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)
Nice.
“Rogan!” I yell.
He’s still, his teeth ever ready to plunge into the vampire’s neck.
“He didn’t hurt me, Rogan. Let him go.”
Only a growl from Rogan.
He didn’t hurt me because Rogan jumped between us.
Would he have harmed me? Hell, yeah. He was chiding me, threatening to take my royal blood.
To him, I’m a traitor.
But I’m still my father’s daughter, and my father…
Was he actually speaking to me? Telling me not to shoot this vampire? Or was it simply my imagination? My own blood telling me not to destroy my own kind?
I’ll never know.
“Please, Rogan…” I say.
Rogan finally loosens his jaw, takes his weight off the injured vamp.
“Go,” I tell the vamp.
“You fucking shot me, bitch.”
“And you lived, like I knew you would. My father wouldn’t send his men into battle without adequate protection. You and I both know that. But Rogan here? He would’ve killed you if I hadn’t intervened. So go tell your fucking king what happened here.”
He doesn’t reply.
And it dawns on me.
“He told you not to harm me, didn’t he?”
Again, no reply.
The battle rages around us, yet the three of us seem to be in some kind of protective bubble. Surely, I’m imagining it.
“You see me as a traitor,” I continue, “so you thought you’d have some fun at my expense, but you can’t harm me. Your king has forbidden it.”
Once more, nothing from the vampire.
So it’s true. And this man is bound to obey his king, just as I am. Our blood demands it.
Except now…
Now I’m bound to Rogan. No longer does my blood define my allegiance. Or perhaps it does, but in a wholly different way.
The vampire stands before me, towering above me, and still he says nothing.
“Go,” I tell him. “Go find my father. Tell him I need to talk to him.”
“He won’t talk to you.”
“He will, and you know it.”
Rogan stands next to me and growls.
The vampire turns and leaves.
Will he bring my father to me? I don’t know, and at the moment? I need to see to Rogan.
“Come,” I say to Rogan.
He can’t change here, in the middle of a battle zone. He’ll be completely naked and defenseless.
He walks with me back to the bunker.
And I understand.
I understand now that neither of us can fight in this war. Dominic was right. The pack needs Rogan, and Rogan needs me.
If I’m in danger, Rogan will stop at nothing to see that I’m protected.
Once safely in the bunker, Rogan changes, and I see him in his most natural state. Human in form, but still very much an animal. I inhale the crisp wolf scent—woods, bark, spice, musk.
And I can’t help myself.
I pull the pistol out of my waistband and set it down. Next the vamp’s knife out of my boot.
I’m unarmed but still clothed, and I stalk toward my wolf. Toward my lover.
I clamp my heeled boot over his neck.
It’s time to get the answers I need.
56
“What the hell are you doing, Hannah?” Rogan chokes out.
Every cell in my body aches to hold him, to kiss his naked chest, suck his hard cock into the back of my throat. Take him into my body and ride him into the escape that only he can provide.
But I will not.
I will not.
Not until he gives me the answers I seek.
We may be fated. Mated. We may love each other, and I may require his blood for my very survival, but none of that negates why I’m here.
Why my father sent me here in the first place.
To find out who killed the two vampires and cut out their hearts.
Rogan has admitted to killing them because they threatened me. He claims they had allied with demons. But he did not cut out their hearts.
I believe him.
But he knows who did, and that’s the information I want. That’s the information I’ll take to my father.
Once I’ve done my duty, my blood bond with the vampire king will be truly broken. I’ll see to it. I’ll do the ceremony in Chicago.
But that’s not all the information I want from this man. From this wolf. I want to know why the lycans are now in league with demons.
And I want to fucking know now.
“Time to talk, Rogan,” I say. “Time for you to level with me.”
“Fine. Take your fucking boot off my neck and I will.”
“Not so fast. You’re going to tell me why you’re working with demons. But first…you’re going to tell me who cut out those vamp hearts. Because you’re protecting that person, Rogan. You’re protecting him or her when you should be protecting me.”
“Who are you to give me orders?” he growls.
I push my boot harder against his neck. “Your mate, Victor. I’m your fucking mate.”
A growl then, and if I couldn’t see his human form with my eyes, I’d be convinced he morphed back into wolf form. Because that growl didn’t come from a man. It came from an animal.