Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 152666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
Today I’d stick her with a babysitter so that I could skim those journals and see if the packaging and organizational information was easy to come by. If it was—and I hoped to fuck that it was—I could stick her on a cart and ignore she even existed. If I kept her at an arm’s length, it wouldn’t be so easy to be affected by her.
If not . . .
I gritted my teeth.
If not, I’d need that truth elixir to pry the answers out of her. One way or another I would shed light on the entirety of Granny’s organization, including the parts we hadn’t yet uncovered. We needed to make sure, with one-hundred percent accuracy, that Aurelia was the only creator. It would also be nice to bring in any other co-conspirators to stand in judgment with her.
I would do as I’d promised and bring this drug-running operation to its fucking knees. The woman, my true mate or not, would not stand in my way. I wouldn’t, under any circumstances, lose my control around her again.
Chapter 12
Aurelia
“Knock, knock,” I heard at the closed tent flap. It sounded like the man from last night. Hadriel.
I remained silent, sitting in the lone chair in the tent where the table had been. The alpha must’ve cleared everything else away this morning while I was still asleep, drugged out on bliss and frustratingly, deliciously sated.
“Please say you’re in there,” he said. “I don’t want to peek in case I accidentally see you naked and get killed by the alpha, or in case you are waiting in there to harm me in some way. This is a nice outfit and blood would absolutely ruin it.”
I tried to practice the vague calmness of a composed woman . . . and ended up shaking my head and looking away to keep from smiling. His humor was so crass and dark, it easily knocked me off balance.
“Okay. It seems you are not responding.” I saw the shadow of a foot at the bottom of the tent flap. “It is either that you are trapped under something heavy, like the weight of your conscience, or you are doing a wonderful job of ignoring me. The third option would be that you have escaped, leaving me the terrible task of informing a slightly manic alpha of your disappearance. Let’s hope it’s not that one. So. I am going to come in. Please do not stab me. I’m not the bad guy here.” He paused. “Except for unlawfully abducting you and taking you to—okay, I am kinda a bad guy here. Let’s join forces and rule the world, shall we?”
I didn’t respond. I wasn’t going to make this easier on these people, even if this one was oddly amusing.
“Gods tickle my balls, please be in there and not naked,” he murmured, pushing the tent flap aside and peering into the gloomy space. Very little light filtered in through the window, the flap closed. The alpha had done it to preserve my privacy, it seemed. Which was . . . thoughtful, actually. It hadn’t diminished the flaming embarrassment of what I’d done with him last night.
Hadriel’s gaze found me and his bearing relaxed.
“Thank fuck,” he murmured as he stepped in before raising his voice. “Well, hello and good afternoon to you.” He bustled toward me with a steaming mug. “Look at you.” He gestured to my plain brown shirt, tucked into faded brown trousers that I’d worn into the ground. “Drab chic, I love it. Who needs fashion when you have that face, am I right? Now, here we go. Let’s drink some tea and make sure last night’s bad decision doesn’t evolve into a spot of trouble for life, hmm?”
Ah. The pregnancy tea. How antiquated.
“I have my own remedy if you’ll just let me go back to the village and grab it.”
He clucked his tongue. “I don’t think that’s a possibility, I’m afraid. We’re moving out in the opposite direction today.” He held the tea forward.
It had been worth a shot.
I studied him for a moment, wondering if they’d put something in the brew. Would they want to knock me out to make the journey easier? Or maybe the alpha had too many regrets about losing control last night and decided to cut out the problem.
“Is this intended to kill me?” I asked, sniffing it.
“And rob the dragons their chance to torture you gruesomely? Not likely.” He grinned at me for a moment before the twinkle left his eyes. “Sorry. Gallows humor. In the not-so-distant past, we lived each day wondering if we’d see the next. At first we joked to cope. Or I joked to cope, anyway. What’s the point without a sense of humor, you know? Then reality got all fucked and twisted, as did my humor. I forget you’re normal. No, it’s not poisoned.”