Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 108211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Lastly, were thin coins made of solid gold and silver. When in doubt, precious metals could usually be used, even on planets that didn’t use the other two currencies.
Andi strapped the money pouch around her waist but it was made of silver mesh and she was afraid it looked too obvious. If only she had a jacket to wear over it! But she hadn’t expected to be someplace cold, so she hadn’t bothered to bring one. Maybe Cade had something she could use.
She went into one of the two small bedrooms where they slept on longer missions. It occurred to her that more than once she’d lain in bed and wished her big Protector would come in and suck her nipples and do…other things. And now, when he’d finally made a move, Andi had been forced to push him away.
“I wish you were in your right mind,” she said to Cade, who was still following her on all fours. It was jarring to see him moving with the sinuous grace of an animal even though he still looked completely humanoid. It made her wonder again how the women of this planet dealt with their own men turning animalistic.
In Cade’s room she found an extra uniform shirt hanging in the clothes storage unit. It was deep blue and made of a heavy, satiny material with gold buttons running down the front. Andi put it on and was pleased with how well it covered the currency pouch. It was quite large on her and she had to roll up the sleeves to make it work, but when she wore it open in the front, it really did look like a kind of oversized jacket.
Lastly, she grabbed Cade’s weight bar again. It was still dialed to a manageable weight and could be used as a weapon. Andi hoped she didn’t need it, but she would rather have it just in case, she decided. It seemed like a bad idea to go around a strange planet completely unarmed.
“All right,” she said to Cade. “I guess we’re ready to go.”
He made a low growling sound in his throat and butted his head against her legs as she walked to the shuttle’s main door. Luckily there was an emergency release for situations such as this, where the shuttle was without power. Andi pressed it and the door slid open smoothly.
A cold wind swirled inside, bringing the scent of fresh strawberries with it. Andi wrinkled her nose. What was that smell? Normally she liked strawberries but this scent was so strong it was almost cloying.
Cade didn’t seem to like it either. He sneezed several times and shook his head.
“Stay close,” Andi told him. “We’re going to the town over there to see if we can get some help, okay?” She didn’t know how much he understood but he seemed to be attuned to her emotions, which ought to help with their now very limited communication.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped out of the shuttle and closed the door behind her. What else could she do?
11
ANDI
The field they had plowed through had certainly been some kind of crop, Andi thought, as she bent to examine the vegetation around the shuttle. The plants were about knee high to her and had thick purple stalks with bulbous green things growing on the ends of them. A few had been broken open by the passage of the shuttle and Andi saw that they had a bright pink interior.
“I hope these things aren’t too expensive and nobody expects us to pay for them,” she muttered as she picked her way through the field. The dirt the plants were growing in was a purple so dark it was almost black, which stained her white sandals immediately.
The wind blowing through the field was cold—not bitterly so, but chilly enough for her to clutch Cade’s shirt around herself tightly and shiver. Why oh why had she chosen this particular mission to wear a cute, flirty dress and sandals instead of jeans and proper work boots? She felt like an idiot for trying to look pretty for her Protector—look where it had gotten her!
Cade, for his part, seemed pretty happy—he was looking around and sniffing the air with obvious interest. At least he seemed willing to walk upright now that they were out of the shuttle, which was something of a relief. It felt a little more normal to have him walking beside her rather than going around on all fours.
“Come on,” Andi told him, when she finished examining the plants. “We need to get to town before it gets dark.”
Already it looked dimmer outside than when they had landed—she didn’t want to be stuck outside on a strange planet at nightfall.
Cade followed her willingly enough. He was even a little ahead of her when suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.