Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 89222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Z can’t refrain from rolling his eyes. “What the hell do you think seismic activity is, genius?”
His perpetually mirth-ridden gaze latches onto me alongside a crooked grin. “Given the way our big brother is playing literal hangman with Griff, I’m gonna guess him.” Juvenile joy jumps around his hazel stare. “Does that fill in the blanks?” He folds his arms across his chest as the three of them stroll completely into the room. “Did I save his life?”
Opening my hand drops the shifter back into his seat on a harsh thud. “No.”
“No, A.D. didn’t save his life,” Ehette playfully interjects, “or no you weren’t the seismic activity that wrecked half of downtown?”
Guilt has me running a hand anxiously through my dark hair. “It wasn’t that much destruction.”
Z’s jaw drops to a gawking position. “They’re saying it had like a 6.0 magnitude!”
Additional culpability pushes me to grumble, “I’ll donate the funds to rebuild.”
“Money does make both realms go ‘round,” Griff smugly chortles, voice noticeably damaged.
Deserved.
Agreed. Whole fucking heartedly.
“Why did you destroy anything?” Z promptly investigates. “That’s not normal. That’s not…you.”
“Maybe not an unbonded him,” Griff needlessly chimes in while logging onto his laptop. “The finally fated version on the other hand is more of a John Wayne sort of creature. You know, claw first, completely gut you later.”
A.D. tilts his head in concern. “What in the D is going on? You don’t look happily bonded. You look fucked. And not the good fucked where you bent your Fated Mate over a dumpster in the back alley of a cigar bar because she couldn’t even make it to the car, but the bad fucked like your whole outfit is falling apart and you can’t put on a single piece of attire to save it.”
“Is that the bar we’re going to tonight?” Ehette quietly questions at a lower volume.
“No, we’re still banned from that one.” His head shakes in bafflement. “You know for an incubus, he’s kind of a prude.”
Having to respond to anything he’s said isn’t required due to an incoming video call from an unknown number on the screen.
Griff shoots me a curious glance. “Friend of yours?”
“Answer it.”
He immediately does as instructed revealing to me a large male creature with reddish tan skin, dark shoulder length locks, wearing a leather uniform that bears the unforgettable Magitek logo. The dastardly smile he flashes informs me of what it is I already know yet need him to confirm. “I see I have all of the Draaks’ attention.”
Displeased grumbles appear from over my shoulder at the same time I slam both palms onto the desk. “Where. Is. My. Mate?”
The giant—which are always the most cantankerous of creatures—growls back in a similar tone. “Where. Is. My. Orc?”
Narrowing my eyes to a glare precedes an unconscious surge of smoke from my nostrils.
“You have had company property for far too long, Draak.” His bushy, thick eyebrows slip upward. “Patience is no longer a virtue I nor my employers care to entertain. You have three hours to engage in a peaceful exchange or I will turn your recently bonded mate into the new head of security and train her to properly suck my cock during her downtime.”
Kill.
Without a doubt.
Unable to stop the shifting of my hands into claws results in me unintentionally carving the desk beneath my grasp.
“You may deliver our property to the Magitek Headquarters,” the giant casually commands. “A member of security will be waiting outside the gate to complete the exchange.”
“You.”
“You are in no position, Draak, to make any sort of demands from me.”
My mouth lowers to argue when the camera angles over his shoulder to where Cami is caged in a holding cell like her mother except bound and lifelessly slumped over in a chair as opposed to comfortably lounging on a cot. Unfathomable agony spreads like wildfire to every end of my frame while my claws anchor themselves into the shredded wood to assist in keeping me upright. Tears threaten to join the moment; however, when the view leaves her to show me the face that only has a couple more hours to live, enraged bellows are propelled from the lowest pit of my stomach, cracking the computer to the point of no further use.
“I’m charging you for that,” Griff gripes without hesitation forcing me to shut my eyes to maintain my composure as much as my restraint.
Burn.
Not…now.
Burn.
No. It won’t help get us our mate back any faster and that’s all that fucking matters right now.
“They kidnapped Cami?” Ana unexpectedly asks, worry so heavy that it drops my head forward.
“How?” Dae gingerly investigates.
“Because I let my fucking guard down,” I grumble as I force my claws to return to hands. “Because I am the worst fucking mate any creature could ever have.”
“That’s bloody true,” Griff concurs, redirecting my glare to him.
“No, he’s the worst fucking mate any creature could ever have,” Ana sassily informs, successfully shifting my stare from him to her. “And when they come by the estate to interview me for Snapped: Shifter Edition, I’mma make sure to mention that, so whatever poor being is wrongfully in water prison for murdering him has a better chance of appeal or whatever it’s called on this side The Fog.”