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)
Stop it, Liv, she scolded herself. You’re supposed to be trying to get away from the guy, not planning to have his babies! Yet she couldn’t help sighing when she saw one of the Beast Kindred males who looked a little like Baird handling a tiny infant. He had the baby over one powerful shoulder and was patting and rubbing its back gently, obviously trying to coax out a burp. Beside him his bride, a lovely Asian girl with almond shaped eyes, was smiling maternally.
The girl was extremely petite, probably not even five feet tall, while her husband was almost Baird’s size. After Liv peeled her gaze away from their baby she couldn’t help eyeing them uncertainly. How had such a tiny woman accommodated a man as large as her Kindred husband? He was a Beast Kindred so he must have the same equipment Baird did. Maybe it wasn’t as big? Of course, Baird had said his body could make chemicals that would help a female adjust and open for him. For his mating fist…
Just thinking about Baird’s unique anatomy made her blush and look away from the happy family scene but not before she saw the Kindred father noticing her. He had a frown on his face and he was sniffing the air, as though he smelled something in the air. Liv wasn’t sure what to think of that but by then she was already past them and into a different part of what she was beginning to think of as the Kindred version of Central Park.
The temple of the Mother of Life was, as promised, beautiful, although like no other place of worship Liv had ever seen. The trees with their many different shades of green and purple leaves were gorgeous and she wished she could get down and wander among them for awhile. Unfortunately, she had no idea how to stop the Take-me and she didn’t want to try getting off while it was ambling along at its deceptively fast rate so she remained seated on her swaying mount. I wonder if I can get Baird to take me here when he gets back? she thought wistfully as the lovely temple faded into the distance. Wish we could get out and do more instead of staying cooped up in the suite. Just because we’re fighting shouldn’t mean we have to stay in all the time.
Coming out on the other side of the park area she expected to see more shops and eateries—and she did—to her right, anyway. To her left was a decidedly different area of the Kindred ship. The shops were darker and closer together and there were various signs in the spiky, angular Kindred language that were flashing on and off, as though to draw attention to whatever they were selling inside. Liv also didn’t see any more families or couples. There were only males going into the shops and none of them looked particularly happy. In fact, if she had to characterize the look on their faces she would have called it hungry, although maybe not for food. What’s going on over there? Whatever it is I don’t think I want to know.
She shivered. Despite the pale green sunlight, this area of the ship seemed darker somehow, more forbidding. Dangerous. As the Take-me ambled past it, she tried not to look at any of the warriors entering and leaving the mysterious shops but she couldn’t help noticing that they were certainly looking at her. Several of them stared at her and lifted their heads, breathing deeply as though scenting the air. Weird… Liv shivered again and then, thankfully, she was past the area and the Take-me was entering a familiar looking warren of blank metal corridors.
This was the area where most of the mated Twin Kindred lived and Liv was looking forward to seeing some up close since they were the only kind of Kindred she hadn’t met yet. She’d mostly seen Beast Kindred and the occasional Blood Kindred, like Sylvan, in the area where she and Baird were staying. She wondered if Jillian would dish more on having two husbands and how in the world such a three-way relationship worked. Liv could kind of see having a ménage a trois with two hot guys—she’d read it was the number one female fantasy in some woman’s magazine or other. But to actually marry two men and try to keep both of them happy all the time? It can’t be easy, she thought as the Take-me came to a stop in front of a flat silver panel door that looked the same as her own. Well, here goes.
Leaning forward, she reached past the Take-me’s forward looking head and rapped sharply on the metal door. It slid open at once and there was Jillian Holms, looking only a little different than she had in high school.