Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 78069 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78069 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“I know. I will only be a moment. However, I needed to come see you.”
Macauley swallowed, his heart racing. “Why?”
“You were speaking privately with your brother after the meeting, so I could not…”
“Yes, you could have.” Macauley threw his legs over the side of the bed. “I think we do need to speak.”
Adres was stock-still for a moment before he seemed to snap himself out of his haze. “I came to warn you.”
“About what?” Macauley scented the air but smelled nothing, causing an angry growl to tear from his throat. “You are blocking me.”
“It is a lifelong habit, young wolf. It was not intentional.”
This time when Macauley inhaled, he caught the scent of leather and a hint of something sweet. Just that small taste of Adres’s true nature made his head spin, along with the rest of the room. Macauley crowded in close, though he didn’t feel himself moving, and Adres didn’t retreat. “I meant to tell you before you were whisked away from the meeting by Bell…”
“Tell me what,” Adres breathed.
“I wanted to tell you… thank you. Thank you for saving me tonight. I was alone out there, and if my brothers had come, or my betas… they would’ve…”
“Killed you all.” Adres’s tone turned gravelly as he glanced away. “I do not know what I would have done.”
“What made you bring me that man’s head?”
“I need to go.” Adres frowned as he turned towards the bedroom door.
“It was something else driving you tonight, wasn’t it?” Macauley closed the distance Adres had put between them. He ran the back of his palm over the leather buckles of Adres’s armor. “You can’t explain it. And it’s making you mad.”
Adres exhaled slowly, then placed his hand over Macauley’s where it rested in the center of his chest. “No, I can’t explain the peace I feel when you touch me. And until I do… I want you to stay out of the woods.”
“I do not get told where I can and can’t go on my own land.”
Adres’s scent changed to something spicy and strangling. His eyes flashed with a sharp white light before they returned to black. Their chests were pressed against each other, and Adres’s cool breath ghosted over his chin as he repeated his order. “I said to stay out of the woods until I secure your territory, Macauley.” Adres’s lips curled into an intimidating snarl, but all Macauley felt was amazement. “My word is final.”
Adres was gone before Macauley could blink, leaving him feeling chilled and alone. His wolf howled long and sad inside his chest, urging him to follow, but all he could do was flop back onto his mattress and stare at his ceiling, shaking his head in disbelief.
No other individual on the Mother’s green earth could speak to him in such a way that would evoke such emotion. Adres’s words had ignited a kind of lust and hunger that he’d never felt before. Not only his beast, but his entire being hollered at once…
Mate!
Adres had paced back and forth across the lush carpet in his new living quarters so much that it was practically threadbare. He lived in a nice cabin that was two and a half miles away from the main compound in the heavily shaded area of Justice’s territory.
Two miles too far away from the young wolf.
King Bentley had arranged for his personal guard, which included the Legion Special Forces and one hundred soldiers… and now a horseman, to live in the luxurious barracks that had more amenities than a four-star hotel. The officers’ homes were set up several yards away from the barracks, one cabin occupied by the Lord Protector and the other by him. It was a comfortable enough residence, but it was nothing compared to his Romanian home nestled within the Apuseni Mountains, but it would suffice.
He should try to close his eyes and slumber after tonight’s events, but he was still quite restless. He’d barely fed since he’d arrived last week, and as he sat at the foot of the plush bed, he realized his body was weary, but it was his mind that would not stop. He rubbed his bare chest, his fingertips grazing over ugly, puckered flesh. He had so many scars and blemishes he wondered how he had let his foolish head conclude that he may have found his cherished. Adres was hideous inside and out.
But he had wanted the beautiful wolf to see more.
Adres got beneath the gray silk sheets and pulled them up to his waist. The soft material felt nice on his legs, but he kept imagining what the thick ivory covers on Macauley’s bed felt like. He was so handsome and innocent while he’d slept.
Adres had entered Macauley’s warm home with every intention on telling him goodbye, but the closer he got to his overwhelming scent, to his bedroom, the more his mind screamed that he was doing the wrong thing. His body was telling him to run in the other direction and get as far away from this place as possible, but the emptiness in his heart propelled him forward. Until the only instinct he felt was to protect him at all costs. He’d stood over Macauley while he rested peacefully, his animal sensing no alarm, allowing him the few stolen moments to look his fill before he opened his eyes.