Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 72056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
“You know I won’t touch her, man.” He steps back.
“Sure, I objectively know that. But the animal inside me doesn’t seem to trust you.”
“How did you get in here anyway?” I demand.
“Same way the two of you did.” Dominic holds up a key card.
“You might have knocked,” I say, sarcasm dripping from my tone.
“It’s all right, princess,” Rogan says. “He was following protocol. He had reason to believe you and I were in danger.”
“I did,” Dominic says, “so I didn’t expect to find you getting ready to get down to business. I brought you both a change of clothes.” He sets the backpack he’s carrying onto one of the chairs in the room.
Thank God. “Would you mind turning around, then, so I can put something on?”
A sly smile curls onto Dominic’s mouth.
“Turn around,” Rogan demands in a voice not quite his own.
Dominic chuckles but turns around. “Never thought I’d see the day, Rogan.”
A low growl vibrates from Rogan, but I do my best to ignore what it does to my body. Inside Dominic’s knapsack I find skinny jeans, a black T-shirt, and a pair of leather ankle boots. All my size exactly. The dude knows his stuff. I quickly dress and then toss the backpack to Rogan.
“You can turn around now,” I say to Dominic.
He faces me…and his lascivious gaze follows me from the top of my head to the pointy toes of my boots.
Another growl from Rogan. “You’re playing with fire.”
“Sorry, man. She’s hot.”
And a fiercer growl. “I love you like a brother, Dom, but say another word about her or look at her that way again, and I’ll rip your damned heart out.”
I cock my head.
Rogan swore—he fucking swore—that he didn’t cut out the hearts of those vamps. But damn, it sure as hell sounds like he did. Sounds like he’s threatening to do to Dominic what he says he didn’t do to those vamps.
My heart wants to take Rogan at his word, but my head is telling me something different entirely.
Who am I supposed to trust here?
Dominic says my father’s been sniffing around. Why? Isn’t that what he sent me to do?
And Rogan… Rogan, who all but admitted he’s lying to me.
I dart my gaze from Rogan to Dominic and back to Rogan again.
And I realize…
I have no fucking idea who to trust.
36
Fine.
I’ve never trusted anyone but myself anyway.
I have my own back. I don’t need Rogan or my father. My father never had my back anyway. And Rogan? Sure, he’ll kill to protect me. I know this so viscerally that I actually feel it in my body.
But would he lie to me?
The fact that I don’t know the answer to that question scrapes the back of my neck like fingernails on a chalk board.
I love you like a brother, Dom, but say another word about her or look at her that way again, and I’ll rip your damned heart out.
I could insist that he tell me the truth, but would that do any good? He seems to be a slave to my body, as I am to his. But is he bound to answer my questions truthfully? Apparently not.
“Let’s go,” Dominic says.
Time to take a stand. “I’m not going anywhere. With either one of you.”
“Yes, you are, princess.” Rogan stalks toward me.
“You say we’re mates,” I tell him. “I can’t deny it. I can’t deny how I’m drawn to you. But mates or not, I don’t take orders from anyone.”
“You take them from your old man,” Rogan says.
“How dare you throw that in my face? You know as well as I do that I have no choice. I’m bound by blood. His blood. As much as I prefer to forget it, my father’s blood flows through my veins.”
“And I’m bound by blood to protect my pack, and you’re part of that pack. You will leave with us. Now.”
I stand my ground, despite the fact that my body wants to follow him. My body wants to follow him anywhere he may lead. And that’s more frightening than the thought that Rogan could rip a vampire’s heart out of his body.
“I will not.”
“What do you want to do, Rogan?” Dominic asks.
“This.” Rogan swoops me up and over his shoulder.
I curl my hands into fists and hit his back, his tight ass. I kick and wriggle. But he’s too strong for me. He carries me out the door, down the hallway, and to an elevator.
“Put me down, Rogan. Put me the fuck down!”
He doesn’t respond.
“I will not be treated like a child that you can control.”
“Princess, I suffer no delusions. I know I don’t control you. But I will protect you. If that means carrying you around like a child, so be it.”
I don’t let up with the punching. I hope his back is black and blue. Serves him right for carrying me around like a sack of potatoes.