Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
A strained sigh rippled out of River. “Shouldn’t be that way. Only thing I’ve ever wanted is for you to be safe.”
His sentiments echoed mine. Of course, that’s what we both wanted. Except he didn’t have the first clue how deep that ambition really went. How I felt like my insides were being shredded, thinking of her in the line of fire, all while knowing it would devastate me—leave me in complete ruins—if I were to have to let her go.
Raven glanced at Charleigh, then her brother, before her attention hooked on me.
“We all have to make choices for ourselves about where we belong. About what is most important to us and what risks we’re willing to take. And I choose to be here. With you all. As a part of you. It has always been worth the risk to me, and it always will be.”
It was delivered with quiet, determined strength.
A hushed ferocity.
Beautiful, brave girl.
My throat trembled as I took the silent message she was delivering.
River let go of a disbelieving laugh. “Guess it’s in your blood, huh?”
“Pumping strong right through the middle of me.”
His amusement was short-lived, no one quite sure how to traverse this disaster. “What do you want to do from here, Raven?”
And that bottomless gaze was on me when she murmured, “I want to go home…with Otto.”
I didn’t know if it was the way she said it. What he heard or felt or sensed.
But there was no missing the suspicion carved deep in River’s brow when he swiveled to look at me.
We were both held in it for an eternal beat.
Then he blinked it away like he refused to believe something so foul in me.
FIFTY
RAVEN
“I can walk, Otto.”
He grunted at me as he dipped into the passenger side of my car and slipped his arms underneath me. “Not gonna happen, darlin’.”
“And why is that?”
“Because I need you as close to me as I can get you, and I can’t think of any better way than having you in my arms.”
“Oh, I can think of ways for us to get closer,” I told him, letting the innuendo wind into my voice, going for light.
We were in dire need of it since this afternoon had been too much.
Too dark and strained and terrifying.
I might have tried to play it off, but I didn’t think there would be any way for either of us to shuck the horror that had taken us prisoner.
Those old chains that had tried to keep me down cinching tight around my wrists.
The worry and dread and reservations that Otto had carried slithering back from their confines, weaving their way back through his consciousness.
I saw it, so clear in the seething blue of his eyes. The way he watched me when he straightened with me in the stability of his powerful hold.
He thought he was to blame, but he also wasn’t cowering behind it.
To me, it felt as if a new fire had lit.
“And that is not going to happen, either. You are going to rest. Doctor’s orders.”
“What does the doctor know?” I let my arms dangle loosely around his neck as I sent a pout his way. “I think you are the only medicine I need.”
He sent me a look that told me he was on to my game. “You already know you have the seduction down pat, Raven. How about you do me a favor and don’t tempt me, yeah? Need to make sure you’re whole and healing before I ravish you.”
My pout deepened, though I settled my cheek against the surety of his chest, letting him hold me as he carried me up the interior steps of the garage to the door. He maneuvered me around easily, like I didn’t weigh anything, getting it open with hardly jostling me at all. He carried me directly to the couch and laid me across it.
“Don’t move,” he ordered.
“So bossy. The doctor said I needed to rest tonight, not that I’m bedridden.”
Otto climbed to his knees beside me, leaning in close. “Don’t care if you barely have a headache. I’m gonna take care of you. You haven’t met the meaning of bossy yet.”
A shiver rolled through me. “Why do I like the sound of that?”
Otto sighed, half in frustration and half in affection. “Always askin’ for trouble, aren’t you, Little Moonflower?” He gathered my hand and kissed across my knuckles as his expression turned somber. “Scared the fuck outta me, baby. Seeing you go down like that.”
I reached out with my free hand and trembled my fingertips over the sharp edges of his face. “I was scared, too. But I’m fine. I’m right here. Whole and healing. It was nothing.”
“It’s not nothing when someone was able to get that close to you. Close enough that they made you bleed. If I said I wasn’t going to let you out of my sight before, I’m going to be stuck to you like glue now.”