Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 125083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Anabel’s face softened, her eyes landing on her shoulder. “Aw, how beautiful. I love butterflies.” She began uttering soft, non-intelligible sounds to the flying insect that only she could see. But then her brow puckered, and she glanced up at Xavier. “It’s not real, is it?”
“Oh no, it’s real,” he assured her.
A sigh of relief slipped out of Anabel, and she smiled brightly. “Good. For a second there, I was worried I was embarrassing myself cooing over thin air.” Shaking her head at herself, as if she’d been dumb to doubt her eyes, she went back to freaking serenading a non-existent butterfly.
Wynter shot Xavier a hard look, but before she could order the lying bastard to tell her the truth, Delilah leaned into Wynter and whispered, “We need to teach her a lesson or she’s not gonna stop carelessly sampling her wares.”
That was true enough.
Azazel turned to Wynter. “What is happening?” he asked quietly, glancing briefly at Anabel, who was putting her fingers to her shoulder and trying to coax the ‘butterfly’ to walk onto her hand.
“She experiments on herself with her potions,” Wynter explained, her voice low. “There are often temporary after-effects. Hence the rash and hallucinations.”
“And the edginess around people?”
“No, she’s always like that.” Feeling eyes on her, Wynter looked to see Ishtar staring at her. The Ancient looked from her to Cain, clearly confused. Wynter shrugged in a ‘I’m just weak where he’s concerned’ gesture. It was better to keep up the naïve act.
Cain squeezed her hip. “We’re leaving now.”
She frowned. “We are? But there’s a show coming up. And the usual feast.”
“I know.” He picked up her hand. “I’ll feed you at the Keep, and I’ll be sure to entertain you.” He licked at the mark on her palm.
Her breath snagged in her throat as an invisible tongue swiped between her folds. “Bastard.”
His gaze was lit with both humor and need. “I could make you come in front of all these people, if you’d prefer.” He jabbed his tongue into the center of her palm.
She jumped, feeling as if the aforementioned tongue had sank into her pussy. “No, I damn well wouldn’t.”
“Then you’d better come with me, hadn’t you?”
Anabel’s head shot up, and she let out a sad sigh. “Ah, it’s gone.” Her eyes flitted from person to person, taking in their expressions. Whatever she saw made her face darken. She whirled on the male at her side. “Xavier.”
He bust a gut laughing, the shit.
Cain snapped awake, his creature urgently shoving at his consciousness. He splayed a hand on the mattress beside him, finding only empty space.
Wynter was gone again.
Lifting his head, he looked toward the adjoined bathroom and called out her name. No response. Fuck.
Cain swiftly yanked on a pair of sweatpants and rushed out of the chamber. He’d locked the gates to his garden in case she did any more sleepwalking, so at least he didn’t need to worry that she’d go traipsing through it again. On the off-chance that she’d headed there, he made his way to the first floor of the Keep and strode out of the rear doors. He exhaled heavily as he spotted her near the gates dressed in only his shirt. She was swaying slightly toward them, gently touching the iron bars with her forehead.
He moved to her side and looked at her face. She was staring straight ahead, her gaze unfocused.
Taking her arm, he gently turned her to face him, but she tried turning back to the gates. He had no idea why she kept coming here whenever she went sleepwalking, but he didn’t like it. It made him feel far too uneasy.
She dug in her heels when he tried leading her away. The move was weak but determined.
He gripped her chin. “Wynter? Wynter?”
She blinked rapidly, and then the vacant glint faded from her eyes. She glanced around, her brows dipping. “What am I … shit, I did it again?”
He nodded, slipping his arm around her shoulders. “Come on.” He guided her back into the Keep and up to his chamber. Flicking the lock, he asked, “Were you dreaming about anything in particular?”
“Not that I can recall.” She sat on the edge of the bed. “Did I say or do anything?”
He shook his head, walking toward her. “You just kept rocking back and forth on your heels, nudging the gates with your forehead. If they weren’t secured shut with a padlock, you probably would have wandered through the garden again.” And on this occasion, she might have been hurt. Sure, the snakes hadn’t bothered her last time, but that could have been a one-off. “Sleepwalking isn’t normal for you?”
She shook her head. “Listen, I can stop staying over if this is weirding you out too much.”
Stood between her legs, Cain leaned over her, silently urging her to lay back. He placed a hand either side of her head and nuzzled her neck. “I like having you here.”