Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 47749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 191(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 191(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
“You can get that—we can go over these details later.”
“No—wait a minute,” Sylvan told her. He looked up at the viewscreen, where a communications officer who was Blood Kindred like himself was waiting. “Who is it?”
“One of our scouts—Commander Ne’rax. He was supposed to go on a mission to Griesha Beta but he’s reporting there were some problems. He says he urgently needs to speak to you.” The officer relayed this information without emotion, cool and dispassionate as most Blood Kindred were.
“Sounds like you’d better take it,” Olivia remarked.
“Yes, but stay,” Sylvan told her. “Hopefully it won’t take long.”
“All right.” She shrugged and settled back into her seat.
The viewscreen flickered and a face with strong features and a square jaw came into view. There was a look of pain around the pale blue eyes and Sylvan thought it looked like this particular warrior had been through a lot recently.
“Yes, Commander Ne’rax? What can I do for you?” he asked.
“Commander Sylvan—thank you for taking my call.” Ne’rax—more commonly known as Rax to his friends and associates—took a deep breath. “I need to report the failure of my mission and…and a crime.”
“What?” Sylvan sat forward in his chair, his frown deepening. “What happened? What kind of crime and who committed it?”
“A crime against a helpless female.” Rax squeezed his eyes tightly closed for a moment and then opened them. “And I committed it. Or rather, the Beast that lives in me did. But that’s no excuse—I should be held accountable.”
Sylvan shook his head.
“I don’t understand, Rax—what did you do?”
In as few words as possible, the Wulven warrior explained how he had gotten off course and had crashed on Griesha Prime instead of Griesha Beta.
“Isn’t that the planet that got rid of all their males several hundred cycles ago?” Sylvan asked.
Rax nodded.
“The same. And…it has three moons.”
Sylvan winced in sympathy. Three moons! It was well known that even the light of one natural satellite could bring out the savage Beast that lived within every Wulven Kindred. And once it was out, only sex or blood could satiate its monstrous appetites.
They had another Wulven Kindred living aboard the Mother Ship—a warrior by the name of Rone. But he wasn’t a threat because his Beast had been tamed by his mate, a diminutive human female by the name of Kate.
However, if he remembered correctly, Rax was one of the Untameable, which meant that there was no way for him to mate with a female. Which was too bad—if a woman could have bonded with him, she could have tempered the destructive tendencies of the creature inside him.
“What happened?” he asked Rax, frowning. “Did your Beast come out? Did it…kill someone?” He hated to ask, but he knew it was a real possibility.
But Rax shook his head.
“He didn’t kill anyone but he did savage a female.” An agonized look passed over his face. “He…bred her—roughly and against her will. Not that he—we—could get her pregnant since it’s impossible for me to bond a mate. But he certainly tried. And now…” He swallowed hard. “She needs medical attention. Preferably from a female doctor,” he added. “I think that would be easier for her.”
“It so happens that the mate-of-my-kin—my sister-in-law, as the humans say—is here with me, and she’s a doctor,” Sylvan nodded at Olivia, who sat forward in her seat and nodded at the viewscreen.
“How badly is she hurt?” she asked Rax. “Is she torn?”
It was a fair question since Rax had Giant Kindred DNA in his ancestry, which made him a head taller than regular Kindred and the rest of his body proportionately bigger as well, Sylvan thought.
Rax shook his head, that agonized look of guilt and regret coming over his face again.
“I…I don’t know. I tried to clean her up as best I could but she’s been through a lot tonight. And it’s all my fault.”
“I know you feel responsible, Rax, but you can’t stop your Beast when he comes out,” Sylvan told him. “And with the light of three moons to irritate and stimulate it, you’re lucky he didn’t kill anyone.”
Rax shook his head.
“I can’t just put all this off on my Beast. I was attracted to Breenah too—instantly attracted. I…I wanted her for myself—that’s doubtless why he went after her.”
“Are you far from the Mother Ship?” Olivia asked him. “And is Breenah in a stable condition?”
“I think so. She’s in the back, tucked into the sleeping platform,” Rax said. “I came through a stable wormhole to get back to the Mother Ship and I’m close now—around the reddish planet the humans call Mars.”
“You’ll be here any minute then,” Sylvan said. “Olivia and I will meet you in the Docking Bay.”
“Thank you, Commander.” Rax nodded, then he lifted his chin. “I should be prosecuted for what I did—to the fullest extent of the law.”
Sylvan frowned.