Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 51404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 257(@200wpm)___ 206(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 257(@200wpm)___ 206(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
“Please,” she begged. “I’m not used to, er, making waste water with anyone watching. Could you please just turn away for a minute?”
The woman’s expression was polite, but her eyes said she wasn’t about to lose sight of Sunny.
“You must not be allowed to run—the Chief wishes to use you tonight.”
Her words made Sunny’s stomach twist into a knot.
“Please…just a little privacy,” she managed to get out. “I won’t run—I’ll stay right here. But I can’t go if you’re watching!”
The woman frowned, then finally turned her back.
“Hurry,” she snapped.
Sunny fumbled with her bag, her fingers clumsy and numb. God, what had been in that Mating Drink? It felt like some kind of relaxant mixed with an aphrodisiac. She could barely get her body to obey her.
At last, she found the Think-me and slid it over her head, tucking her hair over it to hide it and making sure the golden wire was pressed against her temples.
“Time to return,” the attendant said firmly. “Surely you are finished making waste water by now.”
“Just—just a second,” Sunny muttered. Inside, she was already reaching, stretching her thoughts the way Kat had taught her when she first came to the Mother Ship. She was willing Greer to hear.
“Greer, it’s me,” she sent, hoping her big Protector would hear her. “Please… please come. Something’s wrong.”
But there was no answer.
Sunny pushed harder, the tingling heat in her body sharpening into something more urgent, more dangerous. The Mating Drink was still working on her—and it seemed to be getting stronger!
“Greer, I need you!” she sent desperately. “Please, come now! I’m in danger! Please!”
Still nothing.
The Thropp’ian woman’s hand closed around her arm.
“Enough. We must go back to Chief Lowhung—he will be waiting for you.”
That was exactly what Sunny was afraid of.
Even though her body was burning with sexual need caused by the Mating Drink, her stomach felt like she’s swallowed a block of ice. If she couldn’t reach Greer, if he didn’t come to her call… Well, she might be in real trouble here.
And she had no idea how to get out of it.
15
GREER
Greer was deep asleep, sprawled across the ridiculously high bed, one arm flung over his eyes. He’d been doing his best not to think about Sunny before he drifted off, but now his dreams were full of her—her soft curves under his hands, the way her nipples had tightened when he’d washed her in that cold tub, the sound she’d made when he’d cupped her sweet little pussy and slipped his finger into her slit to stroke her Goddess pearl…
He shifted, trying to get comfortable, when suddenly—
“Greer.”
The whisper was faint, threadlike, brushing against his mind like a dream. He frowned in his sleep, not moving.
“Greer, please… I need you.”
His breath caught in his throat. That sounded like Sunny. But it couldn’t be—he was asleep and she was in the hut, wasn’t she? Probably curled up under the thin leaf blanket, still annoyed with him.
He rolled onto his back, closing his eyes tighter as he pushed the dream away. He needed to rest. Needed to stop thinking about her mouth, her scent, the way she’d—
“GET UP, WARRIOR!”
The female voice boomed in his skull, cutting clean through the haze of sleep. There was no mistaking who it was.
Greer sat bolt upright, blinking.
“Goddess?” he gasped hoarsely.
“Your woman calls for you—she is in peril!”
The cold weight of fear dropped straight into his gut. So it hadn’t been a dream, after all. Sunny really did need him!
“Where?” he asked desperately. “Please, Goddess—tell me where she is and I’ll go save her!”
“Follow the sound of her mind-voice. She is still calling, though it may be faint. Hurry, Warrior—she doesn’t have much time!”
Greer didn’t waste another second. Still in his sleep trousers, he vaulted down from the high bed, landed in a crouch, then sprinted for the door. He shoved it open, the humid night air slapping his bare chest, and focused—searching for that faint pull at the back of his mind.
There.
“Greer…Greer…”
Sunny’s desperate call was weak—it was like a trail of heat, drawing him between the shadowed huts, deeper into the village. He followed it at a dead run, the pounding of his heart louder than the distant drums.
At last he reached the Communal hut…and then he saw her—held by a tall Thropp’ian woman at the edge of the gathering, Chief Lowhung was looming far too close, a satisfied grin on his triple-eyed face.
“Come, my lovely one,” he was saying, as he took Sunny’s arm and began leading her away. “We will go into my hut and make the music of Mating together. Then you may stay with me as one of my Bound wives all your days.”
“N…no, please. Don’t want…can’t…do that.” Sunny’s cheeks were flushed, her pupils blown wide, and she was swaying on her feet. Clearly she’d been drugged, though he had no idea with what.