Total pages in book: 19
Estimated words: 16945 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 85(@200wpm)___ 68(@250wpm)___ 56(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 16945 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 85(@200wpm)___ 68(@250wpm)___ 56(@300wpm)
His jaw is clenched and he looks grouchy. Angry, somehow. At me? Confessing love seems kind of stupid at the moment, so I smile and play it off. “It doesn’t matter now—”
“Just say it,” Vlad snarls, all sharp teeth. “You hated it, didn’t you? Hated my touch? That’s what you were going to say?”
My jaw drops. “What? No!”
“Speak the truth. I disgust you. These disgust you.” He gestures at his fangs.
“Vlad—”
He shakes his head, raising a hand. “Save it. I don’t want to hear it after all.”
“—you’re an idiot,” I finish.
That gets his attention. He blinks at me in surprise.
“I was going to tell you that I loved you, and that I know it’s only been a week, but I’m happy with you. Obsessed with you. And I’m glad we’re together. And it seems inappropriate, but there it all is.” I gesture weakly at him. “You can tell me I’m crazy for being in love after a week, and I’ll get it. That’s not normal, right?”
He just blinks down at me again, those long lashes framing his beautiful red eyes.
“Go on. Tell me I’m abnormal. I know it. It’s fine.”
A hint of a smile curves his mouth. “I thought you were going to tell me that you didn’t want me to touch you again.”
“Actually, I’m rather obsessed with you touching me. Every day, I’m practically beside myself, hoping that you’ll touch me.”
“The feeling is mutual.”
“Oh, good. I thought I was the weird one.”
“You’re obsessed with ‘weird’ and ‘normal’ suddenly. Dana, what about any of this is normal?” He cups my chin, stroking my lower lip. “I think we should give up on normal. In fact, at this point, we should write our own rules.”
“You know what? That sounds like a great idea.” I slip my hands to his waist. “Rule number one. We kiss. A lot.”
“Agreed.” Vlad leans in and brushes his lips over mine, the caress sweet and gentle. There’s a hint of fang against my lower lip, but the feel of it fills me with a tight, needy anticipation. “I know what rule number two is, too.”
“Oh?” I lift my face, hoping he’ll kiss me again.
“Me telling you that I love you, too. After each time we kiss.”
I like the sound of that.
Epilogue
Vlad
Four Months Later
It feels strange to step out of the tiny pod that’s been our home for months now and onto the open docks of Cassa II. It’s full dark currently, the skies above littered with stars and swirling nebula. There’s a ring around the moon that can be seen clearly from here, and the moonlight is bright enough that Dana should be able to see well enough with her bad human eyes. A cold breeze ruffles my now-long hair, and I pull my hood over my face, shocked at the scent in the night air. It smells like . . . water. Ice water.
And everything is so open.
I look to Dana, moving instinctively closer to my mate to protect her. All of this openness makes me uneasy. “Are you all right?”
She just tilts her head back and breathes in deep, the tip of her nose bright pink with cold. The expensive vase is cradled in her arms, wrapped in a blanket. “Never been better. You okay?”
I nod.
“Great, then follow me.” Dana takes my hand in hers, and, our cold fingers entwined, we head toward a large male approaching with a datapad in hand. He’s wearing a dock uniform, a light strapped to his helmet. He’s no alien race I’ve ever seen before, but the look on his face isn’t unfriendly. He’s the one we’ve been talking to for a week now, arranging the bribes so we can get a homesteading stake here on Cassa II. Dana’s been wrangling everything from afar, and her expression is confident as she strides forward. I’ve got the bag of credits and valuables slung over my shoulder; just in case things go wrong, they’ll have to fight me to get them.
“Dana and Vlad?” the male asks.
“That’s us,” Dana replies. “You Vargis?”
He nods and glances around, then holds a pair of hard electronic chips, each the size of one of Dana’s freckles, out to us. “These are your implants. They’ll have your identities and your request for a land stake to the north of here, just as we agreed.” The man pauses. “It’s cold here, and this far north, it’s dark a lot more than it’s sunny.”
“We like the dark,” Dana says firmly.
“Good,” Vargis says. “Insert those at the tip of your forefinger, and let’s get you checked in. You brought the funds?”
I gesture at the sack over my shoulder. Dana holds up the vase, letting the blanket fall away.
The man’s eyes glitter with greed, and something tells me we aren’t the first—and won’t be the last—to work the same sort of deal. “Then let’s get you settled.”