Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 108119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
“Guarding,” I repeated. “You?” I had a hard time believing that. “How does that work?”
Chase smirked. “Not well.”
“I imagine not.”
“So, one big happy family,” Chase muttered. “At least now the Sinacores can’t be pissed at Andrei. Wonder if Phoenix knew that all along.”
“Heard that,” Phoenix said from behind us. “And I only tell you what you need to know, so what do you think?”
“I think you’re Satan in sheep’s clothing,” Chase said cheerfully.
“It’s sheep, or a sheep.” I corrected.
Luciana burst out laughing. “She’s not scared of you; this is my favorite day.”
Chase glared daggers at his wife then pulled her across his chest and pressed a kiss to her mouth. “Don’t make me punish you later.”
“I’d welcome it.”
“And that’s our exit…” Phoenix grabbed my arm and led me away from them. “Andrei’s awake.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “Can I see him?”
Phoenix’s blue eyes narrowed briefly before he nodded. “He was asking for you, said he had to apologize.”
“For what?”
“He threw something at me after that, so I didn’t get the last part.” He grinned. He was less menacing when he smiled. “But he’s very… raw.”
“What aren’t you telling me?” I wondered out loud.
“He has to ask.”
“Ask?”
“You,” Phoenix said, not at all clarifying things. “Marriage means your blood becomes his, and vice versa, he needs to ask you. If he doesn’t ask you, if you guys don’t get married, then I’m going to have to send you away. At least then you won’t be looking over your shoulder waiting for someone to get you. You’ll have the seal of the families protecting you. You can do whatever you want, be whatever you want, we will obviously make sure you have money and—”
I gawked. He wasn’t serious… couldn’t be. But his expression said he was.
“No,” I whispered. “I won’t, I can’t… I’m not leaving him.”
Phoenix bit out a curse and leaned in. “Then make sure he asks.”
“You can’t make him?”
Phoenix burst out laughing. “Yeah you’ll need a sense of humor if you stick around. That’s funny, forcing Andrei, both Petrov and Sinacore to do anything, right…”
I swallowed the lump of misery in my throat.
Misery that he would send me away to protect me.
Only this time his conscience would be clean because he’d saved the day.
Because sometimes, the monster won.
I knocked on his bedroom door and then quietly pushed it open, clicking it shut behind me.
He was sitting up in bed. Gauze was wrapped around his right shoulder, his skin was tight across his abs, muscle after muscle peeked through. I inhaled sharply because it was a natural reaction to his masculine beauty.
It kind of left a person in awe.
His beauty was so distracting that I couldn’t seem to take in all at once, like the way his messy hair looked like he’d been tugging it, or the nose ring that oozed sexiness.
His full mouth pulled back into a small smile.
I barely kept myself from running toward him, my own body was sore from getting whipped. Was I insane for not being angry that he was the one that dealt those blows to my skin?
“Are you just going to stare at me or are you going to come over here and kiss me?” His voice was hoarse like he’d been screaming all night.
I wondered if anyone told him that he did.
That he screamed over and over again until I finally covered my ears and rocked in the corner of the viewing room, weeping on his behalf, wishing I could take his pain.
“I’m going to kiss you, just tell me if I hurt you.” I crawled up on the bed and rested my head against his chest first. I needed to hear it, needed to make sure.
“What are you doing, dorogaya?”
“Listening.” My voice cracked.
His fingertips dug into my hair. “For what?”
“Your heartbeat.” Hot tears stung my eyes. “I just wanted to make sure this was real and you’re alive.”
He tilted my chin up toward him. “What did I tell you about wasting tears?”
They slid down my cheeks.
He rubbed them away with his thumbs. “Don’t cry.”
“I’ll cry if I want to cry.” I grit my teeth at his amused smile. “You could have died; you pointed a gun at your own head in order to save me. I have a lot to cry about. And I’ve been hydrating.” I don’t know why I was upset. Maybe because I knew what was coming and I was so tired of fighting him, so tired of him telling me what was best for me.
When what was best would snap my heart in half like a pretzel.
He swallowed, his own eyes getting glassy as he cupped my face with his hands. “It was the only way.”
“I would have never forgiven you.”
“And I would have never forgiven myself, for taking your life. I think it would have killed me.”