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)
Yeah, this was going just great for their first night out.
* * *
As Lyric tried to process the words she’d just heard, she stared at the paled-out, snow-eyed lesser who’d shut them all in together. Going on some kind of reflex, she put her palms forward, but in her fucked-up head, she couldn’t tell if she was trying to stop the slayer or Dev—or what had just been said.
Father.
Father?
And if she needed any confirmation that this was not a dream, this was in fact a terrible, living nightmare, it was the look that Dev gave her, his hooded, oddly colored eyes grave, his expression a tight mask—
It all happened so fast. Dev jumped on the lesser, grabbed it by the head, and jerked the skull around with such violence, the crack of the spinal cord was like an axe going through hardwood. Then he dropped the body off to the side and wheeled around to her.
Moving back until he was against the door, he fanned his hands as if he were holding out the whole world from them. Meanwhile, across the way, cold air entered the apartment, riffling the drapes, stealing all the warmth out of the space.
Or maybe the latter was the shock wave that was running through her body.
“I was going to tell you.”
“Tell me what exactly.” She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t— “Oh, God, that was why you weren’t surprised about the fight behind this building. Or why I never had a car. Or why I had a shadow apartment. It was why you never bothered to ask me out during the day… or put out any questions about my life. You knew what I was.”
“I’m sorry—”
A sudden surge of rage helped with the whole chills thing. “Oh, you can fuck off with that—”
“You lied, too.” He shook his head sharply as a distant banging sounded out. “I didn’t see you volunteering what you were or avoiding me because you thought I was human. I’ll accept what I did was wrong, but don’t pretend you weren’t keeping your own secrets for your own reasons.”
Lyric exhaled in a rush. “No, you’re not going to put this back on me—”
“You told me you weren’t looking for anything. So what were my obligations exactly.”
She marched over to him. “You’re the son of the Omega. You are my enemy.”
“Grandson,” he said levelly. “To be accurate. And don’t confuse me with my parents or my bloodline. I have lived my own life, away from their shit, for the majority of my adult—”
“Your mahmen. The demon, Devina, is your…”
The world started spinning so she threw out an arm to steady herself—and when he tried to help her, she recoiled away from his touch. This was not the magic she’d had in mind, this was not what she’d—
“You’re pure evil,” she hissed. “And you mask yourself in the world. You’re worse than everything I’ve been trying to get away from. You’re a violent, murderous illusion—”
“When have I ever hurt you!”
“Now! You’re hurting me now!” Abruptly, she slapped both hands over her mouth as her stomach rolled. “Oh, God… I had sex with you. You came inside of me—”
As that muffled banging continued, Dev squeezed his lids closed like she’d stabbed him in the chest.
“I can’t do this,” she mumbled. “I can’t—I’ve got to get out of here, I have to—”
Just as she went to take a step back, something locked on to her ankle, and she felt a searing pain. As she yelped and looked down, blood welled through the hem of her blue jeans—
Laughter bubbled up from the lesser who, for some reason, was right at her feet. Even with a broken neck, it had managed to drag its body over and wield a knife with enough strength to cut her to the bone.
With a roar, Dev bared his front teeth. No fangs, but the fury was real. “You fucking bastard—”
On the attack, he dematerialized onto the slayer, tore the knife out of that grip, wielded it over his head—
With a fresh wave of lurching nausea, Lyric fell to the floor, her hands going to the wound and all the blood.
Annnnnnnd that was when L.W. broke into the apartment by shattering the door. In a split second, she caught a glance of the wavy distortion she’d seen right before Dev’s eye color had registered for the very first time, and she knew L.W. had somehow penetrated through the spell or whatever the barrier was. And then right behind him, out in the hall, she saw that Shuli and Rhamp were dealing with an elderly woman holding a tray of food.
Except then the door mystically re-formed, as if it had never been hit by that powerful shoulder.
Before she could say a thing, the heir to the throne looked down at her and across at Dev. The roar that came out of the male next was surely something that everybody in the building heard—maybe all of Caldwell. But there was no stopping L.W., stopping any of this.