Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 126570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
“You don’t know that!” Nikolaos howls and shakes his head. “She could have been mine! But you ruined her!”
“This isn’t the way, Nikolaos,” I growl, slowly moving towards them.
The time for words is coming close to an end.
“It will be soon enough,” he spits back. “I’ll turn the other one as soon as I’m finished here with you two.”
Wake up! I scream into the bond. All my fears, all my pain and suffering, all the love I’ve ever held for her, pushing against that wall.
Time stops as Nikolaos digs his fingers into her throat, his feral eyes lighting up as he sees the desperation in me.
Chloe suddenly blinks and swats at the claws digging bloody holes into her neck.
Nikolaos stares down at her in utter shock. Swatted away, he tries to grab her again, only to be stopped by hand.
My words come out like venom. “She was never meant for you.”
Holding onto the hand that was reaching for Chloe with one hand, I snatch his other hand out of the air when he swings at me.
Stopping the claws aimed at my face.
“She’s mine, now and eternally!” I scream, clenching my hands around his own.
I can feel the bones in his hands grating against each other, ready to snap.
All vampires are strong, of course, but none can match my strength.
Squeezing down on his hands with all my might, I laugh as he slams his forehead into my face.
Not caring when my nose shatters in a spray of blood.
Roaring out with glee, I spit the blood running into my mouth into his eyes. “You should have ran, Nikolaos! You should have never let me get my hands on you!”
Unintelligible squeals pour from his lips as he feels the bones in both of his hands crushing into dust.
Chloe.
My soulmarked.
My other half.
Those are the words that pummel through my veins as I yank him to me.
My fangs hitting the air, I take a deep breath of the fear I smell pouring out of him.
“You fucked up, Nikolaos. You touched her.”
“Stop this,” Nikolaos whines, his voice turning nasally. “I’m not feeling well.”
Dropping his now useless hands, I lift him up by the throat and shake him. I want him to be tormented. I want him to feel all the torture I felt when I couldn’t reach my beloved.
Throwing him across the office, I watch as his body slams into the concrete wall and slides down to the floor. In an instant I’m back on him, my fists raining blows down on his head.
A flash of raw emotion stops me cold though.
Somewhere I feel Raphael’s beast finally break free from its chains.
He’s found her.
But something is very wrong.
His rage isn’t penetrable. Even his brothers waging war around him can’t bring him back to a place of peace.
Fuck.
Looking down at Nikolaos, I see that his body is quickly healing.
While I do enjoy the fact that I get to punish him some more, after sensing what Raphael is going through, it doesn’t quite have the same satisfaction.
Andrei appears by my side as I begin to drag Nikolaos to the middle of the room.
“What’s going on with Raphael?” I ask, tossing Nikolaos onto the manager’s desk.
“Matthias is in pursuit,” Andrei says, looking from me to the bloodied pile of shit.
“Chloe,” I say and turn to her, “are you okay?”
Nodding her head, Chloe looks up at me, kneeling beside the armless ghoul bleeding out on the floor.
While ghouls share many of our powers when we create them, they’re unable to heal.
Lips trembling, Chloe slowly rises and comes to my side. “Is there anything we can do for her?”
“No,” I answer quietly. “I’m sorry, my love.”
Turning back to Nikolaos, who’s slowly coming back to reality, I grit my teeth. “But there is always payback.”
Eyes suddenly going wide, Nikolaos’s pupils shrink to pinpoints.
Letting out a rib-rattling gasp, he starts to convulse on top of the desk like he’s having a seizure.
“Father!” Andrei exclaims in shock.
Her voice full of awe, Chloe asks, “Is he connecting?”
We wait in stunned silence for Nikolaos to return from wherever fate has taken him.
When he finally stirs, I’m almost on top of him, ready to finish what I started.
Eyes focusing on me, Nikolaos smiles.
Nearly swooning off the desk, he slurs, “I’ve found her. My soulmarked…”
“Will live a long and happy human life without you.” I sneer and grab him by the neck.
My hands squeeze every single bone and muscle inside his throat to mush.
Blood, skin, and tissue squish through the spaces between my fingers and leak down my arms.
When the bloody flow slows, I rip my claws through the gooey mess that’s left like I’m carving through the wet innards of a pumpkin.
Freeing his head.
Grabbing his ugly face before it hits the floor, I launch it across the room.
Nikolaos’s skull cracks against the wall, the force of my throw causing it to crack and split open.