Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Sasha had been her savior. She’d looked up to him for years before she’d ever agreed to be his wife. Nikita had treated her like a daughter long before she’d learned he’d been behind the murder of her father. She’d been horrified and shocked to hear him tell Sasha that the price for Sonia’s life was her mother in his bed. That was how one did things.
Now Joshua. Joshua forcing her declaration that she loved him. Would they compare notes? Tell each other how best to control and amuse themselves with a human being? Her life? Her emotions? She held herself tighter. She was looking at him, but she couldn’t see him. She didn’t want to see him, not with the tears blurring her vision and the ones inside of her, so many, threatening to create a flood. Gatita, help me. Tell me what to do. She had no one else. There was her leopard. She’d let her cat down. Gatita…
Joshua swallowed what he was trying to say. He was no longer looking into Sonia’s dark chocolate eyes. Gold swirled through them, driving the brown out, taking over until he was staring into the fierce, angry eyes of her leopard. He held up his hand. “Sonia, stay in control.” He made it a command.
It was too late, far too late. Joints cracked. Sonia was naked, just as he was. She didn’t need to take the time to rip off her clothes. Her body unfolded, contorted, and then she was on her hands and knees, muscles sliding beneath the skin, fur pushing through until the black leopard with the gold outlining of every black rosette stood on his bed, no more than a foot from him.
He threw his arms up to ward off the sleek leopard. It was in a fury, the rage palatable, the cat protecting its human from the betrayer. Gatita hit him hard, knocking him off the bed and slashing his chest. It hurt like hell, a hot fire burning through his skin straight to his cat. Shadow clawed and raked, just as furious, not understanding what happened but desperate to protect him – even from his mate.
Joshua pushed to his knees, his eyes on Gatita, fighting his own leopard back. They didn’t need a full-on war between two leopards; neither would win. She whirled and slashed at him, raking across his thigh as she spun back and leapt for the door. One paw contorted again and she was out, easily jumping for the nearest branch and running along it toward the second branch.
“Evan!” He roared it, leaping up, bloody, his body raging with fire. His cat fighting him every step. He rushed to the balcony, gripped the rail and sent out his call. It was a low-high snarl, the sound unmistakable to his men. He let his cat growl this time, letting Gatita know the males would be coming and her best bet was to return.
Only when he heard the other males call, taking up the hunting roar, did he allow Shadow to the forefront. The male was in a fury, his human hurt and bloody, his mate escaping and the adrenaline rush of the hunt on him.
They were coming for her. Gatita heard the male leopards and she paused for a moment on the branch leading to home. They are coming.
Sonia tried to clear the chaos from her mind. She’d heard them too. At least six. Maybe more. She identified Joshua’s leopard from his voice when he roared out his challenge. They were hunting Gatita. Once again, she had failed to protect her leopard and the cat was in more peril than ever.
Get us home. The leopards couldn’t attack her in the truck. She had weapons. She had been careful to keep that fact from anyone other than Molly. She was good with guns; her parents had insisted she practice daily. Her father had taken her out to the firing range every single day. Her mother had insisted she continue practicing. She had a shotgun as well. Point and shoot. That would stop a leopard. But… Oh, God. She was really thinking about killing Joshua.
Anguish welled up, sharp and terrible, her mind allowing more of the betrayal to slip in. She couldn’t face it all at once. The idea that Joshua would deliberately get her to fall in love with him, even going so far as to force an admission out of her… Tears leaked out of her eyes, and out of Gatita’s eyes.
Fast, Gatita, get us home fast.
Maybe she could get a head start, get in the truck and drive. They’d come after her, but she could find sanctuary somewhere. Bastien and Molly? Could she endanger them? Bastien was a cop. He had cop friends. She could go into protective custody. But for how long?
She’d never hurt so much in her life. Not even when she’d discovered Nikita had been the one to order her father’s death. Not when she’d found out he’d forced her mother to sleep with him. It hadn’t hurt this much when Sasha had discussed killing her so casually with his father. That had been brutal, but this was even more so. This shattered her soul, and she wasn’t altogether certain she would make it through.