Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 50815 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50815 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
Just a few weeks ago, she hadn’t needed oxygen all the time. But now that the Pulmonary Crystalosis was getting so advanced, Anna had to have help breathing both day and night.
This is why I’m getting married—this is why I’m willing to let Commander Xarex do anything he wants to me, she thought as she cupped Anna’s cheek in one hand. And as soon as this is all over, I’m taking her straight to the Med Center.
“You look pretty too, sweetie,” she told Anna. “Now are you ready to walk ahead of me and do your job with the flower petals? I’m really counting on you, you know.”
Anna lifted her chin.
“I’m ready!” she declared. “I’m going to be the best flower girl ever!”
“I know you will be.” Nora bent down and kissed her daughter on the cheek. “Now let’s go—the music says it’s time.”
“Good luck, doll. You look gorgeous!” Kat kissed her on the cheek and then Nora took her mother’s arm.
“You look beautiful,” her mother murmured as they left the tent. “But honey, it’s not too late. Are you sure you want to do this? I saw that boss of yours out there and he looks so big and frightening!”
“There’s no other way to get help for Anna,” Nora reminded her in a whisper. “I’ll do anything to save her, you know that.”
“I know, sweetheart.” Her mother squeezed her arm. “I’m so proud of you. I just want you to be safe.”
Nora thought of all the bondage porn she’d seen on her boss’s computer and tried to repress a shiver. She hadn’t told her mother the details of what she was going to have to do in order to get Anna seen at the Kindred Mother Ship’s Med Center. She preferred to keep that to herself. But there was no doubt she was definitely going to be paying.
Then her eyes drifted to the black oxygen pack slung under Anna’s arm again and she straightened her spine. Anything she had to do was worth it to save her daughter.
They walked down the aisle to the strains of the Wedding March and she couldn’t help looking up in awe at Commander Xarex, who was standing at the end with the priestess who was going to perform the ceremony. He was wearing a black tux that molded to his muscular body perfectly and his chiseled features were handsome and imposing. Other than his skin and eye coloring, he would have looked like a male model posing for a wedding photo shoot, she thought. It still amazed her that someone who looked like him wanted someone who looked like her.
Anna was also staring at the huge Kindred with wide eyes. When she got to the end of the aisle she just stood there, looking up at him. Nora’s mother had to take her by the hand and lead her to the section they were sitting in because she seemed so transfixed by Xarex.
“Grandma,” she whispered loudly as they got seated. “Why is Mommy marrying a giant?”
Of course, everyone heard her because the string quartet had just stopped playing and there was a muted ripple of laughter from the wedding guests. Some were friends from Nora’s law firm and others were coworkers from the HKR building. There were also a few faces she didn’t recognize at all, which she assumed must be friends of Xarex.
She took her place across from him and the ceremony began.
It went in a blur. The priestess, who had odd, green-within-green eyes and green streaks in her long blonde hair, spoke about the value of marriage and how the Goddess brought men and women together in holy and sacred bonds that must never be broken. Then she got to the vows.
“Repeat after me,” she told Nora.
Nora repeated the words about honoring and cherishing her new husband with a twinge of guilt. She knew this marriage was only temporary and it felt like sacrilege to talk about loving and caring for her big Kindred boss until “death do us part” when it was probably going to last less than a month.
But then it was Xarex’s turn, he shook his head at the priestess.
“If it is permitted, I have written my own vows,” he told her.
The priestess looked as surprised as Nora felt, but nodded her head regally.
“As you wish, Warrior. Please, proceed.”
“Nora,” he murmured, looking down at her from his great height. “I vow to stand by your side for as long as you need me to be there. I will protect you from any danger with my body and guard you with my life. Where you go, I will follow. What you need, I will provide. I vow always to put your pleasure first, before my own, and to do everything in my power to make you happy. Please guide me in the ways of feeling so that I can understand your emotions and act accordingly.”