Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 47749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 191(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 191(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
“Breenah…sweetheart…” he began, his voice coming out low and desperate.
“Are you really going to go away on another dangerous assignment and leave me here?” Breenah’s soft voice was sad and her big brown eyes were suspiciously bright.
Rax frowned. Gods, how long had she been standing out there listening to them? She must have hidden herself well for Dr. Olivia not to have seen her.
“Breenah,” he said again, helplessly, putting out a hand to her.
“Please, Rax—please don’t leave me! I like it here aboard the Mother Ship—everyone seems really nice, but they’re all strangers. I only want to stay here if you stay here with me!”
She stepped all the way into the office and as he reached for her, she fell into his arms.
Rax gathered her into his lap and cuddled her close, his heart full to overflowing as he stroked her long, black hair.
“Try to understand, little girl,” he murmured. “I hurt you—I ought to go away where I can never do it again.”
“You didn’t hurt me—and your Beast didn’t either,” she protested, looking up at him. “In fact, I can feel him in you now—he’s happy to see me!”
“You can?” Rax frowned in surprise. Closing his eyes a moment, he felt around inside himself, taking special care to examine the place he kept his Beast—like a man shoving his arm into a dark closet.
Sure enough, he could feel happiness, possessiveness and yes, love coming from the ravenous creature inside him. And that love was all directed at the little female in his lap. Not only that, but she was sending it back to him—a sweet, pure emotion that made his Beast fairly purr with contentment.
“What is it, Commander Rax?” Sylvan asked, frowning at him as Rax opened his eyes.
“I…don’t know.” Rax shook his head. “I know this sounds impossible but, well, it almost feels as though Breenah here has somehow bonded with my Beast but not with me.”
“Maybe that’s why you were able to impregnate her while you were in your Beast form,” Dr. Olivia suggested.
“I’ve never heard of this happening,” Sylvan said. He looked as stunned as Rax felt. “Never heard of a prospective bride bonding with the Beast inside a Wulven Kindred but not with the warrior himself.”
“She’s tamed it, hasn’t she?” Olivia asked, smiling encouragingly. “Breenah tamed your Beast.”
Listening from the deep rumbling of contentment from his other half as he held Breenah in his arms, Rax couldn’t deny it.
“Yes,” he said. “She has. But the two of us—I mean Breenah and I—still don’t have a bond.” He closed his eyes and sent a mental message to her to prove it to himself, but all he got back was silence. “This is so strange,” he said, opening his eyes again and frowning. “I can feel the emotions flowing back and forth from Breenah and my Beast but that’s all it is—an emotional bond. There’s no mental communication—just emotions.”
“It feels fine to me—I like being connected to your Beast. He never wanted to hurt me—he just wanted to make me his,” Breenah said, looking up at him as she snuggled even closer to his chest. “Although…” She frowned. “It does feel like something’s missing.”
“The other half of the bond—that’s what’s missing. Or maybe I should say the other third, since this is essentially a three-person situation,” Sylvan said thoughtfully.
“But…how do I get the missing third?” Rax demanded. “How do I complete this?”
Olivia shrugged.
“How do you Kindred bond any woman to you? I think the two—or three—of you are going to have to have Bonding Sex.”
“What? But I hurt Breenah last time!” Rax recoiled at the thought of hurting the soft, delicate little female in his arms again.
“You were in your Beast form last time but you won’t be this time,” Commander Sylvan said soothingly.
“It’s up to Breenah anyway,” Olivia pointed out. “It depends on if she feels comfortable trying to complete the Bond.”
“Breenah?” Rax looked down to see that she was looking up at him with those big brown eyes of hers. “How do you feel about this, sweetheart?” he murmured. “About making love to try and complete the soul bond between us? Would you like us to be bound together forever?”
“Would…would it be like it was the other night? The night of the Equinox?” There was a tremor of fear in her voice that tore at Rax’s heart.
“No, little girl,” he murmured, cupping her face gently in his hand. “It will never be like that again—even if we went someplace with a moon and my Beast came out again. You’ve tamed him now—though the Goddess alone knows how! So even if he did come out—which he won’t—he would be gentle with you.”
“And…” Breenah bit her lip. “Will you be gentle with me, Rax?”
“Oh sweetheart, you know I will.” Unable to help himself any longer, Rax tilted her chin up and took her mouth in a gentle kiss. “So gentle,” he promised, when he finally broke the kiss and looked into her wide brown eyes. “If you’ll give me one more chance, I swear I’ll never hurt you again.”