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)
Water spewed out of Avianna's mouth, and she slammed her hand over her lips.
The tablecloth between us was drenched.
"My lady," Olivia said, stepping forward with an actual handkerchief as she laughed.
"Thank you." Aviana wiped her mouth and shook her head. "At least that didn't happen over there, or I'd never hear the end of it," she muttered. "I'm sorry, but did you say..." She glanced between Lyric and me, her brows lifting over pale blue eyes.
"It's nothing to stress about," I grumbled, drumming my fingers on the table. "As soon as I can get out of Edgemont City, I'll find a tattoo laser removal place and get it burned off."
"You're leaving?" Lyric sputtered.
Avianna outright laughed.
"It's not safe for me here," I told Lyric. "I called Kyle once, about a month after...what happened to you, and he said the only person higher on their kill list than your husband is me." My fingers stilled, recalling the hatred in my brother's tone through that burner cell. "I know too much."
Aviana stopped laughing.
"You're safe here." Lyric reached for my hand and squeezed gently. "I've granted you asylum. No one would dare cross Alek, and Lachlan would kill anyone who even dared to come at you."
"I doubt that," I said about the last part. "He hates me just as much as I despise him." I glanced through the glass, locking eyes with the broody highlander.
Heat flushed my skin, and I could have sworn I caught the scent of pine from all the way over here. The guy always smelled like the forest and crisp mountain air, which was ridiculous.
No one should smell that good.
"I highly doubt he hates you," Lyric said.
"Even if he did, it wouldn't matter," Avianna added. "Sorry I laughed, but you can't just burn off a mating mark. It would come right back."
I blinked, my jaw dropping an inch. "Wait. What?"
Avianna nodded. "It's not in your skin, it's under it. It typically appears wherever the male touched you first, but that's not a hard and fast rule."
"So I'm stuck with this Celtic knot thing on the back of my neck for the rest of my life? Jocelyn didn't tell me that part."
"You went to Jocelyn but didn't come to me?" Hurt flashed in Lyric's eyes. "How do you even know her?"
I captured her hand before she could withdraw it. "I knew that witches could glamour me, help me stay hidden, and they all blew me off when I approached them at one of those clubs."
"I want to go to a club," Avianna muttered.
"Jocelyn found me and offered to help. I didn't come here because I wasn't sure your husband wouldn't kill me on sight. It had nothing to do with you, I promise."
Lyric sighed but nodded. "Alek has only been trying to find you because I missed you and wanted to make sure you were okay. We can get you out of Edgemont, too, if that's what you want. We have family overseas—"
"I can't leave without Daphne." I shook my head.
Confusion puckered the lines on Lyric's forehead. "Daphne? Your cousin?"
I nodded. "Her parents were killed a couple of weeks after you were taken in one of the facility raids."
"I'm sorry," Lyric whispered, knowing it had likely been one of her husband's assassins who had pulled the trigger. All hell had broken loose after she'd been taken, and I still couldn't believe that most of the violence had gone unreported by the human media.
"Don't be. My aunt and uncle were hate-filled monsters, but Daphne isn't. She's only sixteen, and she's never wanted any part of the Sons of Honor. She was the reason I called Kyle. I just wanted to get her out of there, but he won't let her go."
"Is she being kept in one of the Moorehouse facilities?" Olivia asked, her gaze turning shrewd. "Or one of the other families, perhaps?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. After we raided the one to free you, they instituted the safehouse protocol. The heads of each of the eleven families move houses every few days, and even I don’t know them all. They've changed all my access codes and shut off her cell, too."
"Is she in danger?" Avianna asked, her brow knitting in worry.
I nodded. "They already betrothed her to the head of another family for her eighteenth birthday. If she runs, they'll kill her."
"Betrothed? Like this is the eighteen hundreds?" Olivia shook her head. "Unbelievable. How many cows is she worth?"
I nearly laughed but couldn't. "The Sons of Honor do their best to intermarry, so they keep the society small and tight-knit."
"Sounds like a cult," Lyric muttered, her gaze focusing on Lachlan.
"It pretty much is," I agreed. I wasn't even going to think of the decrepit, old jackass my father had wanted me to marry. "Do you guys get a choice?" My throat nearly strangled the question, and it was all I could do to keep from rubbing at the mark on my neck. "Once this thing appears...is there a choice?"