Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 140462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 702(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 468(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 702(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 468(@300wpm)
“He wanted to go with me,” Hawk insists.
“Oh, I’m sure he did want something, just like that last pretty face, who you chose to drop your whole future for,” Hawk’s father interjects.
There’s a moment of silence, and then Hawk speaks. “Why would you fucking say that? You forgot about me for five years, so you don’t get to judge me now!”
“Oh I will speak my mind, because you’re literally here to ask for my help.”
Hawk’s mother clears her throat. “At any rate, you need to go. Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be? You’ll have an easier time without him. Find yourself a nice boy with a clean slate. Someone who won’t know you’re wanted.”
I hear stomping nearby, so I shuffle around, but I’m barely making any sound, and humans’ hearing isn’t even as good as mine.
“For the right guy, I’m sure you’re a catch, son,” Hawk’s father says as if to soften the blow of his harsh words. “But you have to face the facts. Sylvan left. And Kevin testified against you. You need to make better choices, and that should start tonight. Focus on yourself and get across the border.”
It pains me to hear that they hound him like that. I don’t really know that much about Hawk, but the darkness of his shadow tells me he’s not had an easy life. He doesn’t deserve to be lied to about me when I most definitely want to go with him, and make him mine.
My foot hits something hard and my heart skips a beat. I tap it several times, but the noise isn’t loud enough because of the rubber soles of my shoes. Where are steel buckles when one needs them?
“Sylvan would not leave. So this is your chance to tell me the truth. What have you done with him?” Hawk growls, and I squirm at a series of noises that follow.
“Please, stop wrecking our home!” his mother shouts, with an edge of rage to her voice, but he doesn’t seem to listen, and the next thud sounds as if he were trying to break through.”
“I know he’s still in the house! I know you two!”
I stall, taking it in. He believes in me so much? Over his own blood? How foolish of him, yet how sweet.
I roll the mysterious item with my feet, from one corner of my trap to the other, and I’m pretty sure I hear some splashing, as if it’s a jar with liquid inside. For a moment, I consider whether I can smash the glass somehow, use it to cut the binds on my wrists, but then it hits another jar and my heart soars. High-pitched noises are easier to notice, so I put my hope in the clinking glass and grab the jar between my feet to repeatedly slam it against the other one.
The shooting pain of a cramp is replaced by an icy sensation, then a burn as the liquid spills over me. The tiny space I occupy fills with the absolute stench of potent alcohol. It’s so intense I could get drunk on the fumes alone, and having to inhale through my nose isn’t helping. I rattle the broken glass with my legs anyway, because I’m not giving up.
Not on myself, and not on Hawk!
The voices outside my prison go quiet, and then, the box containing me rattles, as if a huge bassal has captured it with its jaws in an attempt to reach my flesh.
“Wet… how do I fucking open it?” Hawk roars to an echoing silence.
“Just calm down!” his father yells, so I rattle the glass with even more fervor despite pain shooting up my leg.
I don’t like to admit to weakness, but I am frightened. If Hawk had left me, would they have disposed of me? At this point, I’m not sure what might be worse—being murdered or turned in to Lord Kyran as a proven fugitive. But I don’t get to entertain this empty worry for much longer, because something clicks, and then light hurts my eyes as the lid above me opens. Hawk is only a dark silhouette at first, but I recognize the width of his shoulders and take a deep breath of fresh air, released from the pungent trap.
I look up at him, unable to extend my arms, but he’s leaning down to unbuckle the belt tying me to the interior. Relief floods me from the tip of my head to my toes when our eyes meet. I’ve never felt this way before. Someone has my back just because they want to, not because I will be useful to their cause.
We’ve just met, and yet he believed my intentions over his family.
Despite what he’s been through with this Kevin, his heart is so open. It makes my own crack and let in his light.