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)
I shook my head, sweating a little, knowing I wouldn’t be delving this deeply into her past if it didn’t affect me directly. Fuck it, though, I had to know. I had to know if she’d been corrupted in the end, or if she’d been maneuvered so thoroughly that she honestly believed the things she had been telling me. It mattered. To me, it mattered. Her life ending might happen all the same, but at least I’d know my true mate wasn’t evil to the core. I wasn’t sure how I’d handle the knowledge that my supposed mirror was as rotten as I’d once feared myself to be.
Chapter 14
Aurelia
“There are forty-two!” I told Hadriel as we wound through the trees. I’d leaned forward against him, my cheek on the back of his shoulder and my hands randomly exploring his jacket. I could feel the threads creating the dicks, giving me something to do as we traveled. I didn’t dare uncurl my arms. A while ago I’d almost abandoned horse again. It had stepped on a rock that rolled a bit and the horse adjusted gracefully.
My reaction was anything but.
I’d almost truly fallen by the time Hadriel had caught me, gripping my wrist as I half dangled over the side. This time Weston was useful, his hands on my ribs firm but the way he handed me back up to Hadriel gentle. He waited for me to get my leg back over then grip Hadriel tightly, watching me without a word. When I was settled, his acute focus switched to Hadriel.
“What is happening that she keeps falling off?” he asked, his tone scary, made evident by Hadriel curling over and his ass and thighs clenching. I was that close that I could feel it.
Hadriel had stuck up for me. I’d done the same for him.
“Only a fucking idiot would think it was his fault that I can’t stay on a horse,” I said, my anger evident. “I’ve never done this before and I’m traveling without a saddle. It’s terrifying up here. If you’d let me walk as nature intended, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“And what mess is that, exactly?”
“The one where my instincts tell me I’d better save myself from being rolled over by a horse and trying to jump to safety.”
Weston’s expression did not change, his face utterly blank. His eyes started to sparkle, though. “You’re worried about the horse somehow rolling over on you?”
“In the moment it’s really hard to tell what, exactly, I am afraid of, actually. But yes, that would be terrible.”
“And you think falling off the side, onto the ground at its feet, would somehow prevent this horror?”
“Look, I don’t know. This horse could decide I’m a nuisance and buck me clear off. I’m ready to just do it a favor and get off by myself before that happens.”
He stared at me for a long moment before shaking his head. “Please don’t. Hadriel is an excellent and experienced horseman. His horse is well-handled and well used to that handling. You are in no safer hands. Trust him. I wouldn’t have put you up there if I didn’t think you’d be safe.”
Hadriel straightened up, clearly preening. He’d liked the praise. Job well done.
“I’ll do better,” I told the alpha out of habit, something I’d said to Granny after every call down. It seemed to appease her, the quickest way to get me out of her angry glare.
Weston didn’t move, the glimmer in his eyes dulling. He studied me for another moment, his hand coming out to rest on the horse’s rump. Without another word, he walked back to his stallion, bending to pick up the journal he’d dropped when hopping off, then pausing to retrieve another from a little sack he had on the side of his saddle.
I turned my face to the side and leaned against Hadriel again, not wanting to watch Weston read my innermost thoughts. I went back to tracing the dicks.
“Fucking hell,” Hadriel said softly as we got moving again. “Thanks for defending me, but I thought he might brain the both of us with how you did it.” He blew out a shaky breath. “Only you would be able to calm him down like that.”
“Because I’m a captive?”
“Something like that. And yes, you’re right, there are forty-two dicks on this jacket.”
“You said there were forty-three.”
“On my person, yes.”
I paused for a moment, watching the trees slowly drift by. Darkening shadows gathered near the bases and deep within the branches. The evening waned, the light bleeding from the sky, an issue for the horses as well as me. We’d have to stop soon. My aching butt and legs could sure use the reprieve.
“On your person,” I said slowly, mulling that over before leaning back and nearly yanking my hands away. “Gross. You mean you counted your actual dick in the forty-three?”