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)
Xavier tilted his head, making his hair brush over his chest. “You did right in bringing him here. You said a chimera attacked him?”
“Yanked him right out of his chair and pulled him into an alley—” He broke off when Alaric stood.
The elf turned to them, his face pale. “That took a lot of magic. He took in a lot of venom, but you got him here in time. He’s going to be fine.”
Xavier looked down at the human. “We’ll take him up to my office to recover.”
Dax shut his eyes and took a deep breath before he gave in to the urge to hug Alaric, who chuckled and patted his back.
“Thank you for saving him,” Dax whispered.
He felt slightly foolish but was unable to stop himself. He had no idea who this man was or why he’d been attacked by a preternatural, but everything in him was yelling that his whole life was about to change.
Chapter Four
Everett
Everett dreamed of a bald giant with the most beautiful green eyes he’d ever seen. In his dream, he was cradled to the man’s wide chest, and he’d never felt more cherished or safe. He was so used to being alone, but the strange dream man chased the long-suffering feeling away completely. Everett didn’t even mind that he was being carried like a child. He liked the strength of the rock-solid arms around him. And the giant smelled so good, smooth and musky, like when his grandfather had burned mahogany wood in the fireplace. That scent added to the feeling of comfort.
But the dream changed, and he knew for sure it was a dream then because the creature that came for him was something out of his nightmares, with two heads on top of its thick, muscular body and a snake for a tail. Claws ripped into Everett as he screamed and screamed.
He wrenched awake on one of those screams.
“You’re safe,” a deep voice soothed as a big hand cradled his shoulder. Still out of it, Everett instinctively curled that direction, seeking more comfort. But then, his faculties abruptly came back online, and he jerked away and opened his eyes wide.
“Where am I?” He blinked at the bald man kneeling next to the couch he lay on. The giant with the beautiful eyes. Had this man really been carrying him? His face was…wildly attractive, with full, sensual lips, a pleasing round chin that offset sharp cheekbones. But those eyes—they were big, spring grass green, and had the longest black eyelashes Everett had ever seen.
“At my place of employment. It’s a safe office. I’m Dax.” Dax stayed crouched but leaned back out of Everett’s space. The concern in those eyes was a warm spill of sympathy that sent a hint of relief in to chase away Everett’s alarm. “You were attacked. Do you remember?”
Everett looked down at the arm he remembered being bitten, but it looked fine. His sleeve was torn, though. He rolled up the material and ran his fingers over the smooth skin. There were no wounds. “It must have been a waking dream or some kind of hallucination. There was this…creature that couldn’t be real. I remember fangs sinking into my arm, but it’s fine.” Bewildered, he looked back up at that gorgeous face. “You said I was attacked?”
“I was working at that restaurant and saw you pulled into an alley.”
Truly alarmed, his mouth dropped open. “Was it more than one? Were they trying to mug me?”
“Have any enemies?”
Everett shook his head. “Not one.” He took in the room he was in. There was a wide, modern black desk that matched the decor of the rest of the room with more modern-style black, white, and gray furnishings. And there were quite a lot of old looking books on the shelves. He realized the big man was waiting for him to go on, and he looked back at him. “Sorry, I’m just so confused because I dreamed of this creature with different animals sort of all rolled into one. It was like one of my grandfather’s stories come to life. Like a chimera.”
“You know about those?”
He nodded. “Yeah, my grandfather, who recently passed, raised me on magical stories, and that thing was exactly how he described it.” He swallowed, his mouth so dry the movement scraped his throat raw. “I was in his office today, and there was a statuette of one. It must have triggered my brain into superimposing a creature over whoever attacked me.” He licked his cracked lips. “Could I get some water?”
“Of course.”
Dax stood, and Everett’s eyes went wide again when he seemed to stretch toward the sky. Holy shit, this guy had to be over seven feet tall, with shoulders as wide as a doorway. As he walked from the room, Everett’s eyes dropped to the thickest, most muscular thighs he’d ever seen. The man’s black slacks were fairly molded to those muscles. He craned his neck to keep watching.