Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
“Is she okay?” I grated through the clawing pain.
Charleigh’s hands were much surer than mine, going to her wrist to check her pulse and then brushing her hair back so she could inspect the wound.
“She was knocked out. The cut is probably less of an issue than the concussion she likely has.”
Raven moaned, and I nearly wept with the surge of relief that slammed me.
She blinked those inky eyes at me in confusion.
“Baby.” It gushed out of me, then I turned to Charleigh, my voice urgent. “Stay with her. Need to find this asshole.”
I jumped to my feet and started pushing back through the crowd. The bastard had fled in the direction that he’d come from, disappearing around the corner of the building.
Motherfucker was dead.
Bloodlust reeled through my being, violence twitching in my hands.
I ran that way, my boots thundering against the sidewalk as I followed the same path he’d taken. My heart beat a manic rate, so fuckin’ heavy that I could hear the thud of it in my ears. A tempo that screamed that I had to find this piece of shit. End the threat that had been made.
I made it to a T where the alley met the backside of the buildings, a long chain-link fence boxing the area in.
My attention darted from one direction to the other, trying to discern which way this pussy might have gone.
A forest rose high beyond the fence.
Monster had left no trace, no indication of which way he’d went.
The alleys were basically empty except for a few cars parked at odd angles behind the back entrances to the buildings.
There was no movement.
No sign that he’d escaped down either direction.
Frustration blustered. I couldn’t give up. I ran for the fence that was about seven-feet high, and I jumped up and hauled myself over the top.
I dropped to my feet on the other side. My attention raced, delving through the thick foliage and leaves, looking for any suggestion that someone had come this way.
I could see that the wild grasses had been freshly trampled, and I took off, following the same path. My breaths grew heavy and harsh as I raced through the woods, ducking and diving beneath the branches, smacking the ones that whipped into my face out of the way.
A frantic desperation lit inside me.
The outright need to find who would dare harm Raven.
The trail curved right, and I increased my pace as I wound around a giant tree. Then I skidded to a stop when I found the tracks had shifted.
Dirt bike tracks.
My hands fell to my knees as I bent in two.
Heaving for air.
“Fuck,” I spat, whirling around like I was going to catch the motherfucker, all while knowing he was already long gone.
“Goddamn it.”
Gulping for oxygen, I turned around and ran back through the woods, no chance of catching up to him.
The aggression riding my being didn’t abate as I made it back to the fence and threw myself over it.
The frenzy still buzzed through me in electric shocks as I flew around the building to where a crush of people were huddled around Raven.
It looked like every person on the block had piled out of the restaurants and stores and circled her.
I shoved back through, and I nearly crumpled in a ball when those big raven eyes blinked up at me. Arrows that impaled. They dropped me straight to my knees, and I took her face in my hands. “Fuck, Raven, are you okay?”
She nodded against my palms. “I think so.”
“I’m so sorry. So fuckin’ sorry I let him get to you.” Guilt ate up my insides.
“It isn’t your fault.”
“Should’ve been nearby. Right next to you.”
Only my fiery little vixen would scoff in a situation like this. “I’m the one who told you I wanted some privacy with Charleigh.”
“Yeah, well I shouldn’t have given it to you when I knew someone was after you,” I murmured quiet enough that the spectators wouldn’t be able to hear.
She looked at me, the question clear. My head barely shook, a silent confession that I’d failed her in that, too.
Bastard had gotten away, and I wasn’t any closer to having an idea of who it was.
“It seems like maybe it wasn’t as bad as it looked,” Charleigh cut in, no doubt trying to assuage the regret that flayed me wide. “But we do need to get her in to see the doctor to get her checked out to make sure.”
It was right then that the blare of sirens whirred in the distance.
Dread sank to the pit of my stomach. Someone had called 9-1-1.
But why wouldn’t they?
They were only doing what was right.
Helping.
They didn’t have the first clue that this all had to remain under wraps, which really pissed me off, too, the fact that Raven was trapped in this life that put a target on her head.