Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 101280 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101280 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Frowning, I sat up. Where the hell was she?
I swung my legs out of the big pink monstrosity of a bed and went looking for her.
“Natalie? Baby?” I knocked on the door to the necessary room. There was no answer but when my knuckles hit it, the door swung silently open.
Natalie wasn’t in there, but something of hers was—it was lying in the sink, which had a golden-framed mirror hung over it. Frowning, I picked up the discarded garment—it was the silky, pale gold nightdress she’d been wearing when we went to bed. But why had she taken it off? And where was she now?
I was about to leave and ask if any of the Tangellan females had seen her, when I heard a soft vibration from the other room. Going back into the bed chamber, I found that it was coming from my communications device, which was still stuffed into the pocket of my trousers.
Was that Natalie calling me? But from where? And how had she gotten my private number? I had never gotten around to giving it to her in the few days we’d been together, though I probably should have.
I pulled it out of my pocket and hit the holo screen, only to see the last person I’d expected—my ex-second-in-command, Azz’lx.
“Azz’lx? What the fuck do you want?” I demanded, glaring at the fist sized hologram hovering above my device. “If you’re calling to beg for your job back, you can fucking forget it! I know you were diverting money from the company, you lying, cheating, sack of shit!”
“I’m not calling to beg you for anything,” Azz’lx snarled. There was an angry grin on his face—a triumphant expression I didn’t like one Goddess-damned bit.
“Then why the fuck are you calling me?” I growled.
“I guess you could say I’m calling to gloat.” Azz’lx smirked at me. “Have you spoken to your little whore lately?”
I felt my heart clench in my chest like a fist and a bad feeling began to fill me.
“What are you talking about? What do you know about Natalie?” I demanded.
“More than you do at the present moment,” Azz’lx remarked. “For instance, I know that the merchant who originally bought her from the Commercians took possession of her again last night—probably while you were sleeping.”
“What? You’re lying!” I exclaimed.
“Actually, despite you calling me a ‘lying sack of shit,’ this time I’m telling the truth,” Azz’lx snapped. “Gumpas has the same kind of technology the Commercians do now—he can abduct women through any shiny surface, such as a mirror or a viewer.”
“A mirror?” I demanded and my heart clenched again when I remembered how I’d found Natalie’s night dress lying in the sink right under the golden framed mirror.
“Yes, indeed.” Azz’lx smirked at me again in that self-satisfied way that made me want to wipe the expression off his face with my fist.
“Where is she?” I demanded, glaring at his holo. “Goddess damn it—tell me right now, Azz’lx!”
“All right, I will tell you—but only because I know you have absolutely no chance of ever getting her back,” he sneered. “Gumpas said he was going to sell your little whore to the Dark Emperor of Tangella Alpha-Prime. And once she belongs to him, you don’t have a chance in all the Frozen Hells of ever getting to her—let alone having her for yourself again.”
“You asshole! You contacted him and told him to come get her, didn’t you?” I demanded, my voice thick with rage.
“That’s exactly what I did.” Azz’lx’s eyes flashed. “That little whore cost me my job but she’s going to pay with her life. You see, the Dark Emperor specifically wanted La-ti-zals and I told Gumpas that Natalie was one. Once the Emperor finds out she’s a fake, he’ll cut her head off! That’s how he deals with people who ‘displease’ him,” he added, smirking again.
I realized he must have told the merchant who had taken Natalie what he thought was a lie. He didn’t know she really was a La-ti-zal—though I had no idea how her visions, (which only seemed to happen when I was giving her sexual pleasure,) could help her in this situation. And more to the point, how could I help her if she’d already been delivered to Emperor Shadout on the other side of the planet?
“You son of a bitch!” I swore at him. “You’re going to pay for this!”
“I doubt it,” Azz’lx said coolly. “And even if I do, you’re still getting the worse end of this deal. After all, what could be more painful than losing the female you love?”
His words struck home in my heart as though he’d stabbed me with a fucking knife. Because, for once in his miserable life, Azz’lx was right. I did love Natalie! I had told myself I was willing to take her home to Earth—willing to lose her forever.