Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
“Oh, my God,” she whispered. “I’ve never… I’ve never seen space like this before—up close, I mean. It’s so beautiful.”
Her awe was genuine and unfiltered. Korrath found himself watching her more than the view, tracing the silver strands in her auburn hair as they caught the starlight, the way her lips parted in wonder. Truly, she was a beauty like no other.
“You have never left your world,” he murmured. It was not a question—he already knew the answer from his dreams.
She shook her head, eyes still fastened on the glittering curve of Mars already coming into view. “No. Not even to the Moon. And now I’m just… flying to Mars like it’s nothing.”
He followed her gaze to the red planet, its surface streaked with dark valleys and yawning caverns. The Monstrum Mother Ship hung in orbit beyond it, cloaked in shadow and light.
“It’s like…I’ve left everything I ever knew behind.” Miranda’s voice was soft…almost reverent.
“That was our fate once,” Korrath said quietly. “To watch from the skies as everything we loved was taken.”
Her attention shifted, pulling away from the marvel outside to focus on him.
“What do you mean?”
“The Darklings,” Korrath said, his throat tightening as the word scraped free. “They came for us without warning. Creatures of void and hunger. They swallowed our universe, piece by piece, until nothing remained but ruins. They left us alive, but…” He let the silence fill in the rest.
“All your women,” Miranda said softly, her hand still against the glass. “The Monstrum women…gone.”
“Yes,” he said, the word a low growl. “Our mates, our mothers, our daughters—every last female Monstrum was consumed in the destruction of our home world. Our Mother Ship was out on a mission—we returned too late. And so we fled here, to this dimension, carrying only our warriors and our grief.”
She looked at him, her gray eyes luminous with sympathy.
“That must have been unbearably sad.”
He inclined his head slowly.
“It was.” Then he let the truth slip out, raw and unvarnished. “But I am not sad any longer. Not since I began to dream of you.”
Her lips parted in surprise.
“You dreamed of me?”
“Yes, lovely one.” His voice dropped to a purr. “For many months now, you have come to me in my sleeping visions. I knew you were mine the moment I saw you. Did you not dream of me as well?”
“No.” She shook her head quickly, color rising in her cheeks. “No, I… I never remember my dreams.”
Her denial didn’t trouble him—her scent told him the truth. Beneath her perfume and the faint tang of Earth air still clinging to her clothes, the fragrance of her rising Second Heat was unmistakable. Rich, ripe, and growing stronger every mile they flew away from Earth.
She looked out the viewscreen for a moment, then turned back to him, her chin lifting in that stubborn way he already adored.
“So tell me—what’s really going to happen once we get to your ship? We’re not just taking a tour, are we?”
Korrath’s fangs lengthened slightly at the directness of her challenge. He leaned closer, letting her feel the rumble in his chest as he answered.
“No. It is not just a tour. You will be required to submit to me in all things once we arrive. I will pleasure you in every way you can imagine—and some you have not yet dreamed of. And you, Miranda, will give yourself to me completely.”
Her eyes widened, her pulse fluttering at her throat.
“I never agreed to all that,” she protested, but the breathless hitch in her voice betrayed her.
Korrath inhaled deeply, letting the heat of her arousal flood his senses. She could deny his words with her mouth, but her body was already betraying her—already warming and ripening for him. His Bonding Scent was taking root in her, as it was meant to.
“Your words say no,” he murmured, lowering his voice until it was silk and steel, “but your scent tells me otherwise. Already your Heat is rising. Already your body calls to mine.”
He imagined peeling away her human clothing, exposing her soft, smooth skin…then spreading her thighs and tasting the sweetness of her pussy until she moaned for him, begged for him, promised to be good…
Korrath flexed his claws against the shuttle’s steering yoke, forcing himself to breathe evenly. Soon, he promised himself. Soon he would hear her call his name in pleasure, her body writhing against his as he claimed her fully.
Her Second Heat was building, her scent thick and intoxicating. She would not be able to resist him for long.
And he had no intention of letting her try.
6
MIRANDA
The Monstrum Mother Ship filled the viewport, blotting out Mars behind it. It was vast—so vast it made her stomach flutter nervously just to look at it. This was no space station built of cold metal beams like she’d seen in the sci-fi movies she and Hanna loved to watch, but a golden oval, gleaming like a jewel suspended in black velvet.