Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
How was she going to repay her beautiful, wonderful leopard for everything she’d done? She would kill her. She would probably kill Gorya and Rogue. All because she was a coward. A sniveling, horrid, weak, worthless woman. How could Gorya stand being close to her? He must loathe her. This strong, powerful, beautiful man had aligned himself with her. Put his faith in her. Trusted her with the life of his leopard.
Her body burned hotter than ever. She cried out, reaching for Gorya, calling his name, her only salvation when she was so terrified. She was condemning them all to death when they deserved so much. Deep inside, just like always, she heard herself screaming. Silent tears were locked away because it wasn’t safe to let go. It would never be safe. If she broke apart, she could never be put back together. Never. She couldn’t trust herself to do the right thing for any of them. Utter chaos reigned in her head and roared through her body. The darkest, ugliest, most brutal memories began to surface in spite of every attempt to suppress them.
“Maya. Be calm. We knew this was going to happen,” Gorya soothed. Steady. He rose above her. Bare-chested. So perfect. All muscle. That glorious male body right there for the taking. Any other woman, any shifter, would have been beyond happy to have him as a partner. But her . . . She didn’t deserve him. She didn’t deserve Rogue. And she really, really didn’t deserve Wraith.
He touched her with exquisite tenderness. Gathering her close despite how she stiffened and tried to pull away from him. “I’ve got you, baby. I’ll always have you. I promised you I would. I’ll see you through this.”
His palm caressed the side of her face. “You keep looking inward. Don’t do that, Maya. Look only at me. See me. Trust in me. Know who you’re with. You’re with me. You’ll always be safe with me.”
Maya shook her head. “You don’t understand, Gorya.” Her voice wasn’t her own. She couldn’t look at him. Couldn’t meet his eyes. She was too ashamed.
“You have your eyes closed, little love. Open your eyes and look into mine.”
His hands. Oh, God. His hands. So gentle. No one had ever touched her the way he did. She tried to feel just that. His hands. Not her body. Not the fire roaring through her veins. She wanted to hear only his voice. Gorya. No one else. Not that taunting laughter. Not those memories slithering like evil snakes into her mind to taunt her and tear her apart. To make her into nothing all over again. Gorya had made her believe that she might be able to live life with him. To give Wraith everything she deserved. Now she knew it was impossible. She was so worthless. Too far gone.
She had to tell him. Make him see. She whispered the truth to him. “I can’t save us. I want to. I want to be everything for you. For her. For Wraith. For Rogue. But I can’t. I can’t do it. I can’t stop this. What’s happening to her. To me. I’m tempting you, but that’s all it is.”
The tears hurt, but she couldn’t shed them. They burned behind her eyes. They burned the way her body did, the well inside like a volcano so close to erupting she feared she would die in the inferno. The ice surrounding her soul couldn’t crumble or she would disintegrate. Implode.
She felt Gorya’s body sliding against hers, sending what felt like lightning strikes throughout her veins as he slowly, with great caution, sat up.
“I’m going to pick you up and put you in my lap, baby. Don’t panic on me.”
She was already panicking. Just the thought of him wrapping his arms around her and setting her bottom over his inflamed cock panicked her. The caring in his voice panicked her. The thought of him holding her against his bare chest sent her into a frenzy of fear. “You can’t. Gorya, get out of the house. Save yourself.”
The moment he left she would somehow find the courage to take her life. To free him from the claim Rogue and Wraith had bound him to. Her body shuddered repeatedly in an effort to contain the emotions that were as out of control as the rest of her.
Gorya murmured to her soothingly as his hands cradled her as if she were a child, not a sensual woman writhing erotically, enticingly, against his hot skin. He ignored her struggles and protests and held her tight against his chest, his arms protective, not in the least reacting to the way his own body was as inflamed as hers. He settled her on his lap and locked one arm around her while one large hand cupped her chin to lift it when she tried to hide.