Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 142050 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 710(@200wpm)___ 568(@250wpm)___ 474(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142050 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 710(@200wpm)___ 568(@250wpm)___ 474(@300wpm)
Qhuinn went over and knelt down next to her. Glancing at the raw wound on her wrist, he felt a spike of concern. “Do you need anything?”
Smothering a yawn, she shook her head. “No, thank you. I’m just a little tired.”
“You should go crash,” V said. “You need a rest—”
“I’m not leaving,” she shot back, “until he stands up on his own and walks out of here.”
As V chuckled with respect, Qhuinn had to ask: “How did you know? To come here when you did?”
Her blue and her green irises, identical to his own, shifted away, and she hesitated.
“I, ah… I’d come to apologize, actually.” Lyric cleared her throat. “The night that billboard fell, he’d come to visit me at Bathe. He was very sweet to do that—but this woman who I’d hired was rude to him and he left in a hurry. I chased after him, right into the middle of Market Street, where I… well, you know what happened. So, yes, I came here because I wanted to thank him and make that apology happen—”
“Not… necessary…”
They all focused on Allhan. The male had come around and was staring at Lyric. “It’s… all right.”
Qhuinn watched as his daughter leaned down and stroked some of the dark hair off the male’s sweated brow.
“No, it’s not.” Her smile was gentle. “But something tells me, nobody’s ever writing you off again. I can’t wait to see what you think of your new body.”
“For… truth?”
Lyric nodded and took his hand. “I think you’re going to like what you see, my friend. I really do.”
“Thank you…”
“You’d have done the same for me. In a heartbeat.”
As the two continued to talk softly, Qhuinn looked over at V. The brother glanced up at the same time, and as their eyes met, it was weird. They’d bonded a lot over the years, what with the fighting and the stress and the camaraderie that just happened among the members of the Brotherhood.
The sudden connection that linked them now, though, was something different.
His kid had been good to V’s, and that was an even deeper level, wasn’t it.
* * *
From Shuli’s recline in his own bed, he put his hand out to his side table and picked up his vintage rose-gold AP Royal Oak. As he looked at the dial, he groaned.
“What’s the matter,” L.W. said next to him. “Not drunk enough to sleep?”
He glanced across his mountain of pillows. The heir to the throne was stretched out next to him on the enormous king-sized mattress. The pair of them had been propped against his headboard and watching movies since they’d decided to pair up and commit their own kind of treason.
Nothing like some felony-level insurrection to bring two guys closer.
The current viewing selection—the old-school, evergreen favorite Aliens—was playing quietly, Sigourney Weaver locking into a giant cargo mover that was like a transformer suit.
“You still awake, too, sunshine?” He pushed himself up a little higher. “I could have sworn you were snoring—or was that just your trademark dark, brooding menace escaping out of your nose instead of every pore.”
“Oh, fuck off,” the male said with exhaustion.
The good news? Sleep or no sleep, they were both on the mend. One of the many advantages for vampires over humans was the healing. If they’d been among those rats without tails, they’d have been hung up recovering from their wounds for weeks.
Instead, they could probably go out into the field as they were. It wouldn’t be smart, but—
“We’re going to have to bring someone else in on this.” Shuli went back to looking at the TV, which dropped down out of the ceiling. “And shut up. We can’t go this alone, and you know it. We need one more person.”
When there was no reply, he rolled his eyes, figuring His Royal High Horse had devolved into his characteristic grrrrrr. Except Shuli knew he was right. He was going to require some help in the field, especially if L.W.’s vision problems were worse than the guy was saying.
Or worse than he thought—
“Okay.”
Slowly turning his head again, Shuli cocked a brow. “I’m sorry—I didn’t hear you.”
The guy shrugged and glared at the TV.
Shuli cupped his ear. “Hello?”
“Fineyoureright. Now fuck off.”
He chuckled and took a long, deep, satisfying stretch. “You know something, I don’t want to get kinky, but goddamn, that’s a real turn-on. You can whisper that in my ear anytime you want.”
“You are so fucking weird.”
“I’m good with that, too.” He got serious. “It can’t be Nate, though. He’s mated. I trust him with my life, but he has too much to lose now.”
There was only a heartbeat of silence:
“Rhamp.”
“Rhamp.”
Like there was any kind of question?
Shuli went for his phone to hit the guy up—and found that all kinds of texts had come in on all kinds of group chats. His heart dropped. Lots of notifications were never a good thing. Opening things up, he—