Total pages in book: 193
Estimated words: 184001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 920(@200wpm)___ 736(@250wpm)___ 613(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 184001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 920(@200wpm)___ 736(@250wpm)___ 613(@300wpm)
Seth wasn’t fighting to get out. He was fighting to keep Bane in.
“Zeke!” The echo of Thorin’s call reaches my ears, followed by swift footsteps drawing him closer.
“No.” No, no, no, no!
If Thorin’s already caught up with me, there hasn’t been time to grab the tranquilizer. Thorin won’t kill me, which means he left the cabin without any protection. I open my mouth to scream, to warn him to stay away, but my throat constricts like there’s a hand around it, squeezing and keeping me silent.
No matter how hard I try, I can’t get the words out, and it dawns on me then why this time is different. Usually when I switch alters, I go willingly, the transfer of control so smooth that I’m barely even aware of it. Splitting is my mind’s way of protecting itself, to keep from fracturing further. This loss of bodily autonomy is a punishment from my mind for resisting its defenses—for rebelling in order to protect someone other than myself.
Seth, I silently plead. Please. Help me.
But Seth doesn’t answer because he isn’t there. He lost the battle, and now there’s only me standing in between Bane and Aurelia. Remembering the knife I carry, I tug it free and place the serrated edge already stained with my blood to the throbbing pulse in my neck.
My death will crush her. I know that now. But if my blood on the ground is the only way to keep her safe so be it. My fingers tighten around the handle, and I feel the muscles in my arm coiling to strike, to slice, and to slay when I hear a vicious curse behind me.
“Zeke? What the fuck, man?” I feel the commanding hand of my best friend on my shoulder, and my body stills at the perceived threat. “Give me the goddamn knife.”
All I can do is choke out a sound, something that sounds like run before the darkness creeping at the edge of my vision snaps forward, spilling over everything that I am until I am nothing.
AURELIA
Thorin told me to stay, and in an effort to obey him for as long as I possibly can, I shower in his bathroom and get ready for bed. When I emerge to find that he still hasn’t returned, I go in search of Khalil downstairs.
I find him in the bathroom lining up his beard with clippers in his hand and a towel around his waist. Beads of water from his recent shower still cling to his brown skin and the muscles he’s honed over the years. Usually, the sight would be enough to distract me, but not this time. I can’t get that frenzied look in Zeke’s eyes out of my head.
Khalil’s gaze meets mine in the mirror when I step inside the bathroom.
“It’s Thorin’s night,” he says, referring to the turns I take sleeping in their beds so that they don’t get jealous and kill each other.
“Thorin isn’t here. He ran after Zeke and told me to stay.”
The clippers shut off abruptly, and Khalil turns around with a frown. “What are you talking about?”
“Zeke. He said he wanted to talk about Seth, but then he ran out of the cabin before he could, and Thorin went after him.”
Khalil swears and then brushes past me to leave the bathroom. I follow him into his room where he drops his towel and then disappears inside his closet. When he emerges, he’s wearing dark cargo pants and a rain jacket. The hood is already pulled over his head as he passes me again to go into the den where the weapons locker is. They don’t keep it locked anymore, so he wrenches it open without delay and reaches inside.
My heart punches against my chest when he pulls out the tranquilizer rifle and handgun and quickly loads them both with a dart.
Oh God. Oh no.
Zeke. Thorin.
“I’m coming,” I say as I rush forward to get my compound bow.
Khalil slams the locker closed with a fierce scowl that warns me not to push.
“So is all the training just bullshit then? When it really comes down to it, you’ll treat me like I’m fucking helpless?”
“No. I want you to stay here just in case Zeke or Thorin come back. My guess is neither of them have their radios.” He grabs a handheld off the charger from the small table next to the locker. “I will. If something pops off, we can let each other know and regroup. Can you do that for me, baby?”
“Sure,” I grumble reluctantly, still feeling like I’d be more useful by his side protecting him.
“Good girl.” Khalil kisses my forehead and then hands me the smaller dart gun and a radio. He grabs another radio, and then we check to make sure we’re on the same frequency before I follow him up the basement stairs.