Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
He laughed, although she didn’t see what was so funny. “I have no idea what mages can do,” he said. “I’ve had no experience with them. No gargoyle I know has, until now. Until this trip, I mean.”
“But you have had experience with demon haunts posing as beautiful women.”
“Not quite so beautiful, but yes. And worse things. There are areas of the world rife with old magic and dank creatures. I traveled there for a while before I entered a cairn and worked my way up the ladder. In some cases, I traveled too far off the beaten track. Sometimes you see things that change you. Things you can’t unsee ever.”
“And sometimes they trigger you,” she said softly.
He nodded, his eyes rooted to hers. “Like the dark,” he whispered. “Like the deep night. Like feeling trapped.”
“How did you…” Her head felt light as unwanted memories suddenly crowded her. A knife. Blood. So much blood. She hadn’t realized a man’s body held that much blood. Spilled on the floor. Splattered across the wall—
“Natasha!”
She lost her balance, falling before she realized it, too late to grab anything. Her foot skidded across the roof tile; her heel clanged off the gutter. Air greeted her. Empty air. For a moment, she felt utterly weightless, and then she was all too conscious of her weight as gravity used it to pull her down.
Hopefully Jessie will look after Sebastian, she thought as she closed her eyes. She didn’t want to see the ground rushing toward her.
The air felt cool against her skin. Like it had been washed clean. Her thoughts turned to happy things. To people she would miss, to people she hoped would miss her.
Crack!
She flinched at the sound, snapping her eyes open in time to see enormous gargoyle arms closing around her. A huge, clawed hand grabbed the back of her head just as her movement changed from a downward fall to an upward pull, and the sensation made her body feel like a stretching rubber band. His great wings, blotting out the sky, beat at the wind, and they shot upward so fast that she couldn’t even get breath to scream. Higher they flew before leveling out, the wind washing around them, chilly but for the furnace of gargoyle pressed against her.
“Holy…” She clutched at his neck with her arms and swung up her legs to hook them around him, trying to cling on, not trusting his hold.
“Wa-it.” His speech in this form was clearer than any gargoyle she’d yet heard, his voice drum deep but retaining the smoothness of his human voice.
High above the ground, with moonlight cascading around them, he pulled up slowly and hovered in midair, the flight not at all scary like she’d experienced earlier that day in practice. Not at all jarring in any portion except for the part when he pulled out of an insanely deep dive.
“Hee-re.” He scooped one hand under her butt, helping her get her legs around his waist. The other hand held her back so she could clutch his neck. No part of it was sexual. He made no jokes or innuendos, instead helping her get secure.
“Read-ee to goo backkk?” he asked.
“Yes,” she whispered, shaking against him.
“Oh-kay. Doon’t worr-ee. I woon’t let you faalll.”
His wings once again beat at the sky with incredible power and force. He didn’t dive at a dizzying speed, though, as she knew he could’ve. As the guys had done earlier. His descent was gradual, his hold tight. He landed on a wide, flat area of the rooftop, perfect for large gargoyles. Perfect for a raid, whenever it came.
“Ha-ng oohnn,” he said after he’d put her down and she’d unceremoniously dropped to her knees. It wasn’t like her to be so dramatic in front of someone, but she’d already made something of a show of herself, so what was one more thing?
He stood back, and his form reduced down to the man. A shimmer of moonlight played across cut muscle and wide shoulders. He bent to her, his hand hovering over her back.
“Are you okay?” he asked softly.
“Did you ruin your clothes, or do you get undressed insanely fast?” She wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “Because I’m pretty sure I ruined my makeup.”
He didn’t respond to that, instead sitting down by her side with his legs crossed. “I apologize for back there. For all of this. I shouldn’t have brought up…” He let the words linger, and she prevented herself from thinking much more about it. “I shouldn’t have stolen you from that room and taken you out here. I should’ve just ignored you, full stop. A creature like I’d thought you were wouldn’t have been able to kill me. Maybe in my youth, but no longer. I know this from experience. It’s why I carried you like I did. That…and you smell so damn good. I should’ve known straight away you weren’t one of those creatures by smell alone. I just wasn’t sure if this house…” He shook his head, frustrated. “The magic in this house—on this land—feels so similar to some dark times in my life. It’s messing with my head. You got caught in the crossfire. I apologize.”