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)
Dios…not again…please not again.
“What do you want?” Bright asked, sitting up and glaring at him.
“Why, I’ve come to collect my client,” Lupin said airily. “It’s time for the second half of your treatment, my dear,” he added, speaking to Noelle.
Noelle felt her stomach twist and her throat tighten. She shook her head, her voice barely more than a whisper at first.
“No.”
Lupin blinked, looking startled for a moment—then he tilted his head and gave her a condescending smile.
“No?” he repeated. “Oh dear, I think you must be confused. You see, the first half was just the beginning. The real magic happens in the second stage. We still have to finish enhancing your hormone balance, complete the glandular stimulation series, and of course, run the final neuro-sexual compatibility diagnostics. So do be a good girl and come along—time is money and the auction is fast approaching.”
“I said no!” Noelle’s voice rose. She scrambled to her feet, her bare toes curling against the freezing metal floor as she stared at him. “I’m not going with you. I don’t trust you—I’m not going through that again!”
Her whole body was trembling and her pulse felt like a drumbeat under her skin. But she kept her chin up.
Don’t let him see you’re afraid. Don’t let him know, she thought frantically.
Lupin tsked and adjusted the gaudy collar of the neon-green vest that was stretched tight over his rotund little body.
“Well then, suit yourself,” he said breezily. “But I must warn you, my dear…if you refuse the second half of the treatment, you’re going to have trouble.”
That made Bright and Burn move like a matched set of guard dogs.
Burn surged to his feet with a low growl reverberating from his massive chest.
“What the fuck kind of trouble?” he demanded.
Bright stood beside him, his lean body tense, one protective arm thrown in front of Noelle.
“I think you’d better explain what you mean,” he said evenly.
Lupin raised a hand and gave a little flutter of his pudgy fingers.
“Oh, I’m just talking about a little matter of…nectaritis. And advanced sexual hyper-neediness.”
There was a pause.
Then Burn snarled,
“What the fuck are those?”
“You may well ask,” Lupin said, his tone almost sing-song. His green eyes flicked past Bright, locking with Noelle’s. “And I promise, you will find out…if you don’t come with me now.”
His voice dropped to a silky, insinuating purr that made Noelle’s skin crawl. Her heart thumped painfully behind her ribs.
She remembered the sensation of drowning in the pool of black goo…the stinging pain of the tentacle monster’s suction cups twisting and tugging her skin…the terrible sensation of being probed and forced to come as her womb was mapped. No way was she going through any of that again.
“No fucking way,” Burn growled, echoing her thoughts. His massive body moved until he was standing between her and Lupin, every inch of him a wall of muscle and menace. “She’s not going anywhere with you.”
Bright nodded, stepping in beside him.
“You’ll have to go through us first.”
“They’re right—I’m not going,” Noelle said again, trying to keep her voice steady. It still shook, but she lifted her chin defiantly. “I’m not trusting you again. Not after…after everything you did to me yesterday.”
Lupin rolled his eyes dramatically and crossed his arms.
“Very well. Refuse your final optimization, if you must. Just remember, once you’re sold at auction, it’ll be too late for me to help you. And you will regret it, my dear.”
Noelle felt a shiver run through her despite the warmth of the Kindred bodies flanking her. The memory of the tentacle bath, the invasive fertility probe, the suction cups came back again. Dios, she’d never forget the awful tingling ache in her nipples and womb.
“I’ll take my chances,” she said, her voice sharper now. “I’m staying here.”
“Suit yourself,” Lupin sniffed. “Enjoy yourself at the auction, then.” He flounced away, the ridiculously tall white swirl of his hair bobbing jauntily as he went.
The cell door slammed shut behind him.
There was a moment of silence as the three of them listened to the echo of his footsteps fading into the distance.
Then Bright turned to her.
“What do you think that’s all about?”
Noelle swallowed hard. Her throat felt tight, her stomach knotted.
“I don’t know.” She wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing her chilled upper arms. “Do you think he was telling the truth? About…that stuff? I mean, saying I was going to have trouble if I didn’t do the second treatment?”
“Nectar-what-the-fuck-ever?” Burn snorted, still bristling like a wolf ready to bite. “Bullshit. That little orange fucker was just trying to scare you into going.”
“He was trying to manipulate you,” Bright agreed. “Gaslighting you. Making you second guess yourself so you’d give in.”
“But what if he wasn’t?” Noelle whispered. “What if I…what if I really am going to have some kind of problem now because I didn’t finish the treatment?” Her hand pressed unconsciously to her lower belly. “I already feel kind of strange.”