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)
“Tell me what I can do to make you feel more comfortable about trusting us.”
“Drop me off at the nearest bus station,” I replied instantly.
“You know I can’t do that.”
“Won’t,” I corrected.
“Can’t,” he reiterated. I stared as he slid his fingers through his hair in frustration. The strands fell neatly back into place, and as I dropped my gaze, I met his. My stomach somersaulted.
I was fucking trapped in this house in some random neighborhood with Vampires I didn’t know. By tonight, Charlie would be losing his mind with worry if I hadn’t shown up yet. I was on the run, maybe, from some shadow organization that was searching for my brother, and I couldn’t stop staring at this guy. Why should I give a single fuck that he was good-looking? How had I even noticed with all the craziness swirling around me? I couldn’t think of a less appropriate time to lust after someone, especially this guy. What the hell was—
I stumbled back a step as a thought raced through my mind. Familiar. He seemed familiar. That was what Charlie had said to me on the day we’d met Zeke.
No. No fucking way.
Ambrose rose to his feet.
“Stop,” I snapped.
“It’s all right,” he said gently.
The only reason I didn’t start screaming is that he held still. He didn’t make a single move toward me.
That’s when I noticed the expression on his face. The look in his eyes. The tone of his voice.
Every time I’d found myself staring at him, he’d already been staring at me.
He hadn’t said that he needed to get Charlie somewhere safe. He’d said he needed to get me and Charlie safe.
After the moment I’d run into him at the hotel, neither of the other brothers had touched me. Not in passing, not to help me, nothing. They’d kept their distance.
Chance had looked at him in the kitchen, expecting Ambrose to do something about me.
They already fucking knew.
Chapter 2
Ambrose
“When were you going to tell me?” she choked out, her eyes wide with a mixture of panic and disbelief.
“Tell you what?” I hedged.
This was not how I’d wanted things to go down. In a perfect world, we’d already be picking up Zeke’s mate and on our way home. We would’ve gotten them settled at the house, and things could’ve progressed naturally from there.
“Don’t give me that,” she hissed, crossing her arms over her chest. “Did you know before you came looking for me?”
“We’ve been searching for Charles.”
“Charlie,” she corrected angrily.
“Charlie,” I conceded.
“Were you going to tell me we’re mates?” she asked, glaring as the last word came out stuttered and breathy.
My gaze swept down her body. When I’d first realized who she was—what she was—I’d been shocked. I hadn’t really ever had a type. I just liked women, all kinds of women. Almost every woman I’d ever met had something—her smile, her eyes, the way she carried herself, her laugh, her intelligence, her ass or tits—that made her attractive. Lucille was no different. She was beautiful, with her cupid’s bow mouth and her wide brown eyes and heart-shaped face.
I also couldn’t wait to get my hands on her ass.
But I’d been stunned anyway that she was my counterpoint. After all those years of waiting, all those years of wondering who my mate would be, I’d been completely shocked when I realized I’d found her. What about her made her my ideal mate? Why was her soul specifically the perfect match to mine?
“Oh my god,” she said, still staring at me. “I’m not, am I?” she choked out, her eyes widening in horror. “I’m sorry. I’m such a frigging idiot.”
“You are,” I replied quietly.
“Are you sure?” she wheezed.
“Yes.”
“But how can you be sure?” she asked.
“Because I can feel it.”
“That doesn’t clear anything up for me,” she replied, throwing her arms in the air.
I took a step toward her and then paused as she shook her head.
“It’s like…” I tried to think of a clear way to explain it. “If you saw photos of a hundred hands, could you pick out yours? Your brother’s? You mother’s?”
“Yes.”
“I could pick you out,” I said, watching as understanding filled her eyes. “I could pick you out of thousands. Millions. With my eyes closed. I would know you anywhere.”
“Oh,” she breathed.
“I thought Zeke explained—”
“Other stuff,” she said, cutting me off as her gaze dropped somewhere to my left. “He, uh, didn’t explain that kind of thing. It wasn’t for me, you know? That was Charlie’s.”
“I understand.” Gods, did I understand that. The constant ache in my chest intensified as I thought of my baby brother finding this thing. This sense of belonging and exhilaration and wonder and surety that we’d all been waiting for, only to die.
“I don’t think this is the same,” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t think this is what Charlie had. Charlie was glowing when he found Zeke. They were both…” She flung her hands into the air again, at a loss for words.