Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 120031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
While forced to duel in that fucked-up pit, he’d seen a lot of good fighters come and go, just as he’d seen many good fighters compete at The Den. But this female … he’d never seen anyone move the way she did. Casey Frost was explosive. Could go from naught to sixty in a fucking nanosecond. She moved with blistering speed and a savage, no-holds-barred style as she went at her opponent with laser targeted strikes.
Seriously, she was fucking hardcore. There was raw power behind every pitiless punch, kick, blow, and block. In his experience, a fighter’s strikes were often less accurate if they moved too fast. Not with Casey. Her timing and precision were faultless.
She wasn’t all about speed and ruthlessness, though. She fought smart. Kept up the pressure. Didn’t fall for her opponent’s tricks. She didn’t just use her limbs, no, she incorporated her entire body into the fight. Twisted this way and that way, always smooth and fluid like the moves were ingrained in her. She also used her claws and teeth like they were weapons—slashing, biting, and stabbing.
He’d gone to The Den to distract himself from the shameful bitterness that curdled in his stomach. Receiving news that his cousin from another pack had recently found his true mate should have been welcome. It wasn’t. Although it made him an asshole, Eli couldn’t help but resent that yet another person had met their mate while he remained alone.
He’d stood back and watched as each of his pack mates and friends met their match. In most cases, they’d found their true mates. In other cases, they’d imprinted on someone. In every single case, they were utterly content. Although he was happy for them, he couldn’t help envying them.
One might have thought that Eli would be reluctant to find his true mate, considering he’d watched his mother crumble to pieces after the death of her own until she was a shadow of her former self. But although he’d seen the mess that a broken true-mate bond could leave behind, Eli had always longed to find his predestined mate. And that longing now plagued him day and night.
It wasn’t that he was unhappy. He had a good life. He was part of a tight-knit, powerful pack. He was Head Enforcer, and it was a position he enjoyed. A position that suited him and his highly dominant wolf, who would never have coped with a lower rank. Also, his mother, siblings, and nieces were part of his pack—not every shifter had that luxury. So, yeah, his life was good.
Still, he always felt that something was missing. It was the same feeling you had when you attended a party where a person important to you was absent from the large crowd. It might be just one absent guest, but the lack of their presence made a huge difference. Eli carried that feeling with him wherever he went, whatever he did.
Each time he witnessed another mating ceremony, it fucking hurt—they were the times when he felt the absence of his own mate so much more acutely. She should be right there, at his side, where she belonged. But he didn’t have a clue where she was or even if she was waiting for him. For all he knew, she’d chosen to imprint on another male. While he could never begrudge his true mate any happiness, the thought still clawed at him.
Maybe it was selfish of him to want to find her so badly. It wasn’t like he was a prize. Eli had done a lot of bad things. The kind that marked a person’s soul; that ate at it until the edges were frayed and jagged. He hated that he would go to her that way, but he needed her.
His wolf was equally eager to find the other half of his soul. Being surrounded by mated pairs day-in day-out had soon begun to make the beast feel … sort of pushed out, as if he now hovered on the periphery of their pack. As if he didn’t quite fit anymore.
Lonely, the wolf constantly prowled and brooded and vented at Eli, swiping out with his claws. The beast was in a perpetual foul mood and craved the company of his mate so much that he showed no interest in any female who crossed his path. But when the wolf had caught sight of the mink in the combat ring, he’d instantly stopped prowling. And now he was utterly still, absolutely entranced by her.
Eli couldn’t blame him. Even before she’d started to fight, something about her had snagged Eli’s attention. Something elusive. Elemental. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Then she’d started to move, and he hadn’t been able to look away for even a second. All that strength and power she possessed was seriously fucking hot.