Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
“None of that matters,” she told me. “You broke the vows you took in the temple before She of the Four Faces. I’m really sorry because I liked you and I can tell that Slade liked you too. But it’s over.”
Her use of the past tense was like a knife in my heart.
“Please!” I begged. “Can’t you talk to him? Can’t you explain for me that it’s all a big mistake?”
“I’m sorry.” Jessina shook her head sadly. “But this is the kind of mistake you can’t take back. Here—you’re all packed up now.”
While I had been wringing my hands and pacing, she had finished putting all my things in my luggage. She grabbed the handle and nodded at the door.
“Come on—we’d better go.”
“But this is crazy!” I protested. “It can’t all be over, just like that!”
“It is, I’m afraid. We Brutes take our Binding vows very seriously.” Jessina was already walking down the hallway, leaving me to follow her with my luggage in tow. The wheels kept sticking on the ugly purple fur carpet and I felt like I was in the middle of a nightmare.
Somehow, we made it to the front door of the mansion. There I saw Rive, Slade’s Second-in-Command, already waiting. He had a somber expression on his face, as though he was attending a funeral.
“Come with me,” he said and took my luggage. He started to head for the front door but I didn’t follow him.
“Wait, this can’t be it!” I said desperately. “Please, I need to speak to Slade! Where is he?”
“He’s gone.” It was Lyrah’s voice behind me. I turned and saw her standing there, arms crossed over her bulbous breasts and a taunting smirk on her face. “He left when he found out you didn’t want to have his baby,” she said to me. “You’re never going to see him again.”
“I…I don’t believe you,” I said, but my voice was shaking. This was all happening so fast. I felt like I had been strapped into a carnival ride—one of the really scary ones that make you want to vomit—and I couldn’t get out.
“Believe it, you little bitch.” She gave me a cruel smile. “It’s such a shame—he’ll probably never find another woman he wants to bear his heir. You were supposed to be his Fated Mate, after all.”
“I am his Fated Mate!” I exclaimed.
“Not anymore. Rive—take her away.” She made a shooing gesture at me, like I was a pesky insect she was waving away.
“But…but…” I began. Then Rive was taking me gently but firmly by the arm.
“Come on,” he told me. “You can’t stay here.”
I tried to tug against his grip, to run and find Slade who must still be here somewhere, but my struggle was in vane. Like Slade, Rive was seven feet tall and muscular—I couldn’t get away. Looking at Jessina, I made one last appeal.
“Please—tell Slade I didn’t mean it. That it was all a terrible mistake!”
There were tears in her lovely amber eyes but she only shook her head.
“I’m sorry, Aurora. I think we would have been really good friends,” she said simply. Then she turned away too.
“Come on,” Rive said again. “We have to go now.”
“No!” I shook my head. “I want to stay—I need to talk to Slade. I have to explain!”
“Slade isn’t coming back until you’re gone,” he said. “So there’s no point in staying. Believe me, you don’t want to bring the retribution of Clan Cruel down on your head,” he added ominously.
Those words finally decided me. Stunned and defeated, I at last allowed Rive to pull me through the front door and out to the ship.
Somehow everything was ruined and I was the one who had ruined it. And now there was no going back.
I was never going to see Slade again.
44
AURORA
We flew through the blackness of space in silence because I had nothing more to say. Also, I was crying too hard to speak. The reality of the situation was finally hitting me and all I could do was weep.
My body already ached for my husband—The Need was pulsing through me, making my grief even more unbearable. I wanted Slade’s arms around me! I needed his big body against mine—needed to fill my lungs with his warm, spicy scent that made me feel so safe. I wanted to look into his golden eyes and tell him that I had been wrong—that I loved him.
Because I did love him—so much! I had been fooling myself before, thinking I was just beginning to fall for him. Only now, when everything was falling apart, did I acknowledge the truth of what Jessina had seen right away. I was desperately in love with Slade and it was too late to tell him.
It wasn’t until Rive took us through a space gate that I finally made myself ask some questions.