Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 155037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 517(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 517(@300wpm)
No, his body surged into fight or flight mode. Adrenaline pumped through him and his reality faded, inserting him into a memory.
Insurgents.
Blasts of gun fire.
Men yelling. Screaming.
His friends dying.
“Loki!”
They needed him. Sweat coated his forehead as his heart raced. There was a ringing in his ears. Background noise he had to ignore. Kill this insurgent.
Get to his friends.
Save them.
“It’s Remy. You’re not there, Loki. Not there. You’re in Wishingbone.”
Wishingbone? No. His girl was in Wishingbone. How did this bastard know where he came from? Did he know about his Tink? He had to keep her safe.
Kill. Him.
24
Loki put his arm over the other man’s neck, pressing on it.
“Loki . . . find Isabelle . . . needs you. Tink . . . needs . . . you.”
Tink needed him? Where was she? What had this asshole done to her?
“Loki? Oh God, Loki. Let him go. You’re safe. You’re in Wishingbone. It’s me. It’s Tinkerbelle. You’re safe with me. But please, you have to let Remy go.”
What the fuck? How had they gotten to Tink? They’d brought her here into hell?
“No one has me,” Tink told him. “No one is hurting me. I’m safe. You’re here with me. Protecting me.” Arms slowly circled him and he stiffened. He needed to shove them off him.
Tap-tap—tap.
He knew that tap. The one on his chest. It was their signal.
His and Tink’s.
For when he didn’t know where he was or what was real.
Two quick light taps. Then, one firm and slow.
Tap-tap—tap.
Safe. He was safe. This wasn’t real.
“It’s not real, Ki-Ki. You’re safe. Step back, Lachie. I have you. You’re safe.”
Was she safe, though?
“I need you to let Remy go. He can’t breathe and I need him to breathe. So please let him go.”
Remy? Who the fuck was Remy?
“Big guy. Cowboy. Staring problem. Big dick energy.”
A small laugh sounded from behind him. “That’s him. Need you to let him go, Ki-Ki. For me.”
Let him go?
Loki looked at the person in front of him, the one whose air he was cutting off. And he realized that the man he was strangling wasn’t the enemy.
Well . . . he kind of was.
But not the kill-or-be-killed kind.
Loki immediately dropped his arm, letting Remy suck in some much-needed air. The guy had been a bit red in the face, but that slowly drained away as he kept breathing in nice and slow.
Isa moved around Loki, getting between the two of them and cuddling into his chest. Not a smart idea.
“Isa, move away,” Remy said at the same time that Loki picked her up and placed her to the side of him.
“Tink, you know better to touch me when I’m having a flashback.”
Fuck. He hadn’t had a flashback like that in a while. And now he was shaking. Sweaty and uncertain.
And he fucking hated that Remy had seen him like that.
Isa had seen him having a flashback before, of course. But he’d warned her to stay far away from him. He never wanted to risk hurting her.
That’s why they’d come up with their signal. To help him ground himself.
“You won’t hurt me,” she said soothingly. “You know where you are now.”
“You don’t know that,” he and Remy said at the same time. He didn’t trust himself and she shouldn’t trust him either.
He and Remy looked at each other. Fuck. Seems they were both primarily concerned with her safety.
He was starting to like this fucking guy.
Which was a real problem when he also wished that he’d jump off the nearest cliff.
She frowned up at them. “I don’t know how I feel about this.”
“About what?” Remy asked. He rubbed at his neck and Loki felt a surge of guilt.
Fuck. What would have happened if Isa hadn’t come along when she had? Would he have strangled Remy to death?
Loki had to do better than this.
Panic started to shorten his breath at the thought of accidentally hurting his girl.
“Loki.” She put her hand on his arm and he jerked back.
“You . . . you can’t touch me, Isa.”
“W-what?” she asked, going pale.
“He means right now,” Remy said in a low, soothing voice. “Loki is on the edge. His adrenaline is pumping. And I’m guessing he feels guilty about what just happened as well. So he just needs a bit of space. It’s nothing to do with you, baby.”
Baby? He was calling her baby?
Strangely, that helped clear away the guilt. But jealousy wasn’t a good feeling. Especially when his control was tentative. He could lash out without thought.
He didn’t want to do that anymore. It wasn’t who he wanted to be.
“Take a deep breath in,” Isa told him in a quiet voice. “Let it out slowly. Focus on everything around you.”
Loki loved the way she tried to help him. Even though he hated accepting help.
He’d always been the one to help her.
Protection from her bullies.
When she was upset at something her asshole father had done or said.