Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
She had to stop dreaming about those eyes. “Let go of me.”
He glanced at his hands, wrapped easily around her small wrists. His head jerked and he released her as if she’d burst into flames. “My apologies.”
Yet another difference in him. She hadn’t heard any other Kurjan soldier apologize. Ever.
He crossed massive arms across his chest. Why? To keep from grabbing her again? “Genevieve,” he called out softly.
The door instantly opened. “Yes, sir?” Genevieve hovered on the threshold.
His sigh held heat. “Set up an appointment for Eudokia to meet with Lyrica again.”
Genevieve released the door, turned, and could be heard running down the hallway to the main room of the lodge that temporarily served as their headquarters.
“You terrify her.” Lyrica stared at the closed oak door before returning her focus to him.
“I know.” He leaned back against the monstrous desk. “She has a brain.”
Lyrica’s gaze narrowed as she studied him. “Can you blame her? When your people kidnapped us, one of your Cyst generals beat the crap out of her when she protested.” The Cyst were the ultimate soldiers and spiritual leaders to the Kurjan nation. They were also a bag of dicks.
“He’s dead,” Vero said flatly. “So I can’t exactly beat him senseless to even the score, can I?”
Her head snapped back and heat flared down her torso. “That’s your solution?”
The impossibly hard angles of his face didn’t soften. “Yes.”
How could she even start to explain why that was wrong? “Solving violence with violence is not the answer.”
One of his dark eyebrows rose. “You just shoved me.”
Huh. Good point. “I didn’t think I could hurt you.” The idea seemed ridiculous. He stood twice her size and remained immortal.
“My feelings are devastated.”
She blinked. “Did you just make a joke?”
He shrugged one muscled shoulder. “I’m hilarious to most who meet me.”
Another joke? No. Absolutely not. He could not be this dangerously sexy and also have a sense of humor. No. She couldn’t stand him, and he still overwhelmed her dreams in a way that left her feeling desperate and needy. She absolutely could not like him. If she did, even a little, what then? Her work was way too important for her to be distracted. Plus, his picture could be plastered under “wounded and solitary animal” in the dictionary. As an empath, very rarely she could feel the desperate pain and hollow loneliness he hid so well, since he was an immortal.
She cleared her throat. “I need you to sign up for speed dating tomorrow night.”
He straightened. “No.” Somehow, his guttural voice lowered even more.
Now she crossed her arms. “Listen. Your people have spent eons kidnapping enhanced females from around the world, and right now, you won’t let any of them go free. Some of them, after being guaranteed they control their choices, are interested in getting to know Kurjan males. Immortality is an impressive draw.”
Kurjans were male, only. They passed on their K chromosome with every birth, making only males. Much like the vampires only created males as well. Like all immortals, Kurjan males could mate with other species, including enhanced human females. While the females would not become Kurjans, or vampires, or demons, their chromosomal pairs would increase to grant them immortality after a mating—which meant they’d be bonded forever. “As the second-in-command for the entire Kurjan nation, you could set a good example by attending the evening. It’ll only take two hours.”
“No.” His gaze bored into her.
She opened her mouth to argue just as the door opened again and a young Kurjan soldier poked his head into the room, his black hair tipped with red. “Vero? We have a line on a rogue Kurjan group that recently kidnapped several enhanced human females. They’ve established a rough camp in Alaska. You mentioned you were ready for a fight?”
“Thank fucking God. I’ll get my knives.” Vero sidestepped her and didn’t look back.
Temper jerked her around to watch his retreating back. “I hope you get stabbed in the neck,” she yelled.
“One can only wish,” he returned before disappearing around a corner.
She clenched her hands into fists. The man was the most irritating person she’d ever met. Yet he wasn’t a man. The male. Yeah. That took some talent, to be the biggest pain in the butt of all the males in all the species.
Hurrying out of his office, she bypassed Genevieve and strode down the hallway to her own office, where she took several deep breaths. Why did he affect her like this? She couldn’t breathe when the jackass stood in her vicinity.
It took thirty minutes of deep breathing to completely calm herself. Then she sat and primly typed notes into her files regarding the occupants of the camp. All two hundred of them. Finally, not worrying about Vero out on a mission at all, she sat back. That male was not hers to worry about. Her job kept her more than busy. Once again, she’d missed supper.