Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
I want to be mad at him. I want to call him out and tell him what an asshole he is. Instead, guilt rips through me. Devon didn’t want to be turned. He didn’t want his humanity ripped away. Was Xavier lying just to make me feel better when he said people don’t really change when they turn, they just lose the fear they once had?
I can’t believe Devon wasn’t really a good person. He was kind and caring and smart enough to challenge things, even when he knew it was risky. Now he’s angry and full of himself. This isn’t him.
Feeling unsettled, I go upstairs and change into a dark gray sweatsuit. Not wanting to sit inside, I get the Book of Shadows Mabel got for me and go outside into the garden. There was a new moon several days ago, and the sky is cloudless and dark. Setting the book down on the little, white cast iron table and go to the koi pond.
“You guys are lucky,” I tell the fish. “You just swim and swim and eat and then swim. You don’t have to worry about anything else.” I watch them for a while and then turn and look out at how pretty the garden is. Pulling the hood over my head to keep the mosquitoes away, I sit cross-legged on the cobblestone and let my vision blur as I look at the fish. There’s a little bubbling fountain in the middle of the pond, making the most peaceful sound of moving water.
“I wish you were alive, Mom,” I whisper into the dark. “Everything has gotten so complicated, and I don’t know how to protect everyone…or if they even deserve protecting.” I pick up a fallen leaf and tear it into little pieces, dropping them back onto the ground. The energy shifts, and I can sense it is Xavier. “You were right.” I turn my head, watching him silently move down the path. “It does bother me.”
“What’s bothering you?” he asks softly and comes right up behind me, sinking down onto the ground so his legs go around me. I lean back against his chest.
“How fucked up it is that Vivian killed my mom to take over the role. How did she do it? I had no idea. I really thought she loved me.”
“A part of her probably did even though she wasn’t supposed to.”
“I hope so. She is a mom so you’d think that maternal instinct would kick in, right?”
“I don’t know.” He pulls my hair back and gently kisses the nape of my neck. It sends a chill through me. “But what I do know is how incredible you were tonight.”
“You’re not mad?”
“You went about things in a different way than I would have preferred,” he starts, saying each word patiently. “If it were anyone else, Wren…” His lips go to my neck again. “I haven’t felt the sun in seven hundred years, but being next to you, I remember what it feels like.”
My breath hitches in my chest and I turn so I can kiss him. Our arms tangle around each other and Xavier lays back, pulling me on top of him. Desire floods my veins and I feel so much for him right now. I’m straddling him, and his hands slip under my shirt, making me gasp from his cold skin against mine.
He’s dressed in another suit tonight, and the man knows what works for him. He doesn’t just look like an old-timey ganger, he has the balls to back it up. The jacket is off, but there are still too many layers between the both of us, and I desperately undo his belt. I get the button undone on his pants and he grabs my wrists, pulling my hands up to his shoulders.
In a graceful move, he picks me up, speeding around to the other side of the koi pond, and sits us down on a bench. I’m straddling him, rubbing myself against his hardening cock. His large hands settle on my waist, bunching up my sweatshirt and I hook my arms around his shoulders, rising up on my knees so he can pull my shirt off. I’m wearing a thin red bra, nipples visible through the lace.
“You are so beautiful,” he growls, mouth going to my breasts the second he pulls my bra down. I rock my hips against his, getting wetter and wetter as he flicks his tongue, circling my nipple. Holding onto him, I arch my back and let my head fall to the side, eyes fluttering shut. Bright stars dot the sky above us and a soft breeze blows through the air, bringing with it the scent of cut grass and a mix of flowers from the garden. “And you are mine.”
There is something so fucking hot about hearing him say that. Inhaling, I press my fingers into his shoulders and bring my head down, forehead against his. I can see his fangs glinting in the starlight and I bring a hand up to his face, fingers landing on his cheek.