Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 58365 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58365 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
“I…”
The brute came toward her, Uriel pressing his hands to her spine to prevent her immediate retreat. With a swish, the skin was draped over her shoulders, covering her near nudity and offering warmth.
He spoke again, translation offered immediately. “I didn’t have anything finer prepared, but I could not have you cold and uncovered to be gawked at by these cowards.”
It was an odd gesture considering the Alphas she knew. They had never once cared if she was cold in their swath of fabric, and they certainly didn’t want her body covered from sight. Calling them cowards, though, seemed like an unwise choice.
The monstrous male began purring loudly, his hands coming to rest on her shoulders. There he kneaded tense muscle, putting his nose to her hair for a deep sniff.
Under the influence of that noise, of his nearness, her knees almost gave out. Instead they knocked together, and she drew in a shuddering breath.
She’d yet to look up to his face, eyes trained on a long scar across his chest, mouth dry, and fingers clutching at the draping fur as if it might shield her, Morgaine endured.
The careful fingers at her shoulders closed tighter, pulling her toward that naked, scarred chest as the male spoke to those who brought her. “This female is ripe.”
The commandant answered, short and cold. “She’s nearing her first estrous. Do not account for her age. As I said, she is flawed.”
Purr increasing in volume, his words soft despite the rasp and ugliness of his language, the foreigner spoke and the translator supplied, “If you use that word again to describe my kor’yr, I will rip out your throat, castrate your children, and see that your mate is defiled.”
She breathed out, tried to pull away, but her resistance went unheeded. He cupped the back of her head, pressing her cheek to his heart, just as his other arm clamped around her waist.
Locked tight to a stranger’s body, wrapped in the coarse skin of an unknown animal, frightened, Morgaine whimpered.
The fingers at her skull drew soft circles even as he held her tighter.
Purr intensifying, engulfing and abundant, it drowned out all else. She could feel it in each cell and hear it in a way that was too intimate to ignore. His offering was in her and around her, just as an enticing scent filled her lungs with each breath.
They had doused him in something that smelled appealing, a lie to cover his brutality. But like the purr, it did its work. Muscles loosened, her heart rate normalized, and Morgaine closed her eyes to it all.
“That’s it, princess. Fear does not suit you.” Warm fingers began to burrow deeper against her scalp, working their way down her neck and back up again until she let out an easy breath. “Come, I will show you what it means to be the kor’yr of Heidron Simin Gralloch.”
Chapter 13
The transport ship shook under their feet, Morgaine gawking at the view from the porthole. Outside that window a whole planet glowed, hundreds of other ships hovering above the atmosphere around it.
Her home world, there, so close all along.
It looked so big and so small, the swirled green-blue mass indescribable. Beauty like that was enough to keep her head turned away from the frightening male who held her close, twisting the length of her golden hair in his fist like a leash.
He wanted her attention, broadcasting it with a soft tug at her roots.
They rape and mutilate their Omegas.
Esin’s soft spoken warning to Uriel had done its work, just as the savage’s purr was waging war against her fear.
When she still refused to look away from the view, battle roughened fingers tripped over the front of her throat, a large thumb pushing her jaw until Morgaine was forced to stare upward. His face sat in her view, inches from hers, but still she kept her gaze diverted. The male touched her lower lip with his thumb, pulling it to the side in a sweep, even as a low noise came from his throat.
Her eyes were on home.
The fingers on her neck trilled, the grip on her hair tightened. She wasn’t going to get another warning. Little stings against her scalp made her bow back further, to grip his forearm so she would not lose her balance.
Rape and mutilate.
Those two things this male would do to her. What was the point in refusing to meet his gaze?
A shallow breath, and she obeyed.
His eyes weren’t blue like hers or particularly pretty. They were too murky to be named a single color. One of them was ringed in an ugly bruise. Below, cheekbones were defined but not sharp, hollow cheeks, and a strong jaw.
Extreme masculinity with nothing soft or gentle.
Not even his lips could be called soft, though they ever so slightly curled up at the corners the instant her attention was on them.