Total pages in book: 178
Estimated words: 169578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 848(@200wpm)___ 678(@250wpm)___ 565(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 848(@200wpm)___ 678(@250wpm)___ 565(@300wpm)
She frowned, unsure how such seething ferocity could live inside of her. She was a pacifist, an animal rights activist. Of course, she liked animals better than people. Most people sucked. But she never suffered any inclination to harm another. Until him… She wanted to claw his eyes out, rip his hair out in hunks, bite into his throat, and tear open his flesh.
Her insides twitched with awareness. A tingle of unwelcome arousal zipped through her core, angering her all the more.
She frowned, because in light of everything else it seemed a weird time to feel horny. Must be a vampire thing.
Her jaw shifted and she dragged her tongue over the sharp edge of her teeth, stilling when she discovered the lengthened tip of her incisor. Fangs. Yup. They were real.
“Do you feel better now that you’ve…slept?”
Grateful sleep didn’t require a coffin or being underground with creepy crawlers and spiders, she mentally nodded but made no motion that would give him the satisfaction of acknowledgment. But she did feel better. Incredible actually.
He took a step forward and she hissed like a cornered cat. Another vampire trait, she supposed.
Did she have powers? Could she turn into a bat? Fly? Maybe she could turn into a butterfly or—ooh!—a unicorn. Pretty! Or, no, ooh, a dragon! If vampires were real, dragons had to have existed at some point in time, too.
Visions of burning him to ash filled her mind. She’d like to light him up like Kings Landing. She pictured doing just that, fiery dragon breath exploding out of her and engulfing him in pain. Burn, motherfucker!
He grimaced and mentally withdrew from her head. Served him right for trespassing in her thoughts.
Stay the fuck out of my head!
“Delilah—”
Her eyes snapped back to him. Bad man. The hissing seemed a natural response to his proximity. Maybe there was some cat in her after all because she felt rather feral at the moment.
He took another step, and she sprang to her feet, knees bent, arms spread, ready to attack. Her hands splayed wide like talons as she panted through her bared teeth. Holy shit, she felt strong, like she could move a mountain. Bad. Ass.
She flexed her arms and rolled her shoulders testing her newfound strength. Limber and loose. Like she could really fuck him up. Her eyes zeroed in on his throat.
Christian took a cautious step back and held out a calming hand. She sniffed the air, somehow recognizing the scent of his uncertainty, enjoying the fact that she made him nervous. Feeling as reliable as a loose fucking cannon full of God-knew-what kind of mystical gunpowder, she recognized that she could blow at any moment. Apparently, so did he.
Her eyes dared him to make a move.
“I’m not your enemy, little one.”
Nothing about her felt little at that moment. Her senses cataloged every element from the wind on the house to the earth rotating on its axis. Her body calibrated with the heat of the sun and her mind knew exactly how far she’d have to travel to reach water. She was a Goddess, tapping into all of nature's beautiful powers.
He slid his foot one-eighth of an inch toward her, and she sprang to the other side of the room, dizzy from moving so fast.
“Stay back or I’ll attack,” she warned, a courtesy he didn’t deserve, but she preferred to avoid contact altogether.
Still holding his hands in a gesture of peace, he spoke slowly, “I don’t want to hurt you, Delilah. I only wish to check on you.”
“You’re not my caretaker.”
“But I am.”
“Did they teach you to say that shit in captor school?” Her anger seethed like a building fire in her lungs. “Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not the Stockholm’s type.”
“I only want to mend this rift between us. If you could simply forgive me, we could move forward. I could show you around the farm, and you would see it’s not so bad here.”
The thought of leaving the house held promise. “Show me around?”
“Yes, at least give you a tour to the Schrock property lines. The Order’s land is enormous, divided between all the families. Being that it’s only my mother and I, and now you, occupying our parcel, our land’s rather spacious and underdeveloped. We have an open spread.”
She didn’t want to be included in his we. She could run away. She’d only need a distraction—
“If you run, I will catch you, pintura. I am much older and faster.”
Her eyes narrowed. He didn’t know the extent of her strength. He couldn’t feel the power coursing through her veins. Maybe she was different, special. Her muscles bunched and vibrated with the urge to move as indescribable energy buzzed through every nerve.
“Your new strength will bring many gifts, but my age will always put me at an advantage. I’m stronger with many disciplines you have yet to learn. With time and practice, your abilities will improve. I’m happy to teach you if you’ll allow me.”