Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Blackjack folded his arms. “I suppose we should be grateful that we usually get enough of a warning that we can lock ourselves away before we hurt anyone. But I ain’t feeling grateful, I’m feeling pissed that this is our reality.”
Viper narrowed his eyes. “Do you regret falling?”
Blackjack seemed surprised by the question. “Shit, no. I just hate that we were lumbered with this curse. We thought we could handle it, thought we understood how it would be, thought we were prepared.”
“I don’t think you can really prepare for this life,” hedged Prophet. “Do you ever regret making the decision to fall, V?”
“No. It was chipping away at everything that made me who I am; chipping away at every bit of my entity’s innocence. I was on my way to becoming like Ophaniel when I found Ella. She saved me. And if I hadn’t fallen, I wouldn’t be able to make her fully mine.” Viper would pay any price to keep her at his side.
“I don’t have any regrets,” said Sting, idly swinging one fist into his open palm. “This curse just makes me resent the Uppers even more. The last thing I’m itching to do is go back up there.”
Jester nodded with a grunt. “We had no life before. Not really. Our choices weren’t our own. Individuality was discouraged. We were numbers within a legion, not people.”
“Any of our other brothers ever mention regrets?” Viper asked no one in particular.
“Nah,” replied Prophet. “Not now that they’ve had a taste of freedom.”
Viper studied him closely. “And you?”
“I don’t wish I hadn’t fallen. But I do wish it hadn’t come to that; I wish life was different in the upper realm.” Prophet teleported out of the basement.
“He’s lying,” Jester stated.
Darko sighed. “You think everyone is either lying or planning to lie to you.”
Jester arched a brow. “You reckon I’m wrong?”
“No, Prophet definitely lied. I’m just saying, you expect it of everyone.”
“Well, if people didn’t bullshit me so often, I wouldn’t.”
Razor materialized, his gaze flying straight to the steel door that was still taking a serious beating. “I heard that Merchant had to be contained.”
“The bloodlust hit him quickly,” Sting told him. “He went from laughing at a joke to almost choking on his own breath while the red haze took over. We managed to restrain him before he could hurt anyone.”
Razor twisted his mouth. “He didn’t seem himself yesterday. I asked if something was wrong; he said no.”
Darko frowned. “He would have said if he’d felt bloodlust creeping up on him, so it must have been something else bothering him.”
“Or he lied,” Jester put in, wrenching a sigh out of Darko.
Razor turned to fully face Viper. “Just wanted to let you know that Ella’s at the dive bar. She’s alone.”
A spark of pleasure coursed through Viper. She’d come to him. Finally.
He dug out his cell, intending to tell her that he was on his way. It was only then he saw that she’d texted him—he hadn’t heard the beeping of his phone over all the noise.
Your bar’s pretty busy tonight.
Yeah, that was more or less an invitation right there. He replied: I’d better come see for myself just how busy.
Darko’s brow pinched. “I thought you wanted her to meet you at the Red Rooms.”
“I asked her to,” said Viper, pocketing his phone. “This is her coming to me on her own terms, and wanting me to meet her in the middle.”
“It has to have killed you to stay away the past week,” Sting commented.
It had, but he’d needed her to make the informed decision to allow him into her life. He could have pushed his way into it by seducing her—she would have let him, because then she wouldn’t have had to take any responsibility for having a fallen angel in her bed.
“Playing the waiting game clearly worked,” said Darko. “Bet you’re glad it’s over.”
“Fucking ecstatic,” said Viper, a sense of purposeful determination filling him. Now he could go get his woman.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Ella felt him before she saw him. Something about Viper’s presence made the air feel charged. A little electric.
Chewing on one of her fries, she instinctively looked to her right. He was stalking toward her table, his expression determined. The gorgeous, sensual, badass sight of him made her hormones tingle in excitement. Her body instantly responded to all that natural authority and raw sexuality.
He’d gotten here sooner than she’d expected. Either he had already been at the Underground when he’d texted her, or he had an ability that allowed him to travel fast.
Or … maybe he had wings, though she doubted it. They would have been clipped from the fall.
Halting before her table, he inclined his head. “Ella,” he said, his tone humming with a note of sexual invitation.
“Viper,” she greeted.
“You came. Sort of,” he said, a tiny upward lift to his mouth.