Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 62580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
I raised my hand.
“What are you looking at?” I asked, feeling to see if my hair was wild or something to elicit that sort of perusal.
“Nothing,” he lied. “Come.”
I came.
Well, not in the good way.
I followed him down the long length of the hallway, admiring the beautiful hardwood floors that lined the length.
“This is exquisite,” I said softly, trailing my fingers along the molding that lined the wall of the hall. It separated the paneling at the bottom from the painted top.
“Thank you,” Constantine said regally. “Are you sure you’re not overly hungry?”
The way he kept pushing had me worried that something more was going on than he was telling me.
I breathed in deeply, steadied my mind, and then shook my head. “No.”
His frown was ferocious.
But before I could question him further, the hallway spilled us out into a large kitchen.
“What…”
“Acadia?”
I turned to find my brothers sitting at the table with Chen. All of them had mugs in their hands, however, Chen’s I could tell wasn’t coffee. His had a suspicious red liquid in it that I somehow knew was blood.
“Coffee,” I groaned, walking to Nash.
I chose Nash’s coffee cup instead of Corbin’s because Nash made his coffee with sugar and milk, while Corbin drank his straight up black.
Nash allowed me to take the drink, which should’ve warned me that something more was wrong, but I was so caught up in taking that first sip of caffeine that I missed the wired tension suddenly filling the room.
“I’m so confused,” Nash said. “I thought…”
Constantine held up his hand, and I raised my brow.
“What are y’all talking about?” I asked once I came up for air.
“Here,” Constantine said, handing me Chen’s cup that he snagged straight out of his hand.
I lifted my nose in a curl of disgust.
“No, thank you,” I denied, shaking my head when he went to shove it into my hands.
I turned my shoulder and put Nash in between me and Constantine. That way if there was any more forcing of the issue, Nash would be in the middle and protect me.
Not that I thought I needed protection from Constantine, but he was trying to prove some kind of point, and I didn’t know what the hell it was. I was so clueless at this point that I didn’t know which way to run.
Constantine handed the cup back to Chen with a frustrated sigh.
“So,” I said. “Where are we exactly?”
“This is my house… just not the one you saw the other day.” He paused. “It’s known as The Cellar.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “If we’re not in that one, where are we… and why?”
Constantine gestured to a chair.
“Have a seat and I’ll explain,” he ordered.
I sat and then handed Nash’s half emptied cup back to him.
“I need some cookies if I’m going to finish the rest of that,” I told him when he gave me a look of confusion.
Normally I finished the entire thing in a matter of seconds, but today I needed more. I was only guessing on the cookies.
Possibly some pancakes.
“She’s doing much better than I did,” Chen surmised after a few long seconds.
Constantine took up the last vacant seat at my side.
“What do you remember of last night when you were attacked?” Constantine asked.
“I remember you dropping me off and rushing back into the thrum of things, leaving me worried beyond belief,” I started. “I remember wanting to change my clothes. I was hungry and wanted to grab some ice cream, then nothing.”
Constantine looked positively ill.
“Uhh, boss?”
Con looked up to find Pavlov standing in the doorway, a peculiar look on his face.
“Yeah?”
Con looked angry at the interruption.
“I tried to ‘path you, but yeah…”
He moved to the side and a tall man was standing there, looking regal yet rough all at once.
Constantine looked motionless.
“Caius.”
Con gave Pavlov a look that clearly said ‘don’t leave them in there alone’ and left with this Caius character without another word.
I looked at my brothers.
“How about y’all fill me in while he’s away,” I drawled.
CHAPTER 18
Ice cream is an acceptable choice of coffee creamer… right?
-Acadia to Constantine
CONSTANTINE
“You have a woman in your kitchen.” Caius suddenly switched languages, going back to the Norse we used to speak a long, long time ago.
I grinned.
“My woman,” I replied in the same language. “I was telling her about her new life—one in which she likely is now aware of—when you showed.”
Caius’s grin was hard, catlike.
“I’ll leave you to your affairs. Just remember…” He hesitated and turned back to me. “The others of the council won’t like this. They’ll be furious. They’ll fight you. They’ll hinder you in your path every step of the way. For some reason, they’re convinced that you will be the end of us all.”
That damn prophecy again.
It’d been said for centuries as seer after seer predicted the end of days—me being the star of the entire fiasco. It was said that I’d ruin us all, and likely by them seeing the press conference yesterday promising that vampires would no longer be treated as lesser beings, that now had them all freaked out.