Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 119846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Until it was gone.
The screech came first.
A horrible, metal-on-metal sound, like claws dragging across the skin of the ship.
“What was that?” his mother asked, her smile fading.
“Nothing, darling—just relax,” called Tells Reason, Burn’s Light Twin father, from the cockpit.
But Burn heard the edge in his voice.
Then the sound came again—sharper this time—louder.
Grips Hard—his Dark Twin father—swore under his breath.
“We have to break free before they—”
And then—
BOOM.
The entire shuttle rocked. A deafening roar filled the air, and the door to the shuttle blew open in a shower of sparks.
They were inside in seconds.
The pirates were huge—hulking monsters with metal-plated armor and glowing red eyes. Burn couldn’t understand how they had moved so fast. One moment the door was closed, the next the air was filled with screams and smoke.
“Get back!” His fathers, Tells Reason and Grips Hard, rushed out of the cockpit, weapons drawn, shields up.
But it wasn’t enough.
The pirates fired.
The sound of the blasters was like thunder inside Burn’s skull. He watched—frozen—as both of his fathers went down, one after the other. First Reason, then Grips.
No weapons…no shields…no more protection. They were just…gone.
“Father!” Speaks Wisdom screamed, and their mother’s voice broke into sobs as she knelt beside their bodies. Blood pooled under them, dark and wrong.
“Get the woman!” one of the pirates growled. “She’ll fetch the highest price.”
“NO!” Speaks darted in front of her, his arms outstretched. “You can’t take her! Leave my mother alone, you bastards!”
“SPEAKS!” Burn screamed—but his voice came too late.
There was a bright flash of light and a sound like the world tearing in half.
And then—
Silence…nothing.
Burn didn’t feel the pain. He didn’t feel the floor when his knees hit it. All he felt was the sudden emptiness. The hollow echo in his chest. Like his lungs wouldn’t fill. Like he couldn’t breathe.
Because Speaks Wisdom was gone.
Just…gone.
The Twin-Bond that had tied them together since the moment they’d shared a womb was severed and emptiness rushed in to fill its place.
Burn clutched his chest to scream again…but the sound never made it out of his throat.
“No… no, no, no…” It was barely a whisper.
He couldn’t move…he couldn’t even crawl.
Half his soul was gone…half his body was numb.
He lay there, shaking, his cheek pressed to the metal floor, as they tore his mother from Speaks’s lifeless arms.
“Let me go!” she shrieked. “Let me stay with my sons!”
But the pirates only laughed and dragged her away.
Burn saw her fingers clawing the air. Her beautiful face was a mask of agony as she mouthed his name
And he couldn’t do a damn thing to save her.
24
NOELLE
The cold metal floor of the cell was far from comfortable, but somehow it didn’t matter. Noelle lay on her side, nestled between two massive Kindred warriors, their warmth radiating into her on either side like living heaters. Burn was at her back, a solid wall of heat and muscle, his breathing deep but not quite steady. Bright was in front of her, his long legs tangling lightly with hers, one arm draped protectively over her hip.
The guards had called for lights out half an hour ago and now the cell block was shrouded in absolute darkness. A thick, velvety black that seemed to swallow everything. No emergency exit signs glowing faintly. No flicker of light beneath a door. Just pitch blackness, wrapping around them like a blanket.
Both big warriors had insisted she use their shirts—one to lie on, one to cover her. She’d tried to argue, of course, but neither of them would hear it.
“You’re much too delicate, my lady,” Bright had said with a teasing grin as he spread the soft fabric over her as a makeshift blanket.
“And besides, Kindred run hotter than humans,” Burn added in that growly voice of his. “We can keep ourselves warm.”
And now, sandwiched between their shirtless bodies, Noelle could confirm that was absolutely true. Even through the thin silk of her negligee and the thicker, satiny material of their uniform shirts, their combined heat wrapped around her, soothing and comforting. She should have felt awkward sleeping between them with so little on—should have felt exposed. But instead, she felt…safe.
Safer than I’ve felt in a long time, she admitted to herself, just before sleep pulled her under.
But rest didn’t bring peace.
The dream started gently at first—just flickers of light and movement. Then sound began bleeding in—the happy chatter of children…a woman’s laugh…the thrum of a shuttle in motion.
Noelle stood somewhere above the scene, as though perched on the ceiling, watching it unfold. She saw a Kindred family of five—two tall warrior fathers, a beautiful dark-haired woman who must be their wife, and two young boys who looked so much alike she was sure they had to be twins. They were laughing and teasing each other. The woman ruffled one of the boy’s hair and he wrinkled his nose at her, grinning.