Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 144404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
And then I heard Gray curse as though he wanted this to last longer but he couldn’t hold out. He held himself tight against me as he came.
A peace descended over me, and the hands that had held me down now stroked me with what I could only read as deep affection.
Trent knelt down, a big grin on his face. “You okay, baby? You like Gray’s weird sex toy? He’s got some wild ones in here.”
“You should see what you can do with a vibrator on the Hell plane,” Gray said with a happy sigh.
I was ready for everything these men could give me.
The night had barely begun.
* * * *
Liv
I came awake to the nicest sensation. Warmth. Coziness. The blanket must have gotten wrapped around me sometime during my sleep, and it felt like I was being held in the sweetest way possible.
I cuddled down, and for a second I could fool myself. I could pretend the last twelve years had been a terrible dream and I’d never gone to Wyoming, and I would get up and Casey and I would dance around each other and I would sit in Kelsey’s office and go over midterms while she worked. At some point in time little Lee would walk in and we would go grab some lunch, all four of us, while we talked through Kelsey’s latest case. There was always some dumbass in the supernatural world who needed a detective. Mostly silly things like who was sleeping with who, and why did my supposedly werewolf child suddenly look so catlike? Then it would be all about stopping the pack war that the revelation of why Johnny had whiskers would surely start.
Damn, but I loved that time.
I breathed, trying to stay in that twilight between sleeping and being wide awake.
Wide awake sucked.
At least I hadn’t had the dream the night before. I’d actually slept and hadn’t dreamed. I wasn’t sure why since it had been over a decade since I hadn’t woken up screaming.
Why should I scream? It was over. It had been horrible, and I was giving those wretched dead witches space in my head, and that wasn’t justice. There might not be justice for me, but there could be some semblance of peace if I only allowed myself to find it.
Or I could fuck over everyone here and get my place at Myrddin’s side back.
Why was this even a question in my head?
“Stop wriggling,” a deep voice said. “I was up late doing research, and then someone pushed a heavy dresser in front of my door.”
Casey.
I sat up straight in bed, clutching the sheet to my chest. Not that I was naked. I wouldn’t allow myself to be vulnerable in this prison of mine, but I’d gotten down to a tank top and undies. I twisted around, scowling at the vampire who’d invaded my bed. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought that would be obvious.” His eyes slitted open, and there was a frown on those generous lips of his. “Trying to sleep, wife.”
Asshole. “I’m not your wife.”
He seemed to give up the whole sleeping part, and he yawned behind his hand, rolling over. He didn’t clutch a sheet since I’d taken most of it. It left his chest on display. Casey was built on lean lines, like the hottest swimmer you’ve ever seen. He wasn’t bulky like a warrior. His strength was disguised. “Tell it to the Council, wife. According to all laws, you are the wife of an academic. When I think about it, I could have made this claim years ago. You’re lucky I let you hide from me for so long.”
I certainly hadn’t hidden. I’d actually tried to bring him over to my side. It was too late now, and he was wrong. “You need a companion.”
“No, I don’t. Fuck that light. I’ll take my baby’s pitch black any day of the week.” His lips curled up. “That might make a good song.”
He would do it. He would write some dumbass, slow, guitar-picking song about how he loves my dark. This was a man who wrote an entire musical about the war that followed the royals’ exit from our plane. Naturally I was the bad guy and he was the lovesick good guy who simply wanted to make me see the error of my ways. “You had a lot of problems with my pitch black. You complain about it constantly.”
I rolled out of bed, wanting to know where I’d gone wrong. That dresser had been solid, and I’d found a way to wrench that sucker in. I was almost certain even vampiric strength couldn’t wreck it. Sure enough, the dresser was still in front of the door.
Casey stared at me from his place on the bed. “I’ve come to the conclusion that you were too nice before. Something had to give. No one can maintain that level of reason and sweetness forever. You were bound to explode, but you also can’t keep up this level of delusion.”