Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 67092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Of course she couldn’t answer but the shouts of the mob were getting closer. Taking a deep breath, Raak shouldered open the heavy door and plunged out into the freezing night.
Cold…she was so cold. The wind howled around them, pounding them with stinging pieces of ice, making Kara’s hair whip around her face crazily. The bitter freezing chill knifed at her lungs every time she drew breath and made her face—the only part of her that wasn’t completely numb already—sting and throb. It was easily the worst weather she’d ever been out in—like some kind of a super chilled category 5 hurricane.
Raak’s own long black hair was whipping around his head like a flag but he didn’t hesitate a moment. The second they were out the door, he clutched Kara tighter and began to run, his feet crunching in the icy snow that covered the ground.
Though she was still feeling stunned from the drug, Kara couldn’t help marveling at the big warrior’s sheer speed and power. He was sprinting over the frozen ground as easily as another man might run on a level, even track on a sunshiny day. And her own weight—considerable though it was since she was both tall and curvy—didn’t seem to slow him down a bit.
It was as though he was running a race—but a race against who? It appeared that the angry mob had been left behind in the grotto. Which made sense—who wanted to come out in weather like this? You could freeze to death inside of a minute if you weren’t adequately protected.
Suddenly Kara realized why Raak was racing so desperately. He wasn’t running from the mob and he wasn’t running for himself—she had seen him walk through the bitter cold earlier without a care, as though it didn’t bother him at all.
He’s running for me, she realized woozily. He’s worried I’ll freeze. Not surprising considering all she had on was her new royal blue tharp.
I wonder if I’ll die out here? she thought in a strange, detached way. Or get frostbite everywhere and lose all my fingers and toes?
That certainly wouldn’t be pleasant. She was pretty sure that Yipper, the Tolleg surgeon who lived aboard the Mother Ship, could fit her with new prosthetic fingers and toes that would look extremely real and function perfectly, but it just wouldn’t be the same.
I don’t want to lose any part of me, Kara realized. Not even my fangs.
At the present, she couldn’t tell if her extremities were in danger or not. Since she was already numb from the shot Dr. ThrobGood had given her, it was impossible to say.
Suddenly they jolted to a halt.
“Here we are, baby girl,” she heard Raakshas rasp. Since her face was turned up, Kara could see that they were standing under the belly of a large black ship with red markings. Raak transferred her to one arm only and did something with the other which caused a gangplank to descend from the belly of the ship. He jumped aboard it before it was even finished coming down, his boots clanking on the metal. The move jolted Kara but she was still in no shape to protest. She simply lay limp in his arms as he ran up the plank and into his ship.
What else could she do?
Twelve
The minute they were inside with the door shut tight behind them, Raak carried her to the back of the ship and laid her on a long, low sleeping platform.
“Okay, let’s see the damage,” he muttered and began to examine her.
Kara still couldn’t move but the feeling was beginning to come back to her body slowly. She was able to feel his big hands as he ran them anxiously up and down her arms and legs, paying special attention to her fingers and toes.
She cried out weakly when his touch caused pain and Raak frowned.
“Goddess damn it, I got us here as fast as I could but you’re still in a bad way. We need to get you warmed up, baby girl.”
He left for a moment and Kara heard the sound of water running in the other room. In a moment he came back and lifted her off the bed.
“Wh…where?” she managed to get out.
“Tub,” Raak responded shortly. “Gotta get your core temperature back where it needs to be.”
Kara wanted to protest that she didn’t want him bathing her—the very idea was extremely embarrassing—but there wasn’t much she could do. Though some of the effects of the drug ThrobGood had given her were slowly fading, she still couldn’t move her arms and legs. She did manage to wiggle her toes but she cried out in pain when a sharp stabbing feeling ran through her foot at the motion.
“Easy now,” Raak cautioned her, laying her gently down in a deep tub which was already half full of warm water. “We need to get you heated up but slowly, baby girl. Can’t go too fast or we’ll make things worse than they are.”