Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 70294 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70294 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Benedict cracked a joke, the tension eased as the discussion shifted to the different modes of transportation available in Edgemont. These guys were going to love fast cars, and Benedict was the right man to show them the ropes.
“Is he okay?” I asked Zachariah in a nearly inaudible whisper.
“Who?” he responded in kind.
“Saint. We know the basics of why you all decided to go into stasis, but not the specifics.” I leaned in a little closer so our conversation could go unheard by the others.
“Saint is…Saint. He’s doing the best he can,” Zachariah muttered.
“How about a question for you, combat master?” Dagon asked, his focus narrowing on me.
“I’ll answer anything you’d like to know.” I sat up straight, waiting for the next pop culture question.
“If our species is in this much danger from the humans that you’ve dragged us from a very peaceful stasis, then I can only assume you’ve already awoken the others? Are the other Huntsmen already with the king?”
Every head turned my direction.
My stomach fell to the fucking floor.
“What others?”
They looked at each other in confusion, and Zachariah finally cleared his throat. “Are you saying that you are under the assumption that we were the only Huntsmen—or Hunters, whatever you call us now—in stasis?”
I looked at Benedict and Hawke, who all appeared just as clueless as I felt. “Well, yes. Are you telling me you’re not?”
Zachariah looked at me like I’d grown four heads. “We’re not even close to being the only ones.”
Well, holy fucking shit. I was going to have to take that vacation with Olivia sooner than we’d anticipated if I wanted to get any time away.
There was a shitload of work to be done.
20
Olivia
“That has to be the twentieth time you’ve reached to the nightstand for your phone,” Ransom chided from where he lay next to me on the bed, a sheet covering his bare lower half, that glorious chest fully exposed and brilliant against the white sheets.
“Does it matter?” I fired back, turning on my side to face him. “I don’t have it with me.”
“Yes,” he said, tugging me closer to him. “But you still keep reaching for it.”
“Forgive me, mate,” I teased. “But I’ve been responsible for the princess’s safety for more than a century. Old habits die hard, they say.”
He shifted so he hovered above me, skimming his nose along the seam of my neck. That quickly, I wanted him.
It didn’t matter that we’d spent the last few days locked in an endless embrace, I’d never get enough of this male.
My friend.
My warrior.
My mate.
“Admit it,” he said, situating himself between my thighs. “You could spend forever here with me.”
I smiled up at him. “Cocky warrior,” I teased, then gasped at the feel of him against me. “Yes,” I groaned. “Yes, I could spend forever here with you.” Here, away from the palace, away from the Order, from the duties we both vowed to uphold. I could, but that didn’t mean—
“I’d never make you choose,” he said, drawing me out of my thoughts. “I just like hearing you say it.”
I clawed teasingly at his back, delighting in the shudder that racked his body. “Mine,” I said, allowing all the claiming in my mate instincts to ring in my tone.
“Yours,” he said, his fangs distending.
“How many more days until we return home?” I asked, breathless and playful.
“Two,” he said, his eyes molten flames of blue. “Let’s see how many more times I can make you scream my name.”
I arched against him, digging my nails into him a bit harder. “You know I love a challenge.”
Ransom smirked, then succeeded in making me forget everything outside of us.
Everything except the beautiful prospect of our forever.
Benedict
The incessant ticking of the grandfather clock was going to drive me up the wall, but at least there were only two of us in this townhouse, and up until this moment, Gloria Angeloff had mostly left the talking to me.
“So, you’re here to find your match…because your mother wanted you to?” She asked, crossing her legs and adjusting her weight without so much as spilling a drop of her tea. The vampire was over four-hundred years old and didn’t look a day over thirty. Her hair was still black as night and her brown eyes were more observant than I felt comfortable with.
“That’s right,” I said, leaning back in the plush leather chair across from hers. The office was tasteful, decorated in classic themes. Then again, for the prices she charged as the premiere matchmaker of our species, it was understandable how she afforded luxury in a well-to-do neighborhood of Edgemont City. “It was her final wish for me to start my own family.”
All she’d wanted was to see me settled and happy as she had been with my father.
“I’m so very sorry you lost her.” She gave me a sympathetic smile and placed her tea on the chairside table. “How recent was her passing?”