Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 130317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
“Look, I really wish you wouldn’t drink it,” he told her.
Mia put a hand on her hip.
“Oh, so you’re already playing the part of my ‘husband’ and deciding what I can eat or drink?”
“No, it’s not that. I just have a bad fucking feeling about that stuff,” he growled.
“Look—smell it and taste it for yourself. It’s completely harmless.”
She handed him the small gold cup—which looked like a toy in his big hand—and Sev brought it to his nose. He smelled nothing but sweet blandness and when he took a sip, he tasted nothing at all.
“Well?” Mia still had her hands on her hips, her eyebrows raised.
“Doesn’t smell or taste like anything.” Sev shrugged and unwillingly handed it back to her.
He wished they had some of the lab equipment from the Mother Ship so he could run a chemical analysis on the pale purple liquid. He didn’t like how Mia had put aside her better judgment so easily and now seemed almost addicted to the stuff.
Still, he was only pretending to be her husband and even if he was truly her Bonded Mate, he wouldn’t have tried to tell her what to do with her body. She was her own, independent person—it wasn’t his place to speak for her or make decisions for her either.
It would be different if we were on my home world, he thought unwillingly. If I was her Master instead of just her mate or her partner…
Sev pushed the thoughts and images that tried to rise from his past back down. He had seen how badly such a relationship could go wrong—it had driven him away from his home world and he had sworn off the natural urges from the Dae’mon side of himself because of it.
“Fine—drink it if you want to,” he said, shrugging. “It’s your body.”
Mia gave him an irritated look.
“Yes it is,” she said shortly and disappeared into the fresher, banging the door shut behind her.
Sev sighed and ran a hand over his horns. Damn it, they didn’t need to be fighting right now! If anything, they needed to get closer in order to get through this ordeal together.
Well, he would explore the rest of the house more thoroughly and give Mia time to cool down, he decided. Maybe a bubble bath would make her feel calm and they could talk about the mission when she came out.
He just hoped that damn purple drink didn’t have any bad effects on her.
TEN
MIA
Mia sighed and sat the small golden shot glass on the edge of the sink. She shouldn’t have snapped at Sev like that, she admitted to herself. It was just that this damn place was giving her flashbacks to her sect and all the lectures she’d had to sit through about how a wife should obey her husband unquestioningly. Those memories always made her feel so stifled—so trapped. Which made her feel like she had to lash out to keep from getting stuck like that again.
But it wasn’t Sev’s fault—he had no part of that past, he was just worried about her. She was his partner—that was his prerogative, Mia reminded herself.
I’ll apologize to him after I take a bath, she promised herself. And I won’t drink any more of the Nutrient Crème if it makes him so upset. In fact, I’ll pour it down the sink so I won’t be tempted. I’ll do it as soon as I get the bath running.
She fiddled with the weird, hypermodern controls at the end of the tub until she finally got the water to turn on. Rather than pouring from a faucet, it rose from the bottom of the tub, filling it slowly with sweet-smelling, steaming water that was pale blue in color. Though Mia looked closely, she couldn’t see where it was coming from. The bottom of the tub appeared to be completely solid and smooth, not porous at all.
After awhile she gave up and looked around for some bath salts or some bubble bath to put into it. She couldn’t find anything, unfortunately. It made her wish she’d packed a case with some basic toiletries. How was she even going to brush her teeth while she was here in the PPP Dome?
She took another look at the mirror, which seemed to be fixed to the wall. Could it possible be like a medicine cabinet back home? Mia didn’t think so but she tugged on it anyway, just in case.
To her surprise, the mirror suddenly split in two right down the middle and opened outwards. Inside, hanging on small hooks, were two long white sticks with round, bristled heads on one end.
When Mia picked one up, it started buzzing in her hand. With a gasp, she dropped it in the sink where it lay, buzzing and humming like an insect. The short, black bristles that covered one end of it had begun to foam alarmingly, emitting a sweet, slightly hot scent that reminded her of cinnamon.