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)
“Have you ever seen this before? This house?”
“Nope. I mean, it kind of looks like Rehv’s place up on Lake George. Same era, but . . . not it.” Vishous highlighted one of the little images and enlarged it, a study with a desk and shelves of books coming into better view. “What’s with all the duffle bags? And I think there’s sound—”
From out of the speakers, there was the subtle whirr of a heater.
“Why are you seeing this?” Tohr asked.
“Don’t know. It’s a pirate feed, routed through an external source that appears to be syncing with my cell phone number and getting forwarded here. Sophisticated stuff. I’m kind of impressed.”
Moving his mouse around, V clicked on random views, and each time, they got new rooms and different background noise.
“Nice kitchen,” Tohr murmured. Then he reached over the brother’s shoulder and pointed to an image in the center. “Try that one—I mean, can you make it bigger—”
On cue, the view of a bedroom took up almost all of the screen.
V kept clicking around, more close-ups called to the fore. “Yeah, this is some kind of storage platform for security feeds, but I don’t know why I have permission—”
“Hey, click down there. Someone’s coming in—”
V was already on it. As he called up that tile, the tone coming through the speakers changed, but there wasn’t any clear conversation. The males who were entering the home were speaking so softly, not much carried.
“Nice hoodies,” V muttered. “That hide their fucking faces.”
“Are we watching a robbery here?”
“It’s not a burglary. No B&E.”
Four of the intruders were in those black sweatshirts with the hoods, but there was also a guy in a suit, who seemed to know his way around.
“I don’t recognize him, do you?” Tohr asked.
“Nope. But I’m screenshotting the close-up as we speak.”
V continued to follow the group’s progress through the house, clicking on tiles.
“They’re not there to rob the place,” Tohr said.
“No, they’re on the premises to do some damage to someone, and they’re looking for whoever it is.”
As the group came together again in the front hall, the guy in the suit started pointing all around. One by one, the males took cover, sheltering themselves . . . and waiting.
Rubbing his eyes, Tohr braced a hip on the desk edge and felt sorry for whoever was going to walk into the attack.
“Fucking hell,” V said as he lit a hand-rolled. “This is Big Brother, in a bad way . . .”
CHAPTER THIRTY–NINE
As Callum lay under Apex’s too-still body, he turned his face to the side and tried to catch his breath. Deep inside of him, the vampire’s cock was twitching in the aftermath of a violent orgasm. It had been the same for Callum. He’d come so hard, he’d thought his skull was going to explode. And now that the storm was over . . . he knew it had been wrong.
In the silence, he was very aware that a line had been crossed. It was obvious even before Apex stiffly retracted himself, got off the end of the bed, and did up his pants. While saying absolutely nothing.
It was the first time Apex didn’t ask him if he was okay.
Because Apex wasn’t okay.
Looking over his shoulder, Callum felt a piercing pain in the center of his chest. Especially as Apex stared at the open door to the stairway with the kind of haunted expression Callum had seen in his own mirror every night.
“I’m sorry,” Callum said in a voice that cracked. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“It’s okay,” came the dead response.
No, it wasn’t. It was as if he’d infected the other male with his . . . everything.
“I’m going to go now.” Apex finally glanced over. “I just . . . need to go now.”
Rolling onto his back, Callum pulled the duvet across to cover his nakedness and sat up. “Thank you.”
Apex closed his eyes. “Don’t say that. Not after . . . whatever that was.”
“Not for the sex. For . . . everything else.”
The vampire just walked over to the door. Hell, he’d already left, and who could blame him. Callum had used him like an exorcist, to banish a demon it was up to himself to get rid of. Damned if he knew how, though—and in his lost, fumbling way, he was very aware, deep down in his soul, that he had ruined something beautiful.
Apex said something that didn’t carry, and then the male was disappearing down the steps.
“I’m sorry,” Callum repeated loudly.
There was no response to that.
As the door shut below, he closed his eyes. For once, the darkness didn’t bring that female to his mind. Instead, he saw those fragile flowers his vampire had brought him, all those years ago.
He’d managed to kill it all. He really had.
Getting out of bed, he stubbed his toe on the open suitcase, and all he could do was just stand there and think about what he was going to put in it. There wasn’t much because he didn’t have much. Just a couple of shirts, some pants and socks. No underwear. Two pairs of boots.