Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 133191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Was this Conall and his family?
They were standing on a rocky beach, a beautiful lake and mountains behind them.
Thea wondered which one of them was sick. Which of these people was he willing to sacrifice her for?
Memories of her own parents swelled in her throat, burning and screaming to get out. But Thea shoved them back down as she shoved the photograph into his wallet.
There were times she pulled those memories out and let herself swim in the pain because it was worth it to remember the happy moments.
But now was not the time.
With a ruthless supernatural sure to wake up from a broken neck wanting to kill her, and some unknown entity out there hunting her too, now was very much the time to go.
In the darkness came the pain. It cut through, awakening him, until he laid immobilized by what felt like a sword through his neck.
He drowned in confusion, the agony making it hard to swim out. But there, a glimmer on the surface, was the memory.
She’d broken his neck.
Conall’s current awareness told him he was already healing and knitting back together, but an injury like this could take time if he just laid there.
No. He’d have to shift to accelerate the painful healing process. He didn’t want anyone to find him like this. And he had a brat to hunt.
He pushed the shift, unconsciousness threatening as he strained his injuries, attempting to feel the first tingle of transformation. Finally, he felt it in his fingertips, his growls garbled and low in his ears as he forced himself to continue through the misery. Usually shifting was akin to stretching his body after hours of being cramped in one position.
Not today.
Today it was like fire scoring down his spine.
Still, it had to be done.
His muscles burned, his bones cracked. Fur pierced through his skin like goosebumps.
And then as his spine changed, as the wolf took over, he almost blacked out from the pain as his neck snapped back into place.
After a few seconds of panting, he opened his eyes and took in the room as a wolf. Despite the darkness of night, he could see better than in his human form, especially in his peripheral. He could hear the traffic of the motorway in the distance as if it ran right outside the room.
Stretching, he finally stood on all fours and gave a breathy huff.
The small room was empty except for his rucksack.
Smelling blood, he turned toward the bathroom and saw the floor tiles smeared with his from the bullet wounds. That would need cleaning up before he left. Sniffing around the room, he caught her scent on the first aid kit and bared his teeth, a growl rumbling from his belly.
Padding across the room, his nose to the ground, he could smell her everywhere.
He stared at his tattered clothes on the floor and then at the room’s closed door. If it were up to him, he’d take off after her like this. He’d knock out the motel room door like a battering ram and run along the motorway to get to her. Unfortunately, it was too dangerous.
With one last snarl, he pushed on the shift. This time it was far more pleasant.
As the room darkened and cool air blew across his skin, Conall sat back on his heels and instinctively rubbed a hand over the nape of his neck. There was no pain and no inflammation. It was as good as new. Standing, he felt relief to realize he was stronger than before Thea had broken his fucking neck. He strode into the bathroom and turned to look at his back in the mirror above the sink. There were three tiny scars because the bullets had been silver, but otherwise the wounds had completely healed.
He walked back into the bedroom and pulled his last clean pair of jeans and shirt out of the rucksack. As Conall dressed he tried to make sense of what had happened that day. He assumed it was still the same day or the motel owner would have shown up to kick him out.
Thea had saved his life.
Instead of leaving him to die in that car park, she’d saved him.
And then she’d broken his neck, knowing it wouldn’t kill him, but that it would give her a head start.
He felt out her scent and knew instinctively, as always, which direction to take to find her.
Instead Conall slumped on the bed.
The wolf in him wanted to hunt her, to pin her and force her to show her belly in submission and admittance of wrongdoing. Another alpha might want to force her submission in other ways that made Conall’s skin crawl. Like the werewolf Thea said had tried to rape her.
And where she’d learned that breaking his neck wouldn’t kill him.
Warring between his anger and confusion, Conall glared at the blank wall, trying to make sense of this information.