Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
“And who would carry that?”
“RS agents. And me.”
Oh boy.
Aleksei continued. “The good news, this takes so much power, it’s essentially a one shot. That’s why he only fired once. Because it has to recalibrate, and recharge, before another beam can fire. And it takes a full five minutes for this to happen.”
“I guess that’s good, unless whoever is modifying these things can one-up themself.”
“If they can, this will narrow the field of possibles significantly. To be able to recalibrate and recharge a weapon of that small size for that amount of power in less time is something that hasn’t been invented yet. There are maybe five scientists in all Twenty Realms who could pull off something like that, and they’d have difficulty doing it, because first, they’d have to invent the means to do it with.”
Well, that was a relief.
“Anything else?” I asked.
He tossed some more blobs in his mouth, chewed, swallowed and answered, “No.”
“Have you eaten dinner?” I asked suspiciously.
He lifted the tub and smiled.
“Want to watch a vid with me?” I asked. “I just started this one. We can go back to the beginning.”
As answer, he handed me the tub, leaned in and kissed my forehead, then angled out of the couch-bed, saying, “I’m going to change. Program up some chocolate crackles, pop clusters and a cherry-lime sparkle, would you, darling?”
Prince Aleksei, the True Heir of Night’s Fall, was going to hang and chill, eat crap and watch a vid with me.
Seriously.
Destiny knew what it was doing.
I rolled out of the couch-bed (a whole lot less gracefully than Aleksei did) and went to the Snack-Sensation. I got his chocolate crackles, pop clusters, and added cashew-caramel spots. I then went to the Bev-Buddy and programmed in another grape sparkle and his cherry-lime.
After that, I told the screen to cue the vid back to the beginning.
I had our feast spread out when he returned.
And second-best thing to do with Aleksei, king-to-be and my mate (after sex)?
Having him claim me in a cuddle while we lounged in front a vid, ate food that was not good for us, and did not one thing else.
Just us, the cats, and home.
Perfect.
Chapter 24
Crusader
I followed Rya down the stairs, my eyes on my mate leaning a hip to the kitchen counter, sipping coffee while he flipped through a digi-doc, again wearing shirtsleeves and his vest and trousers. His suit jacket was thrown around the back of a barstool.
My heart skipped because he was so handsome, but also because I knew he was waiting to start his day because I was getting IV therapy number three from Rya upstairs, and he didn’t want to leave until he knew it was done and I was okay.
He looked our way and did a double take.
I knew why that was too.
Rya made it to the kitchen bar and nodded to him in a kind of succinct bow, before she turned to me, her face filled with compassion.
“I know you’re excited about the increased activity of your beast,” she said.
I for sure was.
“But in an effort to save you disappointment,” she carried on, “I can’t stress enough that, like the animals they are, shifter creatures do not like to be vulnerable. This has been studied extensively, and it is rare to unheard of that a beast will emerge before the drug is fully out of their host’s system. If they did, it could cause them to force you to transform when they’re in a weakened state, just because they won’t have control over themselves, and they simply won’t do that, because it would make you vulnerable. That is not their reason for being. In fact, it’s the opposite. So you’ll continue to sense increased activity, but you still have two or three days before the drug has fully exited your system.”
“Okay,” I replied.
She smiled. “And then it will be over, and you’ll be whole again.”
Whole.
I smiled a lot bigger at that.
Her expression grew serious. “When it comes closer, as I’ve already told you, you’ll need to take care and hole up somewhere safe for you to transform. She’ll have a lot of energy, and you might not be able to check her from taking over. She’ll need to expend some of that before you can get her back under your control.”
I nodded.
She smiled again.
“See you in a couple of days,” she finished.
“See you, and thanks again for coming,” I replied, following her to the lift.
She dipped her head to Aleksei again, got on the lift, and I turned to him when the door slid closed on her.
“Here,” he ordered.
I fought an eyeroll and went to him.
He crooked a finger and touched it under my chin to lift my eyes to his.
“Did you hear what she said?” he asked gently.
It had been two days since I felt my first flutter.
And the time was short, but we’d fallen into a steady rhythm for our lives.