Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 127527 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 638(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127527 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 638(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
How did you find out? she repeated.
Teague telepathed the news to Khloë, who then told me. But let’s face it, he likes to bullshit people for reasons only he understands, so I thought he might be lying.
Well, he wasn’t. I’m not sure why you’re so surprised by this. You know my demon can be pretty territorial. That might not be what had driven the entity to brand him, but it nonetheless felt that way toward him.
I didn’t think it’d be possessive of him. Dammit, Lark, I want better for you than a damn player.
She felt her brow flick up. Uh, excuse me, Mr. Hypocritical, you did your fair share of playing the field before Khloë. Now go find something better to do than whine at me. She closed a mental door on him, uninterested in listening to more. She’d reopen it later.
Larkin then psychically reached out to Teague. You telepathed Khloë about the brand? She hadn’t expected that. She’d thought he’d just let her find out in her own sweet time.
His mind slid against hers. Don’t you think it would have looked weird to others if I hadn’t bragged to my psi-mate that my girlfriend branded me?
Not whatsoever liking that her pulse stuttered at the mere sound of his telepathic voice, she asked, Did you tell her about everything else that happened last night?
You mean that I fucked you until you screamed for me?
Her face was not heating. Yeah. That.
Not yet, but I will. Don’t worry, she won’t be as furious with me as you’re thinking she’ll be.
Larkin highly doubted that. The imp had a temper, and the breaking of a vow was no small matter. If you say so.
Pulling her mind away from his, Larkin dragged in a steadying breath, taking in the delicious scents of fresh bread, cinnamon, coffee, honey, and warm chocolate.
For such a small shop, the bakery could be loud. It wasn’t just due to the murmurs and chuckles of customers. There were also the clatters of plates, the whirring of the industrial mixer, the background music, the scraping of cutlery against dishware, and the beeps coming from timers and the cash register.
“Everything okay?” asked Piper.
“Keenan learned about the brand via Khloë and felt the need to moan at me.” She’d already told Piper about how her entity took it upon itself to mark him.
“I still can’t believe your demon did that. I mean, my entity is devious. But it ain’t that devious. You’re lucky that his demon didn’t mark you right back.”
Larkin felt a frown tug at her brow. “It has no actual reason to.”
“And why would you think that’ll matter to a hellhorse? They don’t require their actions to make sense.”
Okay, there was that to consider. “Still, I doubt it will do anything like that,” she said, keeping an eye on the small sitting area. The moment a table or booth became available, they’d need to pounce.
“Maybe not. You know, while I’m surprised by what your demon did, I’m not surprised that you fell into bed with Teague. The chemistry between you two is, like, whoa. It just kept building and building over time. Now that you’re sleeping together—”
“We slept together. Past tense, not present. We’re gonna leave it at that.”
Piper jerked, her expression baffled. “Dear God in heaven, why?”
“Are you forgetting the oath he made to Khloë about not getting his freak on with her friends?”
“He already broke that promise once. Is there much difference in him doing it again?”
Larkin opened and closed her mouth. She wanted to say no, but she wasn’t certain it would be for the right reason; wasn’t certain that it wouldn’t be a mere case of her selfishly giving herself the green light to go another sexual round with him. “I guess it doesn’t really matter, does it? I’m not interested in a fling.” Seeing a couple rise from a table, she quickly gave Piper a nudge. “Go grab that empty table before someone else does. I’ll place our order and then bring it over.”
“I want my usual,” said Piper, making a swift beeline for the table, grinning when she beat others to it.
Larkin knew the nightmare’s ‘usual’ well, since they often came to the bakery on mornings when they were going on a girls’ day out. On this particular day, they had plans to go shopping at the mall.
Larkin adored all the women in their group, but she had a soft spot for Piper. They’d fast become close friends—something that wasn’t typical for Larkin. By her own admission, she didn’t click with people well.
Just then, Tanner’s psyche clashed with hers mere moments before his voice breezed into her mind . . . Your demon branded the hellhorse? Seriously?
Rolling her eyes yet again, she proceeded to have with him a shorter version of her conversation with Keenan. She did the same with Levi very soon after that.