Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 88010 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88010 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
“What happened here?”
“I fell from where you put me.”
“Mhm. And why did you fall?”
I do not want to be indulgent with this little female. I do not want to make her feel that I will soften toward her and allow the kind of misbehavior that got her into so much trouble previously. She needs discipline. But she is absolutely adorable all trussed up where she is right now.
“Are you going to get me up?”
“I don’t know if you deserve to be gotten up. I don’t know if you deserve to be untied. I left you in one place for a vanishingly short period of time, and you managed to wriggle out of it. Could have hurt yourself.”
“Don’t we have to get out of this forest soon? Won’t bad things come out at night?”
“They will. But we have time. Worst case scenario, I strap you to Otto and send him back to the castle while I fly overhead.”
“Did you get the seal, at least?”
“Yes. I did.”
“Oh, good. Did you get any gold, or gear?”
“Just the seal.”
She frowns and wriggles around a little more, or at least tries to. The bushes are not cooperating with her. “That means this is part of a longer quest line. We must have to turn the seal in somewhere else to get the rewards.”
“The seal is the reward.”
“Oh, is it like a trinket?”
“It has power, but it has the most power when it is part of the complete set. That set is used for a variety of purposes.”
“It’s used to open the gates to hell—or to adorn the crown that heralds the rise of the gods,” she says, spitting out a few leaves. “I know all about the seals. They’re a big part of the storyline.”
I am going to murder Equinox. I am going to murder him as surely as I have ever murdered anybody.
Melissa
Finally, he takes pity on me and hauls me out of the bushes. I am amazed at how easily he can handle me. It is truly as though I weigh absolutely nothing at all. In Ornix’s hands, I am a little creature. He does not untie me. He does not set me on my feet. He holds me in his arms and looks down at me as if I am in trouble.
I’m not actually sure he has ever looked at me in any way other than to insinuate I am in trouble. Does he smile? Does he know how to approve of my behavior? One day I might do something good and see what happens.
“The day is waning,” he growls. “I need to mate you again. I know you are sore. This will be the fourth time we have been together in less than a day, but it will imbue you with powers that will keep you safe in ways…”
“It will make me immortal.”
“No. It will make you immune to age. Immortality is something very different, and you would do well to remember it.”
I can see that the sun is setting. I have never seen it set on this world before. The game is kept at a perpetual midday, except for the nightmare zone, which is kept in permanent night. I suppose there’s the beach, which is always sunset. People don’t like that. They complain, say it’s out of date, say the game should have a proper day and night cycle the way pretty much all games do, but…
He grips my chin and turns my face back to him. “I don’t know where your mind is going, but I want to keep you with me. Don’t drift. Not now. This is the final mating.”
“I’m still tied up,” I whimper.
“That might add to the experience,” he drawls, his eyes raking over me hotly. “I like you in ropes. I might like you even more in chains. You are made to be confined, a wild little creature who is at her best when bonds are wrapped tightly around her.”
This is his version of foreplay, and it is intense. I feel every word in my belly as he sees me in ways I’ve never been seen before. I always knew I was a rebellious brat. The faculty at school made it clear that they didn’t appreciate the little things we got up to, but Tempest’s connections always protected me.
Now there is nothing to protect me. I am the captive lover of the monster I fought for years. I am his prisoner in every respect, and I love it. I can feel the hardness of his body against mine, the strength of his arms. He has punished me harshly, he has tied me up and left me, but there is something compelling about him that tells me he loves me. His discipline is his care.
I look up into his eyes, and I let his desire sink through me, finding me right in the core of my being. My inner walls are clenching, and I can feel the ache already. When he is inside me again, it will not be without pain.