Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Before he could answer, one of his men came running towards them, and the anxious expression on his man’s face had Alejandro swiftly standing up. “What happened?” he asked right away.
“It’s the Princess, Your Highness. She saw someone across the street and took off after him.”
Alejandro suddenly had a bad premonition about the whole thing, and his voice was rough with ill-concealed worry as he demanded, “Who did she see?”
“I did not recognize the man, but he had a very noticeable scar on his face—-”
Alejandro remembered the last words of the vampire he and Calys had caught.
A scarred man, the vampire had said in description of the man who had hired him and the other fighters to kill Calys.
Fuck.
If something happened to Calys...
Ah, goddammit, why had he even bothered trying to lie to himself? Why did it have to take either of them being in mortal danger before he was forced to see the truth?
He loved her, and he would not stop loving her.
Alejandro looked at his man. “Which direction did they go?”
ALEJANDRO & CALYS
“Calys!”
The voice was distinctly Alejandro’s, and for a moment, it distracted her from her fight with the scarred man she had caught lurking in the shadows outside the club. It was a distraction that the scarred man used quickly to his advantage, managing to kick Calys away from him when she turned towards the voice.
Calys grunted in pain, but she managed to grab a hold of the man’s ankle as he tried to get up. He tried kicking her again, managing to land one on her head, but she didn’t let go, pulling him hard. She was using all her strength now, but so was he, making it clear to both of them that whatever he was – with his distorted features and disfigured wings – he definitely possessed the same strength as a Souri that had gone dark.
“Calys, goddammit!” It was Alejandro again, the words sounding like they were muttered between gnashed teeth. And then he was suddenly there beside her and the scarred man. With one swing, he had knocked the man to the ground. Calys immediately crawled up, but when she attempted to sit atop the man to keep him from escaping, Alejandro turned to her with a snarl.
“Okay, okay!” She immediately threw her hands up in submission.
Alejandro solved both their problems by kneeling down and squeezing the man’s throat in a chokehold. “Why are you after the Princess?”
But the scarred man only spat at them. “You will never get anything from me, dog.”
Alejandro’s fingers tightened around his neck. “I’ll ask you one last time—-”
“Don’t bother,” the disfigured creature snarled. “Even if you kill me, ten more will come after you. Her. All of you.” Even as his face began to change color with Alejandro choking him, he managed to let out a cackling laugh. “War is coming, and not a single one of you stand a chance of living.”
Alejandro broke his neck.
The man had died with a crazy smile on his face, and the sight of it made Calys feel ill. “You were right to kill him. He would never have given us an answer, and it was clear that he would never stop taking lives if we had allowed him to live.”
But Alejandro didn’t answer.
He was already walking away, leaving a stunned Calys behind him.
“Alejandro?”
But Alejandro didn’t stop walking.
She ran after him, managing to catch his sleeve. “Alejandro—-” She fell silent in shock when he spun around to face her, and she finally caught a glimpse of his livid expression.
“W-why are you still angry? I thought...” She swallowed. “I t-thought when you came after me, it was okay.”
“The fuck it’s okay,” Alejandro roared. “I will never be okay when you’re around. If I was any smarter, I would never see you again because I’m better off without you.”
Calys could only stare at Alejandro, unable to speak. Did he really mean it this time? Did he?
He raked a hand through his hair. “This just proves it. I can’t be your fucking consort.” When Calys didn’t speak, he demanded, “Did you hear what I just said?”
Calys couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He actually wanted an answer?
“Do you understand—-”
“Yes, I understand.” And she punched him right after, with all the strength her dark side possessed.
Alejandro’s head snapped to the side. “Are you insane? What the fuck are you trying to kill me for?”
“How could you even ask?” she cried out.
“Are you an idiot or what? I can’t be your consort and this – what happened right here – is proof of it. If I’m your consort, both of us will be trapped by our responsibilities. But if I remain your Cavaliere, I’ll be able to guard you and I’ll only be answerable to you. Just you and nobody else.”
The words came to Calys as if she was hearing it from a great distance, a part of her still finding it difficult to digest the fact that Alejandro was not refusing to be her consort because he no longer loved her.