Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
“But he did,” Lovely said gently. “Please don’t worry though—now you and I get to be sisters! And as soon as you finish metabolizing all the hormones and supplements you’ve been given, Master Lendrex can breed both of us and get us both pregnant with his sons! Then we’ll live together and raise our sons together and we’ll be the best of friends!”
“But…I don’t want that. Not that I don’t want to be your friend, but I can’t…wait a minute…” Seline shook her head. “What did you say about supplements and hormones?”
“Oh—the ones you were injected with while you were still sleeping. There.” Lovely touched Seline’s upper right arm and she winced and jerked away.
“Ouch!”
“Sorry,” Lovely said apologetically. “I’m not surprised the injection site is tender. After all, they had to give you a really big dose to get you ready for early breeding. It usually takes a pleasure girl months to get ripe enough, just from eating the female food they serve us here in the Halls of Pain. But I begged Master Lendrex to have them triple your dose—so that you and I could be pregnant together, you know!”
She looked so happy and excited at the idea, that Seline almost felt bad about bursting her bubble. But there was no way she was going to be bred and impregnated by the creepy, bald, golden-scaled Master Lendrex—no matter how badly Lovely wanted a “sister” to be pregnant with.
“I can’t stay here, Lovely,” she told her friend. “I’m sorry, but Nox and I have a relationship. We’re not just Master and pleasure slave—we’re partners. He’s my Protector and he’s not just going to leave me here because Master Lendrex tells him to.”
“I’m sorry, my dear, but that is exactly what he did.”
Seline’s head jerked up and she saw Master Lendrex standing behind her, an insufferable smirk on his golden-scaled face.
“What are you talking about?” she demanded. She wished she could remember what had happened before she woke up in the middle of the big, black bed with its red flowers, but everything after sitting down at the table with Nox seemed to be a blur.
“I mean, we made a deal and your old Master is abiding by it. Or he will, anyway.” Master Lendrex raised his brow ridges—what would have been eyebrows if he’d had any. “Would you care to see?”
“I…I don’t—” Seline began, but Master Lendrex was already turning on an enormous viewscreen hanging on the wall across from the bed, which she hadn’t noticed earlier.
A picture flickered into view and Seline recognized the far back corner of the Tangle’s Main Hub. There were three guards—all with silver scales—standing in front of the lift door which led to the Upper Disk. And standing in front of them was Nox.
“Your Master has my female,” he was saying in a low, growling voice. “Let me go up at once!”
“Sorry, Master Nox,” one of the guards said, shrugging. “Master Lendrex told us you might come by, but I’ve been instructed to tell you that the bargain is done and he has no wish to see you anymore.”
“You’re not welcome in the Halls of Pain any longer,” the second guard said.
“I don’t care what your Master said, he has my female and I intend to get her back!” Nox growled.
“Now, Master Nox, why don’t you just run along,” the third guard said in a condescending tone. “You know what happened to the last male who tried to go back on a deal he made with Master Lendrex? He ended up in a gene stripper’s tank. You don’t want to end up like that—now do you?”
For a moment Seline was sure that Nox would argue further—that he would fight for her and come riding up the lift to save her from Master Lendrex. Instead, he simply stood there, contemplating the three guards for a long moment, a cool expression on his face.
“Very well,” he said at last. “I see that Master Lendrex cannot be persuaded by ordinary means to release my female.”
“He can’t be persuaded by any means,” the first guard said. “Just give up and go home—no one can stand against Master Lendrex.”
“You’re just one male alone,” the second guard remarked. “While we’ve got hundreds of Viridians living in the Halls of Pain—there’s no way you could come against all of us and win.”
“No…” Nox sounded thoughtful. “No, I suppose you are right. In the normal course of things, there is no winning with odds like that.”
“Now you’re talking sensibly,” the third guard said, nodding. “Go on back to your ship and leave the Tangle. Forget about the little female—you can always get another.”
“I will not forget her,” Nox said. “But I will leave—for now.”
Then—to Seline’s disbelief—he turned and simply walked away.
“Do you see?” Lendrex pointed at the viewscreen, like a teacher trying to drive home a point to a particularly dense student. “He’s going. Your old Master is leaving you because you don’t belong to him anymore.”