Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Female Serpentines did occasionally have sex for pleasure—there wouldn’t be any male Pleasure Workers if they didn’t—but it wasn’t a frequent thing. Most females might have sex once a month—twice at the very most. And after they laid several eggs, they seemed to lose their drive for sexual activity completely. You never saw an older female in Region Six—the Pleasure Region of the city—looking for a male to scratch her itch.
Sky, on the other hand, enjoyed regular self-pleasure as well as frequenting the Pleasure Region when the mood struck her. She didn’t feel guilty about this—no one was made to feel shame about their level of sexual activity on Portex Three. But she had occasionally wondered if others of her kind hungered for sexual pleasure as often as she did.
Well, it seemed that now she had her answer—if what Commander Torin was saying was true. But she still wanted to know more.
“So you’re saying that you can’t stop looking at me because of your male sexual urges? Tell me!” she demanded, pressing her body harder against his back.
“Yes—something like that,” he growled. “And you’re making me crazy right now, rubbing your beautiful, curvy body against me!”
“This is making you excited?” Deliberately, she pushed against him again, making sure he could feel her breasts and the place between her legs which had grown hot and wet against his broad back.
“Yes, it fucking does,” he snapped.
“But I’m threatening your life—I’ve got a knife to your neck,” Sky pointed out. Leaning closer she murmured, “I could slit your throat from ear to ear before you could move a muscle.”
“You can try.” His voice was low and steady now. “But I don’t think your Captain would like that much, now would she, Darlin’?”
Sky started to answer but just then, the little male who was working in the café came out of the small hut with their two glasses of iced thresh. When he saw Sky plastered to the big Kindred’s back with one leg wrapped partially around him and a knife at his throat, he gave a startled squeak and nearly dropped his tray.
“We have a crime scene to investigate,” Commander Torin reminded her in a low voice.
“Fine. But stop looking at me!” Sky snapped.
“You got it, Darlin’.” His voice was low and hoarse. “Let me go now, all right?”
For some reason, Sky found herself reluctant to release him. Despite how irritating the giant Kindred was, she liked being close to him like this. Which was ridiculous and completely unprofessional.
She pulled the knife away from his throat and stood back in one swift motion, ready if he moved to retaliate.
However, the giant Kindred did nothing to avenge himself. He just rubbed the side of his neck where the point of her dagger had pricked him and winced when his fingers came away bloody.
Sky’s fangs itched when she saw the crimson on his fingertips but she pushed the thirst away. She hadn’t really meant to cause him injury—she wasn’t used to soft skin without anything to protect it. The level of pressure she’d used wouldn’t even have dented a Serpentine’s scales.
“I’m getting up now,” Torin said, shooting her a glance. “No tricks—just gonna get up.”
“Go on, then.”
Keeping an eye on him, Sky strolled around to where the server was still frozen to the spot. Slipping her knife back into her boot, she pulled out a couple of credit coins and laid them on his tray. Taking the glass of iced thresh with its slowly melting foam, she lifted it to her lips and belted it like a shot of Terbian fire whiskey. Then she nodded at Torin, who was still watching her warily.
“Try it—you’ll like it. You might as well, I already paid for it,” she added.
Keeping a wary eye on her, the giant did as she said. Taking a single long stride to the server, he picked up his own glass and drank it in one long swallow. Then he put it back on the tray with Sky’s.
“Thanks for the drink…and the lesson,” he growled and she noticed that he met her eyes as he spoke, rather than letting his gaze wander over her body. Which was good…right?
“You’re welcome.” Sky nodded at him. “Don’t make me teach you another. Now come on—we need to get to Region Twelve.”
Turning, she led the way out of the narrow alleyway. But though the big Kindred seemed to have learned his lesson, she swore she could still feel those golden eyes on her back.
FIVE
TORIN
The thing that surprised Torin the most wasn’t that the curvy little female got the drop on him—though that in and of itself was plenty surprising. It was the way his cock went from half-mast to achingly hard the minute she pressed herself against him and started murmuring in his ear.
He’d tried to remind himself that she had a knife to his throat—and seemed the type to use it. But the fact was, all he could think about was her hot, female scent and the soft mounds of her breasts pressing between his shoulder blades.