Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80439 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80439 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
I sit down and catch my breath while those two lumber about smacking each other in ways that apparently help them regulate their emotions. After a good long episode of madness, they come to their senses.
“Are you okay?” Thor says, coming to crouch next to me. “You’re being very quiet.”
“Yeah. I am okay. I just don’t have anything to be loud about,” I say. I am looking out over that rocky plain and I am thinking about how so many things can swallow you whole if you’re not careful. I think I’ve let myself be swallowed by a lot of stuff in the past. I just didn’t know how I was being eaten.
There’s something about being on this planet that is making me want to make good decisions. I can’t explain why. Might just be the fact that my mortality keeps shoving itself in my face every two seconds. Maybe I’m finally starting to understand that actions have consequences even if those consequences don’t appear immediately.
Drako makes a grunting noise at the both of us, gestures as if we should stay, and dives into the scrub. I know for sure if I did that there would be hell to pay, but I can’t argue with him, because he’s fucked off.
“This is a dangerous world,” Thor says. “But you and I seem to have the luck to survive it.”
He’s trying to cheer me up. I don’t know if I am in the mood to be cheered.
“Luck always runs out in the end,” I tell him. “She doesn’t like being relied upon.”
“There’s a lot that goes into luck,” Thor admits. “We can be prepared. We can pay attention to our surroundings better. We can…”
“We can do everything right and still die at any time,” I say.
“That’s true too,” he admits. “But I have a vested interest in keeping you alive, Selene. I have from the first moment I met you. I know I haven’t always made the decisions you wanted me to make. I think you’ve still not forgiven me for turning you over to the captain when I found out you were stowing away. But I care about you.”
“That’s gonna make no difference at all when we are both inside the belly of an animal we don’t even have a name for,” I say.
Thor helps me stand up, then he wraps his arms around me and squeezes me in a way that is supposed to be comforting. I try to resist, but I can’t. My biology likes it when massive, sweaty men with soft beards hold me close and insist that everything is going to be alright.
“We’re looking out for you,” he says. “You’re the most protected woman on this planet.”
“I’m the only woman on this planet!” I shoot back.
“All the more reason to keep you safe,” he chuckles, as if he has said something particularly funny.
I find myself smiling. I can’t help it. Thor’s energy is contagious, and having watched him and Drako bond over us all almost dying for no good reason whatsoever, I know he’s the sort of guy who survives things like this. Tough men survive tough times.
I wonder if I am tough enough, or if I’m just a contrary little brat who has gotten herself into more trouble than she can handle this time.
“Stop drifting off into those sulky thoughts,” Thor corrects me, nipping my ear lightly, like a dog.
“Hey!” I complain, though not really because I know he’s trying to get my mood to improve.
“You’re usually in better spirits than this,” he says. “Is it because you don’t have anything to rebel against? Do you want me to tell you to do something and let you refuse?”
“No,” I smirk. “It wouldn’t work anyway, because it wouldn’t be real.”
“Oh, it has to be real,” he laughs, pulling me closer to his chest. I am buried in muscular embrace, and I’m not sure that I can breathe. I am also not sure it matters, really.
“Well,” he says. “I want you to be a good girl for Drako and me. I want you to do as you are told, and speak to us with respect, and…”
“Fuck you,” I mutter.
“There she is,” he says. “Did that make you feel better?”
The fucked-up thing is, it really did. I got a little zap of energy from defying him, even though I know it’s not a real scenario.
“When Drako comes back, you can tell him that you’re taking charge and he has to listen to you from now on,” Thor suggests. “That, and everything that would follow it would certainly improve your mood.”
“You think I just like being in trouble?”
“Yes,” he says.
He’s right, too. I’ve become sort of one-dimensional that way, but goddamn, there’s nothing like the rush of looking into an authority figure’s eyes and straight up defying them. Whatever kind of glee Drako and Thor got out of almost dying and then running away, it’s nothing compared to the thrill I get from disobedience.