Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 66405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
But she wasn’t headed for Addie—she was looking at Drago with those hungry, blank eyes.
“Hey, no!” Addie waved her hands in wider arcs “Leave him alone! Don’t you dare come near him!”
Of course, her words had no effect. Clearly the big spider was interested in easy prey and since Drago was still strapped down, it had decided to take him first. Doubtless Addie would be next—she had no illusions that Ls Prissa or Lx Sambla would come to rescue them. Probably they would allow both of them to be killed and then they would send some kind of phony excuse to the Mother Ship and claim there had been a terrible “accident.”
We’re going to die here, Addie thought, feeling despair wash over her as she moved to put herself between Sheelash and the iron chair where Drago was still imprisoned. We’re going to die and it’s all my fault! I’m the one who insisted on coming because I believed that bastard Sambla actually liked me! And now Drago is going to pay for my stupidity too!
Well, not if she could help it. Or at least she wouldn’t let Sheelash kill her and Drago without a fight. Though she had no weapons, she planted her feet firmly and waved her arms again.
Sheelash advanced once more, now she was less than seven feet away. Her huge, bulbous body loomed above Addie and her hungry mouth worked, making that inhuman hissing sound again.
“Get back!” Addie shouted at the enormous arachnid, trying to be heard over the shrieking hiss. “Get away from him—go! You can’t have him—he’s mine!”
“Fuck!” she heard Drago mutter behind her as the hissing finally stopped. He sounded more alert now, at least. “Addison, get away from here!” he snapped and she could hear the protective fear in his voice as he took in the situation they were in. “Get the Seven Hells away from that fucking thing!”
“No!” Addie stood her ground, even though she felt like she was about to faint with fear. “No, you’re tied down and helpless—I won’t let her have you!”
“Get away!” Drago insisted. His voice sounded more desperate now. “Addison, you have to go. My Drake senses the threat—he sees that fucking thing menacing you and he’s coming out!”
That got her full attention. Breaking the staring contest she’d been having with Sheelash, Addie turned her head to look over her shoulder. Drago was sitting bolt upright in the iron chair now and his eyes…
His eyes have changed again! she thought. They’re full of flames!
“Addison,” he said and his already deep voice had dropped another octave to become an inhuman growl. “I can’t hold him. He’s…coming out…noooooowwwww!”
The last word turned into an unearthly roar that nearly deafened her. Addison didn’t argue anymore—she ran as fast as she could to the other side of the room. She turned just in time to see Drago’s transformation—a sight she knew she would never forget for the rest of her life.
From where she was standing, it looked like the enormous Drake simply burst out of him. His human form shredded away to nothing instantly and then, less than a second later, there was a dragon standing in his place.
Addie’s eyes went wide.
Had she thought Sheelash was huge? Well, her Protector’s Drake dwarfed the spider goddess easily. It was the size of a 747 airplane with a wingspan that stretched almost from one end of the room to the other. It stepped backward with one huge foot and crushed the heavy iron chair Drago had been strapped to with the ease of a man crushing an empty soft drink can.
Addie stared in stunned silence—too amazed to say anything—to even think anything.
Drago’s Drake had sleek reddish-orange scales all over its body and every one of the claws on its massive forepaws was as long as one of her legs. Next to it, even Sheelash looked small and insignificant.
Speaking of the spider goddess, she had also frozen in place, staring up at the massive creature that had suddenly appeared in front of her.
Addie had seen no emotion in her blank, black eyes earlier but now she wondered if she detected fear. At any rate, the two huge creatures just stood there staring at each other. It made Addie feel like she'd somehow fallen into a Japanese monster movie where two enormous beasts battle it out and the humans can't do anything but watch.
It was the Drake that made the first move. It lifted its scaly head—which was longer than Addie's whole body was—and roared. It was the sound of an enraged beast mixed with a warning claxon and it shook Addie to the bones. For the second time she clapped her hands over her ears.
The deafening sound finally ended the standoff. Sheelash turned and began to skitter away. She was incredibly fast for such a huge spider and she was heading for the giant web on the far side of the room…but she never got there.