Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 116875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 468(@250wpm)___ 390(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 468(@250wpm)___ 390(@300wpm)
“St. James and Damien finally had a call with Dominus,” Kaiser says, maneuvering himself to my side on the crutches. “He’s agreed to a temporary truce while we negotiate peace. In one more week, we end this once and for all.”
“How?” Elodie asks.
“There will be a fight,” Jaeger says. “Two men will face off in the ring. Anything goes.” He looks at me. “There will be a champion representing your family and one representing the Vesuvios.”
“Who will be my champion?” I ask.
Kaiser folds himself onto the couch. “Me.”
I look from him to Jaeger and back again. “But you can’t fight, you’re hurt.”
“That’s what I said,” Jaeger mutters. He heads to where Elodie is sitting, picks her up, and settles them both in the armchair with her in his lap. She lets him, looking worried.
Kaiser has the remote. He’s cuing something up on the TV.
I put a hand on his arm. “You can’t,” I say. “You just got out of a wheelchair.”
Kaiser shrugs.
I turn to Jaeger. “You need to stop this.”
“I can’t,” Jaeger growls. He looks like he wants to commit murder. “It was his idea.”
“What?” My mouth falls open.
“This will end things once and for all,” Kaiser says and rolls his shoulders. “It’s the only way.” He clicks the remote, and the screen fills with a grainy, homemade-looking movie. Two shirtless men face each other in a boxing ring. One is bald and towers over the other. The bald man lumbers forward, fists swinging. Most of his shots go wild, his opponent ducking out of the way, but one hit lands, and the smaller man goes flying.
“Power, not precision,” Kaiser comments. He seems to be studying the screen.
“You like to take the first punch,” Jaeger muses, looking at the screen. “With him, that might not be such a good idea.”
Kaiser grunts.
“Excuse me, what is this?”
“An underground fight,” Elodie says, her voice tense. “They study them so they know how to beat their opponents.”
I get up and point to the bald man on the screen. “Is this him? Your opponent?”
“Yes,” Jaeger and Kaiser say in unison. “People call him the Giant.”
“He looks like he’s seven feet tall,” I say, almost not believing it.
“But slow. I can beat him,” Kaiser says.
Jaeger rubs his mouth, looking almost sad. Since he usually smiles too much, this is alarming. “They say he was bred from Dominus’s seed. But they… did things to make him grow to that size.”
“A bastard son,” Kaiser says. “If Dominus was truly the sperm donor.”
“Yes.”
“We’ll take another son from him, then.”
I can’t believe they’re talking about this like it’s normal. Kaiser has just started using crutches and now he’s supposed to fight?
I stand in front of Kaiser, blocking the screen.
“You can’t do this,” I say to him. His face is still red from the blisters, for fuck’s sake. “This is madness.”
Jaeger stands up, lifting Elodie in his arms as he does. He carries her out of the room and shuts their bedroom door behind them, giving us privacy. I tense up even further.
I doubt I’m going to like what Kaiser has to say.
Kaiser reaches for me, and I let him take my hands and pull me closer so I’m standing between his knees. He’s so much bigger than me, but he’s still fragile. His shaved head reminds me of what he just went through.
He raises my hands, kisses them. I try to pull away. His lips are so soft.
“Shhh, Bella. Let me have this. Let me hold you.”
Oh no, I’m going to cry. I let him rub his face along my fingers. His eyes are closed, as if he’s memorizing how they feel.
“You can’t fight, Kaiser.”
“This is my role, my beautiful poison. I’m a fighter. I will fight for you.”
“Fuck that,” I say.
He releases me long enough to reach into his pocket and pull out a black ribbon. Then he pulls me in with a sudden move that takes my breath away. I end up with my back to his chest, secured in his arms.
“Stop,” I squeak, squirming, but he’s holding me fast. “I’ll hurt you,” I try to argue.
He clamps a hand around my neck. “Be still,” he orders.
Immediately, I’m soaking wet. I close my eyes, panting with bliss. It’s been so long since he’s touched me like this. We sleep in an oversized bed together every night, but I’m careful to give his healing body its space. And he hasn’t pushed me, even though I know he wants to. The only thing he insists on is holding hands. That feels good, but this… this is everything.
I forgot how easily I respond to him. Fuck, I’m almost crying with how good it feels.
“Belladonna. Beautiful, wild. My perfect poison.” He nuzzles the back of my neck, and I relax.
Then he straightens and lifts my hair, fastening something around my neck.
The black ribbon.