Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“I thought I wasn’t going to be able to catch you. Certainly didn’t think it would be in a wolf trap. Thought I might catch one of your mates, if I was lucky. But here you were, in an animal form yourself. I almost made the mesh a little too big, didn’t I. You’re such a petite little thing.”
The Vampire Alexander steps into my field of vision. He will forever be forty years old. His hair is swept back from his forehead in a widow’s peak. He has a scar on his right cheek from wounds sustained before he died. He is handsome, but not to me. To me, he is the vilest looking creature in the world. His strong features, his crooked nose, his heavy furrowed brow and intense eyes focused on me.
“You always were a pretty little wolf. What happened to your protectors? Did they tire of your chaos? Did they learn of your true nature? A little too chaotic, a little too pathetic?”
“Just kill me already.”
He laughs. “I am not going to kill you. I have never wanted to kill you. Your parents were more than enough of a sacrifice. Your penance is going to be quite different, and a lot more painful. My maker’s heart is still locked in that human rat den.”
“And surrounded by explosives.”
“Oh, is it? Nice touch. Nice touch.”
Vampire Alexander looks at me with cold malice, appreciating my deviousness.
“You taught me well.”
“I did, didn’t I.” He smirks. “I raised you as my own, Kita. I kept you alive long after you had any usefulness. I showed you how to make your way in the world. And you rewarded me by turning into an ungrateful heart-stealing wretch.”
“You killed my parents, you psycho! You destroyed my childhood, and my life. And now you have the fucking nerve to think that what you’re doing is reasonable? You burned a port down. You’re trying to ruin my life, and you’re trying to ruin everything, and I hate you.”
“You sound petulant,” he laughs. “Your mates must have spoiled you in the very short time they had you. I’d like to say I am surprised three wolves could not manage to contain you, but I am not. You have escaped even my clutches, after all.”
“Just let me go. I’m only going to cause trouble. You know it. Even if you somehow break the siege at Rock City, I’ll still be me, and if you’re not willing to kill me…”
“You’re feral. A semi-tame wild animal,” he says. “You’re too broken to be left in the wild by yourself. You need to be looked after. Animals like you? Who have been kept and had their instincts broken? They have to be kept, because what happens in the wild?”
“What?”
“They get eaten.”
He flashes his fangs, and I know that he’s threatening my life in some roundabout way. What he doesn’t understand is that I don’t care.
“I hope you do eat me,” I say through the netting, furious at all that is happening. “I hope you fucking kill me.”
“I already told you I’m not going to kill you.” He pauses, frowns at me. “You know, you were much less feral before you mated. I don’t think these men were very good for you, and I say that as your mortal enemy and eternal captor. I don’t think I approve of them.”
“I’m not good for them. That’s why I ran. So I don’t care what you do. I hope you do take me far, far away and lock me up and make it impossible for them to ever get to me. I hope you do kill me. I hope that all this ends.”
Alexander lets out a little sigh. “You were always a difficult captive. I thought your stealing my maker’s heart was bad enough, but now you are being maudlin and sad and quite frankly very unsatisfying to break.” He turns around. “Get her out of the net. Put her in a cage. Silver collar on.”
“They’re going to come for me,” I threaten him. “My mates are going to come and they’re going to kill you. An eternity is going to come to an end because you won’t leave me alone.”
“First of all, your mates couldn’t even keep a port defended,” he says. “Honestly, ridiculous. I came full force, but I feel I could have sent a slightly incendiary postal note and achieved much the same result.”
Vampire Alexander is funny. It does not make up for any of his other heinous qualities. It is mildly entertaining at best.
“Second of all, I might have left you to your own devices if you’d merely run away, but you didn’t. You took my maker’s heart.”
He sounds faintly annoyed. More annoyed than angry. Our relationship is complicated, always has been. This is the second time he has captured me. The first time, I was much less prepared.