Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 76282 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76282 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Justice looked down at Wick’s tired eyes. “His eyes are blue.”
“Only white tigers have them.” She laughed lightly and the sound made Justice’s chest loosen. “You should know. You were always fascinated with them. Remember?”
“Yes, I do. They’re fearless alphas.” Justice smiled for the first time in days.
“Your animals will coexist peacefully,” she assured Justice, but he could already feel that. “Wick’s beast wants to protect you, not challenge you.”
“I will protect him.” Justice clenched one fist while he comforted his mate with his other hand.
There was a long period of silence, only the skittering of small game and the sounds of nature. The Mother didn’t vanish, it seemed there was more she needed to say but wasn’t sure how.
Justice was about to speak again but stopped suddenly when Wick’s head bounded up from his relaxed position. He released a menacing growl as he got on four legs, looking further up the mountain where the Mother no longer stood.
“Do you hear that?” Wick sent to him.
“I don’t hear any—”
His mate’s deafening roar shook the ground beneath his feet. Justice shifted as the sound of nervous breathing reached him right before the stench of chemicals. Threat. Mate. Justice didn’t have the chance to charge first after the lone figure trying to camouflage himself in with the foliage, because his mate darted by him in a blur of white and black fur. His strong back muscles moved in sinewy precision, his huge paws eating up the distance. There was no more stumbling, his mate was moving on the tiger’s natural instinct and headfirst into combat. Justice howled, not liking his mate charging into danger.
The human intruder was on his feet and running a couple hundred yards away. He wore a hunting jumpsuit like he was scoping for deer, but when he turned back, his rifle was pointed at Justice. He fired once out of fear, and a dart – not a bullet – sliced through the air and lodged in the tree, missing Justice by inches. The human ran as fast as he could but of course he was no match for either of them. Justice saw Wick leap up into the trees and disappear. The huge tree canopy was thick with vines, twisted branches, and thick leaves to provide perfect cover. His mate was moving through the air like he wasn’t a hulking cat, leaping off surfaces before his paws hardly touched down. Justice no longer had to use their link to know exactly where his mate was.
Justice growled a warning. He was close enough to the human to jump and land on his back, but Wick dropped down out the trees, his canines bared and claws extended. He knocked the man to the ground, just as Justice went in for the capture. Their timing was flawless. Justice sunk his teeth into the human’s neck, but he didn’t have a chance to growl his warning, the man and his rifle vanished into the air. Justice shifted, looking around. What the hell just happened? Where’d he go?
“Justice, what—?”
“I don’t know, Wick.”
“That was the two of you working together on natural instinct alone. Imagine the force you’ll be when you’ve connected.”
Justice sighed and sank down to the dirt next to his mate. Did the Mother really just rig up a mock battle? She almost gave him a heart attack. He was not even close to ready to fight beside his mate yet. He didn’t feel an ounce of fear or doubt when they’d been in the thick of it – Justice felt even braver to be honest. But that wasn’t the point.
“This is your real enemy.” She waved her hand and the dart appeared in Justice’s palm. “Unite my children. All of them. Protect them.”
Justice watched her light fade away, leaving them in darkness. The moon was high in the sky and the stars were radiant, but not much could get through the thick halo of leaves and branches above them. Wick made another chuffing noise, his heavy head lying in the soft soil beneath them. Justice gazed down at his wonderful mate. A vampire king that could shift into one of the most amazing creatures Justice had ever studied. She said they’d ruled together in another life. He didn’t know why he couldn’t remember. Maybe he wasn’t supposed to. While he held the sleeping animal, contemplating the rest of his life, a loud, rumbling snore broke the peacefulness. It was so abrupt and booming it startled him out of his musings. Justice chuckled, stroking the thick ruff of fur around Wick’s neck.
He waited for Wick to slowly crack open one eye. “Hey. You ready to shift back?”
Wick snorted and turned away. “No. I’m comfortable like this.”
Oh no. Justice had seen this before. Everything felt so exceptional and brilliant when you shifted that first time that sometimes you didn’t want to go back. Life could seem easier as an animal.