Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
“Hi,” I said, distracted by the way Matilda grabbed both of Charlie’s hands and held them. She smiled up at him with tears in her eyes.
“We’re so glad you’re here,” she said, giving his hands a little shake. “So glad.”
“Me too,” Charlie replied, his voice a little wobbly.
“Ulf,” Erik said, meeting Ambrose’s gaze over my shoulder.
“My mate,” Ambrose said, his hand tightening on my neck.
And then suddenly, every eye in the room was on me. I wasn’t especially shy or anything, but it was seriously uncomfortable being the center of attention.
This was supposed to be Charlie’s moment.
“We’ll see,” I said, rolling my eyes.
Someone across the room choked and started coughing.
“Luce,” Charlie chastised.
“What?” I glanced around the room. “I barely know the guy.”
Chance started laughing. Loudly.
Chapter 6
Ambrose
“Please,” my mother said, lifting her hand to quiet us. “Just give me this one night. Everyone is home at the same time. Let me have one dinner where we act like a family and not an army under attack.”
We’d been arguing about the next steps for the last fifteen minutes, and we hadn’t gotten very far. Chance and Danny couldn’t agree on a damn thing. My father wanted to go hunting. He figured if we started at the bottom, we’d eventually reach the top. He wasn’t concerned with any collateral damage we could cause in the process. Beau was still holed up in his room with Reese. We hadn’t seen them since we’d gotten back to the house, and I thought my mom was being naïvely optimistic if she thought they’d come down for dinner.
I was fucking distracted.
I’d walked Charlie and Lucy to Zeke’s room and left them there. I’d thought that Charlie would want to explore by himself, but he hadn’t said a word when Lucy walked inside with him. She’d practically closed the door in my face.
I wondered if she was growing more uncomfortable by the moment, or if it was just me who felt like I was going to come out of my skin. The heat was manageable if we were in the same room, but when she was out of eyesight, my body went into revolt. Sweat pooled at the base of my spine as I tried to pay attention to what Chance was saying.
How the hell did Vampires do this shit back when courting a human woman meant that they could only see her for an hour or two a day? The stories of the occasional Vampire kidnapping their mate didn’t seem so far-fetched anymore. It seemed crazier to try to stay away.
“Well, at least we know that it’s true, no matter what Lucy said,” my dad said in amusement. “You still with us, Ulf?”
“What?” I asked, turning to look at him.
“Looking a little warm, son.”
“Funny,” I snapped, straightening.
“Honey, why don’t you go find her?” my mom asked with a grimace. “If it’s this bad for you, she must be miserable.”
“I doubt it,” I replied as the table went quiet. I knew she was there before I’d even turned around.
“Um, Ambrose?” Lucy called, her voice strained.
I was on my feet so fast that the chair behind me skidded across the floor. She looked like absolute shit. The hair around her temples was damp with sweat, and her eyes were dark with pain. The arm that Matthias had held that morning was tucked up against her chest like she was trying to protect it.
“Baby,” I murmured, hurrying toward her. “Why did you wait so long?”
The second I reached her, she opened her arms and wrapped them around my neck.
Ignoring my family, I lifted her into my arms and carried her toward the stairs. Her legs tightened around my hips, and her mouth pressed against my neck as I took them two at a time. The entire back of her T-shirt was stuck to her, and she shivered as I rubbed my hand down her spine.
By the time we reached my rooms, she’d stopped shivering, but she didn’t loosen her grip. I closed the door behind us and walked straight to the couch.
“This is frigging bullshit,” she mumbled against my neck as she dropped her legs so I could sit. Her knees tucked in neatly on each side of me.
“You should’ve come down sooner.”
“I wasn’t this bad before,” she said with a sigh. “I wanted to be with Charlie.”
“It wasn’t this bad because we’ve been together since we met,” I reminded her.
She huffed in annoyance. “Well, we’re together now, and it’s still not going away.”
I smiled, glad that she couldn’t see my face. “It usually gets worse before it gets better.”
“When the hell is it going to get better?”
“After we complete the bond.”
“What, so we need to do some crazy Vampire ritual, and then I won’t feel like I’m being boiled alive anymore?”
I couldn’t hold in my laugh. “I don’t think sex is considered a crazy Vampire ritual, but exchanging blood is.”