Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 78879 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78879 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Let them see what they were doing.
It was only then, when he realized he couldn’t get to me, that he slowed, stopping fully. He tipped his head back and opened his mouth, and I knew he was roaring. I knew he was raging and upset and feeling just as much despair and longing as I was.
I couldn’t hear anything but my pulse in my ears and the jet engine surrounding me.
I couldn’t feel anything but this choking sensation.
And I knew that I was going to see him again.
7
Ainslee
One week later
“We can send her to my brother’s in the States. The sect will protect her.”
My father was already shaking his head before my mother even finished speaking.
“Absolutely no’. My girl is safest here, with me and her brothers. With the clan tae help look after her.”
My mother rolled her eyes at him and continued to bake. Human myths about vampires deemed them blood-sucking immortal creatures of the night. And although my mother did have to consume blood in order to survive—and had those twin daggers in her mouth to help with the act—she still had to eat actual food.
At the thought of my mother’s fangs, I let my tongue touch the tip of one of my “wee baby fangs,” as my father called them. Because I was only half vampire, mine weren’t nearly as pronounced as my mother’s, but they still served a purpose.
Because blood was part of my diet.
Humans had created myths about all the creatures in the Otherworld. It was laughable some of the things they came up with, but some facts did hold truth.
Vampires couldn’t tolerate sunlight, but they certainly didn’t burst into flames. It was more an allergy than anything, one that drained them completely of energy and made them so weak they were vulnerable to death.
And the older a vampire was, the more their sun allergy affected them. I heard the oldest known living vampires burned from direct sunlight, but I’d never met one myself.
As for my mother’s kind being immortal, that was also false. They lived centuries more than humans, as long as Lycans even, but not even mythological creatures could live forever.
Well, again, none that I’d ever heard of.
My mother muttered something under her breath and started mixing the dry ingredients of what she was baking. She was nervous and afraid. I knew that, because she only baked like this when she felt like things were out of control.
“Banner, you need to calm down,” my mother said calmly, as if she was remarking on the weather.
“What?” my father all but bellowed, although there was no malice or anger directed at his mate.
“Nothing.” She sounded annoyed now but didn’t look at my father as she focused on the dough as it started to form.
“Tell me, my love,” my father said softer, gentler. He sounded tired, weary, and as I looked at him, I could see this whole situation was weighing heavily on him.
Over the last week since leaving the Lupineov estate, I didn’t think he or my brothers slept much. They did round-the-clock sentry of the property, calling in dozens of other Scottish Lycan clan members to guard as well. I even heard they asked for the help of Cian MacCallan, one of the most brutal Lycan warriors in my father’s kingdom.
I knew they were afraid Luca would burst through the mystically reinforced gate and wall that surrounded the manor, and that’s why they called in so many reinforcements. Luca may not have gotten through yet, but I knew it was only a matter of time.
And he’s certainly made his presence known.
My mother didn’t answer my father for a moment and instead focused on transferring the dough to the counter. She glanced up then, the love in her eyes for her mate very clear, even though it was also very clearly evident she didn’t agree with him in this instance.
“If someone had tried to keep you away from me, how do you think that would have gone?”
This low, dangerous growl left my father, and my mother smirked.
“Exactly. But you’re keeping that Lycan away from his mate. It’s wrong, Banner, wrong and you know it.”
“It’s no’ wrong. I’m her da. It’s my job tae make sure she is safe.” His brows pulled down low as if he was thinking deeply. “And that Lycan is no’ right in the head. He canna be good for my wee lass. He’s more animal than man.” He let out another growl. “I donna want tae even think about how savage he’d be with my Ainslee.” My father looked at me then. “She’s but a babe.”
I felt my face heat. “Full grown adult female standing here,” I said right to him. My father gave me a sympathetic look—well, as sympathetic as the Scottish Lycan king could muster.
“Darlin’, you’ll always be my wee one.”