Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 42412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 212(@200wpm)___ 170(@250wpm)___ 141(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 212(@200wpm)___ 170(@250wpm)___ 141(@300wpm)
She stood completely still as my essence swirled around her, eyes still wide but clear. Her breaths came in fast, short bursts, and her heart still raced, but I didn’t taste fear. Instead, I detected the thickness of concern and the decadent sweetness of chocolate-dipped berries. I tasted love, and that filled me with pride.
She was fearless. Bold. Courageous. Unstoppable.
She said my name again, and it caused an ache that went beyond the physical. The kind of power she wielded over me…she had no idea.
She never did.
Her chest rose with a sharper inhale. She wet her lips, and that brief glimpse of her tongue was like downing a shot of pure desire. I wanted inside her. In her mouth. Her pussy. And in places I had held myself back from. Smoke and ice filled my veins. I tasted snow and brimstone.
“I love you,” she said. “Always.”
I…
I went still.
The endless stream of wants and needs was silenced. I heard her. Only her. I felt her voice. Tasted the truth in those words. My mind calmed. The thrum of power ebbed. The Primal mist slowed and thinned. I saw her, only her, and—
The hair at my nape rose as every sense within me sharpened. My head cocked. Something had shifted, but…but not here in the in-between. A moment passed. The prickle of awareness increased. Something had entered Wayfair, having either stepped on or brushed against one of the vines connected to me—an extension of my will formed by my essence. Not in the Great Hall while I slept, but close.
Something I’d been waiting on.
I turned my head back toward her as the air started to shift. I let myself look my fill. Let myself feel the brief peace only she could give, even when she wreaked havoc upon my life. Let myself spend one more heartbeat in her presence.
Then, I woke.
The scent of lilacs and jasmine lingered in the breath I took afterward. I didn’t need to open my eyes to know I wasn’t alone.
I’d overheard Attes warning Kieran to be wary of the ravens. That some of them—not all—had to be a type of chora—an animal formed by a Primal god. The keyword being type. Primal gods only formed an animal. Not dozens. Hundreds. I didn’t know or give a fuck what they were. All I knew was that they were one of the many…new additions I’d acquired in recent weeks, and where the vines could give me something akin to an impression of the environment, I could see what the ravens saw in crisp, ultraviolet detail.
And I saw the Primal god standing like a sentry by the doors, the golden skin of his face carrying a faint reflective sheen my eyes couldn’t perceive.
I had no idea how long my great-grandfather had been standing there. Finding me asleep had probably brought him a measure of relief—their concern about my lack of rest was another conversation I’d overheard.
But it wasn’t Attes’s presence that had woken me.
I could feel Kieran. He was near. That wasn’t a surprise. I shut down the urge to open the notam to him. It wasn’t anger that drove me. He didn’t need to see what was inside me. It would…concern him.
The hum in my blood and in my flesh demanded that I move, but I held myself still, channeling that churning, restless energy into something useful. My senses expanded and opened until I felt all the vines that sprawled across the floor, scaled the walls, and twined along the ceiling. Until I found them.
Found Kieran.
He wasn’t alone. Someone was with him, and they were closer. I focused on the mark—the imprint of a wolven. It felt like Kieran’s, earthy and rich, but stronger.
Jasper.
His father.
Muscles along my neck drew taut. He shouldn’t be here. I could feel the change sweeping through me. My skin thinned. Weight settled upon my head, and my back tingled, even though the wings remained tucked away.
But it wasn’t his presence that I felt. I knew that as their footsteps approached and the doors swung wide. My eyes opened. I saw him first as the ravens above took flight, their throaty calls echoing in the air.
Kieran’s vivid blue stare was steady, but there were smudges beneath his eyes. He wasn’t sleeping well either.
My attention shifted to the Primal god, and my chest clenched. It did every fucking time I looked at him, but saw my father. The same proud jaw and high, chiseled cheekbones. Straight nose. Attes was taller, broader, and his hair was lighter, but fuck, he looked so much like my father that it felt like a sucker punch to the chest.
But Attes wasn’t him.
There was nothing left of my father.
Attes pushed himself off the wall, the furrow in his brow tugging at the scar that cut across his forehead and the bridge of his nose.