Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 16094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 80(@200wpm)___ 64(@250wpm)___ 54(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 16094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 80(@200wpm)___ 64(@250wpm)___ 54(@300wpm)
Ravana moves closer and it’s then I see pleading in her eyes. “I’ll do anything,” she says, holding her hands open at her sides. “Name it and it’s yours. Please don’t take our Ariella.”
I look her up and down and I think back to the reason I left all those years ago. There was something I felt when I looked at her, but now that’s completely gone. Before me she is a mother who would do anything to save her child. I feel her pain and I see her desperation, but she is just like the rest of her family. Nothing more.
“It’s not you I want,” I say softly as look over to my mate. Valen has his eyes on his wife and doesn’t see when his daughter steps out from behind him. “Come to me, my Ariella,” I say and hold out my hand.
“It’s you,” she whispers, and her parents turn around in surprise that their daughter is walking towards me.
“Ariella, don’t!”
Before they can stop her, I’ve got her hand in mine and I’m pulling her against me. “You’re mine now,” I say before I lift her up in my arms and I’m storming out of the room.
Her parents chase after me and just before I get to the door, I feel Valen lunge for me. I turn around and hold my axe out and he hits it before he falls back against Ravana. She hisses and does the same, but there is nothing they can do to stop me.
“I’m taking my mate,” I say, and finally what’s happening registers on their faces.
I leave them in shock as I turn and walk out into the night.
“Tell me where you sleep, my treasure. I want to look at you while you’re laid bare before me.”
Her dark blue eyes peer up at me through her lashes, but there is no fear inside of her. I feel her warm and soft in my arms, and her heart is glowing right now. She’s unlike any soul I’ve ever held in my arms, and the fact that she’s mine fills me with pride. I don’t deserve such a gift, but she’s mine and I’m going to claim her.
“There,” she whispers and points in the distance.
I put my axe in the holster on my back and wrap both my arms around her as I begin to run. I don’t waste a second now that I have her, and I plan on never letting her go.
Chapter Three
Grim
When we enter her home, I notice that it’s eerily similar to mine. She has more things for comfort lying around—blankets and pillows and soft touches. But it’s a small cottage with lots of windows to let in light and a bed big enough for the two of us.
“How did you find me?” she asks as I close the door behind us and carry her to the bedroom.
“I felt you calling to me. How long have you been in pain?” I hate that I wasn’t here sooner to help ease the ache of separation.
“Since my eighteenth birthday.” I feel her fingers along the rough edge of my jaw and I try to remind myself to be gentle with her. She’s delicate and I’m responsible for her life now. “I wished for you to come take me away, but I never imagined I would feel like this. You’re my mate, aren’t you? That’s what this is.”
“Yes,” I say, and the one word rumbles in my chest.
I place her in the middle of the bed and then unbuckle the holster around my chest that holds my axe on my back. There’s a loud thud when it drops to the floor, but I ignore it as I crawl on the bed towards her. The dark dress she’s wearing clings to her, and the moonlight spills in across her. It looks like she’s swimming in silk and every inch of her is glowing.
“I dreamed of you,” she says as she reaches for me and I move on top of her. “I dreamed of my mate and finally being in his arms.”
“I didn’t dare dream of something so perfect,” I confess as I run my hands down her sides and to the edge of the dress. “I couldn’t have even dreamed of a woman so pure.”
She leans up and kisses my lips softly, and for a moment I’m frozen in shock. I’ve never felt anything like this before, never touched a female in this way. But mates are made on instinct and I allow it to take over and I press my lips to hers, slipping my tongue into her mouth. My only thought right now is to taste her and to mark every inch of her as mine.
Her legs spread and she cradles me between them as her hands slip up the back of my shirt and her nails score me there. When her tongue touches mine, I groan before suddenly she’s squeezing her legs around me tightly and rolling us over. My young mate is powerful, and I lie on my back as she grinds down on top of me, letting the warmth between her legs seep into me.