Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 130947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 655(@200wpm)___ 524(@250wpm)___ 436(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 655(@200wpm)___ 524(@250wpm)___ 436(@300wpm)
“Let’s go then.” Baird leaned forward as the entrance to the Scourge docking bay yawned open beneath them. “She’s been in there too long already. If he’s already gotten into her mind…”
We may be too late, Sylvan finished the thought in his head. But he didn’t say it aloud. Couldn’t bear to imagine his brother’s pain if the female he loved had been hurt beyond repair. They would just have to pray to the Mother that they were in time…
Liv shivered in revulsion as she felt the cold brush of an alien mind against her own. It was like spiders scuttling over her face—a loathsome, ticklish sensation that made her stomach lurch in disgust. Then the sensation went deeper and she felt him inside her brain. Cold hands with worm-like fingers were searching through her memories like an impatient secretary flipping through old fashioned paper files in a desk drawer. Every once in awhile they would linger on a certain memory—something embarrassing or horrifying or desperately unhappy—and examine it more closely. Liv gritted her teeth as she felt the corpse-cold fingers pick these bad memories up and fondle them like precious gems.
The time Sophie and I saw Miss Meow crushed under the neighbor’s truck…The last time we ever saw grandma alive with all those tubes and wires going in and out of her at the hospital…Opening the door to a policeman saying how sorry he was but we had to come down to the morgue and identify Mom and Dad after the drunk driver hit them…
It was all there, right down to the time in fourth grade when she’d had a crush on Patrick Phelps who told everyone he didn’t like her. The AllFather found each hurtful memory and tasted it thoroughly, tasted her pain and disappointment and humiliation as though it was a fine wine he was savoring.
Liv didn’t know how long it went on, only that after awhile she felt like she was going crazy. She tried to remember how Baird had said he was able to stand it—he’d been a prisoner here in this ship for six months. How had he kept his sanity with this hideous being rifling through his head?
He thought of me. He said I kept him sane—the link we had and the dream-sharing. Maybe if I think of him… Closing her eyes, Liv thought of him with all her might. She imagined him standing there in front of her—so tall and strong, his wild black hair and golden eyes filled with love and need. The way his body felt against hers when he held her close, the warm, spicy scent that filled her senses when she was with him. Suddenly her eyes flew open. God, he was right—I love him. How could I not see that before? How could I wait until now when I’m in a hopeless situation to realize that he’s what I want out of life? What’s wrong with me?
“What indeed?” whispered an icy voice in her brain. “Ssso you were bonded to the one who escaped me. Sssuch a pity…his pain was ssso unique and I never quite got all of it.”
Liv felt him in her head again, prying at her memories of Baird. But somehow, this time she resisted. “No, those aren’t for you!” She imagined erecting a wall around her time with Baird, a wall so high and thick he couldn’t scale it or break it no matter how he tried.
Soft laughter, like the rustling of bat wings filled her skull. “Ssso you resist? Very well, I ssshall break you later at my leisure. Depend upon it, little female.”
And then, as suddenly as he had invaded her mind, the AllFather was gone. Liv sagged in relief, nearly falling again. Resisting his prying attempts to see into her time with Baird had taken everything she had. She felt like she’d just run a marathon or swam a hundred laps in the pool.
The AllFather went back to its throne. “Her taste is prosaic but ssshe ssshould provide a few hours of entertainment at least. Hook her up to the viewer and I will review her memories. Her thought images may provide valuable insight.”
Liv had a sudden memory of the way Baird had looked in the dreams she’d had of him. Chained to a wall with a huge screen above his head and wires coming out of his skin. “No!” She turned to run but Xairn caught her.
“None of that. You belong to the AllFather now. He will do with you as he wishes and you have no say in the matter.”
“I have a say. The Earth female belongs to me so take your fuckin’ hands off her.”
At first Liv thought the deep, familiar voice must be an illusion. A cruel trick either of the AllFather or her own mind. She wanted so much to see Baird, to be with him. But surely he wouldn’t be able to follow her here—would he? Slowly, almost afraid to look for fear he wouldn’t be real, she turned her head and stared down the broad black steps. For a moment she couldn’t see in the dim room and then…