Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
She glanced at the dead man on the floor. Joshua hadn’t even commented. The sight of all that blood leaking all over her beautiful wood floor, now completely ruined, made her stomach heave again. She wanted this to end. What was he doing, just standing there, smirking a little, ignoring her as if she was so much garbage?
“I would lose face in my community if I allowed this bitch to live without compensation.”
“You had your compensation, you son of a bitch, when you took a blowtorch to my father and you made my mother sleep in your filthy bed,” Sonia snapped, loathing and contempt dripping from her voice. She couldn’t stand listening to him one more minute.
Nikita’s face darkened with fury. He couldn’t turn anger on Joshua, but he could her. He always got his way. No one thwarted him in anything. He had to listen to Joshua because he needed an ally, but to him, Sonia was nothing but a plaything, a toy to be used and discarded.
He strode across the room, clearly prepared to hit her, his fist clenched. Joshua was there first, his hand in her hair, yanking her head up so that she had to look into his eyes. All that crystalline blue blazed with anger.
“Shut. The. Fuck. Up.” He enunciated each word. “I thought I taught you to keep your fuckin’ mouth closed. Do you want another lesson?”
Instinctively she cowered away from him, pulling into herself, trying to be smaller. She shook her head. The action hurt, not just because of his hand holding so tightly to her hair, pulling on her scalp, but because it made her temple throb. His thumb, as he slid his hand out of her hair, slid over the swollen, darkened bruise with exquisite gentleness.
“When men talk, Sonia, what do good little girls do?” His voice was a sneer.
“They stay quiet,” she whispered.
He patted her cheek. “That’s right.” He turned back to Nikita. “She’s learning. She’s a fighter. Makes her a wildcat in bed, and I enjoy the lessons I give her far more than she does, because she doesn’t want to remember.”
Why doesn’t he give us a sign? Something. Anything. She needed something to hold on to. That one little pass with his thumb could have been a mistake. She might have imagined it. Gatita, what is he planning?
You did not imagine it. I felt his touch too.
Okay. Okay, she could do this. If Joshua could walk right between Nikita and Filat without flinching, she could wait for his signal.
“We were speaking of compensation,” Nikita said.
She risked a glance at him, and then at Filat. Filat was watching her carefully. Didn’t he believe her cowed act? It wasn’t an act, it was the real thing. Why wouldn’t he believe it? She had to think, because she could see it on his face, that dawning comprehension that Joshua wasn’t the ally they wanted.
Joshua had half turned away from her and she lashed out with her feet, kicking him hard enough to make him stagger. “Bastard,” she hissed, leaping for the door. He caught her ankle as she ran past him, and she went down hard.
Joshua calmly put his foot on her throat. “We did this once before, Sonia. Don’t you remember? You ran from me. Your female ran from my male. You seem to be a slow learner.”
Nikita’s laughter rang through the room. “I don’t know, Joshua, I could have such fun with her. Are you certain you want the trouble? I’ll accept compensation as a show of good faith, but if she isn’t pregnant, I ask that you turn her over to me so I can try.”
Joshua reached down and hauled her to her feet, walking her backward without looking at her, to shove her back into the chair. “I might consider that. I don’t keep a bitch long, although she’s different. Once you’re in her, you’ll understand my reluctance to part with her.”
An owl hooted outside the house in the direction of the swamp. A second owl answered just outside the window. A third bird sounded off, using a two-note call. Joshua caught her face in his hands, leaned down and fastened his mouth to hers. She expected rough. She got gentle. He ended the kiss abruptly and whispered one word against her lips. “Run.” It was barely there, a stroke over her mouth, but she heard it as if he’d yelled.
Abruptly, he let go, and as he straightened, he whipped off his shirt and kicked off his shoes. He tore at his jeans, already shifting. Nikita tried for his gun, but the leopard was on him, stripping it from his hand. Sonia leapt toward Filat. He already had his gun out. She managed to knock it away from him. He caught her by the throat and squeezed hard, looking straight into her eyes. She was already losing air. One hand went to the zipper of the jacket, dragging it down while she concentrated on shifting the arm so she could rake down his stomach, trying to eviscerate him.