Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 51358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 257(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 257(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
I want to tell him, want to admit it, but my fear shackles me in silence.
“Happy New Year, Dagon,” I say instead.
His smile is wide and bright and unhindered. “Happy New Year, Annika.”
CHAPTER 15
Dagon
“You rented this entire place for the night?” Annika’s voice is laced with wonder as she takes in the space.
I squeeze her hand, her fingers interlaced with mine. The physical contact is completely natural to us now, but we’re only openly physical when I’m certain it’s safe to do so. The emotional connection? That’s even harder to be open about.
“I did,” I answer, walking us farther into the indoor waterpark. It’s one of Edgemont’s most popular attractions, especially in the winter months when there are less activities to do because of the cold weather. It’s late January now, but winter’s chill still clings to the air. “We needed a break from the training room at the residence, don’t you think?”
“Absolutely,” she says, grinning up at me.
Her smile takes my breath away. Those full, lush lips of hers have easily become my undoing, but it’s her eyes and the way she looks at me—like it’s me and her against the world—that solidifies something in my very soul.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
We still haven’t openly accepted or denied the mating mark that rests on her back. My mark. We’re taking things slow, and the fact that she understands my hesitance with the entire situation means more to me than she’ll ever know. I don’t know where she gets her patience, but she’s been incredible to me. Even when I pull away from her in public, doing my best not to show the world how much she means to me, she understands. She knows it’s because I’m terrified of our enemies clocking her as special to me and hurting her to get to me.
The mere thought has ice crystalizing in my veins.
“It’s warm in here,” Annika says, drawing me to the present as she sheds her layers, laying them gently on one of the dozen or so empty beach chairs spread out near us.
The sound of rushing water echoes off the high walls, filling the massive room with a constant roar. Water gushes down slides, splashes against the walls of a wave pool nearby, and gurgles from the various spickets and fountains spread across the floor near a play area.
“Yes,” I say, completely distracted as she shimmies down to nothing but her bathing suit—a black shorts and tank combo that has me rock hard in seconds. “Yes, it is.”
I hurry down to some swim trunks, hauling my shirt over my head and tossing it atop her clothes.
Annika trembles, her body visibly shuddering, and I feel the buzz of power ripple down our connection.
Over a month with the faint bond between us, and I’m still not used to sensing her in this way. I know it would only be magnified if we both accepted the bond too.
“Too much?” I ask, stepping toward her as I gesture to the copious amounts of water all around us. We’ve been training for weeks, picking up right where we left off on the island after returning home. Between training, we help out when Olivia and Ransom need us and spend time with the others strategizing and analyzing any whispers of movement we hear from the other side.
But this is the first time we’ve been around so much concentrated water in this kind of setting.
“If it is, we can—”
A stream of cold water hits me in the back, and Annika’s smile goes wild as she laughs. “Gotcha,” she says.
I catch my breath, shaking off the shock. “You’re going to pay for that.”
“You’ll have to catch me first,” Annika teases, then takes off running faster than I can follow.
Her bolting floods my instincts with the primal sense of the hunt, my eyes flickering from thermal to regular and back again. Fuck, this female drives me wild. My fangs punch out without me being able to hold back, lava streaking through my veins as I catch sight of her across the room and elevated, doing her best to hide behind the entry of a waterslide.
“Come out, come out wherever you are,” I call as I stalk up the stairs. It’s all I can do to not dip into my natural speed and yank her body flush with mine.
We’re supposed to be training. Despite her incredible progress, I want to ensure she’s fully confident with all her abilities, not just water control. The past month, I’ve had too much fun honing her hand-to-hand combat skills. She was already brilliant, thanks to training with Olivia before she got pregnant, but now she’s relentless. We worked on speed and escape tactics too, and weaponry.
She’s doing a shit job at evasion at the moment, especially as she releases a giggle as I clear the landing. Of course, I know she’s toying with me. If I were a real threat, she’d take it more seriously.