Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 58532 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 293(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58532 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 293(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
And I want him.
The kiss happens before I can decide whether to fight it.
His mouth presses to mine, steady and certain.
For half a second, I freeze, and then the world tilts as heat surges through me like a hurricane. All the fear inside my nerves dissolves into something grounding. Something safe.
My fingers curl into his T-shirt, and I kiss him back.
I savor the taste of his mouth. I savor the taste of his lips and tongue. And I press my body tighter against his until I can feel his arousal against my hip.
I’m overwhelmed with a million different emotions, but the one that stands out the most is hunger. Want. Desire.
When he pulls away, I’m shaking and breathless and confused.
And when he leaves me locked in the room again, I’m angry. At him. At myself. At how I could kiss this man who took me without permission and still have it be the best thing I’ve ever experienced in my life.
But, livid or not, it was the best.
And I have no idea why.
Kane
Blair is asleep. Even through a locked door, even one floor down, I can feel her. My body can tell that her pulse is slower now and her breathing is even and her anger has been dulled by exhaustion.
The bond doesn’t shut off just because she’s unconscious. If anything, it only hums louder.
Rook sits at the kitchen table, his arms folded and his jaw tight. If vampires actually needed sleep, he’d look like he hasn’t slept in days. Kylie is in his bedroom, turned their bedroom, and Cal leans against the counter, arms crossed and waiting.
No one speaks at first, but with the way Cal keeps tossing glare-daggers my way, I know I’m going to have to be the one to break the tension. After all, my extracurriculars are the most recent cause.
“There are more casualties.” I shrug. “I…well, I killed the men who were there to take Blair.”
“Fuck,” Rook mutters.
“Shit, Kane.” Cal’s jaw ticks. “How many?”
“Two,” I admit. “Mark and Evan.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Cal sighs. “You killed Holland’s boys?”
“In my defense, I didn’t get to pick who they sent for her, and they technically started it. I just had to finish it.”
Rook drags a hand down his face. “Jesus Christ, Kane.”
“They were taking her to some piece of shit elite’s private hangar so she could fly to his penthouse in New York.” I hold both of their gazes. “I couldn’t let that happen. Especially when I could tell not a single one of those fucks had any intention of making plans for her to come back from New York. She was either getting used by Damien or taken to the auction, and neither one worked for me.”
Cal nods once. “Damien, as in Damien Snow?”
I shrug.
“Well, shit. Somehow it just keeps getting worse.”
“It was just two more gofers, you know?” I toss out, trying to add some levity to this very serious, they-want-us-dead situation. “We’ve still kept the death count to only one hand.”
Cal bursts into laughter. “Fucking hell, Kane. Now isn’t the time for jokes.”
“What?” I flash a smile at him. “I think we’ve all been really level-headed about the whole thing.”
“Level-headed?” Cal tosses back. “Between the three of us, we’ve killed five of the elites’ fuckstains and kidnapped two women. One of which is blood of the three.”
I grimace. “Technically, it’s two.”
Cal’s eyes go wide. “She’s blood of the three too?”
I nod.
Rook barks out a laugh. “Well, I’d say that pretty much does it.”
We were already enemies after he took Kylie, but now? We are quite literally enemy number one to any vampire elite from here to New York.
Kylie appears at the threshold of the living room, but she doesn’t look panicked or uncertain, even with the newly kidnapped woman in the bedroom upstairs. She walks straight across the room and into Rook’s lap like that’s where she belongs. Rook’s entire body shifts, and he slides his hand around her waist automatically while his chin rests against her shoulder.
She doesn’t ask what we’re talking about, but I don’t miss the way she and Rook are looking at each other. Something silent passes between them, and it’s clear their bond is solidified. And more than that, it’s really fucking strong.
They don’t need to say things out loud to gossip. They can do it in their fucking heads.
“You two are getting really creepy with that silent thing,” Cal teases.
Kylie giggles and presses a kiss to the corner of Rook’s jaw. He looks down at her like a man whose entire world resides inside her eyes.
Damn. I never thought I’d see the day when my grumpy-as-fuck big brother Rook looked at a woman the way he’s looking at her—even a month ago, he was barely tolerable. Now, he’s practically starring in commercials for VampireMatch.com.
Eventually, Rook looks back at me, his moony eyes shuttering noticeably. “Okay, so explain to me again how you even came into contact with Blair?”