Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 86074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
“Thank you, Brother—I am well,” he rumbled, sounding oddly robotic to Lili. “What do we need to do?”
“Get the Seven Hells out of here,” Light said. He turned to Lili. “You have to come with us, Lilibet. I need to see to that arm.”
Lili wasn’t sure what to say. She wanted to point out that she couldn’t go with them—she still had a conference to attend tomorrow and besides, all her things were in her hotel room.
But when she opened her mouth to protest, again no words came out. Also, everything was beginning to look blurry around the edges. She took a step and wobbled. Her high heels suddenly felt as tall as stilts and her legs were now made of rubber.
“Watch out!” Light exclaimed and then he was swinging her up into his arms.
“What happened to her? Is she all right?” Dark asked. He didn’t sound as robotic as he had a moment ago—in fact, his face looked worried, Lili thought woozily.
And then the blurriness got worse and everything turned gray. A moment later, still clutching her hurt wrist to her chest, she fainted.
6
LIGHT
“Is she all right?” Dark asked again and Light thought that he sounded genuinely worried. Which shouldn’t be possible, considering the fact that he’d twisted his twin’s emotion damper all the way up to its highest setting. Was something wrong with the damper or was Dark having such strong feelings for the little Elite that it couldn’t stop the emotion from flowing?
Either way, they didn’t have time to worry about it right now. The human authorities would be there any minute and though The World Council had ruled that Kindred warriors were within their rights to hurt or kill any attacker who was menacing their female, Light still didn’t want to be there when the police showed up.
For one thing, he was worried that they would have trouble proving Lili was their female, since they had only just met her that night. And for another, he was sure that—justified or not—carving off the human male’s genitals and then incinerating them was going to cause a problem that the human press would probably jump on.
Commander Sylvan had explained to him and Dark that all humans carried communications devices called “cell phones” which they were constantly using to record notable events around them. If the human server who had found them in the bathrooms saw what Dark had done to Lilibet’s attacker and then took pictures and posted them to the human Internet, there was sure to be a media frenzy.
No, what they needed to do was get Lilibet back to their shuttle and then get all three of them to the Mother Ship, he decided. In addition to being a scout during their many missions on the Dark Kindred home world, Light was also trained as a medic, while Dark was a pilot. They needed to get out of here and treat Lili’s wounds—away from the human crowd.
“Come on,” he said to Dark. “Let’s get back to the ship!”
His brother walked ahead of him, making a way through the crowds and allowing Light to cradle Lili to his chest. Her head lolled limply, which worried him. But she was still breathing. Maybe she had just fainted from the pain—or from shock, he thought. He and Dark had seen many horrible wounds and killings during their combat years, but he doubted Lili had ever seen much. Possibly watching her attacker get punished had upset her.
At last they reached the ship, which Dark had parked in an empty lot on the edge of the human entertainment district. Dark slapped the silver side and the ship recognized his print and heat signature. A hatchway opened and steps descended.
“Come the fuck on.” He frowned at Light. “What are you waiting for—get her inside and fucking check her out!”
Light frowned at him.
“I just turned your emotion damper to its maximum setting. Are you having emotions anyway?”
Dark shrugged.
“So what if I am? I didn’t let The Fury take me—I’m fine. It’s little Lili I’m worried about.”
Light was worried about her too. He decided to let the concern over his twin’s emotion damper go—Lilibet had to be his first priority right now.
Carefully, he carried her into the ship.
7
DARK
Dark watched anxiously as his brother examined Lili’s hurt arm and shook his head.
“Broken, I think. I’ll need to wrap it tightly until we can get her to the Mother Ship.”
“That fucker!” Dark felt The Fury rising in him again. But it wasn’t just the Fury this time—it was Rage—the extreme anger that any Kindred warrior feels when his female is hurt or threatened. He knew Lili wasn’t technically theirs—they had just met her. But that didn’t stop the feelings of protective possessiveness which churned inside him.
He stood up and paced back and forth, clenching his fists as the angry emotions swelled like waves of lava, threatening to boil over.