Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 101147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
“Yes.” I cup her shoulders, reveling in the smooth skin. I breathe in her scent, her head resting close to my face. She smells of citrus and soap. It’s the same cleanser Meg uses, but it smells different on Kaja. “So does everyone have a number? What number were you, sweetheart?”
I feel her deflate. “I had no number. I was not allowed to ever move up, so I did not need a number.”
“What do you mean?”
“My father, he attempted to become First. He lost. The pack executed my brothers and my father. My mother died while birthing me. I was alone. I was female. They allowed me to live, but I had no place in the pack.”
Her words are even, as though she’s working hard to cover her emotions, but I can sense the hurt behind them. I can’t help but think about the strange connection I felt to Kaja from the moment I saw her. A restlessness steals over me. I prefer to think about screwing her. Meaningless sex won’t bring forth any odd, protective instincts in me. I understand sex, but we need to set the ground rules first.
Kaja is smart. She’ll understand the bargain I wish to make with her. We can be partners.
“I’m sorry about that. I don’t pretend to understand your people, though I suppose my people are just as brutal in a way.” When a rival corporation goes under, no one comes out to help the family. I recall a man I went to school with. He had a bad run and ended up moving down from the penthouse level almost to the street. I’m sure no one he knew spoke to the man again. We aren’t so different.
She sighs and wriggles against me. “Now I am here. Stellan was right. It is good that I left my home. I will be your mate. I will make sure you have the finest meat and the nicest bed to nest in. I think the fat one will make a good feast. I will catch him for you tomorrow.”
I still, caught between laughing and being really fucking shocked. “Are you talking about Reeve?”
“I do not know his name. He is small and vicious but has much meat on him. Now that I am out of that odd cage, I’ll surely be able to catch him for our meal.”
“Whoa, sweetheart. You can’t eat the gnomes,” I explain quickly. She turns her head to face me and seems confused. “The gnomes are our friends. We can’t eat them.” She still looks unsure. I decide to follow some of Beck’s advice. It’s time to take control. “You will not eat anything that talks back, Kaja.”
Her lower lip pouts sweetly, but she nods. “Yes, I understand. I do not see why, though. They do not even have fangs or claws. It would be easy to…”
“I said no,” I reply firmly. I pull her back into my arms. I rather like being forceful with her. It’s nice to have someone take me seriously for a change. I let my arms drift around her torso. She’s a lovely armful. She relaxes as my palms find her round breasts. She gasps as my thumbs drift over her nipples. “Kaja, did you have a lover?”
She seems distracted by my fingers plucking at her nipples but manages to answer. “Only one. Only the Second ever managed to catch me and hold me down for the mating, though he required help. I eluded the rest.”
I’m rapidly discovering a distaste for whatever plane she came from. “Do you intend to run from me, sweetheart?”
I won’t allow it.
Her sigh seems happy. “Oh, no. You have claimed me. You use my name. I eluded the others because they did not intend to claim me. They wanted to use me and then move on.”
A nasty feeling hits me square in the gut. I’m using her, but she’s going to use me, too. She will get something out of our arrangement. “Maybe we should talk about things for a moment. We might have very different ideas about how this whole mating thing works. We’re married, in a sense, but we should keep it light, you know? Married people on my world don’t necessarily stay together forever.”
She sits up suddenly and turns. Her eyes are wary now and steady on my face. “Say what you need to say, Dante.”
I swallow a hefty amount of Scotch. Kaja might be uneducated, but she’s far from stupid. I think briefly about lying, but I owe her the truth. “Look, I was ordered by my father to find a consort. You’re the first one I saw, so I bought you. The truth of the matter is I don’t want to be married. I don’t see the advantage.”
Her face goes strangely blank. “You do not wish to mate with me.”