Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 44211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
“There’s no need for violence.” Rick shut the drawer he’d been rooting through. “There is something in this house that belongs to me, and I’m just trying to find it.”
“Nothing here belongs to you. Try again.”
“It’s nothing more than a stone that does in fact belong to my family. Everett’s grandfather won it in a game many years ago. I only learned that he had it when my father saw his obituary and told me what had happened. I want it back, and your boyfriend fired us before we could find it.”
“So you thought breaking into his home was the answer?”
“It belongs to me. My own grandfather should never have risked it in a bet. My entire family is pissed about it, and they’ve asked me to recover it. I know it’s here. I felt its magic the first time I came into this house. I can sense magic, just as I sensed it coming from you.”
“If that were the case, you’d know that magic is gone.”
“I was hoping he’d muffled it somehow. The damn man never let us into this room, so I knew it had to be in here. Where the hell is it?”
“You think I’m just going to hand it over? That I believe your story?”
“Look, I know what you are, but you don’t want to mess with my family.”
Dax pressed his foot down harder when the guy underneath it started to struggle. “If you know what I am, you shouldn’t have braved doing this.”
“Your strength is no match for my magic.”
Dax barked out a laugh. “If you had magic that worked against me, you’d already have used it. No,” he said pointing down at the man on the floor. “This is the one with the strength, and if you brought him as protection, that was a big mistake.” Dax bent, drew back his fist, and let it fly into the face of the demon on the floor, affectively knocking him out. He stalked toward the desk, and Rick held up his hands.
“Look, I just want the stone. We didn’t plan to hurt anyone, I promise.”
“Really? You sent a chimera after Everett. One that bit him. Do you know that venom can cause permanent damage? You’d have left him a fucking vegetable!”
He opened his mouth, then snapped it shut when Dax scowled at him.
“You did know, you fucker. And then your people tried to kidnap him again here. And perytons? You know the damage they could have caused Everett.” Dax stalked around the desk and grabbed Rick by the throat, then lifted him into the air.
The man made a strangled noise as he kicked out and missed Dax. Dax backed him into a shelf and slammed him into it.
“Dax?”
At the sound of Everett’s voice, he looked at the doorway to find Everett standing there, concern pulling his features tight. “Maybe you shouldn’t kill him until we find out more.”
“He’s the one who sent the chimera.”
“I heard. And I’m sure you guys have some kind of jail for people like him, but I’d like to question him first. He can’t answer if you crush his windpipe. He’s uh, turning blue.”
Dax looked at the man to see that was indeed the case, so he lessened the pressure of his hand, allowing Rick to gasp in air. He carried him around to the chair in front of the desk and shoved him into it. “Move and you die.”
Rick rubbed his throat, glaring at Dax. When he spoke, his voice sounded like it had been dragged through broken glass. “I’m not telling you two anything. Just give me what belongs to me.”
“Did you really send that thing to bite me?” Everett asked as he came farther into the room. He walked into the demon still passed out on the floor and jumped, obviously startled because he hadn’t noticed him there. He stared for a long time and then his shoulders seemed to sag in relief. “Shit, Dax, I thought you’d killed this one, but he’s still breathing.”
“I’ve killed no one tonight,” Dax gritted out as he stared at Rick with narrowed eyes. “Yet.”
“Even if I wanted to give you that stone,” Everett said. “I couldn’t. It’s not here.”
“Where is it?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Look, your grandfather should have never gotten his grubby hands on our family tre…item.”
Dax’s ears perked up because Rick had started to say treasure. He knew the draugr must have been guarding a treasure when it was encased in the stone. “You’re lying to us. It never belonged to you—you’re after something.”
Rick narrowed his eyes. “That jade does not belong to Everett.”
“I beg to differ,” Everett said. “It belonged to my grandfather, and I inherited it. But none of this matters because, like I said, it’s no longer here. You’ve wasted your time trying to find it.”
“Get it back for me.”