Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 101280 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101280 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
It had taken hours to soothe Zyr’nx, though. It was almost as though someone had given the old male wrong information deliberately to rile him up. I had to explain everything over and over until at last I convinced him that no one had changed our business contract and I wasn’t trying to pay him half as many credits for twice as many goods or some such fucking foolishness like that.
When at last it was over, all I wanted was to get back home to Natalie. I kept remembering how soft her smooth brown skin was and the look in her eyes as she admitted I had made her come when I bit her. My fangs were itching to sink into her flesh again and my hands wanted to explore her lush curves. Also, have I mentioned her blood was fucking delicious? It had a salty-sweet tang and it was warm, unlike the bitter, cold stuff that runs in the veins of pure-blooded Naggians.
But it wasn’t just lust or the Thirst that made me long to see her—there was something between us—a connection. I had felt it the very first moment I touched her. I know it sounds crazy, but I almost felt like I had been meant to meet her. I wanted to hear her sweet, melodic voice again and look into her big brown eyes. Hell, I just wanted more of her—I can’t put it any better than that.
So imagine my extreme fucking disappointment when I came home and found she was gone.
“I’m so sorry, Baron…” Azz’lx raised his hands, palms up in a “what can you do?” gesture. “The minute you left, she was determined to go too. Nothing I could say would persuade her to stay and wait for you. She put on all her new clothes and bolted for the lift before anyone could stop her!”
“I don’t fucking believe it,” I growled, shaking my head. “She hates the cold here—why would she go back out into it when she could stay here and be warm?”
“I really don’t know.” Azz’lx shrugged. “She said something about selling the clothing and buying what she wanted with the credit she got.” He cleared his throat delicately. “I, er, think she might have been planning to buy drugs. We both know her pimp is a Tsk head. Maybe she is, too.”
“She’s not a fucking Tsk head,” I growled. I was pacing in front of the fireplace in my study and Azz’lx, as usual, was staying well back from the heat of the flames. “Maybe she intended to sell the clothes and buy herself passage off-planet.”
“You know, you could be right!” Azz’lx remarked. “Now that I think of it, she did say something about the spaceport. Isn’t that how she came here in the first place?”
“She was brought by an Eloim merchant called Gumpas or Cumpas or something like that,” I growled. “He thought she was a La-ti-zal and when he decided she wasn’t, he left her here. She told me all about it when we were talking over breakfast.”
I looked at the chronometer on the wall and winced. Was it really nearly dinner time? Soon the Sweepers would be coming out and I would be stuck in my building until their hour was over. I couldn’t let that happen, I decided. If Natalie was at the spaceport, I needed to go track her down and beg her to stay. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were supposed to be together. I could have sworn she felt the same way, so why had she run away from me?
“I have to go find her,” I said. “If she bought a ticket off-world, the spaceport will have a record of it.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to wait until later?” Azz’lx protested. “After all, the Sweepers will be out soon. Why don’t you let me call for a Blood Bride to pass the hour until they’re gone and then you can go to the spaceport. Or better yet, just wait until tomorrow.”
“She could be gone by tomorrow!” I snapped. “Hell, she might be gone right now. I don’t have any time to spare!”
Azz’lx shrugged.
“As you wish, Baron. I’m sorry I couldn’t persuade her to stay, but she seemed very set on going. Said she didn’t want to spend one more minute on this ‘frozen hellhole of a planet’ whatever that means.”
I didn’t answer as I brushed past him. I had to get to the spaceport before it was too late and Natalie was lost to me forever.
SEVENTEEN
NATALIE
The super-speed tunnel crawler went much faster than any of the public transportation I had ridden so far on O’nagga Nine. In fact, it was so fast it made me feel sick to my stomach to watch it drive—especially since most of the time it was flying along at super-sonic speeds upside down.