Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 50512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 253(@200wpm)___ 202(@250wpm)___ 168(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 253(@200wpm)___ 202(@250wpm)___ 168(@300wpm)
“It’s nice being sort of out.”
“I shouldn’t have been so possessive,” he says. “When you asked to go feed with me.” His eyes are apologetic. “We can venture out,” he continues. “Can we take Ajax with us though? As a precaution? He can stop time should any attack happen.”
I smile up at him, my heart absolutely melting. “Saint, your possessiveness is one of the things I love about you.” I laugh, not entirely sure what that means about me, but also not really caring. I sigh. “But I understand your reasoning for not wanting us to venture past the wards. Honestly, I do. It’s smarter to not risk it.”
I rest my head on his chest, knowing it’s true. True for all of us.
We’re all being held captive by Samuel. We’re all moving in the way we are because of him, and I’m tired of it.
Tired of waiting to die.
Tired of waiting to live.
It’s time to take action, and I’m starting to understand exactly how to do it.
CHAPTER 15
Saint
“What is the most favorite place you’ve visited?” Aurora asks me, her head resting on my chest as we lay in my bed.
I’d been on a hunt earlier, chasing down a lead with Dagon and the rest of the hunters. Unfortunately, we found no trace of Samuel or the Sons in the witch territory. The sting of disappointment was lessoned when I came back to the residence, to my mate.
Still can’t believe she’s mine. Even as I hold her, feed her, fuck her. It seems too good to be true.
“Our orders took us all over the world,” I finally answer, running my fingers through her long red hair. “I’ve seen places that no longer exist and ones that have withstood the test of time.” I shift to look down at her, my heart in my throat. “But Edgemont is my favorite.”
Aurora crinkles her nose. “Edgemont? Seriously. Out of all the places you’ve seen?”
I grin, shifting so I roll atop her, situating her beneath me. “This is the place that led me to you.” Her pink lips part, her eyes glittering as she smiles up at me. I drag my lips over her jaw, then down her neck and back up again. “Nothing will ever top finding you.”
A flash of how exactly I found Aurora, chained up and nearly starved, bursts behind my eyes. The two of us thinking of the memory at the same moment, our minds colliding and delivering the reminder in crystal-clear quality.
I cringe against it as the familiar burn of anger sweeps through me. I go very still, not wanting any instinct to affect Aurora as I hold her.
“I’m okay,” she assures me, reaching up to cup my cheek. She shifts beneath me, spreading her thighs and wrapping her legs around my back when I make an attempt to move off of her. “I promise. Saint. Look at me.”
I open my eyes, my jaw locked as I try to get ahold of the agony ripping through me. “I should’ve stopped him sooner.”
“And what if you had?” she asks, not for the first time. “Do you think we would’ve ever met?”
“I think fate would’ve put me in your path no matter what. You’re my mate.”
“Maybe,” she says. “Maybe not. Maybe it happened exactly how fate planned.”
“You shouldn’t have had to endure what you did.”
“But I would endure it again.” She stares up at me, nothing but love radiating in her eyes. “I would go through that a thousand times over if finding you was the end result.”
I dip down, brushing my lips over hers. I don’t have the words to respond to that kind of love, that kind of acceptance. I shake my head against her. “I don’t—”
She kisses me harder, stopping any argument I may have. I slide an arm beneath her, holding her more tightly beneath me. “You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” she says against my lips. “Don’t for one second doubt that. Regardless of my nightmares. Regardless of the trauma we’re both still working through. This…” She moves her hand over my heart. “You and me? Is worth everything.”
“Fucking love you,” I growl, claiming her mouth again.
“Love you,” she says back, whimpering as I suck her bottom lip into my mouth. “Speaking of worth everything,” she says, drawing back an inch. “Have you thought any more about my plan? Did you pitch it to the others?”
“No.” The answer is sharp and immediate. The idea of her being used as bait makes my vision switch to thermal.
“Saint,” she chides me. “We could have the upper hand. We could finish this. We could have a life outside these walls.”
“And I want to give you that life. Everything I do, every move I make, is to ensure you get to live that life.”
“We get to live that life,” she corrects me. “We. Stop acting like you won’t be around to enjoy it with me.”