Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
The ground below him was soft and damp, and with each step that he took his pulse beat harder.
Anticipation.
A newfound greed.
Aster Rose.
It was all he wanted.
He slinked under the cover of the trees in the direction of their meeting place, keeping low, angling down, his breaths coming shorter and shorter the closer he got.
It was then that he heard the voices.
One hard and condescending.
The other soft. The poetry of his heart.
“Is there a reason you’re acting this way? You already belong to me, no?”
“Not if I have anything to say about it.”
Hatred squeezed Logan’s chest in a fist.
Keeping himself concealed, he peered over a hedge of shrubs.
Jarek Urso had Aster backed into a corner where she’d been following along the trail she’d taken from the house.
A riot of fury burst in every cell of his body.
A thirst to destroy.
To defend.
To fight for the one who he’d offer everything.
Jarek laughed a disgusting sound that rippled through the fading light. Arrogant and vile. The asshole was dressed in slacks and a button-down, his hair black, shaved on the sides and curly on top. He was only a couple of years older than the two of them, though his overinflated ego made the prick think he was the ruler of this world.
The problem was, if this wedding happened, one day he would be.
“I think we both know you have absolutely nothing to say about it.”
Jarek grabbed Aster’s hand.
Jerking it free, she tried to back farther away. “Don’t touch me.”
Revulsion and terror twisted through her features.
Logan knew she was doing her best to remain brave. To stand her ground when some asshole thought he could have his way.
“You’d do well to learn from the start not to fight me.”
“I’ll die before I ever let you touch me.”
Low laughter rolled from Jarek. “We’ll see about that.”
Without warning, Jarek flew forward, fisted a hand in her hair, and yanked her head to the side.
Aster shrieked in surprise.
In pain.
In fear.
Logan was on him before the bastard knew what hit him. He grabbed him by the shirt, spun him around, and slammed a fist into his pompous face.
In the back of his mind, Logan realized he’d likely sealed his fate.
Death’s signature scrawled on the dotted line.
He didn’t fucking care if it meant this girl might have the life she deserved.
Jarek’s head snapped back, and blood spurted from his nose.
Howling, he bent in two.
A second later, he rebounded and came rushing at Logan. The prick hit him at full force, wrapping his arms around his waist and knocking both of them to the ground.
Jarek had the upper hand, straddling him as he let his fists fly.
One.
Two.
Three hits landed on Logan’s face.
His jaw, his eye, his cheek.
Pain ruptured over his skin.
But Logan sensed it like fury.
Like a madness that would take him over.
He struggled to get his arms free where they were pinned under Jarek’s legs, while Jarek landed another hit to his temple. “Do you have any idea who you just fucked with, you stupid cunt? You’re dead.”
Logan got his right arm free and grabbed Jarek by the wrist before he could land his next blow.
Logan twisted.
Hard.
“I’m dead? I don’t think so, fucker.”
Jarek wailed, bending to Logan’s crushing fist. He slid off the side onto the ground, on his knees with his arm bent behind him.
Logan didn’t let go as he climbed to his feet.
Logan kept Jarek’s wrist at the harsh angle. Not quite hard enough to break it, but enough to feel like that was exactly what was happening.
Jarek tried to get loose, asshole sniveling when Logan tightened his hold, the words curling off his tongue in a rash of hot hatred. “I’m pretty sure that’s going to be you when Aster’s father finds out you tried to touch her before you’re married. That’s forbidden, isn’t it? He’ll have your balls strung up before he puts a bullet in your head, won’t he?”
It was the one fucking saving grace in the whole mess. That tiny spec of humanity Aster’s father possessed. It made Logan irate that once Aster was married, it gave this piece of shit the go ahead to do whatever the fuck he wanted with her.
Like some alliance gave this monster the right to touch on this beauty.
“She’s mine. Mine to do with what I please, and I’ll fuck her when I want.”
Logan couldn’t help it. Jarek’s wrist snapped.
He screamed in agony.
A guard shouted in the distance. “Jarek?”
Jarek raged as he stumbled to his feet, protecting his arm against his chest. “You’re dead.”
Aster laughed a maniacal sound. “And my father will kill you. Logan has become invaluable to him. To the family. See what happens if you touch him.”
She was reaching. Logan might have been an asset, but he didn’t hold the position Jarek did.
Still, hatred flared in Jarek’s eyes.
The guard suddenly broke through the foliage. It was a man named Toban who often accompanied Jarek when he visited the compound.