Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 99935 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99935 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Ugh. No wonder no one was hooting, hollering, or paying much attention to us having sex. This has to be the biggest boner-killer of a sex tape ever made.
“Disgusting, isn’t it?” Lyall said. “The alpha mothers will be saying the same thing when we send this to them.”
“What?” Tristan came alive. “No, don’t!”
“Why not?” I wanted to punch that smirk in. “Is it because you know that even if you manage to scrape together another pack filled with rejects and losers, it won’t even matter because once our treasured women see you fucking this, they’ll never let you fuck them.”
“Cut the shit, Lyall,” Tristan growled, surging forward and swiping at the phone.
It was snapped back and out of his reach in the nick of time.
“You cut the shit, No-Name.” Lyall snapped his fingers and they all held up their phones. The video was clear on every screen. “So, here’s how it’s going to go. If you don’t want the alpha mothers to see this, you’ll face us all in a fight to the death.
“Each of us,” he gritted, “one by one, until one of us succeeds in killing you.” Lyall lifted his chin. “If you take us all out, no one will dare deny that you deserve to be welcomed back into the pack. But if you die, you’ll go down as the worthless, demon-fucking leech food you are. Deal?”
“Deal?” I shrieked. “No deal! What is wrong with you? You can’t—!”
“Deal,” Tristan said.
“Wait, no!” I shot in front of him. “You can’t do this. You did nothing to deserve—”
“It’s done, Charlie.” Tristan scooped me squealing into his arms. “I’ve agreed to your fucking terms, brother—”
My heart stopped. Brother?
“Now get out of my way.”
Lyall swept to the side, grandly gesturing and grinning away—ever the irritating fool.
“And just so we’re clear,” Lyall said, stopping Tristan just short of the door. “By one by one, I mean one after the other. Tomorrow night. No breaks. No mercy. Until you’re dead.”
Tristan whisked me away before I started shouting.
“TRISTAN?”
Tristan laid me in my bed and drew the covers to my chin. Sabrina slithered up onto the bed next to me, getting comfortable.
Bending down, he brushed the barest, lightest kiss across my forehead—an act so intimate, it made me blush harder than what we got up to in Somnus’s class.
He turned to go.
“Wait, let’s talk—”
“Charlie.” Something in his voice stopped me in my tracks. “I probably won’t see you again after tomorrow, so I just want to say...” Meeting my eyes over his shoulder, he smiled. “I’m glad it was you.”
He was gone and out the door before I found my voice to reply.
Chapter Ten
The next morning, I stood in the entrance to the demon mess hall—staring at the same sight that transfixed us all.
Lyall and four of the werewolves who threatened and blackmailed Tristan... were lying in a circle on the mess hall floor.
They were so untouched and serene, you could almost believe they were sleeping, if it wasn’t for the fact there were two holes in their heads where their golden wolf eyes were supposed to be, and the bloody mark of the Avos coven in the middle of their circle.
“What is going on?” I rasped. “Who is doing this?! Why!”
“I cannot answer you,” Sabrina replied, gazing at the scene with the same solemn quiet. “But I can say that the picture is becoming clearer.”
“What? How?”
“The ssspilling of demon blood, the piercing of a vampiric heart, the plucking of shifter eyes,” she hissed, “and always, always, always in groups of five. Charlotte—”
I startled at her saying my name for the first time.
“I don’t believe this is wanton murder, or a campaign of intimidation and fear. I believe this... is a ritual.”
“A ritual?”
“Yes,” she whispered—speaking almost to herself. “A ritual that could not begin until all of the pieces were in place. A ritual... that is far from over.” Sabrina slithered out from my shirt. “I need to look closer. This may be my only chance before the staff throw you all out and lock down the room.”
“But—”
“What the fuck?” someone muttered. “Why’d the bitch dump these dogs here? The mutts have their own mess hall.”
“If I ventured a guess...” Ronin’s shadow fell over me. “I assume it’s because someone in particular is supposed to be greeted with this sight before they choke down their breakfast.”
I turned around—we all did—as Tristan entered the room.
Tristan took one look at the horrible scene, and stopped.
A million emotions flashed across his face in a split second—shock, disbelief, rage, horror, and so many more I couldn’t name.
My lips parted to say... something! Anything! Tristan called Lyall brother. Were they really siblings? Did Tristan really wake up today readying to face a fight to the death with his brother, and instead found his brother dead on the floor after being murdered by the serial killer?