Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 55551 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55551 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
“I don’t know. It’s still in there.”
“Sure. It’s in there. But was it ever activated? If it is like most technology, it may have needed some kind of initialization or similar to make it actually work.”
“Oh,” she says, as that idea gets into her head and rattles around in a faintly plausible way. “Maybe.”
“It is possible that all this time, you have never been anything or anyone other than yourself.
She stares at me. “That would explain quite a lot in some ways. But… then… why… how… have I been so fucking out of control?”
“You may merely be out of control, Suli,” I say, patiently and affectionately.
“Well, that’s not good. The chip really gave me some excellent plausible deniability.”
“I’m sure it did,” I laugh. “Regardless, you know I will hold you fully accountable now, no matter what. And I expect you to aid me, and Avel, in taming this other young human woman.”
That gets me a curt shake of her head. “That might be going a little far. She was my first mate. I’m not going to betray her. If anything, I’ll probably do my best to help her get back to the others and escape this planet forever.”
“At least you tell me where you stand,” I say. “I suppose loyalty is too much to ask at this point.”
“Hoes before dinobros,” she says.
I do not know what that expression means, but I have to assume it is disrespectful by the way she smirks in that cute way she does when she thinks she is getting away with something. So much of Suli’s inner workings are revealed by her very own face. She is betrayed constantly by the quirking of her lips and the gleaming of her eyes.
I raise a brow at her, and smile inwardly as she does just as I expected her to and starts squirming in front of me, making sounds that are precariously close to a very un-captainly giggle. I adore this woman. She has taken a place at the very core of me, and there is nothing I would not do for her.
Of course, what she most needs is for me to be precisely what and who I am, for me to look after her in every way, and to protect her from the wilder impulses that have always lived inside her.
“I will take that response as a yes, it is too much to ask at present.”
“Good idea,” she says.
“Fortunately for you, Raine will not be held anywhere you have any kind of influence. Avel is going to make sure she is forced to confront all the same things you were, and trained even more completely. He does not have my soft spot for chaotic disobedience. He will ensure that she does as she is told.”
“She’s going to kill him,” Suli repeats. “I really mean it. Raine does not fuck around, and she does not feel any kind of remorse when it comes time to pull the trigger. She is not secretly a soft little bunny under a hard exterior. She’s a monster. Inside and out.”
I smile down at her, enjoying this glimpse into the mind of my captive captain as she shows her concern for one of my men. This little human is an alpha in her own right. My cage and my punishments are not what will ultimately keep her here. What will keep her by my side is this transition into truly becoming an alpha’s mate in her heart, and thinking about the saurians who depend on me to lead them.
“Don’t worry about Avel. He is much tougher than he looks.”
“He looks pretty tough,” Suli admits. “But Raine is a thousand times tougher than she looks. You should warn him. You should assign extra personnel. You should…”
I cut her dire warnings off with a passionate kiss, enjoying the way she stays tense for a moment before softening against me, surrendering to my dominance and sinking into her place in my arms and my life.
“Do not worry,” I purr softly down at her. “Everything is under control.”
EPILOGUE
Raine
That winged alien bastard has finally left me alone. That’s his first mistake. I’m going to make sure it is his last. No male of any species gets away with handling me the way he did.
This is what I get for trying to rescue someone who doesn’t deserve rescuing. This is what I get for listening to my crew instead of doing what I know is best for them. When we saw Sullivan’s emergency crash beacon activate, I should have turned the ship around and headed as many light years in the other direction as possible. Instead, I let sentiment rule the day.
Now I’m no better than she was.
Within hours of attempting that pointless rescue, I was disarmed, blindfolded, and brought here. Wherever here is. All I could sense at the time was rushing and gusting of wind. I figured we were moving very fast, and obviously flying. These saurians obviously want to put a whole lot of distance between me and the captain. That’s smart, because the two of us have pulled off some heists and shenanigans over the years that would make their scaled heads spin.