Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
“What do you mean?” Rook squirmed in her bodyguard’s embrace. “They’re dead?”
“All I know is, we have to leave. Right now.”
Her face flashed white. “Put me down.”
“I can’t. I need to get you out of here. Before it’s too late.”
“Dil, please—”
“Put. Her. Down.” My entire body throbbed with revulsion at him touching her. It wasn’t a matter of being a possessive asshole, but a fundamental requirement to my already frayed and broken psyche.
“For fuck’s sake,” he said. “Now’s not the time to get territorial.”
“You’re right,” I growled. “It’s not. So give her to me.”
“Can you protect her in your current state?”
“Of course, I can.”
I didn’t tell him that my ego turned me into a liar. That he would do a much better job because I could barely stand. The fire that’d turned me into the most dangerous creature alive, now turned me into the weakest, but...I needed him to stop touching her before I went insane.
“Dillon.” Rook met my eyes, her feelings bleeding into me. She felt the same uncontrollable repulsion at being touched by another. The same wrongness. The same desperation to get free. “Please, let me go.”
With a grumble, Dillon nodded. Used to taking orders from her, he put her down.
I snatched her close the moment she was on two feet.
The second my skin touched hers, the need returned.
Desperate hunger to connect and join—
Another volley of gunfire erupted, closer this time, smashing apart the pots and vases in my courtyard.
My vision tunnelled with fury.
Uncle Wen pushed Auntie Mei toward the bathroom. “Hide in there. I’ll go see what they want. Maybe they’ll—”
“I’ll go,” I cut in. “They’re here because of me.”
“What?” Uncle Wen whirled to face me. “But you can’t. You’re the master of this estate. The last of your lineage. You’ve only just woken—”
“I’m also the reason you’re bleeding and your home is in danger.” Balling my hands, I willed my body to shed its lingering weakness and behave.
I shouldn’t have returned home.
I’d expected this place to be abandoned. All those years in Cinderkeep, I’d pictured Ashfall Cliff as a dusty, moth-eaten ruin where I could be alone and plan my revenge.
But now war had come to my doorstep.
Whisper came to my side with a flick of his tail.
I gave him a grateful smile before cupping Rook’s cheek. “Stay with Auntie Mei and Uncle Wen.” Glancing at the panther, I added, “Protect them.” I shot a glower at Dillon. “You too. Guard them with your life.”
Rook pulled my palm off her cheek and weaved her fingers with mine.
I looked down with a frown. “What are you doing?”
“Do you honestly think I’m going to let you walk out there on your own?” Her voice lowered so the others couldn’t hear. “Just like you can’t stand another touching me, I can’t stand the thought of you being in danger.”
The bond throbbed, amplifying every emotion until I could barely think past the need to keep her safe.
A voice boomed from outside, deep and commanding. “Lucien Ashfall, you have exactly two minutes to show yourself or we’ll start killing.” A dark chuckle echoed. “Actually, that should be we’ll continue killing. The ones outside the wall weren’t so lucky, but if you want to keep the ones inside alive, you’ll do what we say. Tick tock.”
Auntie Mei brushed aside her tears. “What are we going to do? What do they want?”
“They want him, of course,” Dillon muttered, his eyes flaring with horror as he looked at Rook. “Shit...what if they know about Rook as well—”
“Oh, I almost forgot!” The voice from outside came again, mocking and amused. “Bring out your little girlfriend too. We know she’s in there with you. Our orders are to collect both of you. You now have one minute.”
Dillon ripped out his gun with a snarl.
Rook stiffened as Whisper twined around her, snapping his teeth as if he could tear out the throats of those threatening her. “Who are they?”
“Who else?” I shrugged, my hands fisting. “Brimstone.”
“But I thought you killed the men who hurt you on the mountain?”
“Not all the board members were there.” I gritted my teeth against another flush of sickness. “There’s more of the leeches, which means...they’re all in on whatever Marcus was doing with my blood. This hasn’t ended with him.”
“Blood!” Her eyes lit up. “That’s right!”
I scowled. “What?”
“Maybe they don’t know anything apart from the fact that your blood turns on the reactors. How long has it been since they’ve been on? Your company will be losing an insane amount of money every day. They could just be here because of—”
“Money.” I rolled my eyes. “You think they’d kill all your guards just for money?”
“Money makes people do horrendous things.”
“This isn’t just about the money, Rook—”
“Ten seconds!” the man yelled. “If you don’t come out, I’ll kill someone every minute until you do.” A single gunshot cracked through the air like a whip. “Oops, my finger slipped.”