Series: The Un Series by Izzy Sweet
Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 109192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 546(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 546(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
All the threads of my existence that make me who I am fray, ready to snap…
Then the pain is suddenly gone, pouring out of me like a raging flood released from a dam.
My eyes fly open, and I see Raphael on his knees in front of me. One pale hand clenched in a fist at his side, the other holds my arm in a death grip.
Head thrown back, face twisted in misery, the veins in his neck bulge and his body spasms as if he’s being electrocuted.
Knowing I’m somehow causing his suffering, I try to yank my arm out of his hold, but his fingers only tighten in determination.
Unable to stop what’s happening to him, I watch helplessly as he jerks and spasms for what feels like an eternity.
Tears pour down my cheeks as I watch and hope his pain stops.
But tears have never been enough to stop any of the horrors I’ve endured.
“Is this…” Raphael groans when the trembling finally begins to slow to involuntary twitches.
Slowly peeling his eyes open, he looks at me with bloody tears trickling down his pale cheeks. “Is this what you have walled up inside?”
Ripping my arm out of his weakened grip, I clutch it close to my chest.
Gaze dropping to my arm, he frowns. “Did I hurt you?”
Did he hurt me? Is this man serious?
All that supernatural grace he naturally moves with is gone as he sits up straighter and reaches for me.
Head buzzing, ears ringing as if I’m in shock, I don’t try to stop him when he grabs me by the shoulders and pulls me closer.
“Alena, talk to me,” he pleads. “What was that?”
I press my lips together and resist the urge to shove him off. Afraid I’ll hurt him more.
I may despise him for everything he’s done, but I absolutely don’t want to hurt him.
He’s the last person I want to hurt.
“Alena…” he drawls out with a growl, refusing to let the matter go.
Figuring it’s the least I can do after what we he just went through for me, I answer, “I’m not sure, but I think it’s everything I don’t want to feel.”
“Everything you don’t want to feel?” he repeats in horror and disbelief.
Hating the look on his face and the bloody tears dripping down his cheeks, I snap defensively, “How else was I supposed to survive?”
His fingers squeeze around my shoulders, as if he’s both surprised and concerned by my answer. “How long have you been doing this?”
Glancing at my wall, I see the cracks growing even wider. Is the entire thing going to crumble down?
Shaking me gently, he forces me to focus back on him.
“I don’t know!” I answer in frustration, just as confused by this situation. “Ten years?”
He stills, doing that freaky thing where he becomes a statue. And I have no idea what he’s feeling or thinking.
Until I dare to ask, “Can you help me fix it?”
If he wants to force himself inside me and violate my dreams, he might as well make himself useful.
His eyes flash, becoming a bright, burning red. “No.”
“Why not?” I demand.
I may not know where the wall came from or what’s exactly behind it, but there’s one thing I’m sure of.
I need it to live.
He’s the one causing the cracks, I know it. He’s damaged the wall by pushing his way in.
Glaring so hard at my wall, I’m afraid he’s going to damage it even more, he growls, “Because you can’t go on living like this.”
“Did you not hear me?” I growl right back, my irritation skyrocketing. “The wall is the only thing keeping me breathing.”
Again, somehow, I know this as an undeniable fact.
“You no longer need it,” he tries to insist. “You have me now.”
At my limit, I shove his hands off me and snap, “You are not the answer to all my problems!”
Getting to my feet, I start to angrily stomp away from him.
But using that damn vampire speed of his, he’s on me before I can take more than a single step.
Grabbing me from behind, he jerks me into him and lowers his mouth to my ear. “Want to bet?
An involuntary shiver travels down my spine and the memory of kissing him flashes inside my mind, unbidden.
“Bet what?” I try to snap back, but it comes out sounding breathless.
“I can fix it all,” he purrs into my ear. “All the pain. All the misery you suffer...”
Twisting me around in his arms, he bends me back and leans over me. “I can make it all go away.”
Pressing his face closer to my face, his dark hair falls forward, framing his sharp cheeks.
He stares deep into my eyes.
Holding me.
Trapping me.
“I can fill the rest of your life with endless pleasures,” he says huskily, as if he knows a secret I don’t know yet.
I want to scoff and accuse him of being too full of himself for his own good.