Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 85272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
“Can’t…heal…this, little girl,” he muttered, shaking his head. “I’m dying—I can feel death…creeping over me. Just…let me…go.”
Then his eyes closed again and he tilted his head back to rest against the Mother Stone. His face was pale and when Danni looked down, she saw that the black lines of poison had crept up from his side almost to his heart.
“No!” She began to cry as she gripped his broad shoulder. “No, I don’t accept this! I love you, Bravik—we’re supposed to be together forever. You can’t die on me—you can’t!”
The big Kindred’s eyes fluttered and he murmured softly, “Love you too…little girl. Sorry.”
Danni didn’t know what to do—who to turn to. The Mother Stone, which had seemed so all-powerful as it consumed her memories of her past and brought her closer and closer to the big Kindred, now seemed impotent—nothing but an inert object which didn’t understand her need or care that the man it had pushed her to love was about to die. What could she do? Who could she turn to?
Suddenly, she remembered the voice in the cave—the one that had called her “daughter” and guided her hand as she shot the blaster. Danni didn’t know who it might be—possibly the Kindred Goddess? She had heard from Liv that the Goddess was real—a caring entity who actually did watch over the Kindred and their brides—but she had smiled politely and shrugged the idea off as superstitious nonsense. Now, she reconsidered.
“Goddess?” she whispered. “Goddess, can you hear me? If you can, please—I need help.” Looking down, she saw that the black streaks spreading across Bravik’s skin had almost reached the left side of his chest. “Please!” Her tears rained down on him, splashing in hot droplets onto his broad chest and the streaks of poison just under his skin. “Please, I’ll do anything—risk anything—pay anything—just don’t take him away from me!” she begged.
“Daughter, I hear your grief and I understand your pain,” the warm, feminine voice spoke suddenly in her ear. “There is a way to heal your warrior, but there is a grave risk to you involved.”
“I don’t care—I don’t care!” Danni cried, looking around wildly for the source of the voice. But though she couldn’t see the Goddess, she could feel her—a warm presence surrounding her and the sense that the Goddess empathized with her pain.
“It may be possible to heal the Riiver bite by bonding to your warrior,” the Goddess told her. “But it is also possible that the poison which infects his system will kill you both once the soul bond is created between you.”
“I’ll take the risk!” Danni promised eagerly. “But please, Goddess—he’s completely unconscious. In order for the two of us to bond, he has to be awake, doesn’t he?”
“True,” the Goddess acknowledged. “My daughter, I cannot heal his wound, but I can and will halt the effects of the poison for a time. I will give Bravik some of my strength so that the two of you may bond.”
“Oh, thank you, Goddess—thank you!” Danni exclaimed.
“I can give you only a little time—use it well,” the Goddess told her. And then she was gone, her presence fading with the lingering perfume of a flower garden at twilight.
But as Danni sensed the Goddess’s presence fading, Bravik’s eyes blinked open and he looked up at her with a frown.
“Hey, little girl—what are we doing here? What’s going on?”
“What’s going on is that we have to bond—right now,” Danni told him. She was still straddling him and now she pressed herself against him eagerly. “Right now, Bravik—we don’t have much time.”
“What?” He frowned. “No, baby—I told you, I can’t bond you to me. Can’t bond any female to me—I’ve tried twice and it always ends in a failed bonding.”
“Not this time,” Danni said firmly. “The Goddess told me we could bond so we’re going to bond.”
“The Goddess?” Bravik’s eyes widened. “You spoke to the Goddess?”
“I asked for help and she came,” Danni said simply. “She said that the two of us bonding is the only way to save you from the Riiver bite.”
“Riiver bite?” His eyes flew open wider and he frowned. “What Riiver bite?”
“The one that’s about to kill you if we don’t bond—look!” Danni pointed to the black lines creeping across his side and chest.
“Holy shit!” Bravik frowned down at himself. “Fucker really did bite me, didn’t he?”
“One of them did, anyway. Look at me.” Danni took his face in her hands, directing his eyes up to hers. “Bravik, we have to bond—it’s the only way to keep you from dying.”
“It’s also the only way I could drag you down with me if I do die,” he pointed out, frowning.
“The Goddess said that was a possibility,” Danni admitted calmly. “But I don’t care. If you die, I don’t want to go on living.”
“Oh, baby…” Bravik reached up to cup her cheek. “Don’t talk like that,” he rumbled. “I know the Mother Stone makes everything really intense, but we’ve really only known each other for two weeks.”