Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 171288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
“Oh?” V’rex frowned. “And who might that be?”
“These are Braish and Tairn…” Sylvan ushered two older Beast Kindred warriors forward. Both had long dark hair with streaks of gray in it.
“I see.” V’rex nodded. “And they are…”
“These are the brothers of your mother, V’rex,” Sylvan said.
“Oh!” Penny put a hand to her mouth. “Honey, these are your uncles!”
“My…” V’rex shook his head and took a step back, his face like a thundercloud. “Why would you bring them here?” he demanded, glaring at Sylvan. “When they abandoned my mother and me when I was still in her belly?”
“But they didn’t,” Sylvan said earnestly. “They searched for your mother for years and never found her.”
“The Head of the High Council speaks the truth,” one of the older Beast Kindred said. “We searched for years for our little sister—but we never knew that she had a son.”
“That was privileged information that only the High Council knew,” Sylvan added. “And that has only been in the past several years since we’ve been researching you, V’rex, because of your, ah, activities in this Sector.”
“We searched and searched for her—we never stopped,” the second Beast Kindred said. “I will swear it by my honor as a warrior or by the Goddess herself.”
“You did?” V’rex’s pale gold eyes widened and he looked strangely vulnerable to Penny. “But my Sire said—”
“He lied to you, lad,” the first Beast Kindred said strongly. “We would never abandon our kin—never. Why, when Commander Sylvan here called and told us that you had been found, we both wept tears of joy!”
“We are so eager to welcome you into our clan,” the second Beast Kindred said. “Son of our sister. You will be an honored addition to our family.”
“Even though I’m a half-breed?” V’rex asked uncertainly. “Even though it was my Sire who killed your sister—my mother?”
“Even so. The son is not responsible for the sins of his father.” Both of the older Beast Kindred held out their arms.
“Will you not join our family?” one of them asked softly. “We would be so proud and happy to have you.”
“I…I’ve never had a family. Not since I was put out on the street as a young one.” V’rex’s voice was hoarse. Then he came forward and both of the older Beast Kindred hugged him.
Penny had tears in her eyes at the touching scene. She could feel V’rex’s tentative joy building through the link between them and she longed to hug him too, but she didn’t want to interrupt.
“Excuse me,” she murmured to Commander Sylvan, who was standing to one side smiling. “But do you know if there’s a restroom around here? I…I’m tearing up here.” She sniffed and swiped at her eyes.
“Oh, of course. It’s right there at the far end of the lounge.”
He pointed and Penny thanked him and headed for the plain gray door. She wanted to give her new mate time to reconnect with his family before she intruded and in the meantime she really needed to dry her eyes and blow her nose.
Chapter 112
She was so happy when she walked into the bathroom that she didn’t notice the far stall was opaque, meaning it was occupied. She found some tissue—which they had in abundance here in the VIP lounge, though it had been conspicuously lacking in the Lucky Lounge’s facilities—and dried her eyes. Then she decided she had to pee, too.
She went into the first stall, looping the rope ties of the black velvet bag with the Eye in it carefully over one wrist, and bent over to use the strange suction toilet. As before, the spout-looking attachment coming out of the square hole in the toilet inflated a large bubble for her to press against. And once again, Penny had the strange sensation of the pee getting pulled out of her—as though she was relieving herself into an industrial vacuum.
As she finished her business and pressed the button to release the suction, she remembered what Shurla, the three-breasted joy-girl, had told her about how all the waste in the entire station was sucked out into the floating waste field in space, in the back of Hell’s Gate. She’d said that because of the slow-time anomaly that had formed around the main waste chute, it was all just stuck there in a floating blob that never even froze because the time bubble wouldn’t let it.
Ugh—it’s so weird to think of, Penny thought as she exited the stall and went to wash her hands. Hell’s Gate Station and the two planets it orbited between were all fascinating places, but she’d had about enough of the Yown System for now. So glad we’re going to be out of here soon, Penny mused as she washed her hands. Not sure where we’re going next but as long as V’rex and I are together, we’ll be fine.