Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 121146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
“Why did I…I mean, I didn’t have a choice, did I?” Celia demanded, flustered. “You two were going to take me, no matter what I said.”
“We were going to try and persuade you to come with us,” Hold corrected her. “But you decided to come even before we tried—why?” He gave her an intense look as he asked, and Celia found it was hard to meet his hazel-green eyes.
“Oh, well…I mean, I didn’t want to see you guys get into a fight with Peter,” she said rather lamely.
“A fight? With that pipsqueak?” Fierce let out a snort of laughter from her other side.
“Hey—Peter can fight!” Celia said, glaring up at him, though she had no idea if what she was saying was true. “You’re so arrogant, just because you’re so tall and muscular!”
“Yes, I am, lelka.” Fierce gave her a challenging stare. “I know my worth. You should too—and you would, if you weren’t with that weak little human!”
“Why, you—” Celia began, her temper rising.
“What my brother is trying to say is that it would shame us to fight an opponent who is so much physically weaker,” Hold said, clearly trying to lower the tension level. “We would have found a way to bring you with us without resorting to violence.”
Celia frowned at him too.
“Peter is fine. Just because he’s not a seven-foot-tall alien warrior, doesn’t mean he’s weak. Besides, it’s not like he fights for a living or anything—he doesn’t need to be all big and muscular.” She hated that she felt like she had to defend her fiancé, especially since she couldn’t really pretend that Peter’s slight physique was anything but what it was—kind of skinny and weak.
“What does he do for a living?” Fierce asked, looking down at her. “Besides sit around in that big domicile of his all day?”
“Peter’s family owns several businesses,” Celia said defensively. To be honest, she didn’t really know what her fiancé did. His mother still controlled most of the family’s wealth, so Peter seemed to have endless time to fly around the country going on vacations. “They have generational wealth,” she added, because it sounded important.
“Translation—they’re rich bastards, out of touch with working people,” Fierce growled. “How can you respect a male who’s never held down a job in his life?”
“Hey—I never said that!” Celia protested, though it was pretty much true.
“Yeah, well we picked it up from the dreams we shared with you,” Fierce told her. “That human you’re with is lazy and rich and he doesn’t treat you right or recognize your worth.”
Celia was really getting hot under the collar now!
“You can’t claim to know everything about me just from a few dreams!” she exclaimed, glaring up at the big Kindred. “You don’t know anything about me and Peter. If he was out of touch with working people, would he be marrying me? I was just his decorator until we started dating!”
“Exactly—you have a job,” Fierce pointed out. “You know what it’s like to work for a living—not just have everything handed to you.”
“That doesn’t necessarily make him a bad person!” Celia protested, even though she’d had the same thought about Peter more than once.
“It doesn’t make him a good one either—just a rich one,” Fierce remarked. “And a fucking boring one. Does he ever do anything but go around and buy things he doesn’t need? I mean, get a fucking hobby.”
“Your finger should be healed now,” Hold said, interrupting what was turning into a fight. Clearly he wanted to change the subject. “How does it feel?”
Still fuming, Celia looked down at her finger and blinked.
“Oh…it looks completely better! I can’t even see the cut anymore. How did you do that?”
He shrugged, a charming grin tugging at one corner of his mouth.
“Kindred medical technology. Excuse me—I need to put this back.”
He reached to the side of the ship to put back the first aid kit he’d been using, which pushed Celia against his brother, much to her discomfort.
She stiffened and tried not to lean against the rude Kindred—so far she much preferred Hold to Fierce.
But while she was close to the dark warrior, she couldn’t help noticing that he smelled really good too. His scent was wilder than Hold’s—she caught notes of a pine forest at night and sun warmed fur and bonfire smoke—but put all together, it still smelled amazingly attractive. Which was ridiculous—she was not in any way attracted to either one of them—especially not the arrogant Fierce, she told herself firmly. She was in love with Peter and she was only going to be aboard the Mother Ship a little while before she went back to him.
Hold shifted again and she was able to sit more comfortably back in her seat. She felt tiny between the two huge warriors. The top of her head barely came halfway up their muscular arms—it was like being a child sitting at the grownup’s table. This thought led to the rumors she’d heard that the Twin Kindred always shared their women sexually—which seemed blatantly impossible. How would they actually fit?