Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 171288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
“I won’t be the only one there,” she reminded Kat. “Even if we were forced to go to the Hell’s Gate port, I’m sure Commander Rive would be with me.”
Commander Rive and his wife, Y’lla were the two lead Kindred archeologists on the dig they were going to. They were both Blood Kindred and very kind, if somewhat wrapped up in each other.
Penny was a little nervous about spending so much time working with a married couple—she was afraid she’d be a third wheel. But both Rive and Y’lla had assured her she was welcome and she didn’t want to pass up this assignment—after all, an archeological dig on an alien planet wasn’t something most people could put on their resume. It was the opportunity of a lifetime.
Not that this opportunity came without drawbacks. It was going to be a hazardous dig—mostly owing to the climate. They were going to the frozen world of Yown Beta, which was just barely inside the habitable zone of its yellow dwarf star sun. There were other planets in the system that were more temperate, but apparently Yown Beta had been chosen because it was a frozen waste land by the ancient Kindred ancestors who had hidden the artifact she and the other two archeologists were going to seek.
“Yes, I guess Commander Rive would be with you if you wound up at Hell’s Gate.” Kat had looked somewhat comforted at the thought. “It’s just that V’rex has been spotted in that area lately, which makes me nervous for you, doll. Because he showed up right at the time the number of abductions spiked. Coincidence?” She made a sour face. “I don’t think so.”
“V’rex? Who’s he?” Penny frowned.
“He’s a rogue Hybrid who’s been causing quite a lot of trouble in the Teklan sector,” a new voice said.
Looking up, Penny saw that Commander Sylvan, head of the Kindred High Council, was poking his head in the door of Kat’s home office. Since it was her job to get anyone going on a mission away from the Mother Ship ready to go, the curvy redhead needed her own space, as she had explained to Penny.
“Otherwise my two husbands and three sons would drive me crazy!” she’d said with a grin.
Penny had returned her smile, but she couldn’t imagine having three kids of her own. Not that she had anything against having babies, it was just that they were generally incompatible with a serious career in archeology—at least, if you wanted to do a lot of field work, which was what Penny lived for.
It was kind of hard to pick the kids up from school and help them with their homework if you were on a dig in Egypt—or in this case, on an alien planet light years from Earth.
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything?” Commander Sylvan asked, looking from Penny to Kat. “I just wanted to be sure Penelope is almost ready to go. Commander Rive and Y’lla are headed for the long range shuttle and I offered to come fetch her.”
“We just have one more fitting and we’ll be done,” Kat promised. “I was just warning Penny to steer clear of Hell’s Gate Station, no matter what.”
“That’s excellent advice.” Sylvan’s pale blue eyes grew somber. “I’m sorry to say the slave trade there has grown exponentially in the last solar year, not to mention the smugglers and pirates that make that particular port their home base.”
“Like that, uh, V’rex person Kat was telling me about?” Penny asked.
Kat nodded. “He might be anywhere in the Teklan sector, so watch yourself.”
“But how can I watch out for him if I don’t know what he looks like?” Penny protested.
“Oh, you can’t miss him, doll,” Kat said dryly. “He’s got these black and gold tattoos all over his neck and arms and he’s even bigger than a regular Kindred—because he’s a Hybrid, you know. A mix of two separate Kindred races. He’s half Beast Kindred.”
“But it’s his other half that makes him so dangerous,” Sylvan said seriously. “We believe that V’rex is half Kru’ell One.”
“Kru’ell One?” Penny frowned. “I’ve never heard of that kind of Kindred before.”
“That’s because they don’t come from our universe,” Sylvan told her. “They come from a parallel universe where the Kindred were not created by the Goddess we all worship—the Mother of All Life. Instead, the Kru’ell Ones were brought into being by the Cruel Father—a being as powerful as our own Goddess. But the Cruel Father is as malevolent and evil as the Mother of All Life is good and kind.”
“And the beings he created take after him,” Kat added. “They’re the only Kindred we know of who don’t respect and revere women.”
“The only Kindred who could or would take a female by force against her will,” Sylvan added gravely. “Which, as you must know by now, is anathema to our kind.”