Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Leo notices and shifts his eyes from Devon to me to Xavier before raising his eyebrows in silent judgement. If there was anyone I could tell the whole truth to, it’s Leo. Or at least I would have thought so. His weird behavior has me second guessing everything right now.
We get busy with research, searching for any mention of the demon. I know it’s powerful, and being trapped is a pretty good giveaway that killing it isn’t going to be easy at all. Even with the looming contract hanging over my head, my mind drifts back to Marie.
I decided on the way home that I won’t mention her to Xavier. Not yet at least. And that’s pretty much the only thing about her I have decided, because I had no idea if she’s actually trustworthy or not, and I know the thought of having a coven, from learning from an actual witch can blind me. I need to be careful.
“It’s weird doing all that research again,” I tell Xavier maybe an hour later when we decided to take a break. We’re in his office and the metal blinds are drawn. The only source of light is coming from his open laptop. “It makes me miss the life I so desperately wanted to escape.”
“It was familiar. Even though it wasn’t ideal, you knew what to expect.”
“You’re right. I’m good at this. Hunting. Killing. The stakes weren’t this high before, but hey, I work great under pressure.”
“This isn’t the time for jokes,” he deadpans. “It’s alarming how serious you’re not taking this.”
“What, are you mad at me?”
“Yes!” he replies. “At least I want to be. You chose your brother over yourself and that was selfish.”
My brows go up. “I beg to differ. That’s the total fucking opposite of selfish.”
“You only thought about how you would feel,” he says and I watch the emotion cross his face. His words carry weight. I did save Antonio because I didn’t want to have to face living in the world without him. I didn’t want to have to deal with the heartache of grief. But what I did also kept so many others from feeling it too.
And Antonio deserves to live.
“What about the rest of us?” Desperation slips through his carefully held composure. “Look at what we’re doing.”
“Then don’t help. I didn’t ask you to! I can figure it out on my own.”
Xavier turns, balling his fingers into fists. “It’s not about helping, Wren. It’s about the danger of losing to this demon.” He comes back to me, jaw tense as he fights back his emotions. “Looking through books is a waste of time. Tell me where the Order keeps their relics and I will burn every fucking building to the ground.”
“We can’t do that.”
“Why not?” he asks seriously. “You said it before. Fire kills most demons. If there’s a chance it’ll destroy whatever sigil this demon is tethered to, I’ll take it.”
“And if not? We’ll have burned a bunch of buildings.”
He shrugs. “Those fuckers deserve to have their lives burn.”
“But human firefighters will respond. It’s dangerous.”
Xavier looks at me for a moment and I see in his eyes that he doesn’t care who he puts in danger if it means saving me.
“You can’t literally burn the world for me,” I say, voice tight as my heart swells in my chest.
“I can. And I will.”
“Xavier,” I breathe and reach up, putting my hand on his cheek.
“I am not losing you, Wren! I told you, I will do whatever it takes and I warned you that if you didn’t like it—”
“What?” I interrupt, throwing out my hands. “I could leave?”
“No,” he says, in a gentle tone. “You could turn a blind eye.”
“That doesn’t make it okay.”
“Nothing about this is okay,” he counters. “
“You can’t just beat a demon up.”
“I can try!”
“Xavier,” I say, breath hitching in my chest. “We barely made it out unscathed last time. That demon was nothing compared to this demon.”
“I know,” he snaps, but I can hear the desperation in his voice. He steps in, closing the distance between us. We stare into each other’s eyes for a fleeting moment before passion takes over. Xavier’s hands clasp around my waist and he picks me up, setting me on the desk. I widen my legs, welcoming him in between.
His lips touch mine and then the door behind us flies open, pushed so hard it slams into the wall. “What have you done?” Theo demands, bursting into the room. Light from the hallway illuminates his face, highlighting the rage—and the blood splattered across his face. He slams something onto the desk and my eyes widen in terror. Are those—no, no way. Those aren’t wolf fangs…because that could only mean one thing.
Chapter
Fourteen
“Are those werewolf fangs?” I rush out, shaking my head back and forth. They can’t be. Or at least if they aren’t, they’re not here on the desk because Theo pulled them out. If he did, that means the werewolves and the vampires are officially at war. With everything else going on, it’s the absolute last thing we need.