yes, but only because I can’t be bothered with flying the ship myself all the time. He serves me by taking me places.”
“I see. Well, we await your arrival.”
The com-link clicked off and Andi breathed a sigh of relief.
“Well, how was that?” she asked, looking over at Thrax as he sat in the pilot’s chair. “Do you think they bought it?”
“Seems like it.” He shrugged, his broad shoulders rolling under the abbreviated black leather top he was wearing.
“Okay, before we land I’d better do your eyes,” Andi told him as she took out the little eye-makeup kit Kat had given them. “Lean over so I can reach you, okay?”
Thrax leaned towards her, but with both of them seated he was still too tall. Andi frowned and shook her head.
“No—this is no good. I’ll poke you in the eye. You’d better kneel down in front of me so I can reach you better.”
A strange look came over his face and his voice was slightly hoarse as he repeated, “Kneel down? You want me to kneel for you?”
“Well, how else am I supposed to reach you?” Andi demanded. “Come on—it takes some time to do a really good smoky eye. Get down here—on your knees.” She gestured impatiently to the space between the seats.
Without another word, Thrax slipped from his own seat and knelt before her on the floor. But even with the big Hybrid kneeling and Andi sitting, they were still face-to-face with him a little taller.
“No, this is still no good,” she said, frowning. “How do you adjust this chair?”
Silently, Thrax reached out and did something to the passenger seat. A moment later it rose a foot and a half in the air so Andi was looking down on him. Unfortunately, this put her breasts at the level of his face, though she tried not to notice.
“Okay, thank you—that’s better,” she said, nodding approvingly. “Now just hold still and don’t move, all right?”
“Yes, Mistress.” The words were spoken in a low, drugged voice and when she looked into her partner’s golden eyes, they had a strange, faraway look in them.
“Thrax? You all right?” she asked. “And you’re supposed to call me ‘Queen’ not Mistress—remember?”
“Oh, right—sorry.” He seemed to snap out of the weird little mini-trance and become himself again but Andi still wondered what was going on with him.
She still thought he’d been acting strangely ever since they’d been given the mission to Salacious Delta. He kept mentally drifting off to never-never land and rubbing the small of his back—though she didn’t think he knew he was doing it. It was an unconscious gesture—the same way he tugged his left horn when he was worried about something.
She wished he would tell her what was going on, but she knew she couldn’t force it out of him. So instead, she started on his eye-makeup.
“How much of that stuff are you going to put on me, anyway?” Thrax complained, after she’d been working for over ten minutes.
“As much as I need to. Hold still!” Andi exclaimed in exasperation. She’d done the eye-shadow in peacock blue and black which looked spectacular with his golden eyes and dark red skin. She was trying to finish the eye-liner—which Kat has said was particularly important—and she still had the mascara to go.
“How can I see in a fight with all this goop on my face?” Thrax growled, scowling—which made his eyebrows draw down and caused creases around his eyes.
“You’re not going to be fighting—we’re going to a party. Now stop growling and scowling!” Andi scolded. “Keep your face smooth or I’ll poke you in the eye by accident.”
The big Hybrid sighed and subsided, though he was still grumbling something about ‘unnecessary shit’ under his breath.