Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 140780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Chapter Twenty-Nine
ONE HEARTBEAT, THE BED WAS SOFT and white.
The next, it was ash.
Fire tore out of my veins in a single, savage rupture, punching through my skin before I even registered I’d lost control.
Rook shot off the bed and stood with wide eyes.
“My...greatest enemy?” I repeated quietly, my voice all wrong. Off-key and violently dangerous.
“N-Not literally,” she rushed. “Just in terms of market share.”
“Ah.” I nodded as if hearing her call herself my enemy didn’t push me toward that murderous edge. “And I’m sure you mean something else entirely when you say you’re the reason I’m burning.”
“No...” She hung her head. “That part...that part is pretty self-explanatory. I just really hope I’m jumping to crazy conclusions and stressing us both out for no reason.”
Every scorching muscle went fatally still. And not the kind of still that said I’d gotten control of myself but the kind that usually preceded an apocalypse.
“So you’re using such triggering words just for fun?” My jaw clenched until my teeth threatened to become diamonds from the pressure. “Because I’d be very, very careful if I were you, Rook. Forget the past seven weeks we’ve spent together. Ignore the fact that I need you. Pretend that I’ve never treated you kindly or that you’ve seen me at my lowest and think before you next speak.”
I forced my breathing to slow down as the room shimmered with heat thermals. “You need to think extremely carefully about what you’re going to say next because I’m dealing with a lifetime of conditioning to kill first and ask questions later and I can’t promise I won’t react badly...even if it’s you.”
The wrecked bed smouldered.
“See?” she squeaked, her eyes locking onto the ribbons of smoke. “I told you it wasn’t a good idea to start this conversation while we’re trapped on this infernal plane.”
“Rook!” I roared, rolling my shoulders and trying to lock everything down. “Tell me before I crawl out of my skin. What the fuck do you mean—?!”
A polite knock sounded on the door, followed by a faint panther growl.
“Mr. and Mrs. Ashfall?” a careful voice said from the other side.
Fucking great. The timing was almost laughable.
“We’re beginning our descent,” the airhostess called. “If you wish to freshen up, the shower is stocked, the wardrobe has complimentary clothes, and I’ll have a meal ready for you before landing. I’ve also taken the initiative to feed your, eh...cat again.”
Mr. and Mrs.
My heart kicked with fire at the thought of ever marrying this woman. Of making her mine in law...a little thief who’d stolen my heart all while hiding everything.
My eyes never left Rook’s as I snarled at the door, “Go. Away.”
“Yes, sir.”
Rook didn’t say a word as we waited for the click of pointy heels to get the hell out of listening distance. She clutched her raindrop pendant as if it could ease the agony building behind her eyes—the agony I could feel.
Pressure coiled in my chest as if my ribs were a fire grate barely holding the inferno at bay. I despised that we were linked in some confounded, unexplainable way. That I’d been such a fool—
Whisper let out a low, distressed whine from the other side of the door.
She opened her mouth to annihilate me further and—
I snapped.
Launching off the bed, I stormed into her, wrapped my fingers around her throat, and marched her backward until she slammed against the leather-padded wall.
I wanted to know what she was hiding, yet I was suddenly petrified.
I was burning. Aching. Losing control.
And the only thing that could help me was her.
Rook gasped as I kissed her.
I bit and devoured, stealing her breath, her cold, her calm—ripping it out of her like it was mine by right. Her lips parted and I drank her in, chasing the ice that flooded my veins the second we touched.
Fuck.
Her coolness hit me like a sedative. The raging fire that’d built recoiled then snuffed out, leashed and smothered by whatever power she had over me.
I groaned, pinning her against the wall, feeding off her, taking everything I needed to stay sane.
She moaned as I plunged my tongue into her mouth.
Her hands came up instinctively, gripping my shirt as if she knew how close I was to killing her, even though it would fucking kill me to do it.
My thumb pressed against her leaping pulse. I read every frantic heartbeat, felt her fluttery fear, and...had just enough strength to pull back.
Breaking the kiss, I rested my forehead against hers. My thumb strayed from her pulse to beneath her chin, pushing her head back and bringing her gaze to mine.
She didn’t speak as I studied her—watching for the smallest flicker of deceit. “You know I don’t have a good track record when it comes to being threatened.” My thumb dug into the soft hollow of her jaw. “I’m fighting with the truth that you’ve always been good to me. Doing my best to remember that you’ve helped me, defended me, and have never given any reason for me to doubt you but...I can’t change what I’ve become. I can’t stop my instinctual need to protect myself—especially from those who are closest to me because those are the ones who end up hurting me the most.”