Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“Yes, thank you,” I say softly.
I don’t know why I’m feeling an overwhelming sense of bashfulness, but I cross my arms against my chest to conceal some of my nudity.
Apollo places his hand on my back and leads me toward his room.
Toward the cage.
I can’t just walk and act like nothing is happening. We continue on up above the foyer. Apollo is on the outer edge of the hallway near the banister. I am on the inner side.
It would be a long fall down…
A neck-breaking fall down if one were to tumble over the railing…
If one were to be pushed over the railing…
Not taking the time to think the idea through and not taking the time for fear to set in… I turn my body and attack.
I push Apollo with all my weight and with every ounce of strength I can. “You son of a bitch!” I shout as I claw at his face hoping I can also stun him.
Apollo stumbles toward the edge but takes a hold of the railing, preventing his fall. His wide eyes and awkward stance proves the man underestimated me. He did not expect this to happen. I take his moment of shock as my advantage and charge at him with my body again as a football player would tackle a quarterback.
I’m going in for the kill, still swiping my hands at his face. Because he has to hold on to the railing, Apollo can’t block my hands, and I’m able to get some gashes across that handsome face of his.
Blood trickles down his cheek, flesh under my nails, but nothing distracts me as I lunge into him, hoping he will flip over the wooden rail to his death.
Right now I’m a goddamn psychopath, bloodthirsty, determined to destroy.
But Gods are immortal. They can’t be defeated. I should know this. Shit… I should know this.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he snarls as he counters my beating on him by restraining my body with his muscled arms. His strength overpowers mine as his senses and balance return. Not only does the man not fall to his death, but he doesn’t even come close. The only thing I did is bloody his face a bit with scratches and piss him the fuck off.
I have to fight.
I have to run.
I have to save myself because no one else will.
But I’m helpless, restrained, vulnerable to the villain holding me close.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Apollo growls. I have never heard such sharpness in his tone before. Even when I had punched him in the nose. “I tried to be fucking nice to you, and you repay my civility by trying to kill me? You were smarter than that, at least I thought you were. I had expected a far better opponent than what I just saw here.”
“Fuck you.” I struggle against his hold, but the only thing I succeed at is rubbing my naked ass all over the front of his pants. “You’re sick. All you Godwins are! You can’t just keep me here like this.”
With what appears to be very little effort, Apollo picks me up and carries me back to his room with long, fast strides. I hardly have time to process what is happening at the speed of his walk. As we cross the threshold to his room again, I do everything within my strength to break free. My arms and legs flay, I butt my head back and forth, I hiss with every aggressive move I make.
I have truly become the beast.
A beast trying to survive.
Apollo tosses me to the ground and then takes hold of my hair with one of his enormous fists. Forcing my head back so that I look up into his face of fury, he hisses, “I’m done playing nice.”
Chapter
Seventeen
Daphne
I remember once when I was really young, I had watched a huge storm brewing in the west. The dark clouds swirled around and came at me faster than I could take shelter. I had run as fast as I could while the wind howled around me, slapping at my face. Rain, lightning, hail. A torrential downpour of chaos all around. I remember that storm clearly and the fear that I had felt.
It was nothing compared to the storm standing before me.
My bravado has dissipated completely.
“You think you can try to kill me and get away with it?” he bellows out.
“You can’t expect me to go back in that cage and not do a thing,” I stammer, terrified at the fury I see in Apollo’s eyes.
I hate myself for it, but my words come out as a sob as the tears follow. I don’t want him to see my weakness. It makes me hate him even more.
He reaches out, grabbing a handful of my hair, pulling me mere inches from his face. “Do you think tears will work? Should I have mercy on you now? Now that you show fear in your eyes and remorse in the quiver in your voice?”