Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79587 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79587 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
The big jerk! she thought, seething inwardly as she studied him from the corner of her eye. She knew the other female scientists and they got along great with their Protectors—they were always laughing and joking with each other. But Grath just sat there, trying to pretend she didn’t even exist! He—
At that point, Commander Sylvan came into the office and greeted them all.
“Dr. Porter, Protector Grath, I’m glad to see you both,” he said, going around to his side of the desk. He gave his wife Sophie an affectionate kiss and she said,
“Well, I’ll go. I can finish decorating later.”
“Oh, you don’t have to go,” Mattie said quickly. To be honest, she wanted her friend there for moral support. And maybe Sophie could put in a good word for her about the upcoming mission. It was a very prestigious assignment and Mattie was determined to get it any way she could.
“Oh, well…” Sylvan looked at Grath. “Do you mind if my mate stays during our meeting so she can finish with her decorations?”
Grath shrugged his broad shoulders.
“I have no objections,” he rumbled.
“All right then. Stay and finish if you like, talana,” Sylvan said to Sophie.
“Thank you.” She smiled and started hanging some tinsel on the wall behind him.
Sylvan, meanwhile, steepled his hands on his desk and leaned forward.
“Thank you both for coming. I’ve called this meeting because I’ve been considering Dr. Porter’s request that you should be the team to go to Vi’ri’tex Delta and make first contact with the Vi’riens. They’re an advanced society who would be valuable allies and trade partners to the Kindred.”
“Is that what this meeting is about?” Grath shot Mattie an irritated look. “Vi’ri’tex Delta is a Class 3 planet! That means it’s full of some fucking dangerous predators—not to mention the natives could be hostile as well.”
“What’s the matter? Afraid you can’t protect me if we go there?” Mattie asked sweetly.
“I never fucking said that,” Grath growled, his black eyebrows drawing low over his midnight eyes. “But maybe you should have asked me before you put us in for this assignment. Neither of the Class 1 planets we’ve visited so far has prepared you for a place like Vi’ri’tex Delta! You’re too damn little and delicate to go there!”
“I’m ready—I’ll be fine. With or without you,” Mattie snapped at him. “Stop treating me like I’m a porcelain doll that’s going to break if someone looks at me wrong!”
“You will break if a Tag’nore sinks its teeth into you!” he snapped back. “Or if the Vi’riens decide they don’t like you. Do you know how fucking picky they are?”
“Yes, that is part of the problem,” Commander Sylvan said, frowning. He looked at Mattie. “The Vi’riens are an extremely strict society who insist that everyone who lives there—or even visits—must be mated.”
“Oh yes—I know,” Mattie said eagerly. “That’s one thing that makes them so fascinating! Why, do you know that Vi’rien children are matched at birth to their future mate in a psychic ceremony that allows them to speak using only mental communication? Much the same way that Kindred communicate with their mates after they bond,” she added. “Only with the Vi’riens, the practice enables such communication almost from birth. It’s said that the Vi’rien males and their mates ‘share a brain’ with their soul mate from the moment they are born.”
“Yes, they are a fascinating people,” Commander Sylvan said, nodding. “But also extremely strict. In order to visit them, you and Grath would have to pretend to be mated and if they found out otherwise…” He made a face. “Well, I’m afraid it might end very badly for you.”
“They’re known as ‘the society that never lies,’” Grath said, surprising Mattie with his apparent knowledge of their next prospective mission. “And if they catch you in a lie, they tie you down and peel your fucking skin off—slowly.”
“We, uh…we can pretend to be mated,” Mattie said, trying to make herself believe it. “After all, lots of Kindred warriors are mated to human women. It’s believable.”
“Not for us, it’s not,” Grath growled.
“Only because you’re a jerk!” Mattie snapped. “If you’d put out even a little effort on our missions—”
“A little effort?” he demanded, narrowing his eyes at her. “Our first mission was to Qwo-woo Six where—”
“Where we spent three days talking to the Wooians,” Mattie finished for him.
The big Hybrid glared at her.
“I was going to say where the damned teeny-fucking-tiny Wooians climbed all over me because you told them I was a ‘sacred talking tree.’ And I just had to stand there and take it so you could talk to their leader—“The Grand High Emperor of All Creation” as he called himself—who was about as big as my fucking thumb and decided to sit on top of my head!”
“I can’t help it that the Wooians mistook you for one of the sacred talking trees from their mythology,” Mattie exclaimed. “But once I saw that they had, it was an excellent opportunity to get them to talk to me. And it was an honest mistake on their part—you’re certainly nearly as tall as a tree!”