Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
“Son. Good mor---”
“How is she? Is she happy? Are you happy? Are we a family now?”
Zane’s chest tightened even further. He grasped the back of his neck.
“Everything is great, son. I’m about to get her some breakfast. She took a tumble and hurt her ankle so I can’t leave her too long in case she needs anything, so can I call you back a little bit later?”
“Oh. Oh no. Is she all right?”
“Absolutely fine, son. She’ll be all healed up in a day or two. I need to get back to her. Everything good with you?”
“Uncle Brynn and I are harvesting his rubyfruit bushes. We’re going to make jam.”
“Fantastic, Ollie.”
“I’ll bring lots home. Tanya will love it. May I speak to her?”
“How about if you save that until tomorrow when you’re home?”
“Are we a family?”
“I want you and she to get acquainted first and then we’ll talk.”
“But I already know. I’m already sure, Daddo.”
Zane blew out a breath. “Ollie…”
“Oh, all right.” The boy sounded unhappy. “Love to you, Daddo.”
“Love to you as well, son. See you.”
Zane ended the call and immediately called Spar as he made his way to the nearest panel to order food for them, sending it to the bedroom’s nourishment station. He then ordered for a dining area to be set up beside his bed, checking the automation system’s tasks and seeing all had been caught up since the system had gone back online, including the repairs that had been needed as well as the disinfecting of Jaya’s playhouse.
The previous night, while Tanya slept, he’d been on a call with an employee who had gone in to run tests on his software. Pace, his second in command, had already sent him a communication in the wee hours to inform him that everything looked as it should as well as to tell him he’d been called to Spar’s home for a quick marriage jewelry installation for a Phallyxian woman.
Zane now knew it had to be Treya. If Daxx had married another, Treya would be announced as available for the next round of matchmaking efforts.
It was funny to Zane that more of the competitors seemed interested in the Earth women than the natives who had been segregated and protected as prizes for the first round of competitions. There were eighteen women that were of marrying age and yet many of them wound up with men in the second half of the first 100 Phallyxian male competitors. Many of the men in the top rankings had chosen Earth females and a few days after the first rounds of rankings, the access to video streams were made available and several men had changed their minds to enable them to choose an Earth bride instead of a local.
Hearing of these women, many were intrigued. Seeing them on the live feeds of their journey over, that had very much made interest rise. They were fascinating little beauties.
Zane had watched her sleep for a while, thinking about how relieved he was that she hadn’t endured what he’d thought had happened, but yet sour in his gut over what she did have to deal with and how it put a cloud over everything.
He had zero remorse for the men he took down. They were menaces. When he saw that piece of garbage with his crazed eyes, his cock out, Tanya’s frightened face, her torn undergarments around her swollen and bleeding ankle, rage took over.
Could he have pointed the weapon and held the rogue until the authorities came in? Not in Zane’s mind. That fucker had to die. At the time his instant motivation was around protecting her. His death meant there would be no way the attacker would get a chance to sit at a tribunal hearing and plead for her to remain tied to him. If he’d impregnated her? Zane clenched his jaw at the very notion.
At one point, while he sat and took another long draw of his special reserve whiskey, one of the two remaining bottles in a case given to him and Arla by his brother for a marriage gift, she snuggled into his side of the bed and buried her face in the pillow, smiling in her sleep and nuzzling in. Zane felt his lips quirk, despite his mood. He’d been sitting there, feeling sour, relief, and also anger. It was a cocktail of emotion that made it difficult to focus. He was a perfectionist with his work and couldn’t fathom what would have gone wrong. He worried through the night about the others as well as thought about his brother and wondered if his brother was somehow alive, and if so, was he involved with this rogue group? Kidnapping women? Leaving his family to wonder about him for over five years? Supplying the rebels with weapons? He hoped not. But the nagging fear made for a long night. He hadn’t told the authorities his concerns about the brand on the weapon and had kept it. He would talk to his father, ask him to check to ensure that the warehouse of his brother’s stock hadn’t been robbed.