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)
“Are you okay?” she asks, breathing hard.
I can feel my wolf radiating happiness as I stare up at her. It mixes with my own, giving me a euphoric feeling.
My wounds have reopened. My chest is bleeding. My shoulder is wrecked. My back feels like it’s been torn apart. My consciousness is beginning to loosen—the edges of my vision getting blurry and weak like it did in the river.
I’m about to fall into the darkness again, but this time, I don’t care.
My mate is here. And she’s spectacular.
“Kieran,” she says, dropping her sword as she crouches down. “Are you hurt?”
Her savory scent fills my lungs and the pain disappears. Bliss floods my veins.
“Kieran,” she says, looking worried. “Can you talk?”
It hurts, but I force out the only words that I can think to say.
“You’re incredible,” I whisper.
Her smile is the last thing I see before I pass out.
Chapter Seven
Calista
I’m having a sex dream when I wake up with a start.
My whole body is humming as I sit up on the chair, flushed and breathless with an intense throbbing between my legs. A spot on my neck is tingling with a demanding vibration like it wants something more than a scratch. I look over at the star of my steamy dream and am shocked to find him awake, watching me.
“You’re up,” I say, stunned. It’s been two days and two nights since the battle with the Sea Wraiths. He hasn’t so much as opened his eyes once.
But he’s looking good now. Not just good, but alert. He’s not delirious or half-conscious. He’s fully awake and propped up against the headboard looking at me like he’s never seen anything so beautiful in his life.
My cheeks blush as I tear my eyes away from him. It’s like looking at the sun. It’s too much. Best to see in small doses.
“Was I… making noise?” I ask with my cheeks burning. “I was having a dream.”
“It sounded like fun,” he says with a grin. “I wish I was there.”
You were.
“How long was I out?” he asks in a scratchy voice that sends goosebumps popping up along my arms.
“Two days.”
I stared at you the whole time.
I didn’t know how good I had it. I was able to shamelessly stare at his gorgeous face all I wanted. I spent hours sitting beside his bed, admiring the curve of his nose, the slope of his jaw, the way his Adam’s apple moved whenever he swallowed. Now, I can barely look at him for two seconds before my cheeks flush and I involuntarily drop my eyes.
He runs his hand through his dark hair and I swallow hard at the sexy sight.
“Your arm,” I say, sitting up when I notice it. He just casually ran his hand through his hair with his bad arm and didn’t wince. “It’s healed?”
He rolls his shoulder and then lifts his arm. “It feels good.”
My eyes dart to his shredded stomach as he pulls the blanket down. The gaping wounds are nothing more than fading pink lines. If his healing continues like that, they’ll be invisible by breakfast.
He sits up and twists his body from side to side. I’m trying to look at him like a doctor might examine a patient, but I doubt I’m hiding the lust in my eyes when I see all those muscles turning and clenching. He’s so hot.
“I think I’m all better,” he says, sliding his legs off the bed. He puts his feet on the floor and stands up, stretching and moving with ease.
“I’m so relieved,” I say. “I didn’t like seeing you like that. I was worried sick.”
“I’m sorry,” he says quietly.
“You don’t have to be sorry,” I tell him. This past week was the best week of my life. Watching over him has given me a sense of purpose I didn’t know I needed.
“Well, I am,” he says with a heavy sigh.
“For what?”
“For hogging your bed,” he says, glancing back at it. “For bleeding on your sheets. For being a burden. But mostly, for not being able to protect you.”
I give him a look. “You saved Isen,” I say. “He would have been shredded to pieces if it wasn’t for you.”
He tilts his head. “Isen?”
“The little guy in the crow’s nest,” I tell him. “You stopped the wraiths from taking him.”
“I just roared,” he says. “The other girl did the saving.”
“We’re a crew and we work as a team,” I say. “If you weren’t there, he’d be at the bottom of the sea, becoming one of them.”
“Alright then,” he reluctantly says. “I’m glad I could help.”
We smile at each other and something warm and easy settles between us, the kind of comfort that shouldn’t be possible between two people who have known each other less than a week, most of which he spent unconscious.
He sits back down on the bed and glances at the water cup on the bedside table. “May I?”