Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
He sits up, holding his head, his expression bleary like he’s got a hangover. He groans and presses his palm to his brow, and when he blinks I can see his eyes are glowing the same bright blue as my captors. That’s not a good sign.
He squints, turning towards the metal bars of the cell, and he seems taken aback by them. They set him just inside the cell itself, and I watch as he touches one bar carefully, then sticks his hand through as if he can’t believe what he’s seeing. I notice for the first time that he has a tail. It’s lashing angrily like a cat’s, and when he jerks on the bars as if trying to break them, I realize he just might be on my side.
Time to introduce myself, I guess.
“I’ve tried,” I call out to the stranger. “You can’t get out.”
The blue demon jerks in surprise at the sound of my voice. He turns towards my corner of the cave-jail, an absolutely incredulous look on his face. I guess he didn’t realize he wasn’t here alone.
Before I can say anything else, he charges through the cave towards me, almost stepping over me in his haste.
I gasp, flinching back against the wall, but my teeth chattering gives me away. It takes a moment for him to focus on me in the shadows, but I can tell the moment those glowing eyes fix on me. He stares for a long, hard moment, and I almost expect him to say the same thing the other monster did—what are you?
Instead, he drops to his knees next to me, gazing at me with sheer fascination. A strange humming, buzzing sound seems to be coming from him that I find oddly comforting, and it takes me a moment to realize that he’s purring.
Is he part cat, then?
He looks me up and down and then taps his chest. “R’jaal,” he says in a low, hushed voice. “I am R’jaal. I am a hunter of Tall Horn clan.”
Oh good. He can understand me. That’s one less problem to worry about. Maybe he knows what’s going on. R’jaal—the stranger—invades my personal space just a little bit more, and I manage a small, awkward smile as he leans in. “Rosalind. I’m a librarian. And…I don’t know how I got here or what I’m doing here.”
The devil smiles. “You are here because you are mine.”
Four
ROSALIND
“I’m sorry, what?” I must not have heard him correctly. I could have sworn he said that I was his.
“I am your mate,” he declares like an absolute maniac. “We have been brought together so we can make young. Truly, this is a great day.”
Okay, I didn’t hear him incorrectly. He’s just insane. “You’re crazy.”
R’jaal laughs.
I’m starting to get a little concerned. Okay, more than a little. They locked me in here with this guy? And I’m practically naked and shivering and defenseless? What the hell is going on?
R’jaal gives me an excited look, leaning uncomfortably close once more. “Can I taste you? I promise to lick your cunt very well, but I have been dreaming of this for far too long.”
Ooh! Bastard. Creepy, asshole bastard. I slap his face.
He looks at me in sheer delight, as if I just kissed him instead of smacking him across the mouth. This is going to be a major problem. “Get away from me, creep.”
R’jaal tilts his head. “Creep? I do not follow what you mean.”
“Creep! Jerk! Sleaze! You’re freaking me out! Just get away!” I shove at him, terrified. “Leave me alone!”
The look of delighted excitement on his face disappears, and he sits back on his haunches, giving me the space I asked for. The expression he wears now is wounded, and I get the vague impression that I just kicked a puppy. “I frighten you?”
“Yes!”
“But…” He runs a hand over his mouth, stopping himself. Then he speaks again, composed. “I do not wish to scare you, R’slind of Berry-and clan. I am just…happy to meet you. Tell me how I have frightened you and I will not do so again.”
“You could start with giving me space to breathe.”
“Oh.” R’jaal takes a few steps back, then drops into a crouch. “Is this better?”
Now I’m really confused. Two seconds ago, he was acting like a rapey creep, demanding to lick me, and now he’s being courteous. God, I hope it’s just a cultural confusion of some kind and he’s not a psychopath. “It is. Thank you.”
He smiles again, though it’s more subdued. R’jaal sits on the floor in his spot and just watches me. He’s no longer trying to escape or molest me. Instead, he’s just…sitting there. I don’t know what to make of this.
I eye him and his strange appearance. The guy all but preens when he sees me checking him out, and I could swear he purrs louder. It’s just…I’ve never seen anything like him before. Ever. The weird monster with four arms looks vastly different, though they both have the same glowing blue eyes and antelope-like horns. “Can I ask you something?”