Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 124077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 620(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 620(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
For the first time since Taurex entered the room, genuine confusion appeared on the human’s face.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” he demanded.
Taurex stepped closer to the desk.
“She belongs to herself. She chooses who touches her,” Taurex continued. “She chooses who she loves. She chooses where she goes, what work she does and what happens to her body. Neither you nor I have the right to make those decisions for her.”
For a moment, the only sound in the room was the faint hum of the building’s ventilation system.
Then Orlov’s face twisted with sudden comprehension.
“Oh.” A slow, ugly smile spread across his mouth. “I get it—she rejected you.”
Taurex felt the pain of that truth but accepted it.
“Yes,” he said simply. “She did.”
Orlov laughed—a sharp, mocking sound.
“After everything you did for her—all the money you spent on her—the stupid bitch turned you down too!”
Taurex’s grip on the blaster tightened, but his voice remained controlled.
“Be careful what you say next.”
Orlov ignored the warning.
“So that’s why you disappeared. I wondered where you went. I had my people watching your place, but you vanished for weeks. Off licking your wounds, were you?” He shook his head, still amused. “All that money, all those muscles and horns, and the whore still wouldn’t have you.”
“I have told you not to call Terra that.”
“I’ll call her what the fuck I want,” Orlov snarled. His gaze sharpened. “So she turned you down and yet here you are.” He leaned back again. “Why?”
Taurex looked toward the hallway where the faint sound of Lisa crying could still be heard.
Orlov followed his gaze, and his smile returned.
“Ah.” He nodded knowingly. “The brats.”
Taurex’s eyes snapped back to him.
“Do not call them that.”
“Why not? They’re not yours.” Orlov laughed again. “You don’t even claim the woman, but you’re willing to come charging in here over her kids?”
“She may never choose to be my mate,” Taurex said quietly. “She may never speak to me again. It changes nothing.”
Orlov frowned in apparent confusion.
“So you came to get them knowing she doesn’t want you? I don’t get it.”
Taurex stepped closer and glared down at him.
“I will protect Terra and her family with my life because I love her. My love does not depend upon what she gives me in return.”
The human male stared at him as though Taurex had begun speaking an incomprehensible language. Then he scoffed.
“That’s pathetic.”
“No,” Taurex said. “What is pathetic is believing that desire gives you ownership of another living being.”
Orlov’s expression hardened.
“You think you’re better than me? Charging in here like a white knight?”
“I think almost any male is better than you,” Taurex said.
The insult finally cracked Orlov’s composure.
“Fuck you, Bull. She’s not yours and she never will be!”
His hand moved suddenly toward the side of his desk but not quickly enough.
Taurex raised the blaster, causing him to freeze in place.
“Do not.”
Orlov stopped. His pale eyes flicked toward the place he stored his weapon and his fingers twitched.
Taurex could hear the increase in his heartbeat and knew the human male was gearing himself up to do something. It was time to end this before things got messy.
“You kidnapped two younglings to force their mother to submit to you,” he said to Orlov. “You frightened them. Bound their hands. Used them as bait because you knew Terra would walk willingly into danger if it meant protecting them.”
Orlov’s mouth twisted angrily.
“It would’ve worked.”
“Yes,” Taurex said. “It probably would have.”
A flicker of satisfaction crossed the human’s face.
“That’s because she knows she belongs to me.”
Taurex’s nostrils flared.
“No. She would have come because she loves her children. You were counting on her courage and devotion, not her desire for you.”
Orlov’s face darkened.
“Fuck you! She’s mine.”
“No,” Taurex said, and this time his voice filled the room like thunder. “She belongs to herself.”
Orlov shoved back from the desk, anger making him reckless.
“She’s nothing but a used-up stripper with two goddamned brats and a fat ass, and she ought to be grateful anybody still wants her!”
Taurex looked at him for a long moment. When he spoke again, his voice was almost gentle.
“Now you have sealed your fate.”
Orlov froze.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Taurex came around the desk and Orlov backed away.
Taurex watched the human’s arrogance finally begin to crack as he realized there was nowhere left to go. The windows stretched behind him, the desk blocked one side and Taurex blocked the other.
“Though in truth,” Taurex continued, “your fate was sealed the moment you laid hands on her younglings.”
The blaster rose and Orlov’s eyes widened. For the first time, fear completely erased the smug confidence from his face.
“Wait!” he said quickly.
Taurex put the muzzle against the center of his forehead.
“No, wait!” Orlov exclaimed, holding up both hands in a pleading gesture. “We can work something out—I know we can!”
“There is nothing to work out,” Taurex told him.
“Money.” Orlov’s words came faster now. “You want money? I can give you money. Millions. Ten million. Twenty. Whatever you want.”