Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 40729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 204(@200wpm)___ 163(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 204(@200wpm)___ 163(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
Draven scowls from the doorway, disapproval written all over his ugly face.
“Slight error in my calculations,” I say, waving them off. “Won’t happen again.”
Breccan sighs. “Oz, it can’t happen again. I won’t allow you to blow the rekking place up before the Kevins even get a chance to.”
Ignoring him, I squat and inspect the thermablaster. Aside from the giant hole in the wall, it did what it was supposed to. Well, almost. I’d tried to harness the small test, but the calculations were off in the strength the harness would hold. My thermablaster is quite powerful, which means I’ll need to test in the open, away from morts and humans and Sayer’s rekking shelves.
“Who’s going to help me haul this out to the ship deck?” I stand and cock my nog.
Breccan groans. “You just said your calculations were off. It’s not ready for testing.”
“No,” I argue. “The problem is, I’ve been testing it on a small scale in an attempt to keep it contained to manageable means because we’re indoors.” I swing an arm out, grinning at the three of them. “But without working in a container full of people I care about, I’m free to test the device’s full range and capabilities.”
“There’s a geostorm upon us,” Draven grunts. “It is not wise.”
Molly wails from somewhere nearby and the sound of Draven’s sub-bones popping echoing off the walls are the only evidence he was just standing here talking to us.
That, and the clawed holes that now mar the doorframe.
“Is she okay?” I ask, glancing at Jareth.
“She’s been crying out all day. It’s normal this late in pregnancy.”
Breccan doesn’t seem worried, so I don’t bother myself with it. Besides, I have more pressing matters.
“Draven’s gone, so it looks like you two mortarekkers are nominated for the task.”
Breccan groans but doesn’t argue. “Well, let’s get to it. And before Aria catches wind. She’s not going to like the idea of us going out there on the cusp of this storm.”
“We haven’t hunted in a while,” Jareth says with a shrug. “We could kill two big birds with one stone.”
“Molly says it’s just ‘kill two birds with one stone’,” Breccan states.
“But they’re big birds,” Jareth and I both say at once.
“I know, but—”
“Do we really know that they’re that big, though?” Jareth muses aloud, interrupting Breccan. “Hadrian exaggerates. A lot.”
“Remember that time he said his cock was yay big?” I make a great, obscene show, mimicking Hadrian.
Breccan snorts. “That little mortling only wishes.”
“No one’s cock is as big as mine,” Jareth says with a smug grin. “Sorry, Breccan.”
“And no one’s is as mutilated as yours. What does Grace call him again?” Breccan asks me.
“Fucking freak,” I say with a laugh. “It is pretty odd to want to drive metal through the tip of your cock.”
Breccan cringes. “Let’s go. I’m over this subject. At this point, I’d rather get eaten alive by sabrevipes than have to envision Jareth’s metal cock.”
“Sayer and Grace are quite fond of my metal cock,” Jareth argues.
“It really took two mates to wrangle your unruly tail, hmm?” Breccan says, side-eyeing him.
“What can I say? I’m a big mort with big needs. A lot to handle.”
“Okay, you big rogcow,” I grunt. “Grab that end of the thermablaster and help me carry it to the Decontamination Bay.”
“Who pissed in your Cheerios?” Quinn asks cheerfully, her blue eyes twinkling behind her glasses.
I thump at the glass of my room. “It’s bad out there. I need for the magnastrikes to cease.”
“Why?” she asks slowly as she enters the room. “Why do you need to go out there?”
I abandon my post where I’ve been glaring out the window for the past hour or so and walk over to her. “I’ve been trying to contain the thermablaster’s power so I can test it. But I think I can test it out there unencumbered and have better results.”
She gulps. “Out there? With the bad storms and creepy sabrethingies?”
Legolas peeks its head out through her curtain of dark hair that hangs over one shoulder. I reach over and open my palm for it to climb on. It scurries into my palm, snugging its furry head against me. Pulling it to my chest, I shrug at her.
“I can unleash its full power,” I explain as I stroke our pet’s head. “Better to blow up barren land out there than to keep taking out walls inside.”
“I don’t like this idea,” she says, her brows furling together. “It sounds dangerous.”
“You and Aria both. Aria’s been yelling at Breccan ever since she found out.”
“This is the only way to test it?”
“The only way, Whisper.”
She lets go of a heavy sigh. “Okay. I trust you’ll come back to me in one piece then?”
I set Legolas on the table near us and then pull her into my arms. “I promise.”
Her lips quirk up on one side. There’s a sweetness about Quinn that even the other human females don’t have. Almost childlike. It makes me want to hold her to me and protect her with every fiber of my being.