Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 64359 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64359 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
“There is nothing more pathetic than a villain who thinks he is a hero,” Emrys rejoins. His posture is still languid and unbothered, but there is a spark in his sanguine gaze that tells me he is enjoying winding Kronos up. Emrys enjoys bringing others down to his base, brutal level. Atlas is immune because he is rather separate from it all, an entirely different kind of creature immune to this kind of manipulation.
“I am going to take my mate to my bed, and I am going to show her what it means to be loved properly. Once I am done with her, you will no longer have any hold over her, valker,” Kronos declares.
“You are going to take the human you own to bed in order to mate with her in order to satisfy your own base desires, barbarian. We are the same.”
“Stop saying we are the same.”
“Stop arguing and carry her off.”
Kronos glares at Emrys, and for a brief moment I wonder if he will not carry me off at all, but rather put me down and try to prove he is the better creature.
But he doesn’t. He carries me off, just like a piece of property. I end up hoisted over his shoulder, staring back at Emrys and Atlas. Atlas has said nothing, done nothing. He was so protective to begin with, but maybe he has come to terms with the fact that I am a possession who must be shared. Maybe it is time I came to terms with that same revelation. My life is now a round of big aliens who have hunted me down and made it nearly impossible to escape, taking what they paid for from me installment by installment.
“Where are you taking me?” I ask Kronos the question as he lumbers around with me.
“To my ship.”
Emrys and Atlas are going to let him take me to his ship, apparently. This feels like a trick or a trap to me. I’m surprised it doesn’t seem like one to him. There’s no way they’re just going to sit there and let this happen. The fact that Kronos already has me outside on the volcanic plain and is actually carrying me away from the valker encampment without anybody stopping him feels very strange.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” I say in an attempt to warn him.
“I think leaving you with those two is the worst idea anybody could have. Look at what they have already done to you. You are infected with a flesh-eating disease…”
“I think flesh eating diseases mean your flesh is being eaten by a disease, not that you like to eat flesh.”
“Same thing,” he says. “I am sorry. I should have fought harder for you from the outset.”
“I’ve been fighting plenty hard for myself, don’t worry. You buried one of these guys, remember?”
“You shouldn’t have had to. I shouldn’t have had to. This is entirely unacceptable. You should be cherished and kept safe.”
“You don’t know me, Kronos.”
“It doesn’t matter. Everybody deserves to be cherished and kept safe.”
“Then why did you buy a mate?”
He carries me into his ship and settles me down inside the interior. Kronos is traveling alone in a ship that is clearly designed to carry a large number of people. There’s enough space in the room he takes me into to hold a small wedding. The ship is well-appointed, but there are signs that Kronos doesn’t like how it feels. He has a lot of barbarian mementos on the walls, shields and swords and a pair of warhammers, all buzzing with that strange current that I saw come to light outside Owned Mates. It’s brutal, primal, and space age all at the same time.
Kronos begins pacing in front of me, his brow furrowed in a way that makes his handsome features all the more appealing for their solemnity.
“My world is dying. My tribe is dwindling. I need to breed. I wish I did not have to purchase a person to give me an heir, but I did. I chose you because your profile said you wanted a large family.”
Did it? It probably did. It probably said all sorts of things. I wrote those profiles to appeal to the highest buyers. I know what aliens want human women for. The hole between my legs is one of the most prized portals in the universe at this point.
“I need you,” he says.
“You need anybody with a working womb,” I reply. “You don’t need me. It would have been way easier to just buy another human. Surely Owned Mates has a money back guarantee. Or you could have done a chargeback. No matter how you slice it, chasing around the universe for me was unnecessary.”
“I also want you,” he admits.
“Why? You said you want a mother for your children. I’m a murderous, flesh-eating beast.”