Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 66405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
However, an invitation for a romantic evening together had not arrived. Instead, Addie and Drago were both called into her boss’s office a week later.
Commander Sylvan—the head of the Kindred High Council and also their superior—had explained that they had been invited to witness a special ceremony on Crimson Moon, the Vargan home world.
"The Vargan ambassador, Lx Sambla, explained to me that you had expressed an interest in studying their unique culture, Dr. Hollister," he'd said to Addie. "He has invited you to visit Crimson Moon and attend their 'Queen of Night' ceremony. Would you like to go?"
“Oh, yes!” Addie had exclaimed at the same time Drago had growled,
“Hell, no.”
"Excuse me?" Addie had turned to her Protector, a frown of confusion on her face. Drago had never objected to any of her missions before—he always just went along with her, with that same stoic look on his rugged, chiseled features. But now his dark brows were drawn low over his golden eyes—which had slitted pupils like a cat's—and his mouth was set in a thin line. Even his close-clipped black beard looked angry—if that was possible.
Commander Sylvan was frowning too.
“On what grounds do you object to Dr. Hollister visiting Crimson Moon?” he’d asked Drago.
“On the grounds that I don’t trust them—especially not that slimy little ambassador,” Drago growled. “He’s too slick—too fucking smooth, Commander. Reminds me of a used ship salesman.”
“That’s not true!” Addie exclaimed. “Lx Sambla was perfectly polite to me—and extremely attentive. Besides, how would you know anything about him? You just grunted when I introduced you and then you were silent as a stone the whole rest of the dinner and didn’t even try to take part in the conversation!”
“Just because I don’t talk much doesn’t mean I don’t listen,” Drago rumbled. “That male was feeding you a line, Addison—he was telling you everything you wanted to hear.”
“He was being polite, which is more than I can say for you!” Addie snapped. “Why wouldn’t you even talk to him? Maybe if you had, you would have gotten to know him.”
“You talked all night and didn’t get to know him—not the real him,” Drago said darkly. “I tell you, I don’t fucking like him. He gives me a bad feeling.”
“Well I thought he was lovely and I’m going on this mission to Crimson Moon,” Addie said, crossing her arms over her chest. She turned to Commander Sylvan. “Maybe you could assign a different Protector to me, Commander, since Drago is so set on not going.”
“Well, I suppose—” her boss began.
“No!” Drago growled, surprising Addie with the force of his emotion. “No, if Addison is going, I’m going along to protect her! No one else!”
She looked at him with wide eyes.
“Well! You almost sound jealous.”
His face turned as dark as a thundercloud.
“Of course I’m not jealous! But I took an oath to protect you and nobody else is going to do my job.”
Addie remembered that oath—remembered the moment when her huge, muscular Protector had dropped to one knee in front of her, almost like he was proposing, and had offered to shield her with his body and lay down his life to keep her safe if necessary.
Looking into his gorgeous golden eyes as he held her hands in his own much larger ones and smelling his Autumn leaves and masculine spice scent had been the start of her crush on him. A crush that had gotten her exactly nowhere, she reminded herself dryly. Despite the hints she’d dropped and the way she flirted with him after she found out he was single, Drago had never once returned her interest. Not even a little.
Maybe I'm just not his type—not everyone is into short, curvy redheads, Addie told herself. Or maybe it’s because he’s a Drake Kindred.
She'd heard that such Kindred often had trouble finding mates because of the huge dragon inside them, with whom they shared their consciousness and their body. Oh yes, she'd done her research when she was first paired with Drago—for the first six months of their partnership, she'd been excitedly waiting to see his Drake emerge.
But somehow his Drake never came out—not even during extremely stressful situations like the one on Belugias Three. Eventually, she'd stopped expecting to see it. And the one time she had tentatively mentioned it and asked a question about his "other half," Drago had given her such a dark, silent glare that she'd shut up and never dared to ask again.
It always felt to Addie that he was hiding that part of himself. Or maybe he was just one of those extremely stoic men who didn’t talk about themselves or their feelings. Either way, she was sick and tired of his attitude.
"Look," she said to Drago. "I don't care what you think of Lx Sambla—I've been invited by a nice, handsome man to visit a civilized planet with a fascinating new culture to study. It’s an amazing opportunity and I’m going to take him up on the invitation whether you like it or not!"