Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 65167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
But still…
Still the anger quickens in me. Rage races along my spine.
No!
I can’t let him get to me. I can’t. I must think of my child. Of Rogan’s child.
“It never gets old, does it?” I chide. “Calling me a slut.”
“I call them as I see them.”
“You never saw me, Richard. You never knew me. I was a thorn in your side from day one, and you did everything you could to turn my own mother against me.”
He lifts a thin eyebrow. “Seems I was successful.”
“In the short term, yes. But not in the long term. She’s beginning to see you for who and what you are. Manipulative. Disgusting. Evil.”
He scoffs. “And now you’re blessing her with some kind of mutant hybrid for a grandchild. She’ll love you for that.”
My heartbeat increases, and adrenaline spikes through me. My jaw tightens, and I clench my fists. A searing pain surges through my belly, but I ignore it, remain upright.
My vision blurs. Everything around me—Richard’s lair—is nothing but haze as I focus my gaze solely on his wrinkled face, his evil smile.
I breathe in.
The pain.
The baby.
I can’t let him affect my baby.
Evil exudes from this man, as if black snakes are slithering inside him.
“My mother will love this child,” I say with defiance.
He sneers. “Like she loved you?”
All sense flees my body. In a black rage, I rush toward my stepfather. His leg appears injured, and he’s lying in a bed of ash.
And he’s mine. He’s mine to dispose of. The world will be a better place without him. My mother will be a better person without him.
God knows I’ll have a better life without him.
I take even steps, breathing in and out, calming my nerves to protect my child, but at the same time allowing my adrenaline to do its job, to increase my strength. Then I allow my thoughts to do the rest.
My thoughts…
My history…
The day my mother forsook Larissa and me for this bastard.
This demon.
My mother, though hurt by my father, used to be a loving parent. Always ready with a hug when I needed one. Always ready with a kind word. But all that changed when Richard entered our lives. At first I tried to be understanding, to welcome him into our family with an open heart. I wanted my mother to be happy, after all. She, of all people, deserved happiness after what my father did to her.
But something shifted, something dark and insidious. He started to manipulate her, twisting her perception of me, casting doubt where there wasn’t any. I didn’t know demons existed at that time. I didn’t know I was half vampire.
But he knew.
He always fucking knew.
All he’s said and done burns like a fire inside me. He took advantage of a broken woman and turned a loving mother against her own flesh and blood. Her own children.
The pain was unbearable then. The loss of my mother. How her new husband hated me.
I left as soon as I could, yet here I am, faced with the evil demon once more.
This is my fate.
I may not be Rogan’s fated mate, but my fate is tied to this man. This demon.
And it’s time to end it. For my mother, my sister, my unborn child.
For Rogan.
And for me.
My fangs snap down as I growl and close the distance between my stepfather and me.
Demon blood.
I’ve never tasted demon blood.
It whooshes through his veins, the sound like a high-pitched siren.
But I feel no craving for it. My child is still sated with Dominic’s blood for now.
Richard is injured. Easy prey.
With one more step, I lunge.
23
“That’s it,” he seethes through his clenched teeth. “Take it, Hannah. Take my blood. Nourish your growing child with darkness. Do it. Do it.”
I have no yearning for Richard’s vile blood. Only for his death. His death at my hand.
I lunge into midair, my cuspids sharp and pointed, everything in me ready to attack—
Whomp!
I end up on my ass, and between me and Richard is a wolf.
A growling wolf with green swirling eyes.
“Rogan!”
His growl vibrates into my body.
“You’re kidding me, right? You’re protecting the fucking demon king?”
Rogan can’t speak to me in wolf form, but usually I’ve been able to tell what he’s thinking.
Now? Not a clue. Why would he stop me from killing the bane of my existence? Of my sister’s existence?
But that’s the last thought I have, because when I inhale…
Oh, God…
His blood.
The alluring scent is ten times stronger when he’s in wolf form. Or perhaps it’s the child in my body strengthening my sense of smell.
Whatever it is—
I scramble quickly to my feet, my fangs still long and sharp and ready. I tackle the wolf, sinking my teeth through his thick fur and into his neck.
Rogan stays steady, lying on the ground, letting me feed.
The elixir is earthy and herbaceous, as if I’m feeding not from Rogan but from the ground itself. Taking my strength from something more profound than another being.