Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
How long had he been able to do this?
What did it mean?
If I can still hear them...maybe I can use them. Closing his eyes, Lucien sank into whatever power he’d tapped into and yanked. Hard.
My own heart skipped a beat as if he’d suddenly squeezed it in his fist.
Two men on the wall wobbled, wrenching my stare upward. One dropped to his knees, clutching his chest as his rifle clattered against the stone.
“What the fuck are you playing at?” the leader barked at his subordinates. “Get up.”
With his face drained of colour, the man pushed upright and fisted his gun.
No one seemed to connect their sudden cardiac issues or Whisper’s miraculous avoidance of a bullet to Lucien.
Hope flared sharp and bright even as Lucien trembled. The depth of his hollowness made me panic, but he straightened and gave me a stronger smile. Do you trust me?
I blinked. With every part of me.
Good. Turning away, he focused on the leader. His hand found mine, squeezing once. Can you access your ice at all?
No. Grief threaded through the word. It’s still missing. Ever since I woke up, it’s just...gone.
Can you feel anything...else?
I stilled. Anything else?
I caught flashes of him being able to feed off another’s energy, but then he shook his head. Doesn’t matter.
Before I could confess that, ever since I’d chased him up the mountain, I could taste death, his mental presence brushed against mine again—exhausted and apologetic but with fierce determination. You’re sure you trust me?
I studied him even as the strangest sensation tickled my heart. I just told you I do.
I’m going to try something. He never looked at me, keeping his eyes on the leader. If it works...you’ll probably feel a lot worse than what you already do.
I flinched at the thought. Despite living my entire life with migraines and nausea, I wasn’t much better now. What are you going to do?
Borrow your energy.
What did he mean borrow? How?
His fingers twitched around mine. I swear I’ll keep you safe. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep all of us safe.
I know you will.
You’re giving me permission?
I had no idea what he needed my permission for, but...I nodded and—
Jackknifed in two as something fierce yanked around my heart.
I struggled to breathe as a sudden, insidious drain chewed at my meagre strength. An involuntary whimper escaped as I felt my energy trickle out of me and into him. It wasn’t exactly painful, but it was deeply violating—as if he fed off my very soul.
Lucien’s shoulders straightened as mine rounded.
Colour returned to his cheeks as he flexed his fingers and balled his hands.
Dizziness came for me as the world tilted. I clung to him for balance, vision greying at the edges. Through the bond, my stolen energy coiled inside him, granting him strength he didn’t have before.
Wrapping his arm around me, he took a step toward the leader on the wall.
The connection between us sharpened as he mentally reached toward the men. I felt him sink invisible talons into the nearest heartbeats again, feeding like a vampire off their lifeforce.
One man scrunched up his face as if he had indigestion. Another clutched his chest and groaned. A third pressed a gloved hand to his forehead, blinking hard as if his world spun, same as mine.
The leader tapped his temple, then shook his head, his gaze locking onto Lucien. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re doing, but it stops. Right now.”
Lucien bared his teeth. A bolt of heat prepared to strike—
But a gunshot rang out.
For a second, I panicked on who he’d targeted this time. Whisper? Dillon? Lucien—
A searing line of fire tore across my left hip.
I cried out as slicing pain cut through flesh and carved over bone.
“Rook!” Dillon bellowed. “Fuck!”
Auntie Mei screamed, and Uncle Wen cursed.
My leg buckled. Hot blood poured down my thigh in a shocking gush, soaking my white nightgown with a river of black.
“Shit!” Lucien’s arm banded tight around me, keeping me upright. Ripping me close, his free hand clamped over my bleeding hip. His fingers shook against my nightgown as blood welled, wet and tarry between them. “Are you okay? Fuck!”
“Jesus Christ, Rook!” Dillon tried to run to us, but the leader snapped his fingers, and two men aimed their rifles at him, stopping him mid-stride. “Fuck you!” Dillon snarled. “Fuck all of you!”
The leader’s voice rang out, calm and ice-cold. “That was your final warning. I was told not to hurt either of you, but you’re just not listening. Whatever you were doing—whatever little parlour trick you thought you could play is over because if it isn’t...I’ll stop playing nice.”
Lucien kept pressure on my hip, his anger a tangible thing. Lifting his blood-covered fingers, he inspected the wound beneath. A gush of relief came through the bond. “It’s not deep. It’s just a graze—”
“Did you hear me?” The leader took a deep breath as he’d run out of patience. “Look at me and acknowledge just how close I am to slaughtering everyone.”