Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 93727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
It took everything I had to drive slowly up the long gravel lane, avoiding the potholes when I could while scanning my surroundings. The Whitlock house really was in the middle of nowhere. If you weren’t looking, it would be easy to drive right past their driveway, assuming it was an old forest road. Leaving the road in disrepair had probably been a deliberate decision on Gary’s part, and even as it made my muscles throb with every jerk, I had to give him credit. The man knew what he was doing.
When I reached the house, Dalton’s car was parked out front again. I should’ve known that he wouldn’t stay gone for long. Our conversation the night before had been vague to the point of infuriating, so much so that I hadn’t known how or what to pass on when I’d gone home. Between that and not wanting my family to connect Rosemary to the Cavendish family, I’d kept my mouth shut.
We didn’t lie to each other, and not telling them that Dalton had been looking into the Vampire disappearances long before we’d even known about them felt a lot like lying. I wondered if I’d done the right thing as I tied my hair back out of my face and strode toward the house.
I knocked on the front door before pushing it open, surprised that Rosemary hadn’t come out to greet me. If I felt like I’d been run over by a truck, she must’ve felt the same, but I didn’t see her as I stepped inside the house.
“Kitchen,” Gary called.
I followed his voice and stepped into a room filled with Cavendishes. Dalton and Halle sat at the table with Gary while Ian lounged on the counter, his long legs nearly reaching the floor. Two younger boys in jackets and boots looked like they’d just come in the back door.
“Your family all right?” Gary asked as he turned to look at me.
Where was my mate?
“As well as expected,” I replied, shifting on my feet. If Rosemary wasn’t in the kitchen, maybe she was in her room. I didn’t want to be rude, but I had no interest in visiting with the Cavendish family when I’d already been separated from my mate for hours.
“Go on,” Gary said, easily noticing my impatience. “There’s dinner on the stove when you’re ready.”
As I hurried toward the hallway, Dalton’s mate Halle let out a tinkling laugh. “I remember those days.”
“What, yesterday?” Dalton teased her.
I was moving so fast toward the bedroom that I nearly collided with my mate as she stepped out of the bathroom. Stumbling back a step, I reached for her arms to steady us both.
She was wearing nothing but a towel, her hair pulled up in a knot at the top of her head. Little droplets of water beaded on the tops of her shoulders. I was mesmerized as one of them rolled down over her collarbone and got lost in the towel.
“Oh, you’re back,” she said. “How’d it go?”
It wasn’t what she’d said, and it wasn’t even how she’d said it…but something wasn’t right. I looked up to meet her gaze, but I couldn’t find anything there. She didn’t look pissed. She didn’t really have any expression at all.
“It went well,” I replied, following her as she turned away and walked to her room. “My mother was sleeping, but my father said she’s healing well.”
“And your sister-in-law?” Rosemary asked, her back to me as she started pulling out dresser drawers.
“They’re both doing well.”
“That’s good news.”
I opened and closed my mouth a few times, trying to think of something to say. There wasn’t any tension in the room. She hadn’t come out swinging when she’d realized I was back. On the surface, everything appeared fine. But something was off. There was a stiltedness to our conversation that hadn’t been there before, not from the moment we’d met.
“I think Uncle Dalton wants to bring you in on what he’s been doing,” Rosemary said as she pulled a sports bra over her head, still keeping the towel in place. “They’ve been waiting for you to get back.”
“He’s pulled Halle into it too?” I joked sarcastically, knowing the answer before I’d even voiced it.
“She came to see me,” Rosemary replied. She pulled on a pair of underwear, still hiding beneath the towel. When they were on, she finally let it go, and I was treated to the sight of her nearly bare back and thighs. I barely kept myself from moving toward her as she tugged a tank top over her head.
“The boys were curious, so they tagged along. She said normally she would’ve given us some time, but since we were staying with Pop anyway, she figured that they probably wouldn’t walk in on something they didn’t want to see.” There was no joke in her comment, no lightness in her voice.