Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 105936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
The bronze indicates my rank but it also shows the trust my Chieftain has in me. I take a multi-billion credit star ship out into the farthest reaches of deep space and bring back rare and precious cargo no one else can get.
Oh, and illegal—my cargos are almost always something banned by the Imperium, which has a stick up its ass about things like certain mind-altering recreational drugs and medical instruments used in operations like illegal cloning procedures. In fact, I was headed to the Triplex Cluster in a day or so, as soon as I found a new navigator, to pick up a special shipment.
But it wasn’t my next mission I was thinking of at the moment, it was my best friend and his missing little sister, Jessina.
“Her room was a mess—my Sire said it looked like there had been a struggle,” Slade was telling me.
“Did someone kidnap her?” I asked. “Who the fuck would dare to do that? Kidnap the daughter of a Clan Chieftain?”
Slade shook his head, distractedly.
“I have no fucking idea—I don’t even know if she was actually taken or not. Aurora thinks she ran off on her own. Apparently she wasn’t happy with the male my stepmother picked for her to Bind herself to. I thought she looked upset at the ceremony but I never got around to talking to her.”
I could tell he was feeling guilty about it. He and his little sister have always been close.
“Hey, don’t beat yourself up about it,” I told him. “It was your Binding Day—you had a lot going on.”
“I know. I just…fuck! I just wish I knew where she was and if she was safe. She’s not answering any of my calls.” He sighed in obvious frustration and ran a hand over his horns again.
I tried to remember if I had seen my friend’s little sister at the Binding Ceremony, which had been held at the Temple of She of the Four Faces—the Goddess all Brutes worship. But try as I might, the only mental image I could bring up was of Jessina when she was much younger.
Back when Slade was still living at home in his family mansion, he’d invited me and the rest of our Cross-Clan Crew, as Slade calls us, to come stay pretty often. We did what all adolescent males did—spent most of the time gaming and partying. Jessina always wanted to hang around with us and mostly we let her. She and Slade were always close, even back then.
She was a cute little thing with big, serious amber eyes and long black hair that fell to her waist. I still remembered the time when she had followed us to a club and gotten into trouble…
Jessina was underage at the time but she hid in the trunk of Slade’s hover-coach. None of us knew she was there. Until I happened to go to the bar for another drink and saw her.
She was sitting there with a male who was way too old for her and sipping something I really hoped wasn’t alcoholic. But alcoholic or not, the drink was going to fuck her up. The minute she looked away, I saw the bastard sitting beside her slip something into it—a bright pink rape pod.
The pod dissolved instantly and the next thing I knew, Jessina was putting the glass to her lips and taking a sip.
I was around the other side of the bar—which was a big one—but I got to her as fast as I could. Even so, by the time I reached them, she was already drooping and the bastard who had drugged her had an arm around her waist and was about to drag her outside.
“Hey fuck-face—get your hands off my little sister!” I growled at him. Of course we’re not related but Slade is like my brother. So it follows that his little sister is my little sister—that’s the way it works with close friendships in the Four Families.
The guy looked up at me and turned pale. My horns weren’t bronze at that point—they were platinum, the sign of a high-ranking soldier. But that was enough to let him know I was a member of one of the Clans and nobody to be messed with. My moving neon tats and my fangs, which I bared at him, marked me as Clan Savage and nobody he wanted to be fucking with.
“She…she’s sick. I was taking her to the restroom,” he babbled.
“Don’t bother lying—I saw you put a rape pod in her drink!” I stepped closer. “Give her to me and then hold out your arm.”
“Wh-what? Why?” he stuttered. He was already handing Jessina over, and I could see he was going to try and bolt.
I looped an arm around her limp form and then grabbed his wrist with my free hand. Bringing it to my mouth, I concentrated the venom in my fangs and sank them deep into his flesh.