Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87502 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87502 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
They were dragging Vivienne too, the two of them pulling her roughly behind me, making me want to kill them for touching her.
But in a minute when the moon rose, my Beast would come out and he would do more than touch her—much more.
I felt a sick, sinking sensation somewhere in my midsection as the part of me that couldn’t be reasoned with raised its head and roared. The Beast sensed that something was coming, and he could smell Vivienne’s sweet scent. Harris was right—he would be drawn to her and would completely ignore anyone else as long as she was around.
Goddess no—please! I begged silently. I swore never to hurt her—I swore to keep them apart and never Shift where the Beast could see her! Please, let us find a way out of this!
But there was no answer…only the silvery light of the full moon as it began to rise over the horizon and touch the trees with silver.
We were trapped—or rather, Vivienne was trapped—and there was no way I could save her. I was about to break every promise I’d ever made to her and though I would rather die than hurt her, pain was coming on the horizon as surely as the moon was rising in the sky.
There was no way out.
FORTY-NINE
VIVIENNE
The Alphas dumped us into the middle of the Moon Glade and scurried back to the shelter of the trees. First, though, they unwound the yards of silver chain they’d draped around Kor and pulled it off him. They were wearing thick gloves to keep from touching it themselves, I saw—silver weakens a Were, even a strong one like Kor.
Speaking of Kor, there was a haunted look on his face—a look like a man who sees his own death coming and can’t get away.
“Vivienne, listen to me,” he said hoarsely, as he lay on his side. “Turn around and let me see if I can get your hands free. Then you can untie your ankles and run.”
“I don’t see how we can do that before the moonlight hits us,” I said. I was feeling numb by now—I was more than half convinced this was just a very vivid nightmare.
“Don’t talk, just do it!” he snapped. “Get over here, now!”
His hands were bound in front of him but mine were behind my back. I did my best to scoot towards him and then turned over, pressing my hands to his. I felt him working, the rough, abrasive fibers scratching my wrists. And as he worked, he talked.
“Listen to me,” he said in a low voice, his breath hot on my ear. “When you get free of all these ropes, walk away into the woods. Walk, don’t run—do you understand? Running will only attract my Beast’s attention. You need to move slowly to get away from him. ”
“But I can’t just leave you here,” I protested. “If I get away, they’ll kill you for sure!”
“I don’t care about that—do you hear me?” he demanded. “I’d rather let them kill me than hurt you—than let my Beast have you!”
My hands were free by this time. I felt the ropes part and turned quickly to try and work on the much thicker ones tying Kor’s wrists. But he twisted away from me.
“No!” he snapped. “Leave them—at least they might slow him down a little.”
I realized he was talking about his Beast—the massive half man/half wolf creature that lived inside him instead of a regular wolf. I wondered numbly if it would look like the creature I’d seen in my dreams.
“I don’t want to leave you here,” I said again and this time my eyes were stinging with tears.
“Forget about me and get your feet untied!” Kor ordered me. “Please, baby—hurry!” he added urgently.
“Hey, lookit—they’re untying each other!” I heard someone shout from the shadow of the trees.
“Never mind about that,” Harris said and there was a dark, gloating expression on his ugly face. “Look—the moon’s rising.”
I looked up and saw that he was right. The moon was climbing in the sky and already the trees and branches were silver with her light.
I bent to my task of untying the ropes around my ankles. They had been tied hastily when Harris ordered me to be bound, so it didn’t take much to get them off—only a minute or two.
But it turned out to be a minute too long.
When I looked at Kor again, he was already changing. His back was arching and there was a pained expression on his face—the look of a man who is fighting a losing battle with all his might.
“Vivienne…run!” he grated out. “Get…away…before it’s too…late.”
And then his face elongated—his mouth turning into a muzzle as his body began to twist and change.
I’d seen plenty of males Shift in my lifetime, but I’d never seen anything like this. Kor wasn’t turning into the familiar lupine shape I was used to—he mostly retained his human form but he was growing—growing to immense proportions.