Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 42637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 213(@200wpm)___ 171(@250wpm)___ 142(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 213(@200wpm)___ 171(@250wpm)___ 142(@300wpm)
A sharp, sudden sound left me as I looked into his glowing eyes. “You,” I gasped.
“Yes. Me,” he murmured, his voice low…dangerous.
I tried to get my legs to move, but it was too late. His hand shot out, catching my wrist as he pulled me close to him so my chest slammed against his.
The world tilted, the shadows swallowing me whole as he held me to him, his lips barely brushing mine as he murmured, “You’re mine, Clara. And I’ve waited long enough.”
And then he gripped my hair and tilted my head back. I felt his mouth feathering across my throat.
“I’ve been waiting ages for this…for you,” he growled, and then I felt him strike, sinking his teeth into the side of my neck.
And I didn’t fight it.
CHAPTER SIX
CLARA
Iwoke to the sound of crackling fire, the warmth of it brushing against my face. My eyes fluttered open, but I immediately squeezed them shut again. I didn’t know where I was or how I got here.
I opened my eyes again and blinked rapidly, but the world around me caused a sudden, sharp pain in my head.
However, I couldn’t pretend I was still dreaming. The rich scent of burning wood, the faint creaks coming from the distance, and the steady thrum of my own heartbeat in my ears made it impossible to ignore reality.
My neck started throbbing, reminding me why. I blinked, taking in the unfamiliar room.
It was old...like these stones had seen hundreds of years. That's the first thing I noticed. The stone walls were impossibly high. The firelight flickered along the jagged texture. The room was expansive yet suffocating, all in the same breath, and that made no sense.
I pushed up on the massive bed I was in the center of, and I swore the shadows pooled around me like an inky mess.
The room felt…alive.
I couldn’t place these stones, not consciously. The angles were wrong, the tapestries different… the air itself unfamiliar. Yet something inside me stirred with a strange, aching insistence.
Memory didn’t arrive as clear images but as impressions. I closed my eyes as the ghost of silk brushed my wrist and the faint aroma of lavender filled my nose. I felt the echo of a hand brushing the curve of my waist, even felt lips press to mine in a phantom kiss.
I remembered a shadow of… something. It grew deep in my bones that felt both terrible and heartbreakingly close.
But it wasn’t just the room that felt this way. It was this entire place. And as I stared at the stone walls, I wondered if I was in a castle. Whatever this place was, it was ancient.
I tried to focus on the cracking flames set in a massive fireplace. But I couldn't focus on anything because, a moment later, that familiar tingle on the back of my neck started again.
Because he was here. In this room. Watching me.
He stood by the large oak door, his focus on me, his hands clasped behind him. His frame seemed impossibly large, as the firelight barely reached him, but his presence was as commanding as it had been in the forest.
The light from the flames cast long shadows that flickered and danced around him, but even that glow felt dulled in his presence.
Because this man was intense in every single way.
I tried to move, but my limbs were heavy, my body sluggish. When I glanced down, I realized I was no longer wearing my original clothes. Instead, what covered me was a thicker shift that seemed so outdated that it was like it had been handstitched ages ago.
I picked at the material and noticed a drop of blood close to the collar, knowing it was from the bite mark on my throat that this man—this monster—gave me.
Panic bubbled in my chest as I looked at him again. But I swallowed my unease down. Not only had he undressed me to put this shift on me but he bit me like he was a damn…vampire.
“Where am I?” My voice came out shaky, and I cleared my throat, grabbing the blanket and pulling it toward my chest as if it were a shield. “Who are you? "
His eyes gleamed as he watched me from across the room. They still held that same unnatural glow I’d seen in the forest. “I’m Ivan Tepes, and you’re at home, Clara.” I felt my eyes widen, and he took a step closer. “You’re safe with me,” he said and held out his massive hands. He must have seen my distrust because he followed up with, “If I wanted to hurt you, you’d be hurt, Clara.” His voice was low and steady as he walked closer.
“I didn’t ask if I was safe,” I whispered back but cleared my throat again so my voice rose and showed my strength.
His lips twitched into the faintest hint of a smile.