Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 43197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 216(@200wpm)___ 173(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 216(@200wpm)___ 173(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
I whirled around and shoved Alyx’s chest. He didn’t budge. Well, so much for slamming him anywhere like I’d done in the water earlier. Or had I actually done that? My mind was jumbled.
Worst of all—worse than just about anything else, was the fact my body still wanted the man who’d thrown me away like I was nothing—who’d almost let me die because of his neglect.
“Calm down, Kailar,” Alyxsander had the nerve to say. “Your body is still healing, and you need to rest.” He paused before adding, “Uh, how much do you remember anyway?”
“All. Of. It.” I snarled. “You, my great protector, sent me away like I was worthless. You…you meant everything to me, but I meant nothing to you. The most sickening part is that you’re clearly stupid enough to think you can just waltz back into my life and pretend like nothing happened. That’s bullshit, Lord Alyxsander. Complete and utter bullshit.”
I’d never been more pissed off and hurt in my entire life. How could he? No, how could they? All the ones who had betrayed me. They all had to know—and why had my own father never come for me? And what about the foster father who had been the only one I had known for the last few years? Who had he been and why had he agreed to such a crazy plan? Why had he never told me or taken me back to my brother? I felt abandoned and betrayed by him as well.
I turned back to Alyx. “I have two questions for you. First, was it worth it? Was all that joyous freedom you received by pawning your responsibility off on someone else worth me almost dying?” I stepped closer, emboldened by my fury. “Second, where in the fuck is my brother? Because not only have you stolen my heritage from me, but you’ve also taken my twin brother from me.”
Alyxsander glanced over at Keion, who hung his head. “We don’t know, Kailar. Adan went missing about the same time you were attacked at Tybee Island. Keion has done everything possible to locate him, but he hasn’t had any luck. Meanwhile your aura has been so weak, too weak to track him through you. We’ve been searching for you both. But Adan’s aura has completely vanished.”
I stumbled back and dropped to my knees on the floor, overcome by emotion. “Are you saying Adan is…dead?”
“No,” Alyx said quickly, kneeling beside me. “Keion doesn’t think so. Since they are mates, he would know if Adan was gone, just like I knew you were weak but still with us.”
Tears the color of the ocean in the Mediterranean Sea slipped down my cheeks. Adan had been thrown away, as well. Then I remembered what they said about Tybee Island. Adan—he must have been the vision I thought I had imagined back then.
“Wait! I saw Adan at Tybee. It was when I fell overboard and he saved me from being taken away by some kind of huge tentacled creature. It may have even been the Kracken himself. Then the thing came back for him!”
“The Kracken took Adan?” Keion asked, his voice filled with horror. He glanced over at me, as pale as sea-bleached bone.
“No, he’s not dead. I can feel him too—better than you, I think. Mer twins have a psychic connection that’s the strongest on earth. I know he’s alive.”
“Tell me how to find him. Please Kailar.”
“No,” I said, folding my arms across my chest. “Get out.”
Looking over at Alyx, I said, “You too. I don’t want to ever see either of you again.”
“Kailar, be reasonable. That’s just not going to happen. You’re my mate. And back then—well, we were young. We made a huge mistake—a mistake we’re trying to rectify now.”
“No, Alyx. A mistake is ordering a hamburger when you were really craving a hot dog. Throwing away your supposed soulmate because I was young and mischievous makes you an asshole instead of a mistake-maker. Now, get the fuck out of my room.”
Alyx blushed. “This is actually my room. Or ours.”
He really didn’t know when to shut the fuck up. “It’ll be ours when the magical walls of Atlantis fall. Get. Out.”
He glared stubbornly back at me for a moment and then huffed. I could see his temper flaring. I realized that Alyx was not an even tempered being, and I was driving him to madness by denying him the way I was. I couldn’t help but relish that a bit.
“I’ll leave you for now. Just so you can have time to accept the new changes in your life. But mark my word, Kailar, you’re mine and you need to get used to the idea.”
“No. I used to be yours. You threw that away!” At least this time his eyes snapped back at me and he gave me a strange look. Hell, I’d loved him since the first time I saw him. Even before I met him, Alyx had been there, a shadow figure in my dreams and my heart. But I was powerfully angry at him. Also stubborn, worried about my brother, and determined to get him out of the room before I broke down and sobbed like the little boy he had to remember.