Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 54305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 272(@200wpm)___ 217(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 272(@200wpm)___ 217(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
A Picture of You
Ronan paced.
He couldn’t possibly sit down.
How could this have happened? He was screwed. There was no way around it. He was just screwed. And because of his stupidity, he was going to hurt Aiden as well.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Look, we’ll figure it all out as soon as Winter gets here,” Ethan promised. Ronan was pretty sure the fledgling had said that at least once before, but the words weren’t permeating his brain. No, he was edging straight toward full-blown panic, and he wasn’t the type to panic. He was a thousand-year-old vampire. He’d survived wars and plagues and the birth of the Internet and microwaves. He could get through this.
His only concern was for Aiden. He couldn’t hurt Aiden. His mate was his everything. He’d waited a lifetime to finally hold Aiden in his arms. They’d enjoyed just a few short months together—this stupidity couldn’t destroy their chance at happiness.
Footsteps echoing along the hall had Ronan spinning to the partially open door for Ethan’s office. His heart stuttered and threatened to stop, fearful that it was Aiden. A relieved breath nearly exploded from him when Winter poked his head into the room followed by Fox. Aiden hadn’t expected to see the witch, but he should have. Fox was never too far from his mate.
Ronan cursed himself. He probably should have asked Winter to come alone. The fewer people who knew about this the better—but then, would Winter really keep a secret from his mate? Probably not.
“It’ll be okay. Fox can help us brainstorm,” Ethan said as if reading his mind. He hurried over to the door, waving Winter and Fox inside, and closing it behind them.
“What’s up?” Winter inquired, his gaze bouncing from Ethan to Ronan.
“We have a minor-ish emergency,” Ethan announced.
Fox’s eyebrows jumped up toward his hairline. “Marcus okay? What can we do?”
“It’s not Marcus,” Ethan replied with a smile.
Winter shook his head. “It can’t be Aiden. We just saw him in crossing the main hall with someone from the Montgomery clan.”
“It’s me. I fucked up,” Ronan admitted. He shoved both hands into his hair and pulled. How could he be so careless? He would never have reached such an old age if he’d lived so stupidly.
“I’ll be okay. Winter’s here. I bet he can totally fix this, and Aiden will never have to know,” Ethan comforted. The young vampire crossed to his desk and dropped back into the chair. He rolled it so that he could easily see around the double-monitor setup that dominated the desk.
“I wasn’t all that worried before, but now that I’m hearing we need to hide something from Aiden—”
“And probably Marcus,” Ethan added with a wince. “Just until it’s all taken care of. You know how fussy he gets. I don’t want to worry him.”
“Fussy?” Winter scoffed.
“I think the word you’re looking for is pissed. He gets really freaking pissed,” Fox corrected.
Ethan’s lips parted, seeming ready to argue, but the words never came out as the doorknob turned. They all froze as the door opened…only to reveal Bel followed by River.
“You’re right! They are hiding in Ethan’s office,” Bel declared.
“Never question my nose,” River said proudly, tapping the side of his nose with one finger.
“What’s going on? Is this a private meeting?” Bel asked, stepping inside.
Ronan groaned and dropped his face into his hand. The idea had been to just get Winter over to the house and come up with a solution. Now he’d gained Fox, Bel, and River. This was getting out of control.
“I have a feeling that it was supposed to be, but Ronan and Ethan have yet to tell us what’s going on,” Winter muttered. He lounged on the small sofa placed near the far wall opposite the desk. Fox was cuddled against him, his head resting on his lover’s shoulder.
“Oh! We’re sorry. We didn’t mean to intrude. We’ll leave so you can have your meeting.” Bel started to backpedal, bumping into his mate.
“No, stay,” Ronan grumbled, dropping his hand to his side. “You might be able to help.”
“True. Bel is a sneaky scientist. He might have a great way to destroy the evidence,” Ethan commented, a note of excitement entering his voice. That almost earned another groan from Ronan. Destroying evidence. There shouldn’t be evidence in the first place. He knew better than this.
“There’s evidence now?” Winter mumbled. “This isn’t good.”
Bel and River fully entered the room and closed the door behind them. Bel perched on the edge of Ethan’s desk and automatically pulled River between his legs, wrapping his arms loosely around the man’s waist. “What’s going on? How can we help?”
“We’re still waiting to hear,” Fox replied. “But we’re getting the impression that Ronan fucked up and it could potentially hurt Aiden.”
Yeah, that pretty well summed it up.
“Oh, no!” Bel gasped.
“What are you doing here anyway?” Winter demanded. “Ethan called me.”