Total pages in book: 436
Estimated words: 415303 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 2077(@200wpm)___ 1661(@250wpm)___ 1384(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 415303 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 2077(@200wpm)___ 1661(@250wpm)___ 1384(@300wpm)
I waited in anticipation.
"Survive," he said softly. "Just survive. And when the flames threaten to take you higher and higher, give in. When the heat scorches you from the inside out, when tears no longer come, when the need is all you can contemplate… you survive."
He stood and shrugged, as if he hadn't just scared the crap out of me.
"Oh, and also? It would probably be good to call for your mate…" He offered a haphazard shrug. "When it's time."
"When I'm dying?"
"Only when your need is so great for him that you've forgotten yourself completely. That's when you whisper his name. Pray to God he answers — because he still has a choice in this, and if he doesn't choose you, survival will be pointless. You. Will. Die."
A lone tear fell down my cheek before I could wipe it away
Alex reached out and captured it with his thumb. "It's been years since I've seen real tears. I hope you keep yours. I hope the gift of feeling such strong emotions remains — then again — for your sake, at the same time, I hope they don't."
He left me.
Just like that.
With shaky hands, I put the tray on the nearby table and went back to lie on the bed, freaking out, wondering when the heat was going to come, when the pain would arrive, and when I would be out of my mind for a mate who clearly didn't want me.
A mate.
Like a husband.
Rejection washed over me.
I would never get normal.
Never have a family.
And most likely never have the type of love I'd always secretly wanted — it had all been stripped away from me the day I'd walked into that room. And a part of me hated my family for not telling me the truth about what I was about to do.
My mom had smiled.
And she'd probably known it was a death sentence.
I tried not to dwell on it — tried to stay positive — so I focused on what Alex said.
Survival.
I counted the seconds, the minutes as they turned into hours, and when the clock struck midnight out in the hall, I thought that maybe I would be different, maybe whatever was happening to me wasn't going to be as bad as both Alex and Ethan had warned.
Then the heat started in my toes.
I welcomed it because I'd been so cold all day.
It spread from my toes up my legs, warming me up like a blanket; by the time it reached my thighs, it was uncomfortable. I started throwing covers off me, but it didn't help.
Fire reached my chest, making it hard to breathe.
And when it touched my lips, it was like someone had placed coal in my mouth.
I cried out.
But no sound came.
I pounded my chest; the motion made the heat worse. I didn't think it could get more painful.
But it did. I glanced at the clock again.
It was two minutes past midnight.
And I already wanted to die.
The pain skyrocketed; I reared back, hitting my head on the headboard. Another surge of scorching heat flared.
The door opened, but my vision was blurred. It was hard to see who had come in.
It wasn't until he lay down on the bed next to me and grabbed my hand that I could focus on the form.
Mason.
As a werewolf.
Or a very large dog.
His eyes were sad.
And when I cried out again, he pulled me into his arms and squeezed while my body convulsed.
Genesis
He was beautiful. Long brown hair cascaded past his shoulders — part of it was braided. Pieces fell by his perfectly sculpted face.
He smiled. His green eyes illuminated my whole world.
I reached for him, but each time my hands lifted, the burning was worse, so I learned to keep them behind me.
A sword was clasped in his right hand. He slid the blade across his left hand and held it in the air as blood dripped in slow motion onto the ground.
It was red until it touched the ground, turning into the same green I saw in his eyes. The green liquid seeped into the ground, nourishing it, causing grass and flowers to take root.
I gasped, reaching again.
The pain was too much.
He closed his eyes and cut again.
No! I tried yelling, but my voice simply didn't exist.
He continued, letting his blood spill around his feet. Hours went by, or maybe it was minutes. Soon an entire forest grew around us. I sighed in relief as the shield of the trees shaded me from the sun. The heat dissipated.
Only to return when Ethan looked at me again.
He turned and, in an instant, was in front of me, his black shirt open midway to his muscled chest.
We were in our own forest.
It started to rain.
I turned my face up, welcoming the cold.
But the raindrops weren't cold.
They were hot — searing hot.
The trees weren't protecting me anymore. I reached for Ethan, but he moved back. My need for shelter outweighed my need for him.