Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 105144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
“Thank you,” I say when we’re back to the car and he holds my hand as I get in the passenger seat. He’s sitting next to me in just seconds, and it doesn’t take long to get to the next venue. We park along the street and I get a weird feeling forming in my stomach. There’s an energy shift and I perk up, sensing something familiar. Xavier gets out and zooms around, opening the car door for me.
“I don’t…I don’t think we should go in,” I say slowly, not sure why that feeling is coming over me. “We should go home.”
“We?” Xavier questions and takes my hand. “We have several important politicians, both human and vampire alike, waiting on us.” He looks down at me, face surprisingly patient and kind instead of annoyed. “I know you’re eager to consummate this relationship, but I assure you, waiting will make you want me more.”
I willingly move with him, letting him guide me down from the car as I drop all my shields to try and get a better reading on whatever is nearby. It’s hard sometimes to distinguish between a gut feeling and anxiety. I understand the biology behind the nervous system doing whatever it can to protect you from danger. But this get-the-hell-out-of-here feeling is coming from something deeper…and now is coming with the feeling of being watched.
CHAPTER 16
“Xavier,” I say when he starts to walk forward again. “Wait. Something isn’t right.”
He moves closer to me, putting both hands on my shoulders. All night, he has walked on the street-side of the sidewalk, something chivalrous in a mundane way that didn’t go unnoticed. And right now, he’s being just as protective, looking around for the danger he can step in front of.
“What are you sensing, Wren?”
I turn my head, moving in the direction of the energy. Then I see them, and my heart skips a beat.
“Hunters,” I whisper.
“Hunters?” he echoes, slowly drawing his fangs. My god, he looks terrifying. There’s a calmness to him that is almost unsettling. His ability to control himself and not crash out the way the public thinks all vampires do makes him all the more dangerous. And there is something so horrifyingly beautiful in the way he’s looking at me. “Ones you know?”
“I’ve come across them a time or two.”
“And?” He steps in closer, fangs flashing in the overhead light from the buildings around us.
“Let’s just say not all hunters were happy when the higher ups in the Order said to leave vampires alone. And those guys…” I raise my eyebrows. “Those guys are hateful assholes. They’re racist on a normal level and then again on a supernatural level. Werewolves and witches are on the same level as vampires and demons.”
“Ouch,” Xavier says, seeming unfazed. He’s used to being the Big Bad Wolf, the scariest thing in the room. And he is.
But the rest of the vampires inside this building…they’re sitting ducks if these hunters are planning something.
“I’m being serious,” I chide. “Hunters like that have always hated me and waited their whole life for me to mess up, to put one toe out of line so they would be cleared to kill me.”
Xavier’s eyes narrow and he bristles. “Have they ever hurt you?”
“They never had the chance. I lived and died by the book.”
“You walked on eggshells.”
“Yeah, I guess.” I shrug. “What other choice did I have? Besides, I’m not a bad person. Witches don’t get their powers from selling their soul. We’re literally born this way, and according to Lady Gaga, God makes no mistakes.”
Xavier runs his hands down my arms. “I’m not quite sure I’m following here. There are hunters across the street who don’t like you.”
“Right.”
“And we shouldn’t go inside because?”
“They’re planning something.”
“How do you know?”
I shake my head. “I just have a feeling. When I get feelings like this, I’m usually right.”
“Okay.” He holds my gaze for a moment as he considers my words. Then he pulls out his phone and makes a call. “Theo,” he says into the phone once his brother answers. “It seems we may have an issue at the convention center. Hunters.”
He pauses and then says something in Spanish, talking too fast for me to tell what he’s saying. A few seconds later, he ends the call. “Theo will be joining us momentarily. Does that make you feel better?”
“Maybe? I…I can’t explain it and I know I sound crazy.”
“Wren.” He puts his phone back in his pocket and brushes my hair back. “You do not sound crazy. You sound like divination is a gift you’ve had to suppress.”
“That…that actually makes sense,” I say, once again shocked by something he said—in a good way. Though now isn’t the time to get into how shit I was given for having Tarot cards. “I have this feeling they know a lot of vampires are going to be in this building tonight and they’re going to do something.”