Total pages in book: 218
Estimated words: 209489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1047(@200wpm)___ 838(@250wpm)___ 698(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 209489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1047(@200wpm)___ 838(@250wpm)___ 698(@300wpm)
I met his gaze, sucking in another breath and letting it rattle out through my mouth. Oh boy, I wasn’t feeling so great.
“You are no less than any person in that house,” he told me.
I knew that.
And oh fucking boy, that was his mom’s house?
He turned even more toward me. “All the money in the world doesn’t make someone a better person, so knock it off with that bullshit.” He paused, and his eyes glowed bright for a moment. “You’re loyal, and even when you’re scared, you’re brave. I’m not joking, don’t make that face. You think I use those words lightly? You’re brave when it counts. That’s what matters. Nobody’s going to have a problem with you anyway. Don’t worry about that.” Alex nudged me. “You can be more than just ‘mostly’ yourself around me too, I guess.”
He was joking.
My eyes started tingling, and I could feel my nostrils start to flare as a sound built up in my chest.
“Don’t even think about it,” he growled.
I pressed my lips together and nodded slowly. “I won’t even think about it. Promise.” That was a lie; I was totally going to think about it. I was going to think about it for the rest of my life.
And at this point, he knew I was full of shit, but he still said, “Good.”
I eyed him.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he reminded me softly.
It was exactly what I needed though.
I held my breath, took a second, and then asked, “Is Selene coming? I liked her. I got a good vibe from her.”
“No, she’s in New York right now, and she got a good vibe from you too.”
“Is she like you? Or like Athena?”
He shook his head. “She’s stronger than Athena but not like Alana.”
What the hell? “Not everyone in the family ends up being so special then?”
Something awful funny came over his face. “Not anymore. From what I understand, our bodies, our genetic makeup, have been adapting over time.” The way he cleared his throat was a lot more aggressively than I thought he needed to, and I was pretty sure his funny face got even funnier. “It’s part of the reason why my grandmother is trying to find the rest of the Atraxian lines. To make sure some of us continue on; to give the kids the best shot at continuing the genes as long as possible.” I was pretty sure he glanced at me so fast he didn’t mean for me to notice, but I had.
Why did that sound loaded?
Before I could ask, he kept talking. “Let’s get the hell out of here so we can leave faster,” he said before turning forward again, putting the car back into drive.
A great, big question pecked at my brain: why he would admit all of this to me and at what cost? None of this information was out in the open. I understood his grandmother wanting to keep track of the bloodlines, but there were still some holes in his story that didn’t add up to me. I could worry about my chances of getting murdered for knowing too much later on.
And a part of me didn’t doubt for a second that if I breathed a word of this to someone, Alex wouldn’t be the only person to end up with a broken back.
And I knew I wouldn’t be able to heal from it the same way he did.
The passenger door opened, and a valet held out a hand to help me out of the car.
I took it and got out, wobbling on my heels after I thanked her and moved forward on the path to wait for the man-being making his way around his car.
I gave him a smile that was a lot less nervous than it would have been five minutes ago as I undid the buttons of the wool coat that Alex had left on the bed for me. It was heavy and so fine that I was scared of getting it dirty. Which was why I was taking it off ASAP.
And that’s when Alex stopped walking. Right there, in the middle of the pathway. He just stood there.
Staring at me.
More like in the direction of my chest.
And his voice was deeper than usual as he asked, “What are you wearing?”
Slipping my hands into the pockets of the coat, I spread the sides wide and looked down at myself. “The dress you got me?”
Oh, he was definitely looking at my boobs.
I had done the same thing after I’d put it on and realized that even though it had looked modest on the hanger, my boobs decided they wanted to be the center of attention. And they were. The sweetheart neckline dipped in there, not actually showing a ton of skin but hugging the shit out of them. But he’d seen me in tank tops. He’d seen me in my bra of all things. And he’d definitely seen me without a bra on. He’d seen all kinds of parts of me.