Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 159487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 797(@200wpm)___ 638(@250wpm)___ 532(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 159487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 797(@200wpm)___ 638(@250wpm)___ 532(@300wpm)
“Look at her!” He nodded at his wife, who was still crying with her arms wrapped around herself. “You hurt her! You made her cry—you made her bleed!”
And then he squeezed the kidnapper’s neck so hard there was a snapping sound and the man suddenly went limp in his hand.
Cassie watched—equal parts horrified and amazed—as the dead man’s eyes rolled up in his head and his bladder let go, urine wetting the inside seam of his dirty jeans.
“Oh fuck—you killed him! You killed Buck!” the man who still had hold of Cassie’s arm breathed. She turned to look at him and saw that his eyes were wide with shock.
“That’s right—and you’re fucking next!” the Beast Kindred growled.
He dropped the limp body in the middle of the road and lunged for the other kidnapper.
The man promptly dropped Cassie’s arm and ran—not that he got very far. He met the same fate as his friend, but Cassie didn’t like to think about it. She had put an arm around Miri’s shoulders and led the young bride away so she wouldn’t have to see the terrible vengeance her husband was extracting.
Now, as she stood in the bath waiting for Ravik to wash her, Cassie couldn’t help remembering the violent scene. No wonder Severin didn’t dare to try and stop the big Beast Kindred from washing her. If he really did think she was his mate, Ravik would kill anyone who tried to mess with her.
Of course that had been useful back in the Dead Zone when he’d killed the Infected who was using her arm for a chew toy. But it wasn’t quite such a good thing now when she basically had no choice but to play along with the Beast Kindred’s delusions.
“Hold out…your arm,” he said to her now and Cassie realized he meant the arm where the Infected had bitten her.
“All right, but be gentle—it’s really tender,” she said, holding out her injured arm. She wasn’t sure if he understood her or not but when he used the big, puffy sponge on her, he was very careful.
After the bite wound was cleaned thoroughly, he dunked the sponge in water and squeezed it until a mountain of foam came out. Then he nodded at her.
“Come closer…I will wash all of you.”
Cassie thought of protesting, but there didn’t seem to be much point. She stepped closer reluctantly and allowed the big Beast Kindred to wash her thoroughly all over—and he really did wash all over—including her breasts and between her legs.
“Hey, you really don’t have to do that!” she protested as his knuckles brushed her inner thighs and the sponge scrubbed her pussy. At least he wasn’t trying to grab her, but he seemed intent on washing every bit of her body.
“I’m sorry,” Severin said to her and she saw sincerity in his pale blue eyes. “I swear he wouldn’t normally act like this. He really does think you’re his mate.”
“Well, I hope he doesn’t think he can do the rest of the Claiming Period with me,” Cassie snapped. She was mortified to be standing here naked while the big Beast Kindred scrubbed between her legs.
“I don’t think he’d try that,” the Blood Kindred said but she thought she saw uncertainty in his eyes.
At last, Ravik seemed to think he was finished because he nodded at her and said in that deep, gravelly voice,
“Sit…down…now.”
Cassie was more than happy to do so. The water in the deep tub nearly came up to her neck, so at least she was fully covered—except for the fact that her breasts kept wanting to float up to the top of the water.
They floated anyway because she was wearing float dots that she’d gotten when she lived on the Mother Ship. The tiny anti-gravity devices looked like little red jewels. When placed on the underside of a heavy breast, they caused it to lift which made Cassie’s formerly drooping ta-tas to look surprisingly perky.
She’d loved the float dots from the moment she first put them on but right at the moment, she was wishing they weren’t quite so good at their job. She just wanted to cover herself—she’d had enough of being naked in front of two strange males to last her a lifetime!
Of course, they were both very attractive—they were Kindred after all—but they were too young for her and besides, she didn’t know them. Also, ever since she’d started perimenopause, her sex drive had completely died. So it didn’t matter how good looking they were—she wasn’t interested.
But just as she was sure the big Beast Kindred was done with her, he poured a bucket of water over her head.
“Hey…what…what are you doing?” she sputtered, pushing her wet hair out of her eyes and glaring up at him.
“Must wash your hair, my mate,” he said. “Please…relax. I will…take care of you.”