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)
God, why was her heart drumming so hard against her ribs? Was it just with embarrassment and fear? But her pussy felt suddenly even more swollen and her breasts were heavy and full with the nectar, her nipples tight and aching for a warm, willing mouth to suck them deep and draw it out…
No! What was wrong with her?
This crazy situation is not turning me on, Penny told herself firmly. It’s just the effects of that damn Mother’s Milk I’ve been drinking for so long. V’rex is the enemy—I was warned against him! There’s no way I have any kind of attraction to him, no matter what kind of sexy things we were forced to say to each other! There’s no way—
“And now it’s time for the fourth and final part of our Unification Ceremony,” the Glorious Leader intoned, breaking her frantic train of thought. “The branding.”
“The what?” Penny exclaimed. Luckily, her words came out in the middle of a huge swell of applause from the audience. Clearly this was a popular part of the ceremony.
“The branding—or marking of the bride by her Forever Mate—is a time- honored tradition here at the Compound,” the Glorious Leader continued. “It shows not only his ownership of her body, but her devotion to her new mate—a devotion which should be exceeded only by her earnest devotion to our Glorious Cause and of course, to her Glorious Leader.” He pointed to himself and smiled modestly.
As he finished speaking, seven NeverBreeder guards came to stand beside each of the males. They each held identical writing instruments which looked like old-fashioned calligraphy pens to Penny. Only once they uncapped the “pens,” the nib of each one was glowing red-hot.
Penny felt faint as the smell of burning reached her nose. As she watched in horror, the NeverBreeder guard beside V’rex handed him one of the burning pens.
“Now take the branding instrument and make your mark upon your bride,” the Glorious Leader ordered. He appeared to be staring especially hard at V’rex, for some reason, as though getting ready for any signs of trouble. Not that Penny noticed much—she couldn’t take her eyes off the red-hot tip of the pen in the big Hybrid’s huge hand.
V’rex’s eyes were hard as he stared into hers and the hand that had been holding her own suddenly clamped down on both her wrists at once, holding them effortlessly in place in a bone-crushing grip.
“Ow!” Penny gasped involuntarily. “Please! I don’t…don’t want to be burned!” She tried to keep her voice low, for his ears alone and for a moment she thought she was getting through to him.
The impassive look in his pale gold eyes disappeared and she thought she saw a look of desperate unhappiness—maybe even self-loathing—in them instead. But then the cold blankness was back and he began to bring the glowing tip of the branding pen towards her.
Penny knew she ought to hold still but she couldn’t help herself—she didn’t like fire! Didn’t like the idea of being burned—branded—with this big asshole’s name!
As she started to struggle, V’rex caught the eye of the guard who had handed him the pen.
“Hold her,” he growled.
Hard little orange hands clamped over Penny’s bare shoulders, keeping her from struggling. V’rex leaned even closer.
“Hold still,” he rumbled, looking Penny in the eyes again. “I’ll make it quick.”
And then the burning tip of the pen bit into her flesh, just above her left breast.
The searing agony didn’t last for long—V’rex made a quick flip of his wrist—almost a check-mark motion—and then withdrew the pen as quickly as he had brought it down.
Biting her lip against the pain, Penny blinked tears out of her eyes and looked down to see a single V, about the size of her fingernail, emblazoned on her chest.
Some of the other males were still working, she saw, through her tear-blurred eyes. Shurla’s new Forever Mate was taking his time, the tip of his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth as he scrawled his name across the tops of all three of her plump breasts. Shurla appeared to be trying not to scream but she was biting her lip and clenching her hands into fists in obvious agony.
I guess it could be worse, Penny thought, feeling a stab of sympathy for her former friend. Poor thing. At least V’rex made it quick, like he promised.
She looked up at the big Hybrid and was surprised to see one corner of his sensuous mouth was pulled down in an expression of furious unhappiness. But when he caught her looking at him, his face went immediately blank, the previous, impassive calm replacing the moment of true emotion.
What was he thinking? Penny found herself wondering. Was he sorry that he’d marked her? Hurt her? Was he angry at her for resisting or at himself for going through with it?