Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 86059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
I wonder if there’s an etiquette to this sort of thing. Do I need to stay by his side? Will he care if I poke around a bit? The scavenger side of me wins out, and I tiptoe back out of the room to go wander about the house. I open every cabinet and poke around in every box, and I see a decent amount of treasures, but I leave most of them there. I’m not exactly sure what’s going to happen when I go back to Fort Dallas with Jurik, but until I know if I’ll have a safe place to store things, they’re better off left here. I do find a can of something dented in the back of one pantry, and spend several minutes looking for a can opener.
As I do, I get turned on.
I ignore the quiver racing through me at first, digging through a utensil drawer, but when another hot quiver rushes through my body, I pause to concentrate. An image of someone drifts through my mind, and it isn’t until I see the scar that I realize it’s me.
Oh. Jurik’s dreaming about me.
I can feel the connection between us, small but growing stronger by the moment, and if I concentrate, I can pick up his feelings. His thoughts are sleepy and pleasant, and utterly distracting when the dream-me parts her lips and starts to do very un-me sorts of graphic things.
I shake my head to clear it, a little disturbed that my new dragon “mate” is having erotic dreams about me when I’m in the next room over, but I’m also flattered. The Rachel in his head is me, messy braid and vicious scars and all, but he really does find me beautiful. His thoughts are full of awe and hunger, and it’s hard not to be pleased about that.
I find a can opener and break open my prize…and immediately start gagging. Whatever it is, it went bad ages ago. Hastily, I take it outside and pitch it as far away as I can, coughing and dry-heaving at the god-awful smell. After I recover, I wipe at my mouth, shuddering, and look around the silent, empty neighborhood. It’s not a bad place. Some of the houses are burned to the ground, but that’s to be expected. There’s a lot of them that look like they’ve survived at least partially intact, and I’d love to explore more thoroughly.
Another time, though. Even now, Jurik’s thoughts take a decidedly more erotic bent, and I’m blushing as I return to the house. I see a curled, worn magazine left atop a cabinet and snatch it for myself, then head in to check on Jurik. He’s still fast asleep, but his cock is hardening again, as if his dreams are affecting his body, too.
I sit on the edge of the bed, magazine in my lap, and try to concentrate on it while I wait for him to wake up.
29
JURIK
Rachel.
That is my mate’s name.
The thought bursts into my mind with clarity the moment I return to myself. Rachel. A strong, beautiful name, one that matches my dark-eyed female with the claw marks that cross her face and a delicate chin. Her thoughts filter through mine, a waterfall that cascades through my mind and settles me. Rachel’s mind is pure and sweet and so strong it fills me with hunger. She flips through a book of pictures with her hand, her body pulsing with awareness of my nearness.
Rachel.
My mate.
A betrayer.
I remember now. The realization makes me jerk upright, off of the soft platform—a bed, her thoughts tell me—and I leap to my feet. She flies backwards, too, tumbling off the other side of the bed in a panic.
Betrayer! I snarl at her. You have used me!
“W-what?” Rachel picks herself up off the floor, hating how clumsy she is with her missing hand. I catch the flash of irritation that drifts through her thoughts before it is swallowed by her confusion. “What are you talking about?”
You mated with me simply so I would take you back to your human hive? You plan on leaving me?
She blinks, getting to her feet. “I thought we would go back together. You and me.”
Why would I go there?
“To…stay with me? I have to go back.”
Not if I do not take you. You are mine. What is so important there?
The thing that has been bothering me, the thing that has made me suspicious, coalesces in her mind. A mental image of her home—the fort—rises in her mind, and with it, the face of a hated Salorian.
Lord Azar.
Madness explodes through my head along with my fury. You have betrayed me to a Salorian!
“What—”
With an angry roar, I shift to my battle-form, letting the madness flow over me. Through Rachel’s thoughts, I see my eyes go pure black, and she is afraid. Fresh anger washes through me. She thinks I would hurt her?