Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
I shrank away from him—I couldn’t help it! He was so big—and so much more frightening than I had ever dreamed.
A look came into his golden eyes—sorrow, I thought, mixed with regret.
“Please, baby, don’t be like that,” he murmured. “I’m sorry you had to see what you saw but I swear to you I would never, ever hurt you. I just want to heal you and make you feel better.”
It was the look in his eyes as much as the sincerity in his deep voice that melted just a little of my fear. But I wasn’t quite ready to go with him yet.
“That thing you turned into…what is it?” I asked in a trembling voice.
I expected him to put me off, but he answered without hesitation.
“We of Clan Cruel call it ‘The Darkness.’ It’s a symbiotic organism that lives inside us and helps us fight.”
“So…all the males in your Clan have it?” I was surprised—I never would have dreamed such a thing was possible.
Slade nodded.
“We got it when we did a genetic trade with the Night Walkers of Midnight Prime. It’s kind of a secret weapon—it makes the other Clans fear us.”
“Well, it certainly made me fear you,” I said in a low, choked voice. “Can…can it come out at any time?”
Slade shook his head firmly.
“No, baby—I can control it. And even if it did come out, it would never, ever hurt you. It’s part of me and I’m your Fated Mate. Mates don’t hurt each other—ever.”
I still wasn’t sure about the whole idea of Slade and I being “Fated Mates”—we had no such concept on L’Crist and it seemed strange to me. But I could tell he was sincere.
“So…you’re saying it’s not a danger to me?” I probed cautiously.
He shook his head.
“No. It only came out because I was feeling so angry and protective of you—it came out to help me save you from that fucking Clan Ruthless asshole!”
His eyes went dark for a moment and then he took a deep breath and they were gold again.
“Sorry,” he apologized. “But just the thought of him touching you…trying to take you away—” He took another deep breath. “How did he even get to you in the first place?”
“He sent me a drink and then came to sit at the table,” I said in a shaky voice. “I tried to send him away—I told him I was there with my hu-hu-husband but you…you w-weren’t th-there!” I was starting to cry again, though I really didn’t want to. It was the memory of looking for him and not seeing him and then being grabbed by the strange Brute that did it.
Slade closed his eyes for a moment and a look of pain passed over his face.
“I know, Princess and I’m so fucking sorry,” he said in a low voice. “I stepped out for a minute to take a call but I swear I never would have if I’d dreamed that anything like this could happen!”
“So…this isn’t usual?” I asked, sniffing and trying to get hold of myself.
Slade shook his head.
“I don’t know what kind of fucking lurid stories you humans tell about ‘Sin World’ but I swear this is unprecedented. The male that tried to snatch you was from another Clan—Clan Ruthless. He’s got fucking brass balls to come after females in Clan Cruel territory.” He gave me a steady look. “I swear to you, Aurora, he’s going to be punished.”
I shivered and nodded.
“Thank you.”
“Did he say anything to you?” Slade asked. “Anything to indicate what he was planning?”
I nodded again.
“When I was fighting him he said…said that he didn’t need me alive to…to cut me up for cloning,” I managed to get out. I was fighting tears again and shivering. Why was I so cold?
“That fucker!” Slade’s jaw clenched and I saw his big hands ball into fists. The blackness passed through his eyes once more but I saw him take another deep breath and it was gone. “Come on, Princess,” he said, reaching for me again. “Let’s get you to my suite so I can get you cleaned up and healed.”
He gathered me into his arms and this time I let him. I had watched “The Darkness” as he called it, rise twice in his eyes and both times he had pushed it away—folded it inside himself like a cloak he wasn’t using at the moment. It gave me a tiny bit of confidence that he really was in control of it.
That’s not to say I felt perfectly safe in his arms—not at first, anyway. But I found that the longer he carried me and the more I breathed in his warm, spicy scent, the calmer I felt. Was this some kind of Brutal trick, I wondered? Some way to manipulate me?
But that seemed like a silly idea—I didn’t want to reject the comfort he was offering out of fear, though I vowed to be more cautious in the future. I let myself melt against him as he carried me effortlessly.