Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 110492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 552(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 552(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
“I’m so sorry he hurt you, sweetheart,” he murmured into her long brown hair as he stroked her shaking shoulders. “So damn sorry.” He had never done this before—never held a female in such a way—but it felt so right he didn’t even question it. She needed comfort and so he gave it—it was as simple as that.
Torri sobbed in the darkness, curled against his chest for some time. Vic rubbed her back, holding her close to try and ease her pain the only way he could. Inside the new emotions continued to fill him. He didn’t only feel sorrow for her hurt—he was also filled with fury. He wished that he could kill her mate, who had hurt her so badly—in a way, as badly as the orderly O’Toole had tried to do.
Why were males so cruel to females here, he wondered? Was it some kind of genetic fault in human males that caused them to mistreat their females? How could anyone want to hurt someone as sweet and beautiful and delicate as the female in his arms?
I want to protect her from ever being hurt again, he realized. I want to stay by her side and keep her safe and make her happy.
But of course, that was impossible. Once his mission was completed and he had delivered his information to those aboard the Mother Ship, he would be put back into stasis to sleep until he was needed again. For the first time, he found himself regretting that facet of his existence, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Nothing but hold Torri close to his chest and stroke her hand and murmur soothing words to her in the dark, as she cried.
At last Torri straightened up and wiped at her eyes.
“Sorry to cry all over you.” Her soft voice was still slightly hoarse with tears. “I just…I knew my marriage was in trouble. I guess I just didn’t know how much trouble.”
“What we heard certainly was troubling,” Vic agreed carefully.
She gave a jagged little laugh.
“Yeah, finding out your husband has moved his mistress into your house and he’s plotting to steal your inheritance and leave you to rot in a mental institution the rest of your life, is about as troubling as it gets.” She sighed. “I want to look and see if there are any of my clothes left at all and then we should probably go.”
“Probably,” Vic agreed, but he didn’t want to stop holding her, so he didn’t move.
“What are you thinking?” Torri asked in a small voice. “Are you sorry you brought me out of St. Elizabeth’s with you? Now that you know what my own husband thinks of me?”
“Of course not!” Vic said, frowning down at her. “If you really want to know what I was thinking, it is that I know we need to go, but I don’t want to stop holding you,” he added gently, stroking her cheek. “I love your scent and the feel of your softness against me.”
“I really like the way you smell too,” Torri admitted, surprising him. “I don’t know what cologne you’re wearing, but it smells amazing. It makes me want to get close to you and never let go. Uh—I hope that’s not weird of me to say,” she added quickly.
“No, of course not,” Vic responded. But her words surprised him. Could it be that he was making his Bonding or Mating Scent for her? The scent which a Kindred’s body only made when it sensed he wanted to bond a female to him?
But that’s impossible—I didn’t even know I had a Bonding Scent. And even if I do, there’s no way I can bond anyone to me, he thought. Of course, his body was mostly organic and he did have a combination of Kindred DNA in his genetic make-up. So he supposed it was technically possible for him to make a Bonding Scent. But how could you form a soul bond with an artificial being—one which had been made instead of born? Did he even have a soul?
Vic didn’t know. And while the question had never bothered him before, it bothered him greatly now.
It doesn’t matter if you have a Bonding Scent and a soul or not, he reminded himself. You’re still going to end this mission like every other—returning to your hyperbaric stasis chamber to await the next time the Kindred need you to scout a hostile planet. So even if you could bond Torri to you, it would still be impossible to stay with her.
But there was no time to sit and ponder. They needed to get moving.
“Torri,” he murmured. “I know what your mate did hurts, but we must concentrate on warning the Mother Ship that the Scourge are on the way.”
“Is that their name? The evil aliens?” she asked, wiping her eyes. “I know you said you couldn’t remember it before.”