Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 51404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 257(@200wpm)___ 206(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 257(@200wpm)___ 206(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
Panic grabbed her by the throat and squeezed like an iron fist. What if she couldn’t hold him off? What if her drugged, desperate body gave in despite her mind screaming no?
She had never needed Greer more in her life…but he was nowhere to be found.
35
GREER
Greer folded the last of his uniforms into the travel case with rigid precision, trying to ignore the hollowness in his chest. The Seventh Quadrant—on the far edge of known space—was waiting for him. A new mission. A clean slate.
Commander Sylvan had raised one blond brow when Greer requested the assignment.
“Seventh Quadrant? That’s about as far as you can get from the Mother Ship without leaving the know universe entirely,” he’d remarked.
“I know, Commander,” Greer had answered evenly. “That’s what I want.”
Sylvan had studied him for a long moment, clearly mystified, but had finally granted the request.
“Well, we can always use agents in the field. And I do need someone to keep an eye on Loquatus Four. They’re developing new space folding technology but they’re a warlike race—they might need to be stopped.”
“I’m your male,” Greer told him. “I’ll take the assignment and make sure their tech doesn’t get out of hand.”
“All right.” Sylvan nodded. “Go to it and may the Goddess go with you.”
“Thank you.” Greer had nodded as a sense of resignation filled him.
Now, as he closed the travel case and straightened, he told himself he should be relieved. Soon he would be free of temptation, free of the soft curves and laughing eyes of the beautiful little Elite who haunted him day and night.
Sunny would be safe here, surrounded by her friends. She would never know the dark hunger he carried for her, never recoil from the thought of his fangs sinking into her soft skin.
He considered finding her one last time—saying goodbye. But the thought was unbearable. If he saw her, if he so much as touched her hand, he wasn’t strong enough to resist.
No, a clean break was better.
His throat was scratchy with Blood Thirst—he still hadn’t been to a willing donor for blood since they’d come back from Thropp’ic Sigma. He knew he ought to fuel up before going across the universe to the Seventh Quadrant, but he didn’t want to. Drinking from a woman was an intimate thing—even if she was just someone he was paying for the privilege. And right now, his mind was still too clouded with images of Sunny for him to want to get close to another woman.
I’ll wait until I get to the Seventh Quadrant, he told himself. I’m sure I can find someone once I get there. When I get far away from Sunny…
The Thirst twisted like a knife in his throat and he grimaced in pain but ignored it. He couldn’t even imagine being with another woman, not now. Maybe not ever.
Greer slung the travel case over his shoulder and strode for the door of his suite. The Docking Bay waited. His shuttle was fueled and ready. One step away from the parklands at the ship’s heart where he knew she was right now, one step closer to forgetting—
“Warrior.”
The voice hit him like a thunderclap, vibrating in the marrow of his bones. The voice of the Goddess.
He stopped dead.
“Your female is in danger,” she said, her tone ringing in his head with urgency. “Sunny needs you, now! Look to the deserted side of the Sacred Grove. Go quickly—you do not have much time!”
Greer’s heart lurched.
“Sunny?” He dropped the case without another thought. “What kind of danger?”
But the Goddess was silent. She had given him what he needed to know. The rest was up to him.
He went through the doorway at a dead run. Luckily, his suite wasn’t far from the parklands at the Mother Ship’s center. The artificial green sun had been dimmed until it resembled a moon. It poured silvery radiance over everything, dappling the grass as he sprinted across it.
His body surged with adrenaline. He didn’t know what kind of danger she could possibly get into, here aboard the Mother Ship, but he knew Sunny—trouble always seemed to find her.
And Sunny—Sunny was soft and trusting, far too trusting of those who didn’t deserve her.
Every instinct in him roared the same thing—Protect!
He just prayed he got to her in time.
36
SUNNY
Sunny twisted against Summerville’s grip, her stomach lurching with a sick mixture of fear and the strange, pulsing heat still simmering in her veins from the Bonding Fruit.
“Come on, sweetheart,” he coaxed, pressing her back against the smooth trunk of a great, purple-barked tree. His hand twisted her breast again, roughly, like he was trying to twist her nipple right off. “You’ve been giving me looks all night. Don’t play shy now.”
“I have not been giving you looks!” Sunny snapped, shoving against his chest. He was bigger than she’d thought, heavier too, his breath reeking of Woo. “Let me go!”