Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 85306 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85306 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
“Will he kill him?” I asked, slightly breathless. The stories from my past flickered in my mind—how vampires were so heartless and cold they would shred their own kind for merely looking at another wrong.
“No,” Lyric said, her brow furrowed. “He’ll just remind him to choose his words more carefully next time.” She frowned at me. “You truly think we’re all cold-blooded killers?”
I swallowed hard at the effortless way she included herself with the vampires. Which, yeah, of course, she would. She’d made the transition and became something of a marvel in the vampire world.
“No,” I finally answered. It was the truth. “If you all were, Lachlan would’ve killed me the second he’d found me in that hotel.” Saying his name out loud had the brand on my neck sizzling with an aching heat that made me grind my teeth.
He hadn’t killed me, but it didn’t mean he didn’t want to. If Alek gave the order?
Would he have the stomach to do it? I didn’t understand much about mates, but I imagine killing one would be hard to stomach. Even I could acknowledge that much. I may hate the Scottish bastard, but the idea of harm coming to him made me want to puke. “But,” I continued, “I can’t simply erase everything my family ever told me.”
“I’m not asking that,” she said, her voice soft. “I can’t imagine how terrible these last six months have been for you, Valor. I hate that our worlds crossed in such a twisted way. But you’re here now, with me, with us, and you’re safe here. I know that has to be impossible to believe, but you are. I promise. I love you, no matter what. No matter who your family is or if you never decide to fully trust us. I loved you since that first day of college, when you graciously offered me the extra coffee the barista had given you.”
A knot formed in my throat, my eyes stinging. Lyric had always loved me unconditionally and without hesitance. That’s just who she was. Which I always admired since her family had left her in the dust before she could even remember.
Shouldn’t the way she loved me be the way my family loved me? Instead, they’d raised me on lies and hate, and the second I questioned their motivations I’d made their kill list.
Fucking hell, everything was a mess.
I wrapped my arms around Lyric, not totally unaware of how the motion put her fangs near my neck. I knew she’d never hurt me, but turning off a lifetime of instincts wasn’t possible.
“I love you too, queen,” I teased as I released her. “I’m going to see if Avianna needs rescuing now that her statue-serial-killer of a guard is gone.”
Lyric flashed me a smile, hope filling her eyes as I descended into the fray.
I had to get some air, get away from the emotions she stirred in me. Lyric loved me like I loved Daphne. Daphne would’ve protected me, and I needed to protect her. But I had to find her first. And with the Order? I might actually have a shot in hell. The notion fueled me with hope enough to chase away the stripping pain stinging my chest with every realization I had about my family.
Weaving through the throngs of vampires dressed in silk and suits, I headed toward Avianna’s table, nodding at Olivia who now sat poised and just as elegant to the princess’s right. She looked so delicate, so graceful, and almost wraith-like. How could she possibly be the princess’s royal bodyguard? Hawke sure, but Olivia? She looked like a girl Lyric and I would hang out with. Drink and dance and laugh with. Maybe trip over our heels with while making the walk home after a fun night out. Not a girl capable of rendering a horde of supernaturals useless. But then again, I didn’t look like the second in power to an ancient group duty-bound to irradiate the supernatural lines either.
Ex-second, anyway.
Kyle.
My brother’s face flashed behind my eyes, and I froze in the middle of the crowd.
“You are no longer a concern of mine,” Kyle said, and my hand trembled around the cell I held to my ear.
“She’s sixteen, Kyle. Please. Let me take her somewhere safe—”
“Safe?” He cut me off. “You think you have any idea what is safe for her now? She’s with her family, her real family.”
Acid licked my veins. “Hidden away with her betrothed’s family is not the same as safe—”
“And sucking off a motorcycle gang of vampires is?”
My lips parted on a gasp. “I am not—”
“Save it,” he snapped. “You are no longer my blood. No longer my sister. The only person I want dead more than you is that vampire king who killed my men. Good men. Men who had children and wives and families to look after. Men you got killed by letting him in.”