Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 62782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
I sniff the air, trying to catch a scent but failing miserably because incubi shifters are incredible at masking themselves.
“There can be one kingdom instead of multiple,” Theb explains. “The power can belong to us and us alone.”
Hatred thrums through the bond. Remy’s fear has disappeared as his thirst for vengeance rears its ugly head. His fury is every bit as black as the fog that surrounds us. I sense him prowling away. For a moment, fear tugs at the bond as I worry he’s going to join them.
Remy’s laughter—a deep, rich, beautiful sound I’ll only hear in my head—rumbles through to me. Then the little asshole flashes me a mental middle finger.
He’ll never join them.
Ever.
We’re one now. Hell, maybe we always were. Maybe it was written in the cards long before Remy even took his first breath.
“You killed my brothers,” Cash hisses from someplace close. “For that, you’ll all die.”
“Cash,” Theb growls in warning.
“No,” Cash snaps. “I’m tired of the bullshit smoke and mirrors. It’s all a big fucking production to you, Father. Let’s kill them and get it over with. For good this time. Or can you manage that? Seems like you failed last time.”
“Enough!” Theb’s roar echoes through the trees, making Cash whimper.
I realize right then because of Theb’s need to be in control and the most powerful, he’s yet to let his son rise to be an Alpha. The thought electrifies me. Now that I know Cash’s weakness, I sniff it out.
Sure, he doesn’t smell like anything, but his bitterness at being kept at Beta status is potent and saturates the air. It’s also probably why his efforts to trick and persuade Remy didn’t work. I dart between trees, hunting down the piece of shit who put his mouth and body all over my mate.
Mine.
Cash lets out a surprised yelp when I emerge from the shadows in a full sprint. He tries to run from me, but I’m faster and more powerful—a motherfucking Alpha. I slam his body to the earth, pinning him beneath my weight. The incubi shifter attempts to shapeshift into something big and terrifying with bony wings, but I halt the shift in its tracks as my teeth clamp down on his throat. His howl is a gurgled sound of disbelief. Without remorse, I shred the muscle from his neck, yanking out flesh and bone and thick blood-filled veins. I spit out the mess and go for his face, crushing the bones between my razor-sharp fangs. The sounds coming from him are cracks and crunches and pops. No words. No pleas. Just the sound of death like music to my ears.
A howl pierces the air, shaking me from my task at hand.
Cash is gone.
The man—incubi shifter—who tried to take my mate is gone. Satisfaction thrums through me, lighting up the bond between me and my packmates with brilliant, glittery gold hues.
Someone has a hard-on for gore. Finnick.
Keep it up and no bacon for you. Rey.
Where’s Remy? Judd.
He’s gone. Ewan.
I charge toward where I sense them and whimper in frustration to see Remy’s not there. Panic floods through me, threatening to drown me, but when Remy pulses back assurances, I relax.
He’s got this.
He is the Alpha. My Alpha. My fearless fated mate. A boy turned into man turned into predator and protector. Mine. Mine. Mine.
Theb wants a show?
My little Remy with a little stolen darkness inside him is about to give him the show of his life.
Remy
I push the black fog away from me, sweeping it around in a circle to reveal a rain-soaked clearing. Standing in the center of it, hunched over with wings spread out, is The Beast. Or Theb East, as Cy says.
That night when it’d attacked my family, I’d shut down. Terror swallowed me whole. The thing tried to eat me alive and fuck away my life force.
It failed.
I’ve grown a lot since then.
I have fangs and claws now.
I can fucking fight back.
Theb’s dark chuckle is menacing and malevolent, making the fur on my neck stand up and coaxing a growl from my throat.
“The silent boy can growl,” Theb muses, turning his head to sneer at me. “But you’ll never be able to speak. I made sure of that.”
I remain still, watching his every move with sharp attention. A tail slithers out of his backside, swiping lazily at the air. This creature—an incubi shifter—killed my father. Murdered and raped my mother and sister. Tried to do the same to me.
“You’re nothing but a child.” Theb laughs again. “Or should I say, a little pup. You’re weak like your father was. I bet you’ll whimper like your sister did.” He growls. “Rest assured, King Thatcher, I will fuck the life right out of you this time.”
I remember the way his saliva dripped onto me. His sweat and musk and fur. The sounds he made. The feel of his tail as it curled around my ankle, wrenching my leg to the side. He’s the monster who haunts my dreams and lives on the pages of my journals with each rage-filled swipe of my pen across the paper.