Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 92559 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92559 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
None of them good.
Like it was just yesterday, he remembered waiting by that bedding platform in the prison, the minutes creeping by, the prayers leaving his lips, his eyes burning because he didn’t even want to blink in case he missed something.
God, I can’t breathe, Apex thought as he unzipped his jacket with a yank.
How could something that was so long ago feel as recent as last night?
Pulling himself together, he left the bathroom and went out into a hallway that had honey-colored pine wainscoting, an evergreen carpet, and crimson drapes on diamond-paned windows. Painted landscapes framed by raw birch bark and old black-and-white photographs of people in Victorian garb stretched out in all directions.
Given that Whestmorel had bought this place and everything that was in it two years ago, those were men and women, not vampires.
Someone else’s family, not the male’s own. But the images were right for the decor.
And hey, the guy was always more worried about looks than his own bloodline.
Apex walked back out into the great room with the animal heads, and found Mahrci alone on the couch by the hearth. The female was staring off listlessly into the flames, and he knew how that felt.
“Was it him,” she asked in a dull voice.
“Your father?” He measured the height of the ceiling and hoped there were ladders tall enough to reach it somewhere on the estate. “Yeah.”
“Is he coming up?”
“Not that he said. But if you don’t want to deal with him in person, I suggest you call him.”
“I can’t . . .” She covered her face with her hands. Then looked through her fingers with eyes that gleamed with unshed tears. “I can’t see him right now. Can’t you put him off?”
How in the hell had he become some kind of family counselor? he wondered.
At least he liked Mahrci. Or felt sorry for her, was more apt. Although he’d never much thought about—or bought much into—the whole “poor little rich girl” routine, he did not envy her life in the slightest. Like all daughters in the aristocracy, she was a status symbol to be bartered with. Not a person who’d ever be allowed to live her own life.
And the male who had been chosen for her? Apex had never cared for Remis, son of Penbroke. So he didn’t blame Mahrci for going AWOL from the upcoming ceremony.
“Again,” he said, “my advice is for you to get on the phone with him. That’s your deal, though. You got to decide for yourself.”
As the female continue to stare up at him helplessly, he was not about to get involved with her love life drama.
“You’ve got to understand.” Her voice cracked. “I cannot get mated to Remis, and neither you nor my father—”
He put his hand up. “Let me set your mind at ease, in case you’re wondering. I’m not here for you.”
“Good. That’s . . . good.” Except then she frowned. “Why are you here, then?”
When Mahrci had seen her father’s head of security out in the woods, her first thought, even above the fact that he and his friend had come to rescue her from coyotes—and a white-and-gray wolf the size of a linebacker—was that he’d been sent to bring her back to Caldwell. She’d been convinced, after she was put in the rear of that black SUV, that she was going to be returned to her father like a package that had been mislaid in the mail system.
And even now she wasn’t sure whether she believed Apex. She was, however, still on this couch.
God knew he could have easily carried her out.
Yet she couldn’t trust him—and not because he always looked so scary, with his hard dark eyes and his ice-cold demeanor.
No, she’d learned in the most heartbreaking way not to trust anybody.
“So what are you doing here?” she repeated.
Apex shrugged, his heavy shoulders shifting under his leather jacket. “Just my job.” Before she could press him, he nodded at the front door. “Listen . . . about the groundskeeper.”
She frowned. “Yes?”
“What’s his deal? How long has he been working here?”
Confused by the change of subject, she rubbed over her eyebrow. “Did he do something wrong?”
“No, I’m just curious. His truck was parked out on the lane. It’s the reason why we stopped, actually.”
“Oh.” She flushed. “You know, I haven’t thanked you yet for saving my life—”
“It’s fine.” Apex waved away the comment. “I just wasn’t told there was anybody else up here. What do you know about him?”
“Not a lot. I mean, he’s been fine with me. When I arrived a couple of nights ago, he told me he was hired in September to watch everything over the off season. I think he said he planned to leave in the spring when the regular summer help comes.”
“So until May.”
“I guess?”
“What name did he give you?”