Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
My world exploded in color. Sensations overwhelmed me. I rocked against him, feeling like I couldn’t get close enough. The pressure he’d built earlier increased until I could barely stand it. Until I was crying out his name, begging him to end the torture, but at the same time desperate for it to go on.
“Now, baby,” he said, his body crashing into mine. “Now. Come with me now.”
I shattered like a dropped crystal vase. My body shuddered against him violently—and he shook against me in return. I clenched my teeth as waves of pleasure swept me away, and then draped over him when they turned into blissful little aftershocks. He swayed where he stood, his knees about to give out.
“Let’s just…head over here for a moment,” he murmured.
I laughed when he carried me to the bed, and then sighed when he gently laid me down before curling his body around mine protectively.
“I’m apprehensive,” he admitted into the following stillness. “I’m worried mages will breach this territory and I won’t be enough to protect you. I’m scared of what I’d become if I lost you. You are everything to me, Jacinta. It would destroy me if something happened to you. I can’t be rational where your safety is concerned. I’m not like my brother, always so logical and steadfast. I can’t accept that some things are out of my control, the way Brochan’s learned to. I’ve always been half of something twisted. I could easily turn into the nightmare we’re currently fighting. I would burn down the world if something happened to you. I wouldn’t apologize for the fallout.”
My heart lurched, and I flattened my palm on his forearm.
“I think you and my gargoyle have something in common,” I said softly.
“And your gargoyle and you have something in common,” Ivy House said. “Only those worthy of the magic may wield it. That worthiness doesn’t just hinge on the ability to deal with an eccentric crew. There is a distinct ferocity in you. Jane culture might’ve made you squash it down until it was hidden from sight, telling you women should be demure and polite and please others, but it’s there. I will drag it out of you kicking and screaming if I must.”
“I’ve risen to the occasion, haven’t I? I’ve been in enough battles by now to prove I can handle it.”
“No, you’ve been in enough battles to prove you can be goaded into action. That’s not the same. You are still working through that Jane passivity. Time to stop thinking like a Jane lady and start thinking like an Ivy House lady. Time to stop doing as you’re told by weak-willed morons with fragile egos and too much power. Time to take up a sword and, if someone bothers you, cut off whatever is dangling. The safety of your people and your territory depend upon it. Shrug off the cloak of other people’s expectations and rise to your true potential. No one can tear you down if you refuse to let them.”
“I realize that probably isn’t easy to hear,” Austin said quietly. He must’ve mistaken my rolling emotions and silence as a reaction to his declaration. Before I could set him straight, he continued. “I’ll do anything for you, but I won’t hurt you. That magic you possess…there’s something off-kilter about it. I know you heard or felt that, too, when it was trying to get you to take it. Unlike me, though, you’re light and pure and good, counteracting its effects.”
“Ivy House doesn’t seem to think so,” I replied in a flat voice. “She’s urging me to lop off people’s dangling bits.”
He paused for a moment, and I explained what she’d said.
“Ah,” he replied. He snuggled a little closer. “There’s another reason I don’t want to take that magic,” he said darkly. “I need to address the alphas of the other packs as myself. As a shifter, nothing more. Once we’re united, I can don the cape and use the superpower. Not before. Because if I do lose myself to the power, I need to make sure someone can take me down. A united pack with you at their helm should be able to handle that.”
I blinked my suddenly wet eyes. The extent to which he didn’t trust himself—and the precautions he was taking to protect me if he should break—squeezed my heart. I didn’t comment, though. I didn’t really know what to say.
So I lightened the mood.
“Will your cape be black and a little raggedy, like Mr. Tom’s wings?”
His sudden release of breath said I’d been successful.
“Damn it, why did I use that metaphor?” he muttered.
I laughed and ran my hand along his arm where it had snaked around me.
“I just want you to understand where I’m at,” he said, kissing my shoulder.
“I do, trust me. If I can find this hidden, very violent ferocity that Ivy House thinks I have, maybe I can temper the crazy of this house and my crew. But now…it’s much easier to just walk away.”