Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
“I suppose that would be for the best,” she agreed as they went up the walkway toward the front of the sprawling house.
“How many weapons do you have on you?” Gedeon asked.
She glanced up at Gedeon. It was far easier to look at him than Gorya. “I wondered if you or the others were ever going to do your job. If you’re supposed to be keeping Amurov alive, I’m not certain you’re up to the task.”
Matvei and Kyanite gave an affronted huff. Kyanite answered the accusation. “Had we searched you, Gorya would have cut off our heads. Did you notice he got a little protective when we got too close?”
“Is that what you call it? Nevertheless, as his security, whether he likes it or not, your job is to keep him alive. That means you search everyone he encounters who might be a potential threat to him.”
“You’re his mate,” Matvei pointed out.
“Wraith is Rogue’s mate,” Gorya corrected, unexpectedly backing her up. “I haven’t convinced Maya yet that she’s mine. Right now, she’s thinking about slitting my throat.”
She gave her laugh, the one she’d perfected over time and everyone believed—everyone, it seemed, but Gorya. He tightened his hold on her and brought her hand to his chest. Her heart clenched. She forced herself to look at the house, not at him. She couldn’t think too much, just go along with everything until she had time to herself to figure things out logically.
“You didn’t answer me about the weapons, Maya,” Gedeon said.
“Do you believe I’d tell you the truth?”
She stared up at the two-story house, which was surrounded by an abundance of trees with curved branches, each reaching to the next, and taller trees that held climbing vines weeping gorgeous flowers. The landscaping was wild, but with native plants clearly maintained and encouraged to grow. If the road hadn’t led to the house, it would have been impossible to spot with the wealth of trees and plants around it. She found the place breathtaking, a leopard’s paradise.
“There’s no reason to lie, especially in light of what Kyanite told you. Gorya would object to any of us searching you.”
She looked at Gedeon with a cool, assessing stare. “That wouldn’t stop you.”
“No, but it would be a process.”
She heard the humor in his voice. He genuinely liked Gorya. Instinctively, she knew this man didn’t call very many others friend. “You would have shot his leopard if he had attacked me, wouldn’t you?”
“That was the plan.”
She had to grudgingly respect him. She also had to consider that Gorya was telling her the truth—that he had gone against his family. That he really was there to clean up the lair and that he’d planned to kill his leopard and himself before they both went insane and harmed an innocent. If she believed that, she would have to go a step further and believe Gorya when he said his body and mind had been scarred and damaged by the Amurovs just as hers had been.
She could believe that the Amurovs would turn on their own—even sons. If Gorya had dared to oppose his father, uncles or cousins in any way, they were cruel enough to hold him up as an example, as they did other members of the lair. They would most likely make his punishments even worse. She didn’t want to think about that. If she did, her own childhood would surface, and she wouldn’t be able to cope.
“I honestly don’t know how many weapons I have on me at this precise moment. I do hope you retrieved the one Gorya took from me. I don’t ever leave them behind.” She did her best to sound demure.
“I don’t suppose you’d hand your weapons over.”
“No.”
She glanced up at Gorya as he reached past her to open the front door. She could have sworn he had a half smile on his face.
Gedeon sighed. “Why did I know you wouldn’t make this easy on me? Will you at least promise me you won’t kill him?”
“How can I do that? You know he’s going to provoke me on purpose.”
“I didn’t say you couldn’t stab him. Just don’t kill him. Do you have any idea the problems you’d be making for me if you actually killed him? He has cousins. Lots of them. For some reason they like him. If that isn’t enough, my wife likes him too. I’d never hear the end of it if I let him get killed on my watch.”
“If you don’t tell him you’ll just stab me somewhere nonlethal, he’ll talk us to death,” Gorya said. “We’re going in, Gedeon. Alone. No bodyguards. We have a lot to work out.”
Gedeon stepped back. It registered with Maya that Kyanite and Matvei looked uneasy. They didn’t know what to make of her. She hadn’t stayed in character as the sweet girl next door the way she normally would have portrayed herself. She’d been too shaken. Just the name Amurov had been a trigger.