Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 35428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 177(@200wpm)___ 142(@250wpm)___ 118(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 177(@200wpm)___ 142(@250wpm)___ 118(@300wpm)
I don’t stop to check on either of them. I keep going.
Where is she?
I’ve been longing for this day—the day I found my mate—for my entire life. We just found each other and I can’t bear to lose her yet. Not before I’ve gotten to know her sweet heart, or touched her soft lips, or seen her stunning face as she falls asleep or wakes up with a tired smile. I can’t live without her. I don’t know how I ever did.
I push my way down the creaky wooden steps as I look everywhere for her. Is she already gone? Have the Sea Wraiths snatched her off the ship?
No. I can’t think like that. She’s fine. She has to be.
I feel the cold before I sense it. Coming from my right is an icy drop in temperature so sharp it steals my next breath.
With no sound, smell, or warning, a wraith appears in front of my face. I recoil with a gasp. It stares at me with eyes like scorched holes, its rotting, half-transparent face more gruesome than anything I’ve encountered in my life. Its mouth is opening and closing silently, my eyes fixated on those sharp nasty teeth.
Up close, it’s worse than a nightmare. I can almost see through it. It’s there and not there, real and not real at the same time.
It lunges at me and I throw a punch.
My fist goes straight through its face. No resistance. No impact. Like punching icy-cold smoke.
I stumble forward with the momentum, heading for the ground, but the wraith catches me. I scream as the long bony fingers close around my bicep.
It’s so cold it burns like fire, sizzling my skin as it clenches hard.
I remember the emerald dagger in my hand and I swing it at the wraith’s face. It cuts through the shadow and it lets out a vicious scream, disappearing in a puff of dark smoke.
Before the smoke even vanishes, I feel more cold hands on me, grabbing my shoulders from behind. Lifting me up.
I swing the dagger up and behind me, but my shoulder sears with pain at the awkward angle and the weapon slips from my hand. All I can do is watch in horror as it tumbles down to the deck below as my feet rise into the air.
Another hand grabs my ankle, but it’s warm. Human.
I look down and our eyes meet.
Valther.
He only has one dagger now. It’s clutched in his hand as he grits his teeth, veins throbbing at his temples with the effort of pulling me down. The wraith hisses as it struggles to carry me into the sky.
My body cracks and pops as it’s getting pulled apart. My wounds tear open. My shoulders are burning with icy fire where the wraith’s dead fingers are digging into them.
I fight back a scream. My wolf whimpers.
And that’s when I see her.
Our eyes meet across the ship.
She swings her emerald sword, cutting through the wraith that’s attacking her and leaps through the dissolving shadow, sprinting right for me.
All I can do is watch in awe.
She’s stunning. She’s magnificent. And I still can’t believe it, but she’s all mine.
Calista comes charging over at full speed, leaping onto crates with her sword out. Her long blonde hair is braided behind her, her eyes full of determination, her jaw set with a fierce focus that is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.
She’s so gorgeous, I forget to fight back. All I can do is stare at her.
I’m completely and utterly mesmerized.
She leaps off the crate and bounds up the steps in a smooth graceful motion like she’s practiced it thousands of times. She runs up Valther’s outstretched body without hesitation, without breaking stride—planting one foot on his calf, the next on his back, the next on his shoulder and then leaps with a savage beautiful roar.
The emerald sword catches the moonlight as it comes up and around in a single vicious arc.
The wraith’s head leaves its shoulders.
It doesn’t even have time to screech before it dissolves into a black cloud. It’s just gone. The cold releases. The grip on my shoulders vanish.
And I fall.
The deck comes up fast and I hit it hard. The impact shuddering through my shoulder is so excruciating I nearly pass out. My legs give out and I’m flattened on my back, breathing hard and quick as I watch the remaining Sea Wraiths retreating into the dark sky.
Emerald arrows whistle as they fly at the horrible creatures, making sure they stay gone.
They do.
The pain is unbearable. It’s all-consuming. It takes over my body and mind like a violent fever.
I touch my chest and feel wetness. I look at my hand and my fingers are coated in blood.
I close my eyes with a wince, and when I open them, she’s standing over me, flushed and bright-eyed, gripping that long emerald sword like the warrior goddess she is.