Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Mark certainly couldn’t have done that—he couldn’t even lift me to carry me over the threshold when we were first married, she thought, glancing up at Braze again.
Her Protector was a male of few words—and most of them were “fuck”— but she found his companionship extremely pleasant. He took the oath he had sworn to protect her very seriously and had saved her more than once when they got into dicey situations. Her ex, Mark, wouldn’t have been able to do any of that. He always bragged about being a “real man” but just one look from Braze’s fierce golden eyes would have melted him into a puddle on the spot.
Kaitlyn pushed the thoughts of her failed marriage out of her mind as she and Braze came to their destination—the office of Commander Sylvan, the Head of the Kindred High Council. He was their boss and had called them for a meeting—presumably to discuss Kaitlyn’s next assignment. She just hoped that she would be making contact with a more peaceful race than the Veluxians. She’d had enough of that kind of assignment.
Braze knocked on the sliding metal door and they both heard Commander Sylvan say, “Come in.”
The silver door slid to one side with a whoosh and, after a searching glance, Braze stood to one side, allowing Kaitlyn to enter first. She had noticed that her Protector always did that—even when they were going into a safe space, he always scanned the area for danger before letting her enter. She appreciated his caution—his warrior’s instincts had kept them from walking into some dangerous situations in the past.
“Ah, there you are. Come in, please. Have a seat.” Commander Sylvan—a big Blood Kindred with spiky blond hair and ice blue eyes—beckoned them to the two seats across from his desk.
Kaitlyn sat first and Braze sat beside her, long legs spread and hands resting lightly on his thighs. He had the grace of a lazy panther, but she knew from first-hand experience that the big Beast Kindred was always ready to spring into action. She also knew that Braze would let her take the lead verbally—in fact, he seemed to prefer it, probably because despite his imposing looks, he was definitely an introvert. Kaitlyn herself was an extrovert, so she didn’t mind jumping right in.
She crossed her legs and leaned forward, looking at their boss.
“Hello, Commander Sylvan—you wanted to see us?”
“I do indeed—I have a new assignment for you, Ambassador Prior. I trust you’re recovered from your last mission to Gorthax Centra?”
“No recovery needed,” Kaitlyn said briskly. “It wasn’t the most pleasant assignment I’ve been on, but we got the job done.”
“Yes, my apologies for that,” Sylvan said, making a face. “I didn’t realize they were such a misogynistic society when I sent you there to get the treaty signed.”
“Well, we did get it signed, eventually,” Kaitlyn remarked, pushing a sheaf of long silver-black hair out of her face and tucking it behind one ear.
She was “embracing her gray” and her long, straight hair was now silver from her crown down to her neck while the bottom half of her hair, which fell to the small of her back, was black. Growing it out was a slow process but Kaitlyn rather liked the look. She’d been dying her hair for years, since she’d gotten her first gray in her late twenties, but when she’d finally ended her marriage, she had promised herself to be more authentic in everything she did—and that included her hair and what she liked in the bedroom.
“You did a fine job on Gorthax Centra,” Commander Sylvan said. “I’m just sorry it was so difficult.”
“The only difficult thing was getting them to believe I was the Ambassador,” Kaitlyn said dryly. “The Gorthaxians were extremely surprised that a woman could be someone in authority.”
“They kept fucking asking me about the damn treaty,” Braze growled, speaking up unexpectedly.
“And he kept referring them back to me. Eventually they believed him.”
Kaitlyn shot her Protector a grateful look. It would have been easy for Braze to just take over and pretend he was in charge on their last mission, but to the big Beast Kindred’s credit, he refused to do that. He had shown deference to her authority until the Gorthaxian Council had been forced to acknowledge that she was, indeed, the Ambassador with the power to deal on the Kindred’s behalf.
“Look, I don’t fucking know anything about the damn treaty,” Kaitlyn had heard him say more than once. “Ambassador Prior is the one you want to talk to—she’s the one who can make the deal. Not me—I’m just here to protect her!”
At last they had gotten the treaty signed and had come home to the Kindred Mother Ship. But they’d only had a week off before Commander Sylvan had called for this meeting. Kaitlyn wondered where they were going next.