Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 72056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
“No problem. I’ll be happy to administer it.”
Since I can’t recall my last booster, she’s no doubt right. What’s one more poke? I’ve been kicked and prodded and everything else in the last several days.
“Sure, why not?”
“Perfect. I’ll be right back.”
She returns and gives me a quick poke in my upper arm. I don’t even feel it.
“You’re all set,” she says. “Dr. Lewis will be in shortly.”
Dr. Lewis comes in a few minutes later, gives me a cursory exam, and then orders some blood work.
Great. Just great.
I work in an ER. I know how slow the lab is in the middle of the night in a non-emergent situation. Since I’m not bleeding and not unconscious, this isn’t an emergency as far as they’re concerned.
Now…the waiting game. I wish I’d brought those file folders with me. I can understand why my father would keep a file on Rogan, but why does he have a file on me? And why was it right next to the file on Rogan?
And Rogan…
My love. My wolf.
Where is he? Surely he’d have come for me by now if he could.
Icicles pick at the back of my neck, and the sharp pain lances through my lower abdomen once more.
He’ll jump through all kinds of hoops to get to you.
My father was right.
But Rogan’s not jumping now.
Has he forsaken me?
“No,” I say out loud.
If he hasn’t come for me, it’s because he can’t.
And that is more frightening than anything—even the unexplained sharp pain in my gut.
I should have some sense of him. Shouldn’t I? Isn’t that what fated mates are? Except I’m not wolf. How did this even happen?
How could an alpha wolf be fated to mate with a vampire and human hybrid? So many times I’ve asked this question, and still I have no answers that make any kind of sense.
I jerk when a phlebotomist wearing green scrubs peeks through the curtain into my exam area. “Ms. Bates?”
“Yeah, that’s me.”
“I’m Jennifer. I’m here to take your blood for your labs.”
I hold out my arm. “You’re welcome to it.”
Jennifer smiles. “You have great veins.”
“That’s because I’m naturally pale.”
And half vampire.
Our blood—as well as wolf’s blood—tests the same as human blood, so no problem there. I don’t know about demon blood. Hell, do demons even have blood?
“We do, actually.” Jennifer meets my gaze, her brown eyes tinged with a ring of red.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I say.
“I’m just here to do a job, Ms. Bates.”
“Then stop reading my thoughts. Demons aren’t supposed to be able to do that. Are they?”
“Most can’t. I left my people because I could read their thoughts.”
“And you found out how evil they all are?”
She chuckles. “Good. Evil. You can’t have one without the other.”
“True enough,” I say. “So watch your back. Take my blood and run the tests the doctor ordered. And don’t give me any shit.”
“We’re everywhere, Ms. Bates,” she says. “We just want to coexist peacefully.”
“Peacefully? You’re not aware, then, that your people are fighting in the ether?”
Her eyes widen, and the red turns back to brown. “What? What the hell is the ether?”
“It’s some kind of parallel world that exists on the same plane as ours.” Then I let out a laugh. “Hell, that’s just my own take on it. I don’t know what the fuck it actually is.”
“I’ve never heard of it. And I left my people, so they can fight all they want. It’s not my problem.” She ties the rubber around my upper arm. “Make a fist, please.”
“So how many demons can read thoughts like you?”
“Very few, like I said.”
“So you got lucky.”
“If you want to call it that. It can be a pain in the ass. It’s hard to concentrate when I’m around others.” She pierces me with the needle.
I don’t feel it.
“Really good veins,” she says again.
She’s waiting for me to tell her who—or what—I am. I keep my thoughts blank. I’m not volunteering any information. Instead, I watch the dark red of my blood as it drains out of me and into the clear tube.
She removes the needle, glances at my chart, and then her jaw drops.
“Oh my God. You’re Hannah Bates.”
“Uh…yeah. You saw my chart.”
“You’re the—” She looks over her shoulder and then lowers her voice. “You’re the stepdaughter of the demon king.”
“Unfortunately,” I say.
“I’ll run these labs right away.” She heads out in a flash.
Really? Well, I’ll cop to being the evil bastard’s stepdaughter if it’ll get me out of here more quickly.
So now?
I fucking wait.
Victor, where are you?
63
I’m numb.
So very numb. Surprised. Even a little happy. And numb.
I arrive back at my place and look for something—anything—that seems familiar to me.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
This is no longer home.
Home is where Rogan is…and right now? I don’t even know if he’s alive.
We’re mates, right? If he were truly gone, I’d feel it. Right?
“I don’t fucking know,” I say out loud.