Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 53212 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 266(@200wpm)___ 213(@250wpm)___ 177(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53212 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 266(@200wpm)___ 213(@250wpm)___ 177(@300wpm)
His forehead drops to mine.
“You’re mine,” he says quietly. “And I’m yours.”
“Says who?” I challenge, even as warmth blooms deep in my chest at the words.
He lets out a breath that sounds like surrender.
“The universe,” he says. He shakes his head, like he still can’t quite believe it himself. “You and I, Kylie Moon, we’re meant to be. We’re destiny.”
My heart stutters.
“We’re fated mates.”
Rook
She doesn’t stay in my arms long. Not because she pulls away in fear, but because she needs space to process and think and try to wrap her mind around things that contradict the foundation and reality that her entire life has been built on.
Of course, I let her have it. She deserves to fucking have it.
I watch her slide out from under the sheets, wrap herself in the hotel robe, and cross the room with careful steps, like the floor might shift under her if she moves too fast.
She sits on the chair with her hands folded in her lap, eyes wide and glassy, not crying but not steady either. Just…processing.
I stay where I am, on the edge of the bed, giving her room without putting distance between us. Every instinct in me wants to close that gap, to pull her back and remind her she’s safe—but I don’t.
She needs this moment to be hers.
She’s not so much upset anymore as she is overwhelmed, and for that, I can’t blame her. The whirlwind she’s been dragged into would challenge anyone, but to be put in this position without any prior knowledge is akin to something like taking a bar exam without having ever cracked a law textbook.
But I know where I stand.
Whatever this thing is between us—whatever lit up the second she came into my life—I’ve stopped pretending it’s temporary. She’s mine. I’m hers. I don’t question that anymore.
What I question is what I’ve set in motion by choosing her first and taking her before they could.
The danger I’ve now put us in. Put my brothers in. Put her in.
“I’m supposed to be at my grandmother’s tonight,” she says quietly. “Dinner. Staying over. But I don’t even have my phone to call her. I don’t know if she’s tried to call me. I…” She pauses, and worry creases her brow.
“I know.”
Her head snaps up. “You do?”
“Yes,” I admit. “And she’s going to hear from you. Your phone—everything you left behind—we’ll get it for you. Nothing about this ends with her worrying where you are.”
“Okay.” She nods and stares down at her hands in her lap again.
And I let the silence linger for a little bit, giving her more time to wrap her mind around it all.
“I know this is a lot,” I eventually say. “It’s been…a lot for me too. And I know I haven’t handled it well or set you up to feel comfortable now in any way, but I… Well, I’m willing to answer anything you want to ask, unfiltered, of course, and now that you’re safe, I’m also willing to give you space. Not a lot of space,” I hedge. “Like…the next room, but it’s better than—”
“I don’t want space,” she says suddenly, her eyes snapping to mine and cutting me right to the quick. There’s so much fire there—so much feeling. If it weren’t an exact mirror of my own emotions, I’d probably struggle to understand the depth of it.
But the kisses between us…they broke something. Or, I don’t know, built it, I guess, depending on how you look at it.
Our bond, as it were, is fully formed.
She’s still confused and hurting—but she trusts me. Her body demands it.
“Okay. Then I’ll be close. Ask me whatever you want, and I promise I’ll do my best to answer it. I’m afraid if I try to explain it all myself, I’ll just overwhelm you.”
“I…well, I don’t really know what to ask, so I guess I’ll start the only place I can.”
I nod encouragingly.
“Where…where are we right now?” she asks. “I mean, I know we’re in a hotel room,” she says through a self-deprecating snort as she glances down at the robe she’s wearing. “But what hotel?”
“The Westin. Worcester, Massachusetts.” My smile is soft, and her eyes widen at the sight of it. I know it must be a shock after months of angry looks and monosyllabic grunts, but it’s amazing how much more peaceful I feel now that I’ve given in to the universe’s pull.
“Right. And…why are we here?”
“Because it’s safe right now. Distant enough Holland and the others won’t be able to sense us.”
She giggles, and for far from the first time, I try to insert myself into her level of naïveté. It’s hard, to say the least, but I was there once. As a young boy, I had no idea why I craved the smell of blood or moved so much faster than those around me. As a young boy, I often thought of myself as a freak show.