Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 84072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“Thanks,” I grumbled.
“How hard was that? On a scale from one to ten?”
“Two hundred,” I growled. “Now get out.”
He laughed the entire way out of the library, shutting the door behind him as I went back to work.
Hours seemed to pass before her presence was back in the house, like a balm after a severe burn. I sighed along with the library as Jasper opened the door to the library and led her inside.
“Do you need anything else, sir?” Jasper’s face was unusually pale.
He always looked to be the epitome of health— our blood helped, I’m sure, along with our bond—it was never really explained to me because it wasn’t necessary for me to know such mundane details.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
“Fine,” he snapped. “Didn’t sleep well last night, was up working on a new… taffy flavor and lost track of time.”
“Taffy flavor?” I repeated. “Since when do you help research and development?”
“Since now.” He sniffed and then glared at Luna before giving us his back and shutting the door.
Luna gagged a bit and then sucked in a sharp breath. “Yeah, no kidding, he was at the taffy factory all night. He smells so sugary I wanted to hurl.”
My lips twitched. “It’s probably in his blood by now.”
“It’s disgusting.”
“Your nose,” I tilted my head, “might just be more sensitive than others.”
Her eyes narrowed in on me. “If I asked you for something true, would you tell me?”
Shit. “That depends on what you’re asking?”
“The books over there…” She took a few steps toward me. “They’re mostly on magic and spells. I counted maybe three that talked in detail about the house.”
“And your question?”
“Do you believe in all that stuff?”
“Do you?”
She let out a sigh. “Just answer the question, Benjamin. I had an exhausting night with a man who had green hair.”
“What!” I roared. “What did he look like? Did he touch you? Did he kiss you? Tell me every detail now!”
I was at her side in seconds, gripping her arm in my hand, my fingers digging into her flesh. My heart thudded in excitement as streams of energy pulsed from her body to mine.
Good. It felt so fucking good.
Like an orgasm without sex.
Her eyes grew hooded. “I f-forget.”
“You forget?”
“He had green hair. He asked for a favor. I asked what the rings around my wrists meant…” Her body swayed. “He kissed me.”
“Was it good?”
“What?”
“The kiss.”
“Yes, it was—”
I was kissing her before I could stop myself, my hands tangled in her hair as I jerked her against my body. She moaned into my mouth, her teeth clanging with mine as she whimpered for more.
The books on the table went flying as I shoved them off and tossed her on, pressing her back against the surface with one hand while holding her head with my right.
“This,” she said between kisses. “So much better.”
“Fucking right, it’s better,” I growled as my blood heated to near boiling.
She gave a start, and I knew she saw the change in my eyes. They were always the first to flash back. And then the bands on her wrists started to glow silver.
Meaning only one thing.
She wanted me to mate her.
We were already too late, weren’t we?
My chest heaved as she reached up and pulled my head down. Our kiss was angry at first, and then it turned into a fiery passion I had trouble tamping down; even now, the tips of my fingers burned to mark her with my blue flame.
To tell everyone that saw—she was mine.
Never his, never.
I wasn’t sure how it happened. One minute we were on the table, the next minute we were rolling off it.
The sound of something cracking jolted me out of my haze of lust.
Luna let out a scream as she held her arm at a funny angle.
“Luna!” I reached for her.
A bone protruded from her elbow. My fault. It was always my fault. The frail bones, the fact that her skin was pale like some demon had sucked the youth right out of her.
I inwardly roared at the injustice of it.
“I think I’m going to be sick.” She swayed on her knees.
“I need to get you to the hospital. Can you walk?” I tried to sound gentle, but all I wanted to do was kill—everyone and everything that made her hurt—myself included.
She gave me a weak nod, her eyes narrowing in confusion like she wasn’t sure how we had gone from making out to broken bones. “How did that even happen?”
“It was an accident,” I whispered, my throat damn near closing as I quickly grabbed my keys and opened the library door. “Let’s go.”
When I looked over my head, I sighed in frustration because how else was I supposed to feel when all the signs were there? When it was always by my own hands? At my own lack of self-control that things happened?