Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 34185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 171(@200wpm)___ 137(@250wpm)___ 114(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 171(@200wpm)___ 137(@250wpm)___ 114(@300wpm)
“Boss, did you see that warning? The storm is coming right at us,” Jerry blurted, already panicking, and the weather wasn’t supposed to reach them until late tomorrow morning.
Dustin nodded and put his hand up to cut off whatever the other two were going to say. “I saw it. Like I said yesterday, it looks like we’re gonna get some wind and rain, but it appears we’ll be getting more than we anticipated.”
“Why can’t these damn meteorologists get the fuckin’ weather reports right? Isn’t that what they went to college for? Shit! They said Maine and New Hampshire were in the clear. Now, fourteen hours later, they say, ‘oops, our bad, take cover because it’s coming right for your asses,’” Mark complained.
Dustin wanted to chuckle at Mark’s anger, but he was too nervous himself. Outside, the air was humid, and the temperature had warmed considerably since he’d left the fields and gone home for dinner. Gray clouds drifted across the dark sky like shadows, moving swiftly as if the thunder and lightning couldn’t wait to make its entrance.
“Guys, calm down. We’ve been clocking this storm for days, and I know the news station said we were gonna be safe, but you know what I always say.” Dustin closed and barricaded his front door, then began to walk the distance to the fields and greenhouses at the edge of the property. It would’ve been a lot faster if they could’ve used the golf carts, but they were already secured inside the sheds. “It’s best to be prepared… and we are. So, let’s get the property ready the best we can and make our AZ proud.”
“Damn,” Jerry exclaimed after a moment, elbowing his brother, Joseph, in his side. “What if it’s bad, man? What if we have to start all over again like we did last year? I don’t know if I have the energy to repair a ruined land again, even with the magical help we had the last time from Adres and his brothers.”
Grrr. Dustin tried to not think of the attack that happened almost a year ago on the Volkov alphas by an evil force that had almost succeeded. It took all of them coming together and fighting as a pack, but Dustin’s fields and crops had suffered the most damage.
“If it hadn’t been for that titan and his magic, we would’ve never been able to rebuild as fast and as successfully as we did. We even added two more greenhouses after that to keep up with the overflow,” Joseph grumbled. “But that guy is long gone. It must’ve been a one-time courtesy.”
Dustin was silent while he walked with long strides, his wolf restless inside of him. He didn’t want to hear or speak about him anymore. About Notalus, the titan that had shown up in spectacular form and fought alongside his three brothers, shifters, and vampires to save them. He was a man Dustin couldn’t forget, no matter how hard he tried. And it hadn’t stopped the titan warrior from occasionally visiting him in his dreams. Vivid ones that made him relive the most intense, devastating… and erotic moments of his life.
No matter what he did or how much busywork Dustin used to occupy his mind, he remembered how Notalus had appeared before him when he’d been on his knees in one of the scorched fields, his fingers buried in the six inches of ashes before he could feel the disintegrated soil beneath it.
Dustin held in his need to scream and rage at the devastation around him as he struggled to breathe through the putrid smoke that’d settled over the entire pack land like a dense cloud. The ground trembled under his knees until he felt an approaching presence that was too powerful to ignore.
He sat atop a massive stallion that was three times larger than any horse Dustin had ever seen in his world. A regal, emerald-green robe was clasped over his broad shoulders and held together by two leaf-shaped medallions. The heavy cloth trailed the ground behind his horse, which he dismounted with grace while still in mid-gallop before it disappeared into the gray smog.
Dustin blinked up at a man so striking and magnificent that he found it difficult to stare directly into his eyes. A deep, mossy-green gaze that was the perfect blend of jade and peridot. He looked ten feet tall when he’d been on the back of that stallion, but now, staring up at him, he appeared more around his own height. Dustin inhaled sharply as a rough hand cupped his chin, and fresh air flowed down his lungs. A gust of wind caught beneath his legs and raised him off the ground.
“The pack will starve. How can we live off the land when there is no land?” Dustin had never felt so defeated in all of his life. Raw agony tore into every fiber of his being as failure settled into his bones.