Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 128087 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128087 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
He sat atop a massive stallion that was three times larger than any horse Dustin had ever seen in his world. A regal, emerald-green robe was clasped over his broad shoulders and held together by two leaf-shaped medallions. The heavy cloth trailed the ground behind his horse, which he dismounted with grace while still in mid-gallop before it disappeared into the gray smog.
Dustin blinked up at a man so striking and magnificent that he found it difficult to stare directly into his eyes. A deep, mossy-green gaze that was the perfect blend of jade and peridot. He looked ten feet tall when he’d been on the back of that stallion, but now, staring up at him, he appeared more around his own height. Dustin inhaled sharply as a rough hand cupped his chin, and fresh air flowed down his lungs. A gust of wind caught beneath his legs and raised him off the ground.
“The pack will starve. How can we live off the land when there is no land?” Dustin had never felt so defeated in all of his life. Raw agony tore into every fiber of his being as failure settled into his bones.
“Fear not.”
Dustin didn’t know that a simple touch and two words could provide such comfort. The man’s voice and language sounded ancient, as if he was far wiser than his years. Dustin stood to his feet before a hero, a titan, feeling unworthy in his soot- and grime-covered overalls, but he didn’t care as he got lost in that concentrated glare. The titan was a remarkable man to gaze upon but even harder to look away from.
Dustin stood in the middle of disaster and ruin, years of his hard work and dedication wiped out within minutes. The titan was standing far closer to him than he should a stranger, but Dustin didn’t move, and he didn’t dare object. The man flung one side of his robe off his shoulder, and Dustin got a whiff of his scent over the scorched land. He smelled like the woods on a warm autumn afternoon.
He began to repeatedly move his muscular arms around in a circle until the ashes began to rise and spin into a cyclone, gathering until all of the land was clear of the ashes and ruin. The titan opened his arms wide, his eyes closed as if he was waiting for a hug as he whispered words Dustin couldn’t hear. The wind picked up, warm and damp like the start of a fall rain shower.
By the time the warrior was finished, Dustin was left speechless. He didn’t know what to think or feel as raw emotion burned in his center. A confident, calloused palm touched his jaw, thick fingers pressing into the scruff of his beard. Dustin had a sudden urge to clamp both of his hands over the titan’s where it held him so he could keep him from moving, ever. But he remained still, mesmerized.
“Calm your mind, beautiful human.”
Dustin gasped at the honey-coated words and chanced a look up, the vision before him almost knocking him on his ass. It’d been years for him, but Dustin had no doubt that he saw desire and appreciation in the man’s green gaze.
“Your fields will blossom again at first light. Plant your new harvest, and you will see bountiful rewards. Your pack will eat and be healthy.”
It was a small relief that the spring and summer months had been so warm, and now that autumn was upon them, their fields were primed for their fall crops.
Neither of them moved, and the titan didn’t speak for a long moment, nor did he step away as his thick eyebrows dipped low like he was confused. Or curious, Dustin couldn’t tell. The man’s large hands cupped his face, then slid behind his head to the nape of his neck. Dustin’s heart beat a bass drum behind his rib cage, his wolf pacing and howling for him to get closer to absorb more of this man, this earth soldier’s potent energy.
The touch was intimate, close, their bodies only inches apart, the hulking man’s glare lingering on his mouth before slowly traveling back to his eyes.
“Who are you? What is your name?”
It took Dustin a minute to find his voice. He’d just seen this godlike man come through the clouds on a horse not of this world. He didn’t exactly know who or what he was, but the fact that the beast of a man called him “human” had to mean that this warrior wasn’t. Dustin didn’t even know what direction he’d come from, only that he fell from the sky like an angel. Is that what he was? Dustin had never seen an angel decked out in so much suede and leather with a four-foot sword that shimmered bronze when it was in his hands.