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)
What has terrified me every day since.
What I’ve been fighting and raging against.
The reason it hurt so bad when Raphael called me tainted and ran away.
Exhaling the breath, my fingers tighten in his hair as I open my eyes and whisper, “I love you, too.”
FIFTEEN
ALENA
Raphael stills as if he’s paused himself in time. Every part of him motionless.
Nothing flows through the bond, his side closed off, and I begin to worry something is wrong until he pulls back enough to peer into my eyes.
“Say it again,” he pleads softly, his eyes begging me.
This feeling is still so terrifying, I find myself taking yet another deep breath to steady myself before I admit, “I love you.”
I have loved him for years and years.
Ever since I first laid eyes on him as a child.
But I buried that love deep in the tainted soil of my heart, hiding it from myself. Afraid it would make me weaker.
Afraid it would make every day harder.
How could I survive what I survived knowing someone out there loved me?
Someone who didn’t even know I existed yet.
And was he real? Or was he a trick?
A cruel trick to give me hope so they could break it?
“Damn the Order,” Raphael curses. “Damn them all!”
I push the memory of waking up in his arms through the bond. How afraid I was. Not simply because he was a vampire, but because I remembered his face.
Remembered his words.
And what I felt for him when I first laid eyes on him.
A love greater than any other love I had ever felt.
Tears begin to spill from my eyes. I’ve finally given up all my secrets, and while it should be a relief, there is pain in being so exposed.
So vulnerable.
My strength has always been an act, a façade, to protect myself, and now he knows.
Knows all my secrets.
Knows I’ve always been a weak, broken soul…
“No, my love,” he says firmly. “Nothing about you is weak.”
He pushes his lips hard against mine, tasting my bloody tears. “And you were never broken. Only incomplete.”
Kissing me again, he murmurs against my lips, “Now you have me to make you whole.”
A sob spills from my mouth, and as if he’s suddenly become frenzied by my distress, he grabs my ruined dress. Tearing it open, he wraps me up in his arms and presses his skin against my skin.
Holding me tight to his chest, smashing my breasts against him, our love clashes against each other in the bond.
His always strong and unwavering.
Mine still afraid and unsure…
But beginning to bend to his will.
When my distress finally calms, I mumble in a rush, “I still don’t understand what happened when I went outside. The sun didn’t hurt me when it touched my skin, so I thought I was safe. I swear. Otherwise, I would have stayed inside.”
I need him to understand my actions.
Need him to understand I wasn’t trying to run away from him.
I want him, and I want to be with him.
Raphael sighs against my ear. “The sun did hurt you, but you didn’t feel it.”
I pull back enough to search his eyes. “What do you mean?”
His gaze immediately slides away, as if he’s afraid to meet mine. “I think it’s another one of your powers.”
“Powers?” I ask, even more confused now.
“All vampires have powers unique to them. Most of the powers come from gifts we had as humans,” he explains. “I think one of your powers is no longer feeling pain.”
I’d wonder why he won’t look at my eyes, but hearing I can no longer feel pain takes priority. After years and years of enduring it, I’m finally free?
“This is not necessarily a good thing,” he warns, and I sense his fear, his terror for me threatening to send him into a rage.
Fighting it back, he grabs my hand and kisses my fingertips one by one. “You have to be even more careful from now on. You must be more aware of your body. While we may be immortal, we can still die if we’re hurt badly enough and don’t heal ourselves with blood.”
Thinking on what he said, I frown. “Ambrose told me the sun wouldn’t kill me. Only hurt me and weaken me.”
His terror spikes again and he gives my index finger a hard bite. There’s no pain as his fangs sink into my skin until they touch my bone.
Only the tingling sparks of pleasure I experience every time he touches me.
Withdrawing his fangs, he bites his lip until it bleeds then kisses the spot he bit. I watch my skin knit back together with fascination.
“The sun won’t kill you itself,” he says. “But if you’re weakened enough, something else can. Do you understand? An animal, such as a bear, could have smelled your injuries and decided to kill you because you were in its territory. Or you could have stumbled upon a human hunting…”