Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 130317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
“Thank you for inviting us,” Sev said, nodding politely. “How can we be of assistance, Commander?” Though he was technically employed by the Tampa PD, his first loyalty was always going to be here, with the Kindred Mother Ship.
“Yes, what can we do for you?” Mia asked, lifting her eyebrows and folding her hands on her lap.
“I have a special assignment and I think the two of you might be perfect for it.” Commander Sylvan steepled his long fingers on his desk. “If you think you’re up for it, that is.”
“Sounds like a challenge,” Sev remarked.
“Oh, it will be.” Commander Sylvan nodded. “And it’s off planet too, so I need to know if either of you have a problem with that. Any family you’d be leaving behind? Because this will probably be an extended mission.”
Sev shrugged.
“No—no family here on Earth. Though my parents are still back on my home world.”
“I don’t have any family either. Or at least, none that I speak to.” Mia’s voice was tight and her shoulders were hunched. She got this way whenever her family came up in conversation—Sev wished he knew why. All he knew was that she was estranged from her parents and siblings for some reason, though she had never given him a reason for the estrangement.
“And do either of you have mates or potential mates—what the humans call fiancés?” Sylvan probed.
Sev shook his head. Originally, one of his reasons for taking a job down on Earth had been to finally connect with a mate. Since his kind of Kindred didn’t usually Dream Share with their mates before meeting them, it had seemed like a good way to find someone.
But the moment he’d been introduced to Mia, that idea had flown out the fucking window. He’d wanted her at once…and understood within the first hour of their meeting that he would never be able to have her. At first because she was married, but even now that she was getting divorced, he knew she was out of reach.
There was a wall around Mia he couldn’t breach—no one could, as far as Sev could see. She was closed off—sealed up tight emotionally and she didn’t seem to have any interest in letting anyone in—not even him.
So a mate was off the table for him. He had to be content—well, mostly content—to just be near the woman he wanted, even if he could only have her as a partner and never as a lover or wife.
Mia also shook her head.
“Divorced,” she said succinctly.
“I see.” Sylvan nodded gravely. “My condolences. I will never understand how you humans are able to end a relationship in that way, but I know it isn’t easy.”
“You don’t know my ex,” Mia said dryly. “If you met him, you’d understand.”
Sev had to agree with her there. He still remembered the first time he’d been introduced to Mia’s ex-mate. It was about a year after he had first become her partner and she had invited him to her house to eat Last Meal.
Mia’s ex mate, Michael, was tall by human standards—though of course not nearly as tall as Sev. But it was clear that he’d thought his height and his sex made him superior to Mia. He kept making jokes at her expense and calling her “the little woman” and winking at Sev as he did so, as though the two of them were in a private club, just because they were both male.
He also liked to swat Mia on her plump behind and order her around in a way that was only half playful. “Woman, go make me a drink!” he demanded.
Then he asked if she was burning the meal they were about to cook and laughed and told Sev that Mia was “hopeless” in the kitchen.
“But she’s learning—she keeps trying—I’ll give her that. You know women—it takes them a while,” he’d added with another annoyingly superior laugh.
“A while to what?” Sev had demanded. “Are you saying that Mia is less competent at food prep or less intelligent in some way because she’s a female?”
“Oh, uh…” Michael had looked taken aback. “You know what I mean—you might be an alien but you’re still a guy, right?”
“Being a male doesn’t mean I think females are stupid or incompetent,” Sev had growled, for which Mia’s mate—now her ex-mate—had no answer.
By the end of the evening, Sev had been holding himself back—he had really wanted to pound the shit out of the other male.
“Why do you let him talk about you like that?” he’d demanded later, when he and Mia were alone. He’d told himself that he shouldn’t say anything—Mia was an intensely private person and she might never let him get any closer if he wasn’t respectful of her boundaries. But after the Last Meal he’d endured with her mate, he simply wasn’t able to hold himself back.