Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 49459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
My mouth was dry, but I couldn’t stop watching him.
He looked like the devil getting ready to collect souls.
“I’m terrified,” I whispered the words out loud.
Lennox glanced at me, pausing as he reached for one of his guns. His jaw flexed, but he didn’t speak right away. Just stared at me like he was memorizing the moment.
“Aye,” he finally said. His voice was gravel. “I am, too.”
I was shocked he admitted that. Otherworld males always appeared strong, unbreakable.
“But I’m more afraid of what will happen if I donna do this. I have tae protect not only my kind and family but, most of all, ye.”
My heart beat double-time.
“We need answers. We need tae find out who the hell is controlling the Therabus. And I have tae do anything and everything in my power to fix things.”
A part of me wanted to tell him he didn’t need to be the one to fix anything, that sometimes life went a certain way that was out of our control. But I knew Lennox needed to have this situation within his grasp. He needed to feel in control.
I stepped into the room, bare feet grounded on the hardwood floor, heart pounding against my ribs. “Lennox…” I trailed off, my throat tight. “What if—”
He turned sharply and dropped the gun onto the dresser with a clatter, closing the space between us in two strides. His large hands cupped my face, and he looked at me like I was his entire world and he was afraid if he looked away I’d disappear.
“Donna do that,” he growled, voice thick. “Donna look at me like I’m already gone.”
I blinked up at him, breath hitching, tears streaming down my cheeks before I even knew I was crying.
“I am afraid that’s what will happen. I’m terrified once ye leave, it’ll be the last time because we donna kno’ what’s waiting out there.”
His eyes flicked over my face—my lips, my cheekbones, my jaw. Then he kissed me.
It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t sweet. It was heat and desperation, hunger laced with fear. Like he needed to burn this into his memory in case he never got another chance.
His tongue swept into my mouth, rough and possessive, and I moaned as my hands fisted in the material of his shirt. The gear strapped to him clinked together as he backed me up, his body hard against my softness.
My back hit the stone wall as his hands gripped my hips tightly, like he didn’t trust himself not to let go.
His mouth tore from mine only to trail down the curve of my neck, teeth grazing the mark he’d given me. I gasped, my head falling back against the wall.
“I canna leave like this,” he murmured against my skin. “Not without reminding ye who the fuck ye belong tae.”
“Lennox—” I started, but he caught my mouth again, silencing me with another brutal kiss that made my knees tremble.
Then he grabbed the back of my thighs and lifted me effortlessly, pinning me against the wall. I cried out, my legs wrapping around his waist, the hard bulge of his massive cock grinding against my center as he held me there.
He was the one in control. He needed this… needed to know I was here with him and this was real. So I clung to him, breathless, aching, and overwhelmed in the best way.
When he was done mouth-fucking me, he rested his forehead against mine, his voice ragged as he groaned, “I should be leaving.”
“But ye’re no’ going tae,” I whispered, digging my fingers into his shoulders. “No’ until ye make me feel alive again. No’ until I feel ye pushing deep in my body and claiming me all over again.”
He growled low and deep in his chest, then rocked his hips against me again, slow and hard enough to make my breath catch.
“I’ll take ye against this wall,” he muttered darkly, “fully geared up and armed tae the teeth.”
I was wet. Gods, I was so wet for him.
“I’ll mark ye all over again so every inch of ye aches for me while I’m gone.” And then his mouth crashed against mine. And I let him.
Because at that moment, nothing else mattered.
22
VAETROV OF THE LEANDREAN
Katara faction of the Otherworld
The chamber hummed with low, steady energy, the kind that made bones feel brittle and thoughts burst into tiny fragments.
This was the dark magic that pulsed through the underworld. And it made me feel powerful.
I stood at the center of the origin of all evil. The place I was born, pushed out of my mother’s womb and left to die. Naked, screaming, bloody and starved. But I hadn’t died. I lived. I thrived. And I was ready to take what was mine.
The obsidian beneath my feet vibrated with power, and the scent of scorched sulfur was thick in the air. The stalactites above made the cave appear smaller than it was.