Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 67138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
“Well, I was busy watching my mate run away from me and try to almost kill herself at the time, but I could have sworn the same stench was heavy in the air at the diner—it was just smothered under the smell of oil and gasoline.”
“Maybe you’re wrong,” Leo responds, and I see the hopeful look on his face, but I immediately shake my head no.
“I worried I was, but the look on Oracle’s face says I’m not.”
All our gazes center on Oracle. He stares back and shrugs. “We all knew he would come back,” he says, his tone calm and matter of fact.
“No. No, we did not,” Leo growls. “Are you telling me that you knew this psycho has been circling us and didn’t bother letting us know?”
“I didn’t know. I don’t go out, remember? I just expected it. Didn’t you? Didn’t we all?” Oracle responds and the bastard yawns.
Oracle wears a large black robe. He refuses to wear anything else. It has a hood and looks big enough to fit three of us at once. I think it leads to the illusion that he floats across the floor instead of walking. It also gives him an otherworldly feel—which I suppose we are.
“What are we going to do?” Sean asks as Oracle turns back around.
“We’re going to bring Grace here so that she is under our protection and we’re going to hope the steps we’ve taken to secure the compound are enough,” Oracle says, turning to leave.
“What if she doesn’t want to live here? She didn’t like me when she had her memory, you know,” I growl.
“Then continue lying to her and convince her she loves you,” he says waving his hand like that’s so easy.
Shit…
9
#7
(STARK)
“I can’t believe Grace lives here. These people didn’t give a shit about her,” I growl loading the last of her clothes—and there wasn’t that much. In fact, Grace Miller has very little at this place.
I got her address from her driver’s license. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I know that I can’t let her go back on her own—not with Scar out there somewhere. So, I hatched a plan. Ettie called it a stupid plan, but Leo understands. He has his mate. He even confided he’d do exactly the same thing. Of course, he said that when Ettie was nowhere around.
In any event, I’m taking Grace’s things home and setting her up in my apartment at the compound. She thinks we’re engaged. That wasn’t completely my fault. After speaking with Oracle about catching Scar’s scent, I did the only thing I could. I’m going to convince Grace that we live together. That way, I can keep an eye on her and make sure she heals completely. I can also do my best to convince her that we are made to be together. It seems perfectly logical.
I can only hope that I can make her fall in love with me before she gets her memory back. As plans go, I realize it’s shit, and Ettie doesn’t let me forget that. Unfortunately, that’s all I got.
“Well, in your case, that’s a good thing,” Sean says, and I grumble under my breath, but he’s right. If her roommates cared, they sure as hell wouldn’t have let me in so easily or let me collect her stuff without question. In fact, they seemed relieved that Grace was leaving.
“Yeah, I guess so,” I admit, grudgingly. I slam the hatch of the SUV once the last box is secured. I turn to look at Sean and sigh. “I don’t know how I’m going to pull this off,” I admit.
“You could always confess that you don’t know her and that you’re the reason a lunatic is hunting her down to breed her like a lab rat until she dies,” he suggests.
“Fucking asshole. I know I’m stuck. I just wish I could tell her the truth.”
“You could still do that, too. I’d just do it in a gentler way than I mentioned before.”
“If I tell her that and actually convince her it’s true, she’ll run to the other side of the country.”
“Maybe that’s not such a bad thing, Stark. What kind of relationship can you have with a woman you’re lying to.”
“I won’t always have to lie to her. Eventually, I plan to tell her the truth.”
“Uh huh, sure,” he mocks.
“I will. I just need time to make her understand.”
“Understand that everyone around her is lying? I don’t think time will make a bit of difference, Stark.”
“Will you stop? I just need time to convince her that we are mates. Then, it won’t matter. She will see that I’m doing all of this because I love and care about her. I just want to make sure she’s safe.”
“How can you love her? You don’t even know her. She’s going to run away and that’s if you’re lucky. She’s liable to report you to the police. You’ll bring hell down on all of us,” Sean huffs.