Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 82480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Anne wanted it to last forever. She really did.
Unfortunately, the eternity she got was not the one she asked for in her heart.
* * *
Darius walked down his driveway as the box van backed out, his eyes trained on Anne, who was in the front passenger seat. Shoving tight fists into the pockets of his stained cargo pants, he used all the strength he had to fight the urge to follow them… to go through her house and check that it was safe… to stand guard as she slept regardless of the daylight toasting him to a crisp.
Just to make sure she was okay—
“Holy crap, you’ve got it bad.”
As the wry female voice registered, he mostly kept his wince to himself while he pivoted around. Wellsie, beloved shellan of Tohrment, son of Hharm, was standing off to the side on the grass, and the redhead was clearly amused—as well as ready to call him on his shit. This was not unusual. The female had always been a straight-talking vampire, her tongue sparing no one any recitation of their stupidity. She was also as loyal as any fighter, just as fierce, and warm as a summer night.
In Black Dagger Brother circles, she set the bar for the standard for a mate, and was probably the reason no one else had had a female’s name carved in their back—
In a quick flash, Darius pictured himself kneeling before the Scribe Virgin, his brothers using their black daggers to mark him with the name Anne, salt water being poured on the open wounds to seal them in his flesh permanently…
“Hello?” Wellsie said, waving her hand in front of his face. “You still in there, or has love boiled your brain, Darius, son of Marklon.”
“You know,” he murmured, “if it were anyone but you, I’d deny it.”
“That your brain is boiled or the love part.”
“Both.”
She inclined herself in a bow. “I appreciate your honesty.”
“Like you wouldn’t know if I were lying.”
“In an instant.” As they both turned and strolled up the driveway, Wellsie looped her arm through his in a friendly way. “Tohr says she’s a human.”
“He met her for only an instant.”
“It doesn’t take a fingerprint analysis to know someone’s not one of us.” She stopped him and put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s not a criticism by the way, from Tohr or me.”
“Yeah, you guys aren’t like that.”
“We just want you to be as happy as we are.”
“Has Tohr finally started cleaning up after himself after all these years?”
The female glanced through the kitchen windows, and stared at her hellren. “We’re working on that. I tripped on a battering ram the other day and stubbed my toe. It didn’t go well for him.”
“At least he doesn’t snore.”
“That’s only because I put a pillow over his face when he does.”
“And people say there’s no romance after mating.”
As Wellsie let out a laugh and headed for the back door, Darius intended to go inside with her, but his feet didn’t listen to the command. He just stood there, looking into his house.
The table that was usually empty was scattered with playing cards, and food that Fritz had put out, and the rolls of bandages Rhage was wrapping his arm in, and now Tohr’s elbows as he leaned in and said something to the brother.
“There’s safety in numbers,” he heard himself say.
“Nah, there’s something even better.” Wellsie glanced back at him. “There’s family in numbers. Maybe it’ll still happen, Darius. You never know.”
Wellsie had been out to the mansion he’d built up on that mountaintop, had walked through the rooms to see the furniture arrangement, the rugs and paintings, the billiards tables… as well as the kitchens and the laundries, the basement and the garage. They’d gone through the whole layout, the pair of them, and not because he’d been showing off.
He’d thought maybe she would understand the yearning he had for the Brotherhood to be united under the same roof. After all, she and Tohr had set up housekeeping with each other because they’d wanted the same thing he did: A proper home. A place of solace and refuge and safety. Where those who were loved and valued above all others were never far.
He’d hoped she’d get her hellren on board. Tohr was the most strategic of the brothers, the one who appreciated the virtues and necessities of organization, discipline, and structure within a community of fighters. He was also the most levelheaded of all of them. Surely, if he saw the value in cohabitation, he could get the others to sign on, too.
Nothing had come of it, though. Probably because Tohr also recognized how hopeless the situation was.
“It’s going to happen, D,” she murmured. “You just need to keep the faith.”
Darius stared at the males around the table, and mentally added others. Wrath. Vishous. Phury. It was hard to edit in Zsadist, so he left that out. And then he tried to picture them all with shellans they loved, and young at their feet and in their arms. Maybe throw in a cat or a dog.