Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 110080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
Silent, he slid his attention to Blythe. A blink, blink followed a languid perusing of her see-through nightgown. As if he couldn’t believe what he’d seen, he did it again. Warmth suffused his irises. A lot of it. A telling reaction.
He liked the look of her. Good. Knowledge to use against him.
Finally the supposedly savvy warrior noticed the dagger poised at her neck, the ruby above her sternum, and the chains constraining her wrists. Flickers of red filled his golden irises.
Didn’t want anyone else being responsible for her torment?
“Love those jumping tats...” With a dreamy sigh, a shifter glided from the formation, sashaying toward Roux. “Gonna get me a closer look.” But she stopped and yelled in agony midway.
The others shouted commands to return.
Falling to her knees, grunting and moaning, the shifter clawed at her face. Blood streamed from her eyes, nose, and ears. Wasn’t long before she toppled the rest of the way, going still and quiet. Dead?
The others quieted, too. Were they reeling with confusion like Blythe? What just happened?
“What did you do to her?” the other shifter snarled.
He ignored the female, his focus unwavering on Blythe. “You are unharmed?”
“I’m going to carve you open from nose to navel and pluck out your organs with my teeth,” she purred at him. “I’ll bypass your record for sure.”
The zipper of his leathers pulled taut. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
Whoa, whoa, whoa. There was liking the look of her, and then there was getting turned on by her threats. One she could use to her advantage; the other she wouldn’t tolerate. He shouldn’t be allowed to enjoy a moment of his defeat.
A vampire noticed his reaction, too, and shouted, “I’m going to use you as a pin cushion for my swords.” Her shoulders rolled in after his zipper retracted. “That didn’t do it for you?”
Okay. All right. His erection must have been a delayed reaction to the bounty of femininity before him, not some War of the Roses fetish.
Unfazed, he shifted his gaze to Sheena. “Release my harphantom.” The words emerged calm, pleasant even, but there was no mistaking his note of command.
Uh, his harphantom? Blythe bared her teeth at him. “Not yours.”
“I’ll keep her, thanks. Here is what’s gonna happen,” Sheena announced. “You kill any more of my soldiers, and I will slice through her trachea. You attack us, and I will slice through her trachea. You drop to your knees and vow to do whatever I ask, or yes, I will slice through her trachea. Questions? Comments?”
“Go ahead and slice,” he grated. “I’ve seen ordinary phantoms recover from far worse. She’ll heal, I’ll make sure of it, and you’ll die.”
Glaring at him, Blythe licked her teeth. “I don’t need your help to heal.”
“As if you’ll be allowed to heal.” The queen kissed her cheek before stroking the tip of the dagger over the ruby. “You see the jewel embedded in your female’s skin? It came courtesy of a wraith. Her strength is being drained as we speak, her ability to recuperate supernaturally suspended. She will die a mortal’s death, and not even a warrior like you can bring her back. But I have a way to revive her.”
“I’m not his female,” Blythe snarled. Harpies received one consort in a lifetime. No more, no less. She wouldn’t claim Roux in any way, shape, or form.
“Perhaps I have the means to cure her, perhaps I don’t. Yet,” Roux said to Sheena, acting as if the bound harpy he strove to “protect” hadn’t spoken. “Either way, your guards will die before you find out. You, I’ll save to kill later.”
With her free hand, the Amazon fanned her cheeks. “Anyone ever tell you a battlefield isn’t the place for sexy talk?”
His lids slitted. “You make light because you do not understand with whom you deal. My name is Roux Pyroesis, and I am an Astra Planeta. Many refer to me as the Crazed One. Right now the harphantom is the only thing standing between you and the destruction of this entire realm. Harm her at your peril.”
“Oh. I see what’s going on here.” Sheena tsk-tsked. “You make light because you believe we should fear you. You’re so big, bad, and mad, after all. But soldier, we defeated the dragons who once ruled this world. You are nothing but a tasty meat stick.”
He dropped a backpack at his feet and unsheathed two short swords, then motioned the females over with a nod of his chin. “Know this. If the harpy is injured, I will ensure your end becomes infinitely more humiliating than currently planned.”
Being defended by the Astra was even worse than being restrained by the Amazon. Blythe’s every nerve sang with resentment.
“You just made your next mistake.” Sheena gave another tsk-tsk. “You consider my boast empty. Allow me to teach you a difficult truth, Astra. I say what I mean and mean what I say.” She bent her head, kissed Blythe’s cheek—and struck, slamming the blade through her windpipe, exactly as promised.