Total pages in book: 207
Estimated words: 196971 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 985(@200wpm)___ 788(@250wpm)___ 657(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 196971 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 985(@200wpm)___ 788(@250wpm)___ 657(@300wpm)
And it was enough to change everything.
Hell was the mother of pain, and only when you were living in its womb did one truly taste pain and understand its essence.
One day in Hell would teach you a lot, and Alexandru had been there for four long fucking years.
SNEAKING INTO HELL was one thing. Escaping it was another. But harder than both was choosing to stay, and as fate would have it, that had been Alexandru's curse.
He had to stay in Hell even when the sound of his pet's tears lashed at him night after night.
Fate had damned him, and he still had to stay in Hell even when a window of opportunity showed itself to him, and all he could do was throw a Hail Mary into it in the shape of a demon corpse.
Just his fucking fate, to never leave Hell until he no longer recognized himself.
IT WAS A LONG CLIMB back to the mortal world. No human would've survived such an ordeal, and by the time Alexandru had clawed his way out of the earth, he had been so fucking starving that he had latched on to the first living thing. A black bear tackled to the ground, his fangs piercing its neck, and the creature was drained of its blood in moments.
Only after that did he have the energy to push himself up, and as he followed the sound of rushing water, Alexandru reached out tiredly through the blood bond he shared with the ruler of the vampire race.
Brother. I'm back.
Alexandru. Mihail's voice was gruff with emotion, and the swiftness with which the Marquis of Sangre responded was a balm to Alexandru's weary soul.
You are safe?
Yes. Alexandru finally made it to the creek, and he sank down on his knees, scooping water with his hands to finally assuage the parched state of his throat.
For how long?
All immediate threats have been dealt with. Alexandru undressed himself before washing the dirt off his body.
Thank fuck.
Alexandru inhaled deeply.
My pet...
The blood bond he shared with his pet told him she was safe, but that wasn't enough.
Where is she?
Because it had been the same for him.
Because like her, it had hurt him to be apart.
He could live without the sun, live without the whole world, but his Zari he could never do without.
Just his pet, and nothing else.
Her, he missed.
Every. Goddamn. Moment.
The Pet Is
Where She Belongs
Chapter Nine
ALEXANDRU DIDN'T MOVE a muscle even as his pet came to a clumsy halt just a few feet before him, the sight of her unearthing desires that, for the sake of his sanity, he had to bury at the deepest part of him.
An eternity. That was how it had felt, to be apart from this girl whose soul she shared with him, and who had his heart in her keeping.
Every second spent without her had been a fucking eternity, every second spent in hunger for the sight, sound, and scent of her - the feel of her, dammit. He had fucking starved for her, and now that she was finally here, finally within fucking reach...
Around them, the heart of the city continued to beat: the honking horns and the mad rush of people, the myriad of smells and noises that coalesced into a coarse attack on the senses. Most others would have found such an assault impossible to ignore, but for Alexandru...none of it even existed.
Only this girl with her long silvery hair and big gray eyes...
Only his pet mattered.
Only her.
Zari.
The mere thought of her name spiraled into a visceral need to touch her - kiss her, fuck her, thrust his cock home into the moist, lovely warmth of her pussy. He needed to really feel the familiar silkiness of her skin under his fingers to know that this was real, that this was no longer one of the millions of fantasies he had clung to when he was burning in Hell...
He needed her, and yet—-
Alexandru didn't lift a single finger to touch her.
Instead, he forced himself to remain still, centuries' worth of self-control coming to his rescue.
Four years might have been an eternity for him, and in those years he might have heard her crying endlessly, but even so...
The part of him that had never believed he deserved someone like Zari—-
The part that believed she should find someone better—-
That part of him demanded he wait.
Her choice to continue to be with him.
It always had to be her choice, which was why Alexandru found himself sucking his breath in and preparing himself for her rejection as her big, gray eyes slowly lifted up to meet his.
Her gaze was both bright and dazed, a cloudy, teary shade of gray that seemed to devour every inch of him as if she were unable to believe he was real.
Master.
This time, she whispered it through the blood bond they shared, and the sound of it was precious. So fucking precious to finally hear it and know...