Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 66383 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66383 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
I think I may very well be in love with this man.
Once more, I wonder… can you love two men at the same time?
I think I just might.
Though, each love feels uniquely different.
Grim is silent and doesn’t take.
Max is happy to take and is far from silent with me.
Each man is opposite to the other, and each holds a spot in my heart.
I don’t want to tell Max that, though. He wouldn’t like that I still have feelings for Grim. But Grim and I will never go anywhere—it’s why it’s easier to say nothing.
Max and I—we will go places.
I see us lasting a lifetime.
At least, I hope.
I would never have dreamed in a million years I would want to be with someone other than my sisters.
Yet here I am, on my bare stomach as he walks out fully clothed and returns not long after with a blanket.
Max wraps it around me, a towel slung over his shoulder, as he lifts me up and carries me like a baby.
“You have a thing for carrying me.” I laugh.
“I have a thing for you,” is all he replies.
I lean into him as he heads to a lake not far away. No one stops and talks to us. They simply mind their own business.
I smile when I see the crystal-clear water. “It reminds me of your eyes,” I tell him as he wades in, not worried about removing his clothes or dropping the blanket. However, he does drop the towel to the ground before submerging us.
“Really?” he asks, brushing my hair off my shoulder and cupping my jaw. “Tell me you’ll do something for me.”
“What?” I question, staring into those eyes that shine brightly in the moonlight and the reflection of the water.
“Tell me you will never trust your sisters fully or blindly again.”
“Why? They are my family.”
“You know why. Tatiana loves you. But she loves her children more. It will take time, if it happens at all, for her not to want to lock you away.”
“She wouldn’t.”
“She would,” he insists. “I overheard Tanya and Melvon talking. They are here to persuade you to go back in hopes they can convince you to stay with them.”
I push away at his words and drop my head under the water.
Why is this my life?
Why did I have to be the chosen one with all this power?
I wish it weren’t me.
I wish I were a normal witch falling in love with a normal Angel-demon.
Yet, no matter what I wish, I am not.
I stay under too long for Max’s liking, and he pulls me up. Catching my breath, I slick my hair back from my eyes.
“You’ll have me. Always me,” he says, leaning in and kissing me again.
“I have an idea.” He watches me with eager, sparkling eyes. “You should be king.”
He laughs. “I am already king… of my people.”
“No, I mean of this world. You should be king here.”
“Talia.” Max reaches out and pulls me behind him. I peer over his shoulder to see a figure standing at the water’s edge, holding a towel in her hand.
“I think it’s time we talk.” I watch as Cinitta’s eyes track to Max, then back to me. “Alone.”
“That will not happen,” Max growls.
Cinitta has many gifts, but fire is her strongest. She throws a fireball straight at Max, who catches it and places it into the water as if it’s nothing. Her head tilts to the side, and her expression fills with surprise. She studies him for a moment before she turns to face me.
“Viper has the baby,” she says before I start wading through the water back to shore.
“Déjà vu,” I mutter.
“Huh?” Cinitta asks.
“Oh, you know, just another person in power trying to take something I love.”
“He also has the alpha and your sister.”
“Fucking hell,” I swear, shaking my head.
“Yes, fucking hell.” She smiles. “He plans to send you a warning tomorrow at first light. He is thinking possibly your sister’s arm.”
“Why are you here helping her?” Max asks as he steps onto the bank and reaches for the towel in Cinitta’s hand, pulling it from her grasp before wrapping it around my naked body.
“I believe she will be the better option to serve,” Cinitta answers him, then looks back to me. “He can’t see you anymore. But when you left the wolves, he could see your sister holding the baby and listened. He knows what she is.”
“She’s a baby,” I reply, to which she shakes her head.
“Yes, that may be true, but she is also the daughter of an alpha and a strong witch, and now has the life force inside of her from one of the most powerful people to grace this earth.”
“She’s right. This can’t wait any longer,” Max adds, turning to look at Cinitta. “How far is the castle?”
“A few miles that way.” She points and looks at me. “You know the way.”