Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 126570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
I’m tempted to look fully at Isaac but can’t risk it.
“So what?” I say, bringing my chin up and stiffening my spine. Still standing my ground, even if I’m a little doubtful now.
A ball of apprehension is starting to form in the pit of my stomach. Asher obviously knows something I don’t. Something I probably don’t want to know.
“It’s not like anyone else here hasn’t had our fair share,” I add, more for myself than in support.
Asher laughs at me and speaks my worry out loud. Pounding more doubt into me with every word that hits the air between us. “Yes, we’ve had more than our share, my love, but we’re vampires. It’s what we do to stay alive. A human drinking blood… it’s vile. It’s obscene. They don’t need blood to exist. It’s practically cannibalism.”
I can’t argue with Asher on that, and a flash of fresh anger sizzles through me because he’s right.
My anger only increases when Isaac bends over and begins to hastily work on the cuffs and tape around his ankles and legs.
“I’d really like to know why,” Asher muses out loud. “I mean, I have my suspicions… but first I think Isaac should tell us whose blood he was drinking. Don’t you, Isaac?”
Isaac’s hands pause and he looks up at Asher then shakes his head. His fingers working faster to free himself.
Fear is pouring off him in waves, burning my nose and fogging up my brain.
The primal part of me wants to turn to Isaac, wants to bask in his fear and sink her fangs in his neck.
He is prey.
From now on, he’ll always be prey, and he’ll never truly be safe with me.
Shaking the fog from my head, I glare at Asher. Forcing myself to direct all my anger at him.
Because if I don’t…
“It wasn’t a rhetorical question, Isaac,” Asher says, his own anger bleeding into his voice. “Stop trying to free yourself and tell us whose blood you’ve been drinking.”
Isaac jerks as if he was struck and his entire body shakes and shudders violently. His nails dig into the metal of the cuffs, some breaking off, as he rebels against Asher’s order.
It’s all futile though because his spine straightens and his tongue obeys, slurring out my name. “Chloe’s.”
He couldn’t hurt me more if he stabbed a stake through my ribs and cut off my head.
“My blood?” I choke, just the thought of it making me sick. “You’ve been drinking my blood, Isaac?”
Isaac shakes his head with a groan, but answers, “Yes.”
Asher acts as if he’s going to pounce on me, and I foolishly fall for the bait. At the last second, he jumps back, causing me to swing at nothing.
When I trip forward, he easily slips around me and slashes Isaac across the face. “Isaac is going to die for his wicked ways.”
“No!” I scream, emptying my lungs as I slide to the side to protect Isaac from more harm.
Unfortunately, my next breath fills me with the smell of human blood. A quick glance at Isaac’s face confirms Asher seriously gouged him. Leaving large gashes across his cheeks and nose that he’s desperately trying to cover with his hands.
A quick glance also costs me the chance of blocking Asher’s next attack. Sliding around my other side with supernatural speed, Asher slashes Isaac across the chest and dodges my delayed swing with ease.
“Yes,” Asher snarls, his eyes glistening with a feral gleam.
I swung so hard, the chain comes down, cracking against my own knee. I growl in pain and try to shake out the ache.
Head tilting slightly to the side, Asher closely watches me, noting my limp as I continue to circle with him, trying to block him.
The next time Asher moves forward, he grabs the chain I’m holding and rips it from my hands. Whipping his arm to the side, he flings the chain away with a look of disgust. “No more chains for you, kitten, until you can prove you won’t hurt yourself.”
Enraged with how Asher’s toying with me, I try to pounce on him, but my hands slice through empty air.
“Why have you been drinking my mate’s blood, Isaac?” Asher demands after dodging me, further antagonizing me.
My blood burns as hot as lava as it pumps steam through my limbs.
I want to kill. I want to sink my claws and fangs into skin and rip. I want to shred every existence around me. Tear them into tiny little pieces I can spit.
Isaac makes a gurgling sound, and his answer is muffled with his hands. “Because it gives me strength, powers, and protection from vampires.”
Everything is falling apart. Everything is going to shit.
And I don’t even know who I’m angrier at—Asher, Isaac, or myself.
I’ve lost complete control of the situation.
If I had any control to begin with.
As if on cue, the back of my neck begins to crawl with unease as the other vampires press closer.