Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 139186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
“Jake, of course you’re still mine. I won’t desert you. I will take care of you, even if you don’t recognize me a few years on. I promised you forever, and that’s what it’s gonna be,” the man whispered, cupping Jake’s monstrous head in his hands.
Azog exhaled deeply, and even though he wasn’t sure who his master was, there was sincerity in Vars’s words. He would keep Azog safe forever, and let no harm come to him. It made relief pool in his anxious self. He would have a person to trust, and a place to call his own.
He gently ran his claws down the man’s chest and whimpered.
There was such warmth in the tone of his words, a tenderness Azog hadn’t known before, and he only now realized how much he’d itched for it all those years. He opened his mouth and lapped across his master’s face, tasting salt and a tang of copper, eager to console him. Why was he sad?
Master took a deep breath, his thumbs rubbing Azog’s cheekbones. He leaned closer, so close Azog could see rosy flecks in his blue eyes even in the dark. His soft human lips met Azog’s long, sharp fangs in a gesture so stunning Azog was left frozen. He didn’t understand.
But he leaned closer, careful not to hurt Master with his teeth. No one else cared for him in the world but this man who would keep him safe and fed. It wouldn’t be like last time, when the mean human kept Azog locked up and eventually let him starve.
A thud within pulled Azog out of the stupor, and he wasn’t sure what was happening until he realized it was the heart of the human within him beating, which was the strangest thing, since Azog was sure he’d put the human to sleep. He grunted in wonder at… Vars.
The man in front of him was called Vars.
With a deep intake of air, Vars suddenly tightened his hold on Azog’s face, his eyes searching, mouth slack. “Jake? Are you there? I can see you, Jake,” he whispered, rubbing Azog’s cheeks over and over.
Azog’s mouth stretched on its own accord in a way it never did before. Or was it the human within him? The heart inside of him beat faster and faster.
The human was awake, and Azog was forced to slip aside to rest next to that warm, beating heart.
Azog instinctively knew that the man in front of him, Vars, was no longer his master. It was the human within him, Jake, that would provide him with safety, and Azog would gladly obey his every command.
With a sense of peace, he rested by the heart of his master, and at Jake’s command, he pulled back off his body, falling asleep yet always ready to answer his master’s call.
Chapter 28 - Jake
Jake fell to his knees, bare-chested in the frosty air, and he would have fallen all the way to his face if Vars hadn’t kept him upright. Overwhelmed by the flood of sensations and information exploding in his brain, he stayed silent, gasping for air. But when Vars kissed Jake’s lips, hard and deep as if Jake had been gone for years, Jake let out a whimper of relief, his mind lighting up like a carousel.
Vars pulled back immediately, his arms still around Jake when he studied him with a hot flush on his cheeks. “You’re back. You are really back.”
Jake touched his chest, but then quickly wrapped his arms around Vars’s neck. “He’s mine. Azog. I don’t know how. I just feel it. I know it. But how—” He kissed Vars’s lips, simply ignoring the stain of blood on that beloved mouth. He snorted all of a sudden. “You think it’ was the kiss? Beauty and the Beast style? I was a monster, and you still kissed me, so you deserved to get me back?”
Vars watched him, breathing hard, and then rapidly punched Jake’s chest. “Stop joking. Oh God, I thought I lost you. I thought you left me forever.” Right after landing the hit, he pulled Jake close again so rapidly they toppled into the snow.
Jake hugged him tight with a grin, ignoring the snow melting against his skin. “I’m so sorry, Vars. But there was no other way. Gray was trapped, I… I’m sorry for what I put you through, but I had to.”
“I know. I know. You’re a good boy. I’m not angry,” Vars said at the speed of an automatic weapon. He locked his mouth with Jake’s again, shaking under Jake’s weight.
Those words were all Jake needed. Vars understood. He didn’t hold a grudge.
Jake put all his love into the kiss, even pushing his fingers into the blood-stained beard. He was so elated despite the horrors still going on by the house, fire still raging not far away, that he laughed, no matter how inappropriate that was.