Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Torus knew this because in these dreams, he always felt what she felt. He felt her sorrow and despair and the constant fear that hovered over every word she spoke and every action she took because she never knew what would set off the human male she lived with. He felt her bone-deep terror that someday the male would go too far and kill her and that no one would mind because the humans didn’t care enough to protect their females properly. But most of all he felt how trapped she was—how she feared she would never, ever get away from this awful situation that had somehow consumed her entire world.
The dreams always left Torus shaken and sweating and sick to his stomach when he finally woke from them. He was a big, powerful male—he wasn’t used to feeling small and frightened—like a tiny prey animal being stalked by a vicious predator. And he especially wasn’t used to feeling used and abused sexually.
His body often ached after the really bad dreams, as though he had endured rough penetration. And often he woke with tears in his eyes from the sorrow he felt when he lived through these traumatic incidents with Molly.
Torus didn’t think of himself as an especially soft-hearted male—he never cried. Or he hadn’t before the dreams started, a few months ago. But feeling the little Elite’s terror—her helplessness and hopelessness—tore at his heart. It made him want to gather her into his arms and try to comfort her.
Even more, it made him want to go and pound the male who was hurting her to dust! Just thinking of the way he forced and abused her made Torus grind his teeth with fury. He wanted to go kill the male in his dreams—how dare he hurt such a sweet little defenseless female? How dare he force her to service him sexually when he disgusted her to the point of nausea?
If he could have stopped her trauma, Torus would have done it in a heartbeat. But the thing was, none of this was happening to Molly in real life. He knew because he had done some careful and discreet digging into her personal life.
Molly Byrne had lived aboard the Mother Ship for only six months, but she wasn’t attached to any male. She had no mate or children—she lived quietly and alone in one of the single suites aboard the giant ship. She never went on social outings with males—what the humans called “dating.” Instead, she seemed content to keep to herself, though she had a few friends at work—the quirky Lana being her best friend, at least, as far as Torus could see.
So if she was well and safe, why did he keep having such disturbing dreams about her, he asked himself? Dreams that left him shaken and sick, with tears in his eyes or his heart pounding in terror.
Also, why couldn’t he get her out of his mind? She was just like the other human females—too tiny to call as a mate. Even though her petite frame was more padded and curvy than most—which he liked—he would still crush her if they tried to do anything intimate together.
Not that he would ever initiate such a thing. After seeing her get forced over and over in the terrible dreams, Torus was certain she would never want anything to do with a male sexually again.
I would never hurt her, though, he thought, picturing her lovely, heart-shaped face and her big, hazel eyes. I would be so gentle…so careful and patient.
Molly reminded him of a bird with a broken wing—one he wished he could heal. He could imagine stroking her long, flame-red hair…feeling the silky strands curl around his fingers as she looked up at him trustingly.
“I’ll be gentle with you, little bird,” he would tell her. “I’ll never hurt you—I swear it…”
Ping! The small sound pulled him out of his daydream—which had been verging on a fantasy, he admitted to himself uncomfortably. It was the signal that he had an interdepartmental e-mail which the sender had marked as “urgent—open immediately.”
Torus sighed to himself in irritation. Doubtless this was the memo from Karen Geners. It was going to be filled with ridiculous questions everyone already knew the answers to as well as a thinly veiled come-on and probably an invitation to discuss the matter further “at my place.” Karen was always asking to cook him Last Meal or offering to take him out to one of the restaurants in the center of the Mother Ship. Torus had turned her down time and again but she still—
His thoughts cut off abruptly as he opened the email and saw what it was. Torus leaned towards the screen. His eyes got wider and wider as the video embedded in the email played on and on and soft moans came from the speakers of his computer.