Total pages in book: 401
Estimated words: 390373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1952(@200wpm)___ 1561(@250wpm)___ 1301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 390373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1952(@200wpm)___ 1561(@250wpm)___ 1301(@300wpm)
What if it had been him, already connected to her, whispering while she slept?
And he was finally able to forge a deeper connection.
The breath I’d taken hadn’t gone anywhere because I thought I knew. Understood. This Primal had said it. She would’ve been vulnerable while in stasis, then weakened to save me. It opened her to what had always been there.
I let him in.
Dark, thick, oily anger surged through me, stoking the essence. No sound came from me as fury-fueled eather bled into the atmosphere, thickening it with palpable tension. The sconces placed every ten feet or so flickered and then went out, plunging the hall into darkness.
“Fuck,” the Primal whispered.
Kieran was beside me in an instant, his hand on my arm. “You need to calm.”
“I’m calm.”
“Bullshit.” Kieran angled his body toward mine. “You’re vibrating with rage. Literally.”
My skin thrummed as if bolts of lightning were dancing across my pores, sending electric shivers through every inch of my body. The sconces on the wall sputtered back to life, their lights flaring wildly.
Attes swore as he stared at me—at the floor. “What in the actual…?”
Faint tendrils of shadow rippled across my feet, slipping around Kieran’s. Shadows streaked with thin strands of crimson.
In the dancing light, Attes slowly lifted his gaze.
Kieran stepped closer to me, bringing his head near mine. “Do you want her to feel this? To wake her, Cas? Because if you keep this up, it will.”
I didn’t want that.
“You need to calm yourself. For her.” Kieran clasped the back of my neck and pressed his forehead to mine. “And you can start by taking a breath. Do it.” His hand squeezed. “Do it for Poppy.”
For Poppy.
I would do anything for her.
Twisting my head from side to side, I took a deep breath. The burning in my lungs eased as I pushed the rage down. The light from the sconces steadied, cutting through the shadows sliding along the stone as the energy dissipated from the hall.
“You good?” Kieran asked.
I took another breath. “Good enough.”
Kieran didn’t immediately move. He stayed where he was for a heartbeat or two, then let go and stepped back.
Attes had leaned away slightly, his wide gaze darting between us.
“The Joining,” Kieran sighed, scrubbing his forehead. “It had some unexpected…effects.”
“No shit,” the Primal muttered. “But I’d call that more than an effect.” Eather crackled through his eyes as his stare bore into me. “That display of essence? It was h—”
“Hers,” I interrupted hoarsely. “It was her essence.”
“It’s his,” he insisted. “But it’s also something…?” He shook his head, shifting his attention to Kieran. “And you?”
“The opposite of his.”
“I…” It looked like a puff of air could’ve knocked Attes over. “I actually don’t even know what to say.”
I did. “We don’t have time for this.”
“You’re right. What in the fuck were we even talking—?” The Primal’s shoulders squared. “I remember.” He exhaled heavily. “Are you certain there are no marks? Did you look everywhere?”
The implication in his words made my skin crawl. Sucking in a sharp breath, I drew back as Kieran turned to me.
“Casteel.” Attes’s tone had softened, becoming placating as he held up his hands. “I can see that this is difficult for you, but we need to find his mark.”
I backed up, my fists clenching. I’d seen a lot of Poppy since she’d awakened. All of her except for what the sleeping gown obscured. The idea of his mark being there…
“Breathe,” Kieran murmured.
My too-tight chest rose as I breathed through the icy heat of eather throbbing in every cell of my being. “I will have to check her.”
Attes nodded. “If she’s still asleep…”
“She could wake when the door opens. She did last time,” I said. “If I go in alone, we’ll have to open the door again. And if she—or he—sees you?”
“We’ll go in with you,” Attes replied. “Give you space while you check her over.”
I rubbed at my chest. “Then let’s do this.”
Attes eyed me for a few more seconds. “There’s just one more thing.”
“For fuck’s sake,” I muttered. “What?”
Attes stared at me, a slight frown pulling at his brow. He looked like he was figuring something out. I could be wrong, though. Honestly, I didn’t really give a fuck as I stalked past him, resisting the urge to bump his shoulder with mine.
“Before we go in,” Attes said, and I stopped in front of the door, closing my eyes. “If Kolis gets control, he will recognize me. And he will know why I’m here. You two need to be prepared for him to fight.”
In other words, be ready for Poppy to fight.
I nodded curtly. “Understood, but… She’s weakened. So is Kolis.”
“That’s good,” Attes said, even though his tone suggested otherwise. “We should get this over with as quickly as possible.”
I took a deep breath to prepare myself and quell the storm brewing inside me. It was futile. A lifetime couldn’t have prepared me to knowingly hurt her. So, I did what I had to do when I bound her wrists. I shut myself down as I unlocked the door and slipped into the role of who I used to be.