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)
He straightened his shoulders.
“I love you, baby. Forever.”
The screen went dark, and my brother crumpled to the ground.
I scrambled toward him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and head as he cried silently, his entire body spasming with sobs.
The light turned on, and I lifted my head.
Every single one of the Bouchers sat around me, stunned. Their faces held a range of emotions. Sorrow, anger, love.
Charlie stiffened in my arms. When he raised his head, his eyes blazed with anger.
“That asshole,” he rasped. “I was in bed behind him. I was right there. He could’ve just told me.”
“He was hoping you’d never see it,” I reminded him quietly, brushing his hair back from his forehead. “And if he had, you wouldn’t have it now.”
Charlie fell back onto his heels and nodded.
“I’m sorry,” Matilda said after a moment. “That was private. We should’ve let you watch it alone.”
“I don’t mind,” Charlie replied. “There was nothing in that video that either of us would want to hide.”
“It’s true,” I said, pushing to my feet. “They were disgustingly affectionate. Nauseating, really.”
Erik chuckled.
“Only the unadulterated are guilty,” Chance said, shooting to his feet. “The stars are clear and the questions are answered—only the unadulterated are guilty.”
“You know what it means?” Beau asked, helping Reese off his lap.
“The list of Vampires,” Chance said as he strode purposefully for the door. “Question marks and asterisks.”
“Holy shit,” Danny muttered.
Chance turned in the doorway. “I’m still really fucking pissed at him,” he said. “But not for this.”
Beau, Danny, and Ambrose hurried after Chance, but the rest of us took longer to rise from our seats. I unplugged the camera and handed it to Charlie. There wasn’t anything on it that I needed more than he did.
Erik and Matilda stayed on the couch with my brother while Reese and I headed for Chance’s room. His computers held all the information, and we correctly assumed that’s where the brothers had gone.
When we opened the door, Danny had just thrown a glass across the room, and it shattered against the wall on impact.
“What?” I asked, searching out my mate. “What did you find out?”
“Thomas Keihley, Roderick Morren, Edgar Adamson,” Chance replied grimly.
“Should I know those names?” I asked as Ambrose crossed the room. “Who are they?”
“Vampires,” Danny said with a scoff, his hands linked behind his head as he stared at the ceiling.
“Okay, we know that there were Vampires involved, right?” I asked as Ambrose reached me. “We knew that.”
“They’re not just Vampires, baby,” Ambrose said as he pulled me into his arms. “Two are generals and one is a lieutenant general. They answer only to the commandant and the Prime Minister.”
“Americans?” I asked slowly.
“Every single one.”
The knowledge was like a heavy blanket thrown over us. Suffocating and dark.
“I think,” Chance said, his fingers typing furiously on the laptop. “Holy fuck. Okay. Okay.”
“What?” Danny asked impatiently. “You think what?”
“Give me a second,” Chance replied, his fingers still typing faster than anyone I’d ever seen. His head was jerking as he looked from one screen to the next. Little boxes popped up and then were whisked away over and over.
Ambrose wrapped both arms around me, and I lay my head on his chest.
Whenever we’d discussed it, we’d theorized that the Vampires leaking the information to the humans were nobodies. We’d assumed that lack of families and status within the community had been what caused them to turn on their own kind. But, if top generals were part of the plot, that wasn’t the case.
“Got it,” Chance barked, throwing his hands into the air. “Zeke had fucking proof. It’s all there. Every single transaction can be traced to Morren, Adamson, or Keihley directly.”
“Fantastic,” Danny spat. “But that doesn’t mean shit. They’re so far up Arthur’s ass I doubt we’d even get a fucking meeting.”
Chance spun toward us in his chair and looked at each of his brothers. “Wait, we’re not planning on taking this to command, right?” He rose to his feet and grinned, stretching his arms above his head. “Because I plan on going hunting.”
Ambrose ushered me out of the room as his brothers began to argue.
I didn’t realize that my hands were shaking until we were safely closed in our own room.
“Does hunting mean what I think it means?” I asked Ambrose, stopping in the center of the room. “Because we’ve played that game before, remember? It didn’t end well.”
“I’m not sure what the next steps are,” he replied, locking the door. “But I know there’s no need for you to worry.”
“Well, too late for that,” I snapped. The day wasn’t even half over, and I was already tired to the bone.
“Baby, we talked about this, remember?” he asked softly, framing my face in his hands.
“You won’t ever leave me behind again,” I replied, closing my eyes as he brushed his lips across my cheeks.