Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 76857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
The golden giant was trying to penetrate her right there against the wall.
Preparing to mate her, in front of everyone.
“Stop!” I screamed.
But he didn’t stop. A golden hand ran over Maeve’s hip, working under her skirt until I heard my friend squeal.
Every move that came from that moment forward was pure adrenalin. The gentle stranger who held my wrist felt my elbow strike his nose at full force. Freed of his grip, light-footed, I flew toward my friend and the beast madly kissing her.
The crowd had already given him his space, a few agitated males held back by their friends. Piled upon and warned by those pinning them down they would be killed if they dared try.
Yet of those clawing their way out of the mele, one had eyes for me. “What’s your name?”
And he kept shouting it, begging for my name over and over, as others held him back. Ice ran down my spine to see the way he looked at me, to know he would have me pinned to the wall once he broke free.
And he would break free. A male who fought with such ferocity felt no pain, would remain single-minded even to his detriment.
The madness, the way that frantic total stranger looked at me.
He heard my song.
If freed, he would try to do to me what the giant was doing to Maeve.
Hearts in my throat, I launched myself onto the massive male’s back, desperate to save my friend, terrified I would not be able to save myself.
Drumming loudly, prepared to end him utterly, I snarled with all my wrath, “Song or no, you cannot have her yet. She isn’t on the list.”
My talons were at his throat, already sunken into his skin, plucking at his beating carotid artery as if I were strumming the strings of a lute. One yank and I’d be able to practically sever his head from his shoulders.
Lips to his ear, my fist wrenching his hair, I hissed a second warning, “Forcing yourself on your mate before she announces her intention to partner will only make her hate you. Set her free, or I will shred your throat into ribbons. You’ll bleed out no matter how fast your body tries to heal.”
It was as if he didn’t even notice I was there.
So I dug deeper.
At last, he stiffened and let out a growl.
I returned it with a snarl of my own.
Fingers pricking ever deeper, puncturing muscle and worrying tendon, I gave him as much pain as possible, my final warning.
A bit of blood trickled over my fingers when he finally eased back just enough that Maeve might find air.
The terrifying view of my sister that followed scared me more than I could say.
She was dazed, chasing after his mouth as if eager for more. Woozy, pupils blown, undulating against the male and making sounds I had never heard before.
“Maeve, snap out of it!” Shrill, clearly frightened, I shouted, “Don’t let him steal your dreams away!”
Pure horror washed over her features as her trance began to abate. Pretty green eyes blinking up at me, shaking from her growing shock, she began to cry.
My fist held a clump of the man’s hair tight. My limbs were wrapped around him, my talons buried in his throat, yet I knew I did not have the upper hand. “You’re okay, Maeve. I’m not going to let him hurt you.”
Clawed fingers over her lips, she began to hiccup. “I want to go home.”
The man with his hand under her skirt unhooked his grip from her thigh and allowed her to slide down the tight space between the wall and his bulk, her naked feet landing on the dirty floor.
Compared to his height and as small as Maeve was, she barely made it to his chest, where he was thumping loudly, and she was wobbling on her feet as his sound banged against her ears.
Barking an order, I demanded, “Now, back away from her.”
He obeyed by only one step, voice full of mischief, daring to lure her nearer. “Submit to me, Maeve. Submit, or run.”
Run, she did. Right out the door so fast she was hardly more than a blur.
I spared a glance for the dark-haired stranger who had warned me to leave, and I found he had drawn a blade, a utilitarian knife he clearly knew how to wield. It was the golden man he threatened with it. “Let her down, and let her leave. They will be safer together… from all of us.”
The dark-haired stranger spoke as if my assault on the golden giant was a joke, as if I were merely being tolerated and was the one in need of protection. It was my claws in the man’s throat, my control, that left his artery intact against my talons, but I was absolutely in peril.
And I knew it.