Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
“Said what?” His voice was flat.
“You know what!” She dug her nails into her palms, trying to stop them from trembling. “I shouldn’t have said ‘I love you.’ I don’t know what I was thinking. I just—”
“Alexandra,” he cut her off, his tone low, final. “You have to understand something. I’m not free to call a bride or to Bond one to me.”
Her stomach twisted.
“What? What are you talking about?”
His knuckles went white on the steering yoke.
“I’m telling you I can’t be with you—I can’t be with any woman. Not even a beautiful, curvy Elite like you.”
Anger flared hot and fast in her chest.
That’s it? Just—sorry, I can’t? After everything we went through together?
“Well, you could have told me that before you spanked me, fingered me, and sucked my nipples—and everything else we did together!” she exclaimed. “Was this whole trip just some kind of long con? You only wanted me for what you could get, and now you’re going to throw me away?”
His head whipped toward her, golden eyes flashing.
“What? No—of course not. I just—”
“You don’t even know why I agreed to take this job for you in the first place, do you?” she snapped, cutting him off.
His jaw tightened, his expression going hard, almost stony.
“No, Alexandra, I don’t. Why did you agree?” he asked, his voice flat.
Her chest heaved.
Fine. He wants the truth? He can choke on it.
“Because my uncle is in trouble—big trouble. And if I don’t pay off his debts as soon as I get home, a wanna-be mob boss asshole named Butcher is going to shoot his knees out with a shotgun!” Her voice broke, tears burning her eyes. “So yeah—that’s why I put up with everything you did to me at first. I had to help my uncle. But after that…after we got so close…”
Her throat tightened, but she pushed the words out anyway, raw and trembling.
“After that, I couldn’t help falling for you.” She jabbed a finger at him, tears slipping hot down her cheeks. “And you let it happen. You knew I was falling for you, and you didn’t say a thing! And now you want to talk about how you’re ‘not free’? Well, fuck that and fuck you! You’ve been leading me on this whole time—you’re an asshole!”
The tears came harder then—ugly sobs that tore out of her chest. She hated herself for crying, hated him for being so damn calm, so untouchable, while she came apart in front of him. How could he sit there while she bawled her eyes out and not even say a word?
The big Kindred sat silent for what felt like forever, the hum of the engines filling the void, her ragged breaths loud in the quiet cabin.
Finally, he spoke. His voice was low and rough.
“You’re right. I never should have let you think I was free to call a bride. It’s just that…” His eyes slid shut briefly, pain etching deep lines in his face. “Ten years ago, after my wife died, I made a vow. I took a sacred oath before the Goddess that I would never let another woman take her place in my heart. That I would never again call a bride or Bond her to me.”
Lexi froze, her breath caught in her throat.
His wife. Oh God—how could I forget about his wife?
Brandt stared straight ahead, his voice steady but hollow.
“I knew I was doing wrong. Allowing the two of us to be so intimate… allowing my emotions for you to grow. All I can do is beg your forgiveness. You’re right. I am—as you humans say—an asshole. But I cannot break my vow. Not even for you, little Lexi.”
The nickname, spoken so softly, so tenderly, shattered her.
Tears blurred her vision as she turned away, pressing her forehead against the cool tempered glass of the viewport to her side. Stars streamed past in brilliant lines of light, racing endlessly through the darkness, all blurred by her tears.
She wished she could go back in time—back to that stupid day she’d answered Natalie’s message and gone on this job interview. She wished she could tell herself not to go, not to meet him, not to fall for him.
Because now her heart felt like it was being ripped into pieces, and she didn’t know how she was supposed to survive it.
I love him, she thought as despair filled her.
I love him…but he’ll never be mine.
42
BRANDT
Brandt hated himself.
The shuttle’s cabin hummed steadily, the low vibration thrumming through the deck plates beneath his booted feet. The air smelled faintly of recycled oxygen and cold metal—a sterile scent that reminded him too much of his laboratory.
Across the small cabin, Alexandra sat in silence, turned toward the viewport at her side, her face pale reflected in the stars. Her cheeks were streaked with drying tears, and every time her shoulders hitched, something twisted painfully inside his chest.