Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 69711 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69711 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
The sudden hand on my arm makes me jump. Emma’s come over to stand beside me.
“I knew this would happen!” Krav explodes, regaining his voice—and his temper. He turns on Emma. “This is your fault. This is why I didn’t want her to meet you. I knew you’d turn her against me and persuade her to leave!”
A growl erupts from behind us, startling the crap out of me. Khan strides forward, his eyes flashing. His markings look darker, and his canines gleam menacingly. He looks ready to leap through the portal and kill Krav. I squeak, ready to scuttle out of his way, but Emma holds up a hand to halt him and gestures for me to respond.
“Neither of them is to blame,” I correct Krav. “No one is. Who knows, maybe if I hadn’t fallen for you, I would have been content to stay with you forever, getting my brains fucked out and amassing an enormous collection of transparent gowns. But now I’m invested, so that just wouldn’t cut it anymore.”
Krav’s expression is like mine when I’m wrestling with my tax return. It’s almost enough to make me smile. Almost. “I gave you more than that,” he protests. “We spent almost every waking moment together. We talked endlessly—”
I shake my head. “I talked. You pretended to listen. You think I didn’t see those flashes of irritation every time I asked a question? You think I didn’t notice that you’ve never asked me anything about myself, about my past, about my hopes, fears, and dreams? That’s because you’re just not interested in me as a person. And that’s okay. I mean, it’s not okay, but… it is what it is.” Blinking back the tears that are making my vision blurry, I turn to Emma. “I’ve said everything I needed to. Can we please go now?”
“Of course.” She slides an arm around my shoulders.
“Renee,” Krav snarls, tensing like he’s about to lunge for me.
“She’s staying with us now,” Khan says firmly but calmly, inserting himself between us. “You should accept her decision.” Now a dude I’ve never met before is giving advice on what I need to the guy I’m in love with. Talk about terrible taste in men.
I allow myself one last look at the demon who stole my heart, trying to memorize every detail of his face. His eyes are glittering, his mouth set in a rigid line. Everything in me aches to leap back through the swirling gateway and into his arms. I’m in a new and unfamiliar room, in Khan and Emma’s palace, but if I concentrate, I can still smell Krav’s whisky and bitter chocolate scent.
The edges of the portal flicker, blazing with a brilliant light before it collapses. The view of my bedroom—and Krav seething in the center of it—disappears.
“Come on, let’s get you a drink,” Emma murmurs, leading me away, her arm still curved around me. Khan stays close behind us, a silent, protective shield.
I wish I had one of those for my heart.
I wait until Emma has shown me to my new room, and she and Khan have left to give me space. Until the last trace of Krav’s scent has faded. I fiddle with the clasp on my collar, pulling it off. I should toss it away, but can’t bring myself to part with it so I stuff it under my pillow instead.
Only then do I lie back and, as the enormity of what I’ve just done sinks in, I finally allow the tears to come.
Sixteen
Krav
They say when an Alpha is separated from his Omega, the pain in the bond is unbearable. It aches like a missing limb, and will only lessen when they are reunited.
I’m striving to take all of it so none of it will touch her. Maybe it will increase the speed with which she forgets me, but I can’t bear the thought of her feeling any of this anguish.
It burns like fire, so in an attempt to dull the agony with a different sort of burn, I fly to the point of utter exhaustion, until my wings are numb and frozen. When I return to my turret, I can barely fold them until I’ve thawed out by the fire, and even then it hurts.
She left me.
Desperate for relief, I make haste to my father’s rooms and tear the lock off his desk to get at his stash of demon brew—the potent, bitter liquor he drank so often, especially towards the end of his life. The liquid burns down my throat and fills my stomach with lava, but I welcome the pain. It distracts me from the agony of our severed bond.
Mount Vracor is still rumbling. Awakened from its slumber at last, it has come alive with a vengeance, spewing twice as much smoke and ash as before. Missives have been arriving from settlements all over Pyreda, the people pleading for me to do something. After glancing at the scrolls, I use them as extra fuel for the fire. I have no desire to see anyone ever again.