Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 62782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
That thing is out there.
I can feel it vibrating in my bones.
So close I can practically smell it.
Musky. Rotten. Stale. Evil.
All the hairs on my arms stand on end, as though the presence is so close I can feel it. Every muscle in my body screams at me to—to do something. Anything. My knuckles and joints and bones physically hurt with the need to attack that monster. I bite down on my lip so hard to suppress the scream of rage I know will never escape my broken throat that blood blooms. The metallic taste only further maddens me.
I can smell the blood from that night.
Hope’s. Mom’s. Mine.
I can feel the sweat from that monster dripping onto me as it unsuccessfully tries to put its fucking dick inside me. The tearing of flesh at his attempts has me clenching my ass and swallowing hard.
I’d been truly terrified.
Resigned to the notion I was going to die.
When it couldn’t perform its task, it abandoned me. Left me to bleed out—cold and scared and alone.
Despite my walls being made of iron and as high as the sky, the pack senses my distress. Cy is on his feet, his blue eyes blazing with intensity. I realize then that there are tears streaming down my cheeks. I want to bat them away, but I can’t. I’m frozen in awareness. I can feel that thing lurking close by, and it’s the same one that killed my family.
“Judd, Rey,” Cy barks out, his head snapping to them. “Go. Now.”
They’re both on their feet, stripping down to nothing, and shifting the second they burst out the back door. Finnick and Ewan are both tense, waiting on commands from their Alpha.
“It’s close.” Cy’s body thrums with furious rage. “But I can’t…I can’t leave him.”
The tether that joins me and Cy through our bond is tight. It’s pulled taut and feels like a chain. Unbreakable. He’s rooted in place as he glowers at me. I can tell, based on the fisting of his hands and the bulging muscles in his neck, that he wants to shift and go hunt down the monster. Instead, he’s stuck here.
Why?
Because he wants to protect me?
This feels bigger. Out of his control. His own prison sentence.
“Want me to go too?” Finnick asks, eyes wide as he takes in the way Cy physically trembles.
“No,” Cy growls. “We have to protect him. I feel like…” He shudders again, his face twisting into a grimace. “It wants him.”
“Well, it can’t have him,” Ewan huffs. “He’s ours.”
“Mine,” Cy snarls, leaning over the table with his teeth bared at Ewan. He’s human right now, but his teeth have elongated and glisten with promise to cause violent destruction. “He’s mine.”
Ewan and Finnick both dip their heads in submission or agreement, I don’t know which. I’ve always felt like they were my family, and I belonged to them all, but right now, relief floods through me.
I don’t want to be theirs.
I want to be his.
Mine, Cy signs at me, body still vibrating with anger. Only mine.
So much for keeping that secret. Cy’s practically advertising it and shouting it to the world. I want to be annoyed, but I’m not. The craving eating away inside me is too hard to ignore.
I need him.
Right now.
His eyes close, and he reaches a hand over the table toward me. I stand so fast my chair topples back. I feel Finnick’s and Ewan’s confused stares on us, but I can’t look at them. I only have eyes for Cy.
Out, I sign to Finnick and Ewan. Now.
They don’t resist, heads once again lowering as they rise to their feet, shuffling out of our presence. I prowl around the table toward Cy the second they’re out of sight. His eyes open, landing on my lips.
Need you. My hands shake as I say my words. So badly.
His jaw clenches as I step so close to him our chests nearly touch. I reach up to cradle his scruffy cheek in my palm. He drops his forehead to mine.
“Something’s wrong with us. This doesn’t feel right. Like it’s a spell or some shit.”
I agree.
It feels out of our control.
Doesn’t mean I have the power to stop it.
Angling my head up, I part my lips, silently begging for a kiss. A growl rumbles from him as he crashes his mouth to mine. His tongue dives into my mouth greedily, tasting me with such feral intensity my knees buckle beneath me. A strong arm wraps around my waist, yanking me tight against his solid frame. And then his hands are on my ass, kneading me through my sweats and lifting me up like I weigh nothing. I hook my legs around his waist, kissing him like my life depends on it. He swivels around, pushing me against the wall, only breaking the kiss long enough to trail kisses along my jaw to my earlobe. His teeth tug at the flesh, sucking a breath from my lungs.