Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 108211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
“Don’t tell me I didn’t hurt you!” Cade said harshly. “I don’t know what the fuck has been happening for the past few days but I’m getting flashes of memory and none of them are good.”
Andrea shook her head.
“We don’t have time to argue about this now. We have to get out of here—how long have you been awake?”
Cade shook his head.
“I don’t know—not long, I don’t think. I…I woke up inside you,” he added, forcing himself to admit it.
Andrea bit her lip.
“I’m sorry about that,” she said, apologizing as though it was her fault that he’d forced her. “I’ll try to explain later, but for now, we really have to go. We only have a thirty-minute window before the spoors take effect again and turn you back into a Manimal.”
“A what?” Cade asked. Then he shook his head. If they only had thirty minutes from the time he had awakened, they didn’t have long. “Never mind—where’s the ship?” he asked.
“Over there, I think.” Andrea pointed out over the open landscape, filled with purple grass and trees. “See? You can catch the sun winking on the viewscreen. But there’s a huge hole in it. Or there was when we left it, a week ago.”
“A whole week?” Cade shook his head. No wonder he had so many strange and awful memories floating around in his brain! And they were still coming. But he couldn’t stop to examine them now. “The ship has Smart tech,” he said firmly. “If it’s really been a whole week, it should have healed itself by now.”
“Then we have to leave!” Andrea said urgently. She sat up with a wince and seemed to realize what a state she was in. Blushing, she pulled down her skirt and tried to cover her breasts with the loose blouse she wore.
It twisted Cade’s heart to see her in this state—the state that he had put her in.
“Here,” he said. “Let me carry you.”
But Andrea shied away from him.
“No, no—you don’t have to do that. I…I can walk,” she said, slowly getting to her feet.
Her avoidance was another stab to his already wounded heart, but Cade couldn’t blame her. He’d just taken her by force and knotted her in front of a bunch of spectators. Of course she didn’t want to be anywhere near him!
“Fine—we’ll leave,” he said shortly, trying to keep the anguish out of his voice. “But how do we get out of here?”
Andrea shook her head.
“I don’t know. The New Order locked us in here as a punishment because I let you…I mean, they caught us…caught you, er, tasting me.”
Her face went red with shame as she spoke and Cade had another sudden memory pop up in his mind’s eye. He saw her lying on the bed with her legs spread and he was between them. He saw her trying to get up, saying his name, asking him to stop…and then he saw himself holding her down. Refusing to let her go as he continued to taste his fill of her…
Gods, what was wrong with him? How could he have done such a thing to the woman he cared for so desperately?
“We have to go,” Andrea said again, breaking into his self-recrimination. “This isn’t Zo’rath Two—it’s Zo’rath Three—there are spoors in the air here that turn all the men into mindless beasts—into Manimals. You had the antidote but it only works for thirty minutes—we have to go before you turn back!”
“All right—then we’re getting the fuck out of here,” Cade assured her. He strode up to the gate of the round metal enclosure they were in, tried it, and found it locked. The people with green skin—Zo’rathians, he guessed—who were standing outside the fence, stared at him with fear.
“Watch out!” one of them hissed. “The alien Manimal is trying to escape!”
“You’re fucking right, I’m going to escape,” Cade growled at them. “You let me and my female out of here right fucking now or you’re going to be fucking sorry!”
Their eyes got wide and they stared at each other and started muttering.
“He can speak! Manimal, how is it you have relearned the power of speech?” one of them asked.
“What you need to worry about is my power to make you fucking sorry if you don’t let us out!” Cade snapped. “Look…” He took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. “We don’t want any trouble—Andrea and I just want to go to our ship and leave your planet. You’ll never have to see us again—just let us go.”
“The Manimal is truly a man!” one of the women shouted in a voice that nearly split Cade’s head. “Therefore, no sin was committed for he is not a mindless beast! They must be released!”
“Release them…release them…” the crowd began to chant.
A new woman—almost as tall as Cade, came up to the gate. She had keys in her hands but didn’t look happy about it.