Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 159487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 797(@200wpm)___ 638(@250wpm)___ 532(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 159487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 797(@200wpm)___ 638(@250wpm)___ 532(@300wpm)
“Just let him wash you,” Severin said to her in a low voice. “He won’t hurt you. He probably thinks the two of you are in the middle of your Bathing Week or something.”
“The Bathing Week?” Cassie felt her heart jump nervously in her chest. Having lived aboard the Kindred Mother Ship for some time, she knew about the Bathing Week—it was part of the Claiming Period—the four week timeframe a Kindred warrior had to convince his chosen bride to stay with him.
First there was the Holding Week, where he could touch her, but only over her clothing. Next came the Bathing Week, when he could bathe her and massage her naked body with special oils. There were also the Tasting Week and the Bonding Week, but it was the reference to the Bathing Week that worried her. Was the huge Beast Kindred going to insist on rubbing her naked body all over with massage oil when he finished bathing her?
If he did, she didn’t see any way to stop him. Severin had already said that Ravik might get “upset” if he tried to take her away from him. By upset, she assumed that he thought the Beast Kindred might go into Rage—which was something she definitely didn’t want.
She’d seen a Kindred warrior go into Rage only once and it wasn’t even aboard the Mother Ship. She’d been visiting her children on Earth and the Beast Kindred pilot who had flown her down had brought along his pretty young bride, who happened to be from the same part of Florida Cassie was from, to visit her parents.
The three of them had chatted, making small talk about living in Florida and how nice it was to be aboard the Mother Ship instead, where it wasn’t hot and humid all the time and there was free health care and child care. The young bride had been pregnant but just barely showing—a tiny bump in her lower abdomen where she rested her hand lovingly as she spoke.
Once they touched down at the Tampa HKR building the Kindred pilot had to speak to his superior so Cassie and his wife—her name was Miranda, but she went by Miri—had decided to go across the street where there was a downtown street fair going on.
It was at least an hour before her daughter was due to be there, so Cassie had linked arms with Miri and the two of them had strolled up and down the street, looking at all the different arts and crafts and delicious foods for sale.
“Oh, cotton candy—they have cotton candy!” Miri had exclaimed, pointing to a stall about half a block down. “And look—they made it into those huge multicolored flowers! I’ve always wanted to try one of those.”
Cassie laughed.
“Well, I’m not standing in the way of a pregnant lady’s cravings—let’s go get some,” she suggested.
The two of them started towards the stall selling the cotton candy flowers, but before they were even halfway there, two men stepped out in front of them.
“Hey, pretty lady—where you going?” one of them asked Miri. They were both dressed in tight jeans and dirty t-shirts and Cassie didn’t like the look of them one bit.
“It’s none of your business where we’re going,” she said briskly. “Now if you’ll excuse us…” And keeping hold of Miri’s arm, she had pointedly tried to step around the two men.
But this only made them laugh—an ugly, guttural sound that raised the fine hairs at the back of Cassie’s neck. If she’d had any doubt before, it was gone now—these men were up to no good. She looked around the street fair, but they were between stalls and no one seemed to be paying any attention. There was no help to be found.
“I asked you a question,” the first man said. He had long, greasy black hair which hung limply over his forehead. “Where are you going?”
“And what’s your name, sweet thing?” the other one said, speaking to Miri.
The young bride was shy and frightened—her cheeks turned a dull red as she blushed and looked down, trying not to meet the men’s eyes.
“Her name and our destination are not your business,” Cassie said again, firmly. “Now please let us pass or you’re going to be sorry.”
“What are you, her mom?” the first man sneered.
“Yeah, we don’t mean any harm—we just want to talk to her,” the other man said. “In fact, why don’t all of us go for a walk and talk some,” he added. “We got a van with plenty of room—both of you can come.”
“I don’t know—I don’t like the mouthy one,” the first one grumbled. “She’s too old.”
“Naw, she’s fine—she’s still pretty even if she’s a little past her prime,” the other told him. “She’s got big tits and them child-bearing hips—lots of guys like that. Come on, ladies—come with us,” he added and took Miri by the arm. “You’re gonna make a lot of new friends.”