Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 47749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 191(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 191(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
“No—let me go!” Breenah begged, still thrashing. “Why can’t the two of you just let me go? Let me leave the Compound—I don’t want to be here anymore! I don’t belong here!”
“Now, now—you’ll feel differently once you’ve had your surgery and neutering,” Mistress Heal-all said soothingly.
Something sharp bit into Breenah’s upper arm and then it felt as though ice water was being injected into her veins. At once, the world started looking blurry around the edges.
“No!” she moaned, trying to fight the drug even as the two women dragged her to her feet. “No, please! Rax…”
Her eyes moved in slow motion to catch a last glimpse of the giant manacled to the Stasis Wheel.
It was hard to tell but she thought Rax looked sad, rather than scared or angry.
“Remember what I told you, sweetheart,” he called to her. “Hide tonight during the Equinox! Don’t let him find you!”
The Beast, he means—his Beast, Breenah thought blearily. He doesn’t want his Beast to find me because he’ll try to breed me…
And then her eyes closed and she knew no more.
FIFTEEN
BREENAH
“Wake, daughter. You must wake!”
A powerful feminine voice spoke in Breenah’s ear, drawing her upwards from her drugged slumber.
“Huh?” she muttered. She felt as though someone had poured a sleeping draught in her juice—her limbs were so heavy and her head felt like a boulder attached to her neck.
“Wake—the Equinox is upon you and the females of your Compound are in danger,” the voice in her ear insisted.
Breenah frowned. Was it a dream? It didn’t feel like a dream. In fact, the more the voice spoke in her ear, the more awake she felt. The drugged lethargy that had been holding her down seemed to ease at last and she found she could move her arms and legs.
Looking around, she saw that she’d been dumped on a cot in the dormitory, which was empty except for her.
“Where…where is everyone?” she asked, not sure who she was talking to.
“They are celebrating the Equinox, but the warrior’s Beast is about to break free,” the voice informed her. “If it is not stopped or led away, every female in this Compound will die tonight!”
Suddenly everything came rushing back to Breenah and she sat all the way up with a jerk.
“Oh my Goddess—Rax! His Beast!” she exclaimed. “Is it really true?”
“It is true—he has a Beast that indwells him and lusts for blood or pleasure,” the disembodied voice assured her. “If you do not lead it away, there will be much death tonight.”
“Who are you? And why do you care what happens to the women of my Compound?” Breenah demanded, looking around. She still couldn’t see anyone but she felt a presence around her—a very powerful presence filling the air.
“I am she whom Rax told you about,” the voice informed her. “And I care for two reasons. Firstly, it is not my will that innocent females should die. And secondly, the warrior, Rax, has been a good and faithful servant. It would be wrong to burden his conscience with the deaths of so many. So you must go, daughter, and do what you can to lead his Beast aside.”
“But…but he told me to hide from it—to avoid it!” Breenah protested.
“You can do that if you wish—I cannot force you to help,” the voice who must be the Kindred Goddess that Rax had spoken about told her. “But you will regret it all your days if you do.”
Breenah bit her lip.
“What…what will happen to me if I do as you say? Won’t the Beast kill me instead?”
“I promise you, my daughter, the Beast will not kill you,” the Goddess told her. “He will not spill a single drop of your blood.”
“Well…” Breenah straightened up and got off her cot. It seemed the Beast was real, not just a desperate lie on Rax’s part to get her to agree to set him free. And now it was time to make her decision.
“You must hurry, daughter,” the Goddess whispered in her ear. “The moment of crisis is almost at hand! Remember, no matter how frightening the Beast looks, he will not spill your blood. Now hurry and choose!”
And then the voice and the presence around her faded, leaving Breenah alone in the large, echoing dormitory with its rows of empty cots and blank white walls.
What exactly was she going to do?
SIXTEEN
BREENAH
Breenah left the dormitory, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. She’d only gone halfway down the long corridor that led to the Guard Room when she heard it—the pounding of the ceremonial drums and chanting.
It was a chilling sound to hear inside the Compound. Normally the rites of the Lunar Equinox—which came but once a year—were celebrated outside. But she supposed the Superiors had decided to celebrate inside this year, because they planned to sacrifice Rax.
Poor Rax! She had to save him! That was, unless it was already too late and his Beast had come out. But if that had happened, she was sure she’d hear more than drums and chanting—she’d probably hear screaming too.