Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 48827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 163(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 163(@300wpm)
I see Cassandra, Talon’s mate, in the training room a safe distance away as she watches, and Aurora, the newly turned vampire that Samuel tortured and changed recently. She practically blends in with the shadows in the far corner of the training room, but her eyes are on Saint as he and Talon start to circle each other. She looks at him like he’s the tether holding her to this world, and my heart breaks for her all over again.
Dagon and Zachariah wipe themselves off with the towels offered on the other side of the training room, and head out of sight, but my keen vampire ears pick up on them talking about heading out on a hunt.
My body itches to trail after them, to follow them and make myself useful, but I keep my feet firmly planted where they are. I'm still entrenched in the battle between the two sides of my heart, unsure which one will win in the end. I have a hunch, but that half of my heart scares me more than anything.
After a few more hours of watching all the assassins and hunters train, us girls head to the informal dining room for a snack. I've just taken a bite of my favorite pumpkin loaf when Lyric hurries into the room, eyes wide and face serious as she looks at me.
I'm on my feet in an instant, her panicked look sending my body into fight or flight mode.
“What's wrong?”
“Zachariah,” Lyric says, and my entire being freezes. “He was injured on his hunt,” she continues. “He's with Gabriel—”
I speed out of the room, no thought to mutter an apology to my queen as I race through the residence, hurrying as fast as I can toward Gabriel’s offices.
Zachariah is hurt.
My mate.
What if he’s harmed beyond repair?
I will not survive it.
That much is painfully clear in the way my heart aches, racing at top speeds in a panic I can't stop.
He can't leave me again.
He can't.
He can't.
CHAPTER 17
Zachariah
“You’re lucky this bullet just grazed you,” Gabriel says as he examines the bullet I’d recovered from my hunt with Dagon, just after it’d torn through the side of my right shoulder. “It’s doused with Night Thistle,” he continues, placing it in a sterilized jar and turning to face me. “There are no traces of the substance in your blood, but we could summon Aurora and see if she feels up to trying to heal you—”
“No,” Saint says from where he leans against the wall next to Talon and Ajax. Dagon stands to the left of the examination table I’m sitting on. “She’s not ready. She’d just as easily kill him as heal him.”
I cock a brow at Saint, silently asking if he’s all right. He’s always on edge, more so since we found Aurora, but tonight he seems like an exposed nerve.
He dips his head in answer, and I nod.
“Should I call the queen then?” Gabriel asks. Our queen’s blood is a rare form of remedium we haven’t seen in centuries, with healing properties perfect for combatting the effect of poisons that our kind are vulnerable to.
“I’m fine,” I say, glancing down at the wound that Gabriel cleaned, seeing the torn flesh already knitting itself back together. “I wouldn’t be healing if the Night Thistle had gotten into my system. No need to call the queen or Aurora—”
“Zachariah!” Talia slams through Gabriel’s closed door, reaching my side in seconds. Her lilac eyes are wide and panic-stricken as they trace every inch of my body. Tears roll down her cheeks, her face crumpling when she finds no visible wounds. “Lyric told me you’d been injured. What happened? Are you all right?” Her questions come between rushed gasps for breath, her hands gently running over my chest, my arms, my face.
I draw her to me, gently shushing her. “I’m all right, Talia,” I say, moving her so I can look into her eyes. “I promise. I’m fine. Just a graze. Breathe, my love.”
She nods slowly as I cup her cheeks, wiping away her tears with the pads of my thumbs. “You’re okay?”
“Yes,” I assure her. “Aren’t I, Gabriel?”
“Perfectly fine,” Gabriel answers, but Talia doesn’t take her eyes from mine. “Lucky that the Night Thistle-drenched bullet didn’t penetrate his body, but fine.”
Talia’s eyes go even wider, her features drenched in panic.
I glare at Gabriel, who shrugs and returns to studying the bullet.
Talia’s face crumples. “I thought…I thought I lost you.”
I draw her head against my chest, smoothing my hands up and down her back. “I’m not going anywhere,” I say, shock rippling beneath my skin at her reaction. I understand it. I would be the same wreck if something had happened to her, but she’d been so closed off since last week, I started to think she’d dismissed me for good.
“Are you done here?” she asks, her words a whisper.