Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 116662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 583(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 583(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Slumping onto the sofa, Quinley swore long and hard. All she’d done since Isaiah and the others had left was repeatedly alternate from sitting to pacing. And there’d been cursing. Lots and lots of it.
Stuffing her hands between her thighs, she rocked forward slightly. God, she felt like screaming. She really did. Anxiety crawled over her, making her skin prickle and itch.
It made Quinley feel shitty that she couldn’t be relieved to be tucked up in the safety of her own home right now. Isaiah had wanted her to be, to feel, safe and therefore at ease. But it was hard for a person to be left behind at times like these.
It would absolutely be harder for those driving into danger, yes—ten times harder. But it was a kind of torture to be here alone while others risked their lives, especially when one of those people was your mate.
Watching Isaiah go, waving him off, going back inside and doing nothing … She felt useless. Powerless. Useless to him.
If she’d been dominant, an enforcer, she could have gone with him. She could have helped, could have had his back and fought at his side. But Quinley was neither of those things, so she would only have been a hindrance to him. That hurt in a huge way, as did the fact that she’d need to trust the others to watch his back. They had their own mates to look out for.
Her inner cat was in no better state, anxiety-wise. She was all knotted up inside, worried for Isaiah and Raya and Lori; annoyed that she wasn’t part of the hunt for the Vercetti Pack.
For the feline, it wasn’t only about wanting to help, though. It was about answering her craving for vengeance. The animal wanted to savage the bastards who’d shot her and tried to take Isaiah. She knew they wouldn’t stop coming until someone was dead.
The cat was determined that that “someone” would not be either her or Isaiah. So was Quinley. But here in the house, she wasn’t able to do anything to ensure it didn’t come about.
Sitting up straight, she took a stabilizing breath. It didn’t help much. Impatience, panic, and uncertainty badgered at her.
It felt as if time had slowed down. Every minute felt like an hour. Every five minutes without a call from Isaiah made her stomach bottom out.
The occasional faint vibe of reassurance skipped down their partial bond. It made her heart squeeze that even now, when he had so much to think about, he made sure to take moments to comfort her and set her mind at ease.
But even with that reassurance he offered, her stomach kept rolling and her chest kept tingling and she couldn’t shake off the dread. Her mind kept obsessing over what might be happening to Raya and Lori; over whether they were even still breathing.
Please don’t let them be dead.
Fear for them lived and breathed in her gut. Quinley felt that same fear for every member of her pride who’d gone to the mines. She even feared for the three wolverines.
But most of all, she feared for Isaiah.
As mates went, she couldn’t have done better. He was amazing. Everything she could ever have wanted. And if something happened to him at the hands of the Vercetti Pack—
She cut the thought off, her lungs burning at the mere prospect of it.
Even as she told herself not to think about what could happen, corners of her mind conjured up and fixated on worst case scenarios. None of which helped calm her cat.
Biting at her lips, Quinley put a hand to her fluttering stomach. He’d be fine. He would. The universe wasn’t so cruel as to hand her such a mate and then snatch him away in a matter of weeks.
A floorboard creaked.
Quinley started. Held her breath. Went unnaturally still.
She heard it again. Another creak. The stairs. Someone was on the stairs.
A chill raced down her spine, and her cat nervously jumped to her feet.
Her phone. She needed her phone. She quickly glanced around and then remembered that, shit, it was in the kitchen.
She didn’t really have time to make a call, though, anyway. Not if she meant to hide. So Quinley called to her cat and shifted.
His hands clenching on the steering wheel of the SUV, Luke sighed at the wolverine riding shotgun. “I’m just saying that aggressively invading the mines would not be the best way to go.”
“Why not?” demanded Isaak, who wouldn’t stop whining about the Alpha pair’s plan to conceal their presence from the pack as long as possible.
Tate had written off the wolverine’s protests before hoping into the other SUV with Havana, her bodyguards, and their mates. The rest of them were riding in this vehicle.
“Once they know we’re there, they’ll kill Raya and Lori if they haven’t already,” replied the Beta, a hint of impatience leaking into his voice.