Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 44211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Emory chuckled. “True, but it is funny just how many chairs you’ve broken over the years. I’ll never forget that English pub when you were dating Alastor. You’d tried to set up a romantic setting then broke both the chair and the table.”
“I love how you bring that up every few years.”
Emory was quite a moment before he sighed. “I really shouldn’t bring him up, and I’m sorry. I know how rough that was for you.”
It had been. Dax had loved Alastor, but when the demon had found his true soulmate in another demon, he’d had no choice but to let him go. Hundreds of years later, Dax still hadn’t found his own soulmate. He feared he never would.
“Dax,” Emory said quietly. “Your soulmate will come into your life, just as someone will come into mine—though I’m nowhere close to ready for that. Not like you and Ivor are. Truth is, we’re not destined to be alone. You, my friend, are not destined to be alone. And now that we know humans can be soulmates, a whole new world has been opened.”
“Emory, you know I can’t risk being with a human. Even knowing what I do now, what if I was wrong?”
“Wrong about what?”
“I’ve come to the conclusion that I could be with one if he were a true soulmate, but there’s still that risk. My kind has tried to be with humans in the past and it was always a disaster.”
“We just need to find you a really big guy who also likes big, beefy, bald guys.”
Emory joked, but Dax knew that couldn’t be possible. Even if he did happen upon one of those unique humans who saw through their glamours, he sincerely doubted he’d find one like Callan’s mate—one who didn’t mind the horns. And in Dax’s case, the tusks that curled out of his bottom lip.
Even as he thought that, his gaze suddenly locked on a man sitting near the alley to the side of the restaurant. The most beautiful fucking man he’d ever seen in his long life. Dax sucked in a deep breath, stunned in place.
Raven black hair, silky and full, swept off his head in waves to his shoulders. He wore a tight navy-blue button-down and dark jeans that showed off the slim lines of his body. Slim and delicate. The kind of beauty Dax could admire but never put his hands on. When the man abruptly stood, like he was going to greet someone, he revealed legs that looked long despite his short stature. Apparently, the person walking his way was not who he was there to meet because disappointment shadowed his almost hawk-like features as he sat back down. He glanced down at his phone and scowled, which didn’t detract from the beauty of his harsh features. Harsh, yet beguiling. He had a thin face, long, regal nose and lush lips.
“Dax? Still there?”
Dax cleared his throat and managed to tear his gaze away from the man who’d caught his interest. “Yes, still here. I should get off the phone and do my damn job. When did you and Ivor want to hit this club?”
“You’re off Friday, right? I’ll text the address, and you can meet us there around nine.”
“I’ll be there.”
He said goodbye and slipped his new phone back into his pocket. He’d been right about the bay water destroying his last one.
The client still sat lording it over his table, and Dax’s shoulders slumped as he realized he still had four more days with this asshole.
But no matter how much he willed himself not to, his gaze kept going back to the black-haired vision who had obviously been stood up. There was an aura of strength to the man despite his delicate height and build, and for just a moment, Dax let himself wish that he wasn’t seven foot three and built like a goddamn tank. That he didn’t have his ogre strength.
What would it be like to be able to go up to this man and introduce himself? To get to know him? To touch without fear of hurting him?
He’d never know.
The man abruptly yelped, startling everyone at the tables around him. But he was at the last table by the alley and partially in the shadows, so Dax realized the others probably didn’t see what he did.
A long, thick snake had wrapped around the man’s waist. It yanked him out of the chair and backwards into the alley.
Dax didn’t hesitate because he recognized the kind of snake that had snatched him. He raced toward the alley, turning the corner to find exactly what he expected to see.
A chimera.
Two heads, lion and goat, with the lion’s body and a snake for a tail. Three heads when one counted the snake, which was currently wrapped around the man Dax had been watching. He ran toward them, watching with complete horror as the snake latched onto the man’s arm and sank its fangs through his shirt and skin. The man cried out, eyes wild with utter shock and terror.