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)
Bright gestured for Noelle to take the center chair—the “bride seat,” as he called it. Of course he did.
“Right between us. You’ll be safest here,” he assured her.
“Okay…” Noelle murmured, settling into the seat. The harness was complicated—five separate straps, all crossing between her thighs and over her chest. She fumbled awkwardly for a moment until Bright leaned in to help.
“Let me,” he murmured.
His hands were deft and careful, not lingering, but there was no way to ignore the heat of his fingers brushing her inner thighs while he adjusted the strap between her legs.
Noelle shifted slightly, feeling embarrassed when she remembered her damp panties and wishing she’d worn jeans instead of a skirt. But to his credit, the Light Twin didn’t take advantage. He only did what was necessary to strap her in… though his smile said he knew exactly what she was thinking.
“There,” he said. “All set.”
He sat down beside her and clicked his own harness into place with quick, practiced moves.
“All right, Burn—we’re ready.”
“About fucking time,” Burn growled, not taking his eyes off the navigation panel. “You know it takes a fuck-load of power to fold space and the longer we wait, the more energy we waste.”
Bright leaned over to whisper in Noelle’s ear, his breath warm against her skin.
“Don’t worry about him—he’s just grumpy because he doesn’t believe this is really going to work. He thinks there’s no way we can actually form a Twin-Bond… but I have faith.”
Noelle blinked in surprise. She turned to look at Burn, who kept his eyes forward.
“I can hear you, you know,” he said flatly. “And you’re right—I don’t believe this is going to fucking work.”
“Then why are we going?” she asked, honestly confused.
Burn sighed, the sound low and rough.
“Because Bright is my friend—the best one I’ve ever had. So if he wants to try something impossible, who am I to stop him?”
The Dark Twin’s words hit her. Hard.
So Burn didn’t believe in the prophecy or the mission—but he was still coming along. He was doing all this because he cared for Bright. That said something about Burn, who seemed so gruff and growly on the outside, and it made her heart ache in a way she hadn’t expected.
But she didn’t have much time to think about it because then the ship shuddered softly and lifted off. The view through the front viewscreen shifted as they rose upwards in the Mother Ship and then out of the atmosphere bubble, going from metal hull to starry sky.
Noelle gasped at what she saw.
There was a horizontal slash in the blackness of space, wider than the Mother Ship itself and red as fresh blood. It shimmered like a wound in the universe—glowing…pulsing.
“That’s the Fold,” Burn said, glancing at her. “The connection between this galaxy and the one where Therim Five orbits.”
“It looks like…” Noelle couldn’t quite find the words. “Like someone tore the universe open.”
“Don’t worry—it looks scary, but it’s painless to fold space,” Bright assured her.
“Unless you’re pregnant,” Burn added, eyeing her sidelong. “You’re not, are you? Because folding space is bad for a baby.”
“Pregnant?” Noelle nearly choked. “No—there’s no way I could be pregnant. I haven’t even had sex in…”
She trailed off, her cheeks going crimson.
“Since when, my lady?” Bright asked gently.
“Never mind.” She shook her head, her cheeks heating with embarrassment. Why had she said such a thing? “There’s no chance I’m pregnant. Let’s just leave it at that.”
What she didn’t say was that her ex had never wanted sex unless it hurt her. That was why she fantasized about something different…something gentle and slow. Branson had never wanted tenderness or connection—he wanted control and more than anything, he loved to make her cry. When he’d finally declared that she was “too fat and too old” to be desirable anymore and had stopped sleeping with her altogether, she’d been incredibly relieved.
It had been over a year since she’d been forced to undergo sex with her ex and Noelle felt like she was starting to heal. At least her sexual desire seemed to have returned—it had been absent through most of her marriage.
She was glad she’d never had any children with Branson—though he had claimed to want them and had even ordered her not to take birth control. (It went without saying that he wouldn’t wear a condom.)
Noelle had gone to a clinic in secret and gotten birth control pills, hiding them in an old vitamin bottle. She’d known—only months into their marriage—that she never wanted to bring his child into the world. Any baby she had with Branson would be another prisoner…another soul trapped under his thumb.
But not anymore. Not today. Today she was free and about to go on an adventure with friends.
Noelle pushed the bad memories away as she looked out at the crimson fold in space, feeling a jolt of excitement in her chest.