Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 37136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 186(@200wpm)___ 149(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 186(@200wpm)___ 149(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
Maddox inclined his head slightly. “Understood.”
19
“So that’s it,” Will said, stunned. “Gideon has gone to sleep and taken Carter with him?”
Maddox had not told Will what happened to Carter, and he had no intention of doing so. Once again, the better option was to keep the secret to himself. Will would no longer be alive by the time Carter rose again in a hundred years. He would live the rest of his life in blissful ignorance of the darkness that shadowed the end of Gideon’s wakeful reign.
“For a hundred years,” Maddox said. “We are free, boy. We and all those we hold dear.”
“It just seems so… sudden.” Will was clearly confused. “He just got tired and decided to have a nap for a hundred years?”
“When you exist on the kind of scale of time Gideon does, a hundred year nap is practically nothing more than the blink of an eye. It sounds like a long time. It is not.”
“It’s longer than I’ll live,” Will pointed out. “I’ll never see him again, will I? I’ll never have to worry about him…” He gave Maddox a shrewd look. “Did you do something?”
At that moment, Lorien burst into the house. Maddox was grateful for the interruption, for all of a second.
“Did you hear!? Apparently, Gideon…”
Maddox stuffed a hand over Lorien’s mouth and dragged him out of the room at vampiric speed too fast to be perceived by human eyes.
“Not a word,” he said. “Not a hint of a rumor as to why Gideon is asleep. Do you understand me? I will not have Will destabilized again. Let him have some peace, please.”
Lorien nodded silently.
“Good,” Maddox said, releasing his grip. “This is our chance to start over, for the next hundred years at least. This is one small window of happiness that I intend to allow myself. Give me this, and I will ensure you enjoy the same with your mate.”
“A hundred years does not seem like very long,” Lorien mused when Maddox moved his hand away.
“It will be like the blink of an eye,” Maddox agreed. “But it will be the entirety of their lives, so let us live alongside them while we can. There has been enough political wrangling and vampire nonsense for their lifetimes.”
“Agreed,” Lorien said.
They both knew that heartbreak was in the distant future, but more important than an inevitable end was the life yet to be lived, the life where they shared existence with primal creatures of intensity and nobility. Henry and William shared that rough vulnerability, that inevitable mortality. It could not be changed. It could only be enjoyed.
“So,” Will said when they returned. “What are we going to do now?”
Maddox crossed the room, took Will in his arms, and kissed him deeply.
“We are going to live a normal life.”
Will laughed. “Fuck off. How would we do that? We both eat people.”
“So does everybody, if you want to be metaphorical and metaphysical about the matter,” Maddox smiled. “I suggest travel. And then perhaps we can find a nice house somewhere with Henry and Lorien, settle down, and enjoy ourselves.”
“You sound like you’re going into retirement,” Will smirked. “Hawaiian shirts and mai-tais on the beach?”
“Certainly,” Maddox replied, running his fingers through Will’s wild curls. “Why not?”
“I’d love to see you in Hawaii,” Will grinned. “Hell, I’d love to see Hawaii.”
“Your wish is my command, boy.”
20
“What do you think, boy? Does it suit?”
Will laughed uproariously at the sight of Maddox’s elegant body clad in the garish garb of bold floral prints. Mad had been true to his word and had taken them both to a private resort on one of the smaller Hawaiian islands.
“Don’t give me a reason to thrash you,” Maddox replied with a grin. “You know disrespect is still a punishable offense.”
There had been very little in the way of punishment lately, both because Will had been surprisingly well behaved and because the vibe between them was shifting and changing. They were much more relaxed than they had been since Gideon woke, and before his rising too. The adversity of the previous months had taken a toll, but it had also taught lessons.
“You’re the one who chose to dress like a beach ball,” Will snorted. “Take it off.”
“With pleasure,” Maddox replied, pulling the shirt up over his head to reveal a pale body of cold muscularity, the sight of which instantly changed the mood in the room. Will’s gaze became intense and hungry.
“Come here,” Will said, speaking more dominantly and confidently than he had before.
Maddox cocked his head to the side but chose to play along. He crossed the room to where Will had risen to his knees on the bed. Will reached for him, gripped his hips and ass, and pulled Maddox close.
Mad leaned down, cupping Will’s face in his hands as he pressed a passionate kiss to Will’s mouth. This was a new kind of romantic interaction for the lovers, and Maddox very much enjoyed it.