Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 34989 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 175(@200wpm)___ 140(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34989 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 175(@200wpm)___ 140(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
“Are you okay? Do you need some water? Is your blood sugar low? I’ve got some orange juice.”
Just that easily, some of the fog cleared from his brain. The room slowed until it became still. How could one person make everything better? Easier? As if all he needed to do was hold Sky’s hand and let the witch guide him through the insanity.
“No. I’ll be okay. I…this is all overwhelming.”
Sky gathered up both of his hands and vigorously rubbed his palms across Nolan’s fingers, as if trying to warm them. They were icy against Sky’s warmth. When had that happened?
The witch lifted their hands to his lips and he blew into the cavern he formed, warming his fingers more with the hot air.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get all bloodthirsty on you. Christoph is pissing me off, and it’s making me speak without thinking,” Sky grumbled.
“Thank you. I appreciate your concern. I do.”
“What about your father?” Fox suddenly chimed in. They all glanced over at the red-haired witch, who was sitting on the sofa and idly strumming his bottom lip with one finger as he stared off.
“What do you mean?” Winter prodded.
Fox shrugged. “Just that Aiden is not only the king, but he’s really freaking old. He’s got to be older than Christoph. Can’t Aiden heal the wound or at least force Christoph to heal the bite, releasing Nolan?”
Winter wrinkled his nose before snagging Fox’s finger. He leaned over, delivering a brief but brutal kiss. “Don’t play with that. It’s mine,” he mumbled and turned to the rest of them as if nothing happened. “Age has no bearing here. He can’t heal the wound simply because he’s older and more powerful. He could kill Christoph easily enough, but as the king, he’s got to watch how often he does that.”
His mate nodded and hummed. “True. True. Kind of detracts from his benevolent ruler image.”
“However, he can oversee a mediation between Nolan and Christoph. If it’s revealed that Nolan never agreed to be Christoph’s pet or even understood what he was agreeing to in the first place, Father can demand that Christoph release Nolan.”
“That!” Sky suddenly shouted.
Winter nodded. “I get it. You want to call in your favor.”
“Yes!”
“What favor?” Nolan interjected, finally understanding one small part of all of this.
“It’s payment for getting rid of a ghost for a member of his clan. No big deal,” Sky quickly said, but Nolan didn’t buy it. A favor to get in to see a king. That couldn’t be a simple thing to get, and Sky was going to toss that aside?
Winter leaned forward and smirked. “No favor necessary. My father needs to know about this. He wants to get rid of pets, but it’s difficult. The concept has been around for as long as there have been vampires. Most won’t give it up.”
“Yeah, he’s introduced new rules that humans have to agree to be a pet and they have to be told what they will be required to do,” Fox chimed in. “He even wants to come up with a contract for pets to sign, but they’re still working on all the legal language.”
Nolan tightly squeezed Sky’s fingers, a lump forming in his throat. “You think he’ll be able to help me?”
Winter smiled, and for the first time, it seemed comforting and warm. “Yeah, I do.” The vampire and his mate stood. He paused and glanced over his shoulder at Fox, who nodded once, before looking at Nolan again. “We still have a few hours until sunrise. Fox and I will pop by my father’s home and talk to him. With any luck, we can schedule a meeting with him in the next night or two. In the meantime, I’m assuming Nolan can stay here with you, Sky?”
“Yes. I’m not letting him out of my sight. He’ll be safe here,” Sky agreed in a rush of words.
“Great. I’ll be in contact.”
Sky released Nolan long enough to walk the strange couple to the door, leaving Nolan lost in thought. His life was getting too weird, and it wasn’t done yet. He still had to meet a vampire king.
Chapter 6
Skylar Wallace
Sky dropped his forehead against the front door and sighed. Alone at last. Not that it wasn’t nice to see Fox. Winter was even a little less scary than the first time he met the vampire, though Fox’s charm and warmth had a way of defusing Winter’s chilly demeanor.
Unfortunately, this alone time wasn’t one of those moments where he could put his nonexistent smooth moves on Nolan.
No, the man sitting in his living room had to be feeling lost, overwhelmed, and maybe even hopeless. Nolan needed TLC.
But first, Sky needed to pull his own shit together. It didn’t help Nolan one bit to have him losing his temper and spouting off like some magical Neanderthal.