Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
I grinned as she stomped out of the room, waiting until she was gone to sit back down on the mattress. Damn, I was weak. I’d had injuries before—I’d been shot more times than I could remember—but I’d never had so many wounds at the same time.
Is that how they managed to capture Zeke? We no longer had his body to check, but command must know. He wouldn’t have had time to fully heal before he’d died. There should’ve been some evidence.
A few minutes later, Reese came back with my clothes and watched as I insisted on dressing myself. When we got to the kitchen, my mother, Helen, and Alice were sitting around the table with cups of coffee.
“On your feet already?” Alice commented with a raised eyebrow.
“We’re hungry, and my nurses disappeared,” I joked as I shuffled across the room.
“He insisted he could walk around.” Reese glared at me. “I could’ve made something myself.”
“There are cinnamon rolls in the oven,” my mom said, looking me over. “I just left them in there to keep them warm.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
I stopped and sat on a stool as Reese went to get us breakfast.
“Beau,” Helen called. “Do you believe they’re targeting newly bonded mates?”
I glanced at Reese. We hadn’t had that discussion yet.
“That’s what it looks like,” I confirmed. “But we don’t know enough to be sure.”
“Matthias,” Helen said worriedly. “He and Misha have only been mated for less than a year.”
“Danny’s on his way there now,” I reassured her as Reese set a cinnamon roll near my elbow. “But you know Matthias. He’s being careful.”
“Why in the world would they target new mates specifically?” my mom asked. “What’s the point?”
“Someone wants to know the secret to immortality,” Alice replied flatly, watching as she twisted her coffee cup in a slow circle. “I’d bet you every penny I have that our secret is no longer a secret.”
Helen’s face paled, and my mom jerked in her seat like she’d been slapped.
The pieces started to fall into place as I turned to look at Reese.
“First, we’ll find Charles,” she said softly, brushing the hair back from my forehead. “Then we’ll deal with whatever this is. One thing at a time.”
Chapter 19
Reese
“Where the hell is my hairdryer?” I called, riffling through one of the boxes that covered the living room. “It’s not in the bathroom box.”
“How would I know?” Beau called back. “I didn’t touch it.”
“Well, maybe if you’d let me pack my shit instead of hiring a moving company,” I grouched. “I’d be able to find things when I need them!”
“I wasn’t in any shape to pack your apartment, and neither were you,” Beau pointed out as he wandered into the room.
It had been nearly two weeks since Beau had been shot, and as he passed by in nothing but a loose pair of jeans, I marveled at the smooth, healed skin. He didn’t even have a scar to remember what we’d gone through that day.
Part of me thought that it was strange, but I was mostly just glad that the visual reminders were gone. I still saw his body sliding to the floor whenever I closed my eyes. I didn’t need to think of it every time I saw his bare chest.
“I can’t find it anywhere.” I sat back on my heels, looking around at the half-empty boxes. A lot of things in my apartment had been ruined, but I still had too much stuff to fit in our suite of rooms.
“Have you checked the bathroom?” Beau asked dryly, pulling a yogurt out of the fridge. “That’s where normal people keep it.”
“I already looked in there,” I shot back, heading for the bathroom anyway, just to be sure. “It was at the apartment. I didn’t bring it here.”
“I think you’re wrong,” he called.
“Shit,” I muttered, finding it under the sink.
“I knew it was in there,” he said smugly, raising his voice so I could hear him.
“Fuck off,” I said quietly.
“You’re welcome,” he replied, still in the kitchen area.
I couldn’t help but laugh as I pulled the hair dryer out and plugged it in. He was such a pain in the ass.
The last two weeks had been hard. Not only had Beau been a terrible patient, pushing himself every day even though it freaked me out, but I’d had nightmares every night that left me exhausted all day long. It was probably a good thing that I’d given up my job because there was no way I would’ve been able to work.
Learning to live together with the added benefit of trauma and serious medical issues wasn’t for the faint of heart, but we’d managed it. Beau irritated the hell out of me, and I drove him crazy half the time, but we’d started to lean into it. It was us. He was still the first face I wanted to see when I woke up and the last I wanted to see before we slept, so I figured we’d be okay.