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)
Oh God, how was she ever going to get out of this?
48
BRANDT
Brandt paced the length of his laboratory, the soles of his boots whispering against the polished metal floor. The hum of the equipment usually soothed him—rows of glass vials glowing with bioluminescent cultures, the steady pulse of monitors charting every data point of his latest trials—but tonight it grated on his nerves.
He was waiting and he hated waiting.
Lexi should have been here by now. He had sent Fights Hard—a Dark Twin Kindred warrior with a steady reputation—to fetch her, telling himself it was because he needed to stay in the lab and finish setting up the equipment. The tubing had to be sterilized, the nutrient tanks calibrated, the collection vials ready. That was the excuse.
But deep inside, he knew the truth.
He was afraid.
Afraid that if he went himself, if he spent too long alone with her, he would break. That he would admit how much he wanted her. How desperately he longed for her—her laugh…her scent…her soft, curvy body in his arms.
He dragged a hand through his hair angrily.
Coward. You’re a coward, Brandt. You send another male to get her because you can’t trust yourself! How fucking sad is that? You’re weak—pathetic.
The door hissed open. Fights Hard stepped inside, his broad frame filling the entryway, his dark eyes gleaming faintly in the lab’s sterile light.
“Well?” Brandt barked, his voice sharp with impatience. “Where is she?”
The Dark Twin shook his head.
“Sorry, Dr. Brandt. She wasn’t there. Her aunt—an older woman—said she’d gone to find her uncle, who was missing. That was an hour ago. She hasn’t come back. I didn’t know where to look for her, so I came back here.”
A terrible weight sank into Brandt’s gut. His heart slammed against his ribs.
“It’s all right,” he said hoarsely. “You can go—I’ll find her myself.”
But where?
He raked his hands through his hair again as Fights Hard left, trying to think. He remembered the way Lexi had told him about her uncle on their trip home—that she had taken the job with him only because he owed money—a huge debt to a dangerous man. What was his name again? Ah yes—the man her uncle owed money to was called “Butcher” which seemed like a bad omen, at least to Brandt.
An awful suspicion coiled in his chest like a snake.
She’s in trouble. She’s in trouble right now.
He could feel it—he knew he was right.
The thought barely formed before the air around him changed.
The temperature dropped…the lights flickered. A crushing weight slammed into him, pressing him to his knees. His chest felt caved in, his lungs locked tight.
And then a voice—stern, feminine, and resonant—filled the laboratory.
“Warrior! Your female is in danger!”
Brandt’s heart pounded—he knew instantly who it was. Only one being could command such power, such presence—the Kindred Goddess, sometimes called The Mother of All Life.
“Goddess,” he rasped, struggling for breath under the weight of her presence. “Please—you are mistaken. I…I have no female. I swore an oath never to call another bride.”
“That oath was for your own benefit,” she snapped, her voice ringing with displeasure. “You believed if you never loved again, you would never know loss again. Never feel pain again. But you were wrong.”
Her words cut through him sharper than any blade. He bowed his head lower, shame burning his cheeks.
“Yes, Goddess. I am in love with Alexandra…but I had to push her away. My oath—”
“Enough about your oath!” The voice cracked like thunder. The crushing presence bore down harder and Brandt gasped, his palms flat on the cold lab floor. “I release you from it! I sent you a new woman to love and you turned her away. And now, if you do not find her quickly, you may lose her forever—just as you lost your wife.”
Brandt’s blood turned to ice.
“Please, Goddess,” he begged, his voice hoarse. “Tell me where to find her!”
“She is in a bar called Bad Intentions in her hometown on Earth.” The words vibrated through the metal walls, heavy with warning. “Go quickly. There is a predator who wishes to violate her. If you hurry, you may stop him…but I make no promises.”
As the divine voice faded, the weight of her presence also lifted. The lights steadied and the laboratory was empty again—silent but for the faint hum of machines.
Brandt staggered to his feet, his chest heaving. His legs trembled.
Alexandra—his Alexandra was in trouble!
The oath that had held him back was lifted and the woman he loved was in danger—he had a single goal in mind—
He had to reach her in time.
Ripping off his lab coat, he threw it aside and sprinted from the lab. His heavy boots pounded on the polished floor as he tore down the corridor toward the Docking Bay. He had one single thought in his head.
If Butcher has so much as touched her—if he’s laid one filthy finger on her—I’ll rip that bastard’s heart out with my bare hands and fucking feed it to him!