Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54848 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54848 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
At that, her gaze moved over me, then shifted to the house for a moment before moving back to me again.
“I think I do,” she said. “Professor,” she added, making me stiffen. “Why don’t you come inside? Get some coffee. There’s someone inside who would like to see you,” she said.
But who could possibly want to see me?
I didn’t know anyone.
Not in this area, anyway.
Even as I thought that, though, the front door was swinging open.
And there he was.
Looking like he’d been sick and in agony for days.
Bael.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Bael
“I wish I could tell you that you were going to be okay,” Minos said as he reached down to pull me up off my knees. “But that would be a lie.”
“Fucking great,” I hissed as it felt like someone was carving out a part of my chest.
“What I can say is that you will get better at handling the pain,” he said as I moved inside, shocked when my legs agreed to carry me into the library where I collapsed down onto the couch, my hand clutching my chest.
“The professor?” Minos asked as he went to the liquor cabinet and poured me a big drink.
“Yes,” I hissed out through the pain.
“You fucked her?” he asked.
“That’s how it happens?” I asked, throwing back the drink, finding that for a single instant, the burn eased the pain of the Claiming and subsequent separation.
“You didn’t know?” he asked, brows drawing down.
“I never asked for exact details,” I said.
“You didn’t feel it coming on?” he asked, refilling my glass.
“I did. Sort of,” I said, taking another shot. “I didn’t understand what was going on. She was the first. Human woman,” I clarified.
“Wait… she was the first woman since coming here?” Minos asked, eyes going round. “You’ve… been here a while, man,” he added, shaking his head as he poured me another glass. “Actually, just start swigging from the bottle,” he said, handing it to me.
“This is what you felt?” I asked, looking up at him. “With Dale?”
“Yes. And no. It was more… complicated, I guess. I Claimed her. And she rejected me. But she kept coming back for sex,” he explained. “I was the only man she couldn’t hurt,” he clarified. “So, there were times when it felt amazing, because I was with her. Which somehow made the pain even worse each time she rejected me.”
“Fuck,” I hissed, tipping the bottle back and taking a long chug.
“Did I hear…” Ace’s voice started, coming in the room in one of his heavyweight grandpa sweaters. “Oh, fuck,” he said, shoulders slumping as he took one look at me. “Seriously?”
“Give him a break,” Minos said, shaking his head. “Think he’s being punished enough right now.”
“The professor?” Ace asked.
“The professor,” Minos confirmed as I started chugging again.
This pain, this was unexplainable, intolerable. How the fuck could you feel something like this nonstop and not have it kill you?
And just beyond the pain, lying just beneath, there was a strange pulling sensation. It was urging me to get up, to move, to take steps toward the front door and back to my bike. I knew at the end of the invisible string, I would feel relief.
Because it was trying to lead me right to her.
The woman holding a pair of scissors, ready to cut her end of it, to sever her ties to me.
Hell, I couldn’t even fucking blame her.
See, the other women, save for Ace’s woman Josephine, had known about us, about what we were. So the shock hadn’t been two-fold.
Charlotte, from what I could gather, didn’t even believe in demons. Didn’t believe in Heaven or Hell or Lucifer or God either.
So this whole thing had to be fucking life-shaking for her. Mind-breaking.
Even the thought of that, of her in any sort of pain, sent another wave of pain through me.
“He didn’t realize what was going on,” Minos added. “She was his first human woman.”
“We should have a sit-down and explain the details or some shit, before Aram, Seven, and Daemon end up scaring the shit out of some random human woman.”
That, at least, was a topic that might momentarily distract me from the world of pain coursing through my body.
“Have you had any luck tracking my brother down?” I asked.
I didn’t like the dark look that crossed Ace’s face right then.
“Aram went to Sanctuary and asked around. They said he was there a week or so ago, but no one has seen him since.”
Things were sounding worse and worse for him.
“Has Dale heard anything?” I asked, knowing she and her demonslayer friends had a lot of connections.
“No. Nothing. I was considering sending someone over to talk to Arick’s to see if he can help out at all. He’s probably fucking swamped with all of his rich clients wanting to know what is going on with the world, but he can usually squeeze some time in for us when we need it.”