Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 88048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Lynx gave the girl a moment to enjoy herself and didn’t speak again until he saw her swallow.
“So you must be Mistress Mirabella, hmm?” he asked, using his softest, most purring tone. “You really surprised us—we had no idea you’d be hiding inside a giant gold robot.”
“That’s Beelie.” Mirabella patted the golden automaton, which had sealed itself up again. “He keeps me safe.”
“I can see that he does—you must be very attached to him,” Lynx said gently. “But now my Bond-Brother and I are here to keep you safe, too.”
She frowned, a mutinous look coming over her lovely face.
“How do I know that? I was watching the two of you—he was some kind of a wolf-creature.” She pointed at Saxon, who gave her a flat glare in return.
“He’s a Lykan Shifter and I’m a Felinus Shifter,” Lynx explained. “What you saw was my Bond-Brother’s Fur Form. Well, part of it anyway—he was only half-Shifted.”
“What does he look like when he’s fully Shifted, then?” The girl sounded curious. “Can I see?”
“No, you can’t fucking see!” Saxon growled, glaring at her.
“Saxon—easy!” Lynx put a hand on the Lykan’s arm. “She doesn’t know what she’s asking.”
Mirabella had drawn back from Saxon’s outburst.
“Sorry!” she muttered. “Did I offend you somehow?”
“It’s just that neither of us can do a full-Shift without a mate to call us back to our humanoid forms,” Lynx explained. “And…we have no mate at the moment.”
“So we’re not going to do a fucking full-Shift for you, just because you’re fucking curious,” Saxon rumbled.
“Forgive my Bond-Brother,” Lynx said to Mirabella. “He was wounded in a fight while we were trying to get to you—it makes him grumpy to be in pain.”
“Oh, you were wounded? Let me see.” She stepped up to the bars again, a look of concern in her lovely green eyes.
“Why? So you can poke me with a stick now that you’ve got me in a fucking cage?” Saxon grumbled, but he stepped up to the bars and presented his wounded shoulder.
“Oh, that’s deep.” Mirabella frowned. “You’re going to need some wound-glue to close it and some antibiotic spray as well.”
“We don’t have any of that with us,” Lynx told her. “Do you?”
“Of course I do.” She raised her chin. “I’m a Third Tier Healer.”
“What? You’re too young to be a Healer,” Saxon scoffed.
The girl glared up at the huge Lykan, her green eyes flashing.
“I’m older than I look, all right? And besides, I started young. I’ve always known what I wanted to be—that I wanted to help people.”
“We weren’t told anything about you being a healer,” Lynx said. “Our orders are to come protect the Ruling Member of the Sacred Seven. You are Mistress Mirabella—aren’t you?”
“Of course I am. But I’m not going back to the Sacred Seven—I don’t care what you say. Not until they catch that thing that’s killing people!”
“We heard you had a narrow escape from the killer,” Lynx said. “That must have been really frightening.”
“It was terrifying.”
For a moment, her green eyes had a haunted look, as though a terrible memory had her in its grip. But then she seemed to shake it off with an effort of will.
“Was he—” Lynx began.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Mirabella said firmly. “I’d rather have some more of this.” She broke off another square of chocolate to pop in her mouth. “Goddess, this is good! It’s just like I remember.”
“So you’ve had chocolate before?” Lynx asked her.
Mirabella nodded.
“My father used to bring it to me. He was originally from Earth, before he got abducted by Gorthian raiders. He always said it was the best thing that ever happened to him.” She smiled, as though reliving a fond memory. “He said it ended his dead-end life on Earth working at a fast-food place and getting a degree in Philosophy that he never could have used and started a whole new career as a space trader.”
“Is that how he met your mother? Was she a Yonnite Mistress too?”
Lynx wasn’t just trying to keep her talking—he was genuinely interested in her story. Earth was an insular planet with fairly primitive technology. Before the Scourge had attacked them and the Kindred had come to save them, they hadn’t even known there were other sentient races in the universe. So it was fascinating to hear of an Earthling escaping the little blue ball of a world to have a larger, richer life outside it.
“Yes—that was one of his many ‘adventures’—he used to tell me all about them when I was little.” There was a wistful look in Mirabella’s big green eyes and Lynx got the feeling that her father was no longer among the living.
“So…how did he meet your mother?” Saxon growled and Lynx felt it again—that reluctant interest in a female that he hadn’t sensed from his Bond-Brother in years.
“He got captured by slavers and put up for auction at the Flesh Bazaar,” Mirabella said. “My mother saw him there and lost her heart the moment she set eyes on him. She bought him and took him home with her and then they moved to the other side of the planet—away from Opulex—where people don’t have a fit if you take a male as a mate instead of a bodyslave.” She made a face, showing what she thought of Opulex customs.