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)
Thirty-One
Penny couldn’t see the man across from her, but she swore that she could feel him. He seemed to radiate heat like a furnace because she could feel his warmth against the chilly, tight tips of her nipples, even though they weren’t touching.
That was about to change though.
“Brides, raise your hands,” someone called. It was the familiar voice of the “Glorious Leader.” Automatically, Penny obeyed, lifting her bound hands in front of her.
“Males, take your Forever Mate’s hands in yours,” the Glorious Leader instructed.
Warm, rough hands enfolded Penny’s. They were big—so big she felt like a child holding an adult’s hand at first. The size difference made her bite her lip. How huge was this male they were giving her to? Though all the breeders in the Compound were humanoid, they varied greatly in size and appearance. Was her “Forever Mate” some kind of alien giant?
“Now, brides,” the Glorious Leader continued. “Repeat after me—Forever Mate, I give you my hands, bound in submission, to show my obedience to you.”
Penny mumbled the words through numb lips, as the as-yet unseen man across from her continued to hold her hands lightly but firmly.
“I come to you blindfolded to show that I give my heart blindly, in perfect trust and perfect love,” the vows continued. Penny repeated them, her heart still beating in her throat.
“And now, males, if you will repeat after me,” the Glorious Leader continued. “Forever Mate, I accept your love, your trust, and your body as my own property to do with as I please.”
The man across from her rumbled the words in a voice so deep it seemed to vibrate Penny’s entire body. God, that voice had to be coming from a big chest, she thought and again she wondered,
How big is he?
“And now the first stage of the ceremony—the meeting—is complete,” the Glorious Leader said. “It is time for the second stage—the unveiling.” He raised his voice so that the assembled audience could hear him. “The male breeders will now remove the blindfolds from their female’s eyes so that they can look upon their Forever Mates for the first time!”
Oh my God, here it comes. I’m going to see him. I don’t want to see him—it will make it real if I see him!
Penny’s thoughts were a jumbled mess as one of the big hands holding hers drew away. She felt the warm brush of fingers at her temple, where the silk blindfold was tightest.
The man across from her tugged at the silk, lifting it away from her eyes but Penny didn’t want to look—didn’t want to see. She kept her own eyes tightly shut, refusing to face the reality in front of her.
All around her she heard gasps from the other girls as they finally caught sight of their Forever Mates. Shurla, who was apparently standing beside her, exclaimed,
“Well, aren’t you a big boy!” in obvious delight.
Still Penny wouldn’t open her eyes. To open her eyes and see the man who now “owned” her would make this whole nightmare situation—this sham of a wedding—real. And she didn’t want it to be real. She wanted to be back on the long-range shuttle with Rive and Y’lla, asleep in her own cabin on the way to Yown Beta where she belonged. She wanted to be back with Kat on the Mother Ship. She wanted to have never left Earth in the first place. She wanted—
The big warm hand cupped her chin and lifted her face gently but firmly.
“It’s all right, sweetheart,” his deep voice rumbled. “Open your eyes and look at me.”
The gentleness of his tone surprised Penny so much that she actually did as he said. She opened her eyes, blinking at first to get used to the light after being blindfolded so long.
But the moment she saw the male looming over her, her heart rate tripled and the cold hand of fear gripped her by the throat.
It was him.
Pale gold eyes that mirrored her face exactly looked down into hers. They were the same eyes she’d seen across the crowded Lucky Lounge bar back at Hell’s Gate Station, what seemed like a hundred years ago.
The eyes of a pirate—the eyes of an outlaw.
The eyes of the Hybrid Kindred/Kru’ell One she’d been warned about.
The eyes of V’rex—the man she’d been told to avoid at all costs. Somehow he was here, in the last place Penny had ever expected to see him.
And now he owned her.
Thirty-Two
V could feel her terror the moment she saw him. A full blooded Kru’ell One would have known exactly what she was thinking, but he only felt emotions when he was touching or very near a female he wanted. And Gods, how he wanted this little one! Though he didn’t even know her name, he wanted her.
But she clearly didn’t want him. As V stared into her big brown eyes, her terror spiked so sharply that it nearly overloaded her system. He felt her start to faint and had to act quickly to hold her up before she could drop to the hard stone of the Amphitheater floor.