Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 62128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 311(@200wpm)___ 249(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 311(@200wpm)___ 249(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
I let out a little choked laugh.
“I can give you my word I would not. I’d get the hell off this planet, leave Sullivan here, and never look back. I let myself be talked into rescuing her once and look what happened. I’ve ended up at your mercy, ravaged like an animal and kept captive in primitive conditions. My cabin on board the Mare is absolutely loaded with treasure and comforts. I have three different hot beverage machines. Coffee. Tea. Hot Chocolate. And I have a basic replicator that can make any sandwich I like. And that’s before you get into any of the entertainment tools and toys I have, and before…”
“You like to collect things,” he says. “Items.”
“Yes. I do. I’m a pirate. I like the spoils of my crimes.” I grin as I say the words, suspecting I will horrify him. He seems like a very duty-bound guy. The sort of creature to whom loyalty means being poor and honored to be poor.
“You value those things,” he says with a curl of his lip.
“I do.”
“But you do not value loyalty to your captain.”
“She’s not my captain, and I don’t owe her anything.”
I see his lips tighten with disapproval again. We felt so connected while we were fucking, but now we’re talking, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that we are very different kinds of people with very different priorities.
“What do you care? Sullivan’s a nut, you must have worked that out by now.”
“Her character and temperament aside, she was captain. It is important to respect authority.”
I let out a smirking little laugh. “Is it?”
Avel looks at me with a solemnity that sends a heavy sense of cool right through the core of me. If he is serious about anything, he is serious about this.
“Yes.”
2 TAKE A HUMAN TO WORK DAY
Avel
The day following Raine’s capture, I have no choice but to take my human captive with me to work. Her wildness aside, life must go on and I have other responsibilities to attend to.
“I am taking you into the city, and while we are there, you will not leave my sight. I will keep you on your harness and leash, and you will not complain. You will follow at my heels and you will do as you are told. If you dare step out of line in even the smallest of ways, I can promise you public, painful retribution. Do you understand?”
Raine’s eyes widen and then narrow. The aperture of her gaze is very telling, as is the way she tightens her lips in a straight, defiant line and the way her brows draw down over her eyes. She is not pleased to be spoken to in such a way, but I am not making idle threats. I take hold of her by the hair, in a grip I know both gets her attention and provides a rush of the hormones that allow her to somewhat submit.
“Do you understand?”
“Yes,” she grits out between clenched teeth. “I understand.”
It’s not a respectful response in tone, but the fire in her eyes tells me that it is very likely the best she can muster. This human has a feral temper, and I know she does not hesitate to act. Watching her wrestle all her impudent impulses is quite amusing, though I would never let her see that. I keep my feelings behind a mask of stern impassivity.
“Good. Eat your breakfast.”
She does as she is told, consuming eggs and bread with a quiet, perhaps even sullen demeanor. I know that she is trying to come to terms with her situation. I know she is accustomed to power, and I know I have taken that power away from her. She will have to adjust to her new role in my life and on this world.
I find her absolutely enchanting. Having mated with her, felt that bond form between us in real time, I know that she is the one I was always meant to be with and cosmic forces have brought us together. I do not know that she feels the same way about me. I am almost certain she does not. She is, after all, a traumatized, freshly-captured, wild human.
I have decided to keep her safe and confined until such time as she is able to recognize our connection. It will come, because neither one of us truly has a choice in it. The universe has ways of bringing those together who need to be together. Fighting it won’t stop it. We will be thrown together ever more roughly until we accept our fate.
“Now what?” She asks the question, looking me up and down.
I am dressed in a rather formal way. A high-collared shirt, a doublet, and dark skin pants, all of which are at least somewhat covered by black scaled leather pieces including gauntlets and bracers and spaulders. This is a traditional military form of attire, and I know it makes me look more imposing than my baseline, which was already fairly imposing. There is a reason for that, which she will discover soon enough.