Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 84864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
I took the few breaths he requested, my muscles relaxing with each release of oxygen.
Okay, nothing has really changed. I’m still dying and I’m still totally head over heels for Ajax. The rest…the rest I can work out later. Or never.
My thoughts were erratic but I cut myself some slack seeing as all of this seemed too unreal to be true.
“Good,” Gabriel said. “Now, can you tell me how you’re feeling?”
“You’re all vampires,” I blurted out, but at least my voice didn’t crack. “Beings I never knew existed outside the pages of my favorite books and it turns out I’m a quarter vampire too? And there are people after me because of that and I have a tumor the size of an egg trying to kill me. How do you think I’m feeling?” The words spilled out of me on a rushed breath and I immediately cringed. “I’m so sorry. That was a lot and shouldn’t be directed at you.”
“Quite all right,” he said, flashing me a genuine smile. “It’s a lot to take in.”
I huffed a broken laugh.
Understatement of the century. Poor girl, first the tumor and now the Sons want her? And Ajax, Gods, a vampire who can stop time but can’t stop it enough to save her.
I flinched at the sound of Gabriel’s voice in my head.
“So, you don’t think I can be saved,” I said, and his blue eyes flared wide at my responding to something he hadn’t spoken aloud…which means all the other voices I’d been hearing weren’t a symptom of the tumor either. Great, add that to the list of my shifting reality.
Another deep breath. Ajax was a vampire but his blood couldn’t heal me like in all the books I loved to read. Not from the way Gabriel was thinking anyway. I’d tried to let go of hope the second I saw the scans of my brain, but this truth was a bitch to take.
Gabriel turned away from the table where he’d been examining my most recent brain scans, crossing the room to stand before me.
Grace. Can you hear my thoughts right now?
A bolt shot down the center of me at the direct question inside my mind. Up until now, I’d been able to chalk the voices up to the tumor, but that was extremely hard to do when a vampire was staring me in the eyes and asking me questions without moving his lips.
Purple penguins.
Another laugh ripped through me. “Purple penguins?” I asked, and he gaped at me. “That’s pretty random, even for a vampire, I imagine.”
“Gods,” he whispered.
I swallowed hard, anxiety clawing up my throat and threatening to shut it. I closed my eyes, inhaling deeply to try and quell the panic. “So,” I said, opening my eyes again. “This is real then? All of it?” I glanced around the elaborate space we were in, and then pictured the rest of the estate beyond. Pictured Ajax, the way his fangs had sunk into my flesh and he’d drank from me, the way it’d made me feel—floaty and tingly and all kinds of hot. Thought about the mating mark that had appeared over my collar bone. If it was real, then that meant Ajax’s feelings were real, which actually made butterflies take flight in my stomach. If anything good came out of this entire mess, it was Ajax.
God, I wished I had more time with him.
“I suppose that depends on what you’re referring to,” he said in the most doctorish way ever.
I tried not to roll my eyes. “Vampires. Telepathy. The tumor that is killing me.” Not that I’d ever doubted its authenticity.
Awareness rippled along the edges of my body, a flash of heat skirting over my chest as Ajax moved closer to me.
“It’s all right,” I answered his silent gaze of concern as he smoothed a hand over my lower back. The breath in my lungs loosened with his touch. Even my rising panic at the realization that all of this was real dulled with him so close.
“It is real,” Gabriel answered my question. “And no, the tumor isn’t the cause of your gift.”
“Is it because of the quarter vampire in my bloodline?” I asked.
Gabriel nodded. “That is highly likely.” His eyes flashed to Ajax. “Her telepathy is far more advanced than Alek suggested.”
“The king suspected…” Ajax said slowly.
“He did,” Gabriel answered.
Ajax raised his brows at me, and I shrugged.
“That’s not his fault,” I said. “It’s not like I advertised this. I thought I was hallucinating half the time I was with Ajax.”
Ajax laughed. “No one could hallucinate all this perfection,” he teased, motioning to himself. It was hard not to agree, especially when the leather pants he wore hugged those massive thighs I liked to dig my nails into. “Not even your brilliant mind, Grace.” His features turned serious as he focused back on Gabriel.