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)
Whisper snapped his jaws, pacing, always pacing. His tail whipped against my thighs as he glowered at me. I had no doubt if I failed to save his master, he would eat me. Whatever tentative friendship we’d formed would be null and void.
I slammed my fist against the wall. “Then what the fuck do we do?!”
The alarms started screaming as another crash echoed down the corridor. Cracks spiderwebbed down the wall like lightning bolts. Red emergency lights strobed as a deep, ominous groan echoed through the facility like the earth was about to swallow us whole.
Whisper howled.
Scratching at the burning door, he whimpered with such grief that he tore my fucking heart out.
Fuck!
Looking through the glass that’d turned wavy and on the precipice of turning liquid, I could barely make out Lucien in the middle of his fireball. “Lucien! Wake up. If you don’t wake up, you’re going to die!”
“He can’t hear you!” Frank shouted, frantically pulling his belt out of the loops on his pants. “Nothing can help him—even if he did wake up. No one comes back from this. No one.” Staggering to the keening panther, he looped the belt around Whisper’s neck. “Come on. We’re leaving. Right now.”
Whisper spat and hissed, swiping at Frank.
He cried out as claws carved bloody grooves in his thigh.
“Goddammit!” Grabbing his leg, Frank dropped the belt, leaving it dangling around Whisper’s throat. “If you want to survive, you better follow us.” Limping past me, he grabbed my wrist and jerked. “I’m not asking this time, Dil. We’re leaving. Before he buries us along with him.”
Shaking him off, I cupped my mouth and bellowed with all my might, “LUCIEN! Wake up, you stubborn bastard! Wake the fuck up!”
A pillar of flames smacked against the door, making the metal buckle. Flecks of ash rose faster off Lucien’s body, swirling like embers and sticking to the ice walls. Another crack and fissure as the glacier lost the war. A massive crack split the glass in the door, sending a spear of flickering fire directly for us.
“Dillon!” Frank roared. “Come on!”
Whisper tucked his tail and flattened his ears.
And I didn’t know what the fuck to do.
I’d lost Rook.
Lucien was beyond saving.
And his damn panther would rather die with him than come with us.
Our truce was nothing compared to a lifelong bond but...
I dropped to my haunches and grabbed the panther’s huge face. “He’s gone, cat. There’s nothing we can do. I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do, but if you can understand me, you have to make a choice. Right now.”
Frank limped down the corridor, the red alarm lights making it look as if he’d already stepped into hell.
Whisper hissed but didn’t pull out of my grip. His whiskers fanned as if listening and I locked eyes with the giant beast. “Either you stay with him and die or...you come with me.”
Tearing himself away, he spat and scratched at the door. Rivers of metal poured from his claws, puddling like lava on the floor. The panther yelped as the molten metal burned his paw.
“He’s not in there,” I said as gently as I could. “He’s not hurting you on purpose. He’s just...already gone.” My heart ached as I added, “He’s gone to join Rook and we can’t follow. Not yet anyway.” Yanking off the belt that Frank had lashed around his neck, I gave him one last grimace. “Your choice, Whisper.”
Tossing the leather away, I headed down the corridor to where Frank waited by the emergency stairwell.
“Hurry!” Frank took the steps two at a time, half-limping, half-bolting toward the surface.
Every survival instinct commanded I chase after him, but I stared at the panther sitting sadly by the melting door. “I’ll regret not being able to protect them for the rest of my life,” I choked, tears running down my cheeks as smoke stung and grief poured. “But...if you let me, I vow I’ll protect you for the rest of yours.”
Whisper bared his fangs.
I supposed that was his answer.
“I get it. I’ll see you then.” Giving him a strained smile, I swiped away my sadness and flung myself up the stairs.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
ROOK LAY CURLED AGAINST MY CHEST, her bare skin glittering with frost and dark hair spilling over my arm like silk. Flaming reds and pinks of the sunset poured through the circular window, painting us in fire where we lay naked in bed.
We’d spent another couple of days doing absolutely nothing apart from making love. Each time we shared energy and completed the circuit that ensured our hearts, minds, and souls were one, I felt delirious with bliss.
Who needed food or wine when a single kiss from her made me drunk?
With a cute little groan, she snuggled closer. “Promise me you’ll stay with me forever.” Pressing adoring little kisses along my collarbone, she whispered, “Stay with me like this...just the two of us. No one else. No stress or worries or pain. Forever.”