Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
I have not spoken in over ten years, but she had my lips parting the moment I laid eyes on her. Conroy led, of course. He cannot help but rush in first. He grabbed her and she practically exploded pheromonally.
Her scent is still somewhat in the air, clinging to my lips, I think. I can taste her. Her essence. Her arousal. Her need. A wolf meets their mate once in a lifetime, bonds intensely and immediately, and then just has to make it work. Nature knows best when it comes to wolf mating, unlike humans who try to make decisions by getting to know one another. Their process has always seemed wildly random and mostly ill-fated. This is different. This is fated.
“We just met the female we’re supposed to claim. Isn’t that a little more important than some cargo getting through without the toll being paid?” Tailor starts arguing.
“Doesn’t matter,” Conroy says, shaking his head emphatically. “She broke our rules, she pays. Same as anyone.”
“We’re going to publicly humiliate the first mate we’ve encountered in years? The girl who is supposed to bear our babies?” Tailor argues. “We should go and find her and soothe her. She’s our mate, she won’t have broken any rules once we claim her.”
“The vampire knew, which means others knew. This entire bar just saw her run from us. She cannot be allowed to get away with it. We bring her back here, we deal with her, and we decide whether she’s our mate or not.”
“What do you mean if she is our mate or not, you felt that connection. Or was it just me? Is she my mate? If she is, you won’t be putting a finger on her,” Tailor says.
“I feel the bond, I just don’t intend to let it interfere with necessary discipline. If she’s ours, she’s got to learn how to behave.”
He sounds so excited. He’s trying to sound furious, stern, like he’s going to really whip her for this behavior, but I can tell he’s thrilled. The three of us run this port as equal partners. None holds more authority than the other, though Conroy likes to assume the role of leader because he enjoys bossing people around more than he’d ever admit. Tailor is bossy, but in a different way. His means of control usually involves a ledger of some kind. If I am controlling, it is by stealth.
This is truly exciting. Nature has delivered a mate. A mate not just for one of us, but for all of us.
My desire is throbbing. I am fucking hard. I have never wanted anybody as much as I want her. She is gorgeous. Dark hair. Dark eyes. Tattoos running down her forearms. She looked like trouble, and she smelled like it too.
While they argue, I start the hunt in earnest.
Kita
I need to get the hell out of here.
But I can’t go anywhere until I get my cargo unloaded, and they know it. I’m trapped in a pretty small place with only a few areas to hide. It’s so weird how lawless places always seem to have more rules than lawful ones. If I didn’t pay a toll in a regular port, I’d probably have some kind of extra fine to pay. They’d send a letter to my house. They might repossess something I like. I don’t think those three wolves are hunting me down to give me a sternly worded letter. In places like these, the penalty for not paying the fine is literally written everywhere: Death (Or Worse).
If I don’t lose those three, very bad and very intense things are going to happen to me. I can feel it deep down between my legs. I didn’t come here for this. I have plans. Big plans.
I am good at hiding, and there are some outbuildings to hide in. Places where they fix the machinery. Places where they keep cargo that can’t be moved right away. Places where the workers live, mostly little cabins arranged around the back of the port, up by the fence that runs around the perimeter. Plus there’s the usual barrels, concrete pipes, bags of whatever is inside the bags.
There’s quite a few people still moving around. Some of them are carrying things, others are watching people carry things. I zip through them, trying not to draw anybody’s attention. I figure there’s got to be three or four different places they probably won’t look. Most of them are deeply filthy, but that’s how you hide. In places where nobody else wants to go. That’s the whole ethos of the entire pirate port. Legit ships don’t anchor here.
Before I can decide where to hide, I am yanked into a dark alley by a pale, wizened hand with long, dark nails that curls into my coat and does not let go. Red eyes gleam in the darkness as the narrow face of a horrid little predator leers at me.