Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Natalie snorted, her expression fierce.
“That sounds like a load of horseshit to me.”
Before Lexi could answer, the door to the suite slid open. V’rin, Natalie’s Blood Kindred husband, walked in, filling the doorway with his tall, muscular frame. His pale blonde hair gleamed like spun silver in the firelight, and his ice-blue eyes swept the room, sharp and predatory. His fangs flashed white as he bent to kiss Natalie, his big hands cupping her face.
Lexi looked away, feeling like an intruder, until V’rin finally noticed her.
“Oh—my apologies,” he said formally. “I didn’t realize we had company.”
“It’s just Lexi,” Natalie said. “Listen, is it true that a warrior who loses his wife has to take a vow to the Goddess never to have another?”
V’rin’s expression sobered instantly.
“Not all warriors take such a vow. But many do—if they even survive the loss.”
Lexi blinked.
“If they survive?”
V’rin nodded gravely, lowering himself into a chair opposite the couch. The firelight glinted off his pale hair.
“The Soul Bond between a Warrior and his mate is profound. When she dies, her loss tears him apart. Some warriors follow their lost mate into death within hours, their bodies giving out from grief. Others linger, but they are little more than shadows.”
Natalie pressed her hand to his, her pretty face stricken.
“Oh, honey—I didn’t know that! I don’t want you to die if I do!”
V’rin leaned close, cupping her cheek with his large hand.
“But I would want to die, my beloved,” he murmured, his voice low and fierce. “The very thought of losing you…” His ice blue eyes went dark with emotion. “I cannot even speak of it. Life without you would lose all color and savor. It would be gray shadows, nothing more.”
Lexi’s heart twisted as she watched them. Their love, their devotion—it was beautiful. And it made her feel more broken than ever.
She cleared her throat.
“Maybe I should go.”
“No, stay,” Natalie said quickly. “We’re not done yet.”
“But why would you ask me such a question?” V’rin asked his wife, frowning. “What put that thought in your head?”
Natalie looked at Lexi.
“Can I tell him?”
Lexi hesitated, but then nodded.
“Go ahead.”
So Natalie explained—how Lexi had been kidnapped, how Brandt had taken her to Bio-Terius Centra to get her infected with the Bacillus Aurum, and how he had claimed he couldn’t be with her because of his vow.
V’rin listened, his expression unreadable. Finally, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
“If Dr. Brandt truly made such a vow before the Goddess, then yes—it is binding. To break it would be blasphemy. Such oaths are forever.”
Lexi’s throat closed.
“So…there’s no chance? Not ever?”
His gaze softened with pity.
“I am sorry—I know that is not what you wished to hear. But it is the truth.”
She nodded numbly, though her insides felt like shards of glass grinding together.
“No—it’s all right. Thank you. That clears things up a lot.”
But it didn’t clear anything up. It only crushed the tiny, fragile hope she’d been clinging to—the hope that maybe Brandt might change his mind and tell her he wanted her after all when she saw him in a week for their milking session.
But apparently he wasn’t lying. He wasn’t just pushing her away. His vow was real and it meant there was no hope.
Not now, not ever.
44
BRANDT
Brandt sat at the long counter in his laboratory, staring at the neat rows of test tubes and glowing cultures arrayed before him. For ten years, this research had been his life—his anchor—his reason to keep breathing when grief had hollowed him out. He had built every protocol, every trial, every equation to keep from thinking about the emptiness inside him.
But now?
Now the numbers blurred. The vials looked meaningless. And everywhere he turned, he saw her.
Crossing the medical bay, he would catch a flicker of brown hair, the curve of a cheek, and his heart would lurch—Alexandra—but when he looked closer it was always someone else. A tech…a nurse…a stranger. Once he heard a laugh—light and teasing—and he spun around so fast his neck hurt, certain she was there. But it was only one of the younger lab assistants, looking at him in confusion as he stood frozen in the corridor.
Her scent still clung to him, sweet and warm, a torment he couldn’t shake. It lingered on his clothes, on his hands, even in the sheets he tried to sleep on, no matter how often he changed them. He could almost feel her still—her softness in his lap…her breasts heavy in his hands…her mouth open on a gasp as she came for him.
But the nights were the worst—the nights were fucking unbearable.
Brandt dreamed of the curvy little human every time he closed his eyes. Sometimes she was laid out on the moss-padded table, golden nectar flowing while he drove the alien stimulator deep inside her, her sweet voice moaning and begging in a way that made his whole-body tense with need.