Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 152666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
“It’s in a town, I guess. The guys who grabbed me didn’t say which one. I’m going to go back through my journals. Maybe Alexander mentioned it. . .” She shrugged and I could tell she was at a loss. “I don’t know, maybe I’ll find something you missed. That’s where he is now, anyway. Or was, I guess. On his way to collect me.” She shivered. “I’d rather be put to death by the dragons than end up in his hands.”
“You won’t. I won’t let either of those things happen to you.”
“You won’t have a choice. If the dragons sentence me to death, I will accept the punishment. There’s not a damn thing you can do to stop it.”
“Aurelia, I—” I gritted my teeth. This was the wrong thing to be stubborn about. I had time to talk her out of it, though. There was something more pressing we had to discuss. “Listen, it doesn’t sound like this kingdom will ever be safe for you.”
“No, it sure doesn’t. Thank you for coming for me. They happened upon me as I was shedding the influence of the first product. I didn’t have any weapons. Once I got into the house, I was able to grab a metal letter opener and kill one of them, but that was it before they threw me into the room. How’d you know I’d been taken?”
“Hadriel is pretty incredible at finding out local goings-on and gossip. He overheard it from someone in a tavern.”
“Ah.” She nodded. “I’ll remember to thank him. He—well, all of you—saved my life. I won’t make one more product for Granny’s organization. If you hadn’t come, I would’ve had a lot of beatings and eventually death in my future. Probably a loss of dignity as well. I doubt Alexander would keep his hands off me now that I no longer have Granny’s protection.”
I bent forward as a rush of rage stole my breath. Alexander would already answer to me for what he’d done to her in the past, but hearing something like that made me want to rip his spleen out and beat him with it right now. The desire to find him and end his life was overwhelming.
“Please don’t ever say something like that again,” I said in a rough voice. “That will never happen.”
She looked over at me, her expression bemused yet grateful. “Okay,” she murmured.
“I wanted to talk to you about your animal.”
She held up her hand. “I don’t want to talk about that right now. I want to meet my animal, I want magic . . . but I don’t want even more reasons for people to notice me. I don’t want to be a lone wolf, as you said, and I definitely don’t want to end up kidnapped by this kingdom. I just . . .” She licked her lips. “Honestly, I just want to close my eyes and ignore the messy parts of my life until I can get out of here and process everything.” She turned to me, her eyes glassy. “I want to be the damsel in distress, Weston. I want my big strong alpha to protect me and keep me safe until I can leave these shores. Maybe that’s not very courageous, but I’m just so tired. I’m tired of all this. I’m broken.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “I want to take a break from surviving, if only for a minute.”
A strange sort of lightness filled my chest. I wouldn’t be just protecting a damsel in distress, I would be protecting my true mate. Everything in me rejoiced at officially playing that role. It was what I was born to do—protect what was mine.
“It would be my honor.” Primal power surged through me.
She shivered and I watched a spark light within her eyes. Her body swayed toward me, feeling that primal rush.
“Do you want to fuck your Little Wolf, Alpha?” she murmured, her heated gaze on my lips. “Do you want to take what is yours?”
Adrenaline coursed through me. I grabbed the back of her neck, pulling her toward me.
“Are you healed enough for this?” I ran my lips down the side of her throat.
“Be gentle,” she sighed as she angled her head to give me access. “Protect what is yours.”
My balls tightened and it took all my willpower not to throw her down and fuck the screams out of her. I liked this better, though. I liked laying her down slowly, my lips moving against hers, pushing her legs wide and fitting myself between them. She’d given me complete control, total dominance. It made my desire pound hard in my gut.
“Take what is yours, Alpha,” she murmured again, mewing softly as I covered a breast with my palm. “Do with me what you like.”
Shaking with the effort it took to not rip her clothes off, I continued slowly. Delicately. I unbuttoned her shirt and kissed down her chest, sucking in one nipple and then the other, hard. She moaned, her hands in my hair, massaging and caressing, not directing me.