Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 37380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 187(@200wpm)___ 150(@250wpm)___ 125(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 187(@200wpm)___ 150(@250wpm)___ 125(@300wpm)
Leaping out of the edge of the dark alley, he charged up and cleared the gate, landing on the ground with a thud. He didn’t wait around for someone to come looking for him. Sniffing the ground, he tried to pick up scents.
The smell of death was quite heavy, which he was expecting and wasn’t surprised about. There was a lot of it around the grounds. This was one of the many reasons he tried to avoid turning into a wolf in the city. There were too many acrid smells to pick up. Most of them filled with death and despair.
He nudged some debris out of the way with his nose, moving closer. Part of the building hadn’t collapsed and he took a chance, entering it, his movements slow. Even though he was a wolf and healed quickly, as Lewis proved, there were injuries they couldn’t heal from, and if the last of the building collapsed on him, he was a goner.
As he sniffed the ground, something dark and musky filled his nose.
A memory.
The barest hint of leather. He licked the ground and as he did, something assailed him. In the back of his mind, it was like a pressure. A need. An impulse.
He thought about Jenny.
How she looked. Her smile.
“Out of the line of my family that inherit my gift, my grandmother is the only one who lasted as long as she did. My mother, and there was an uncle, great-grandmothers, all of them, they … they’re cursed. We don’t last all that long.”
Liam shook his head, trying to clear the words.
“Help her!”
Liam spun around. The words were whispered right next to his year. He didn’t know where they were coming from, but it took every single ounce of control not to freak out. Whatever was in this building, it was deadly, and it wasn’t finished. He couldn’t see any ghosts.
He had to get to Jenny.
Rushing out of the building, he quickly turned back into a human, running toward his brother who had already snuck into the site.
“That was fast,” Ben said.
“No, there’s not enough time. I’m not going to make it. I need you to kill me. More specifically, I need you to suffocate me, have me out for like a couple of minutes, and then bring me back.”
“What? Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Ben asked.
He grabbed his brother’s shoulders. “I have to do this. Jenny is in danger. She’s carrying my baby. I’ve got to go help her. This is the only way I can be sure she is going to be safe. She has no one.”
“Liam, you’re asking me to kill you. I can do that. but bringing you back, there’s no cure for death. You’re just going to be dead.”
“I need about ten minutes, tops. Please, trust me.”
“Liam?” he asked.
“Just do it, because if you don’t, I’ll be forced to take an alternative route and we all know there’s nothing bringing me back from that.” Liam nodded at his brother, sure and ready.
Ben sighed, throwing his clothes to the floor. “This is so fucking messed up.”
Liam waited as his brother put his arm across his neck. He didn’t take a deep breath. The moment pressure was applied, he tried not to fight, but that was impossible. It was a natural instinct to fight.
Ben was able to overpower him, mainly because Liam was only fighting on instinct. Another part of him was trying not to fight. It was a battle of wills.
Jenny.
He had to get to Jenny.
The world started to fade.
Everything went dark.
This could be a giant mistake.
Liam felt something wrap around him and in the next instant … he stood over his dead body.
He felt a lightness to him.
Looking at his hands, he couldn’t believe it was him. As he glanced around, he stood in the same spot, and Ben was on the ground. His hands shaking as he covered his body, then started to check his watch.
“Damn it, Liam, you better be right. You’re a pain in my ass, but you’re still my fucking brother and I love you.”
“Go to her.”
Liam turned to see an elderly lady. Gray hair, aged features.
“Now! She’s not going to make it.”
Jenny.
He closed his eyes and he was at the swimming pool. His stomach turned. What was he doing at his building’s swimming pool?
The sound of a scream drew his attention.
Jenny was in the pool, and right there, hovering over the water, he saw the ghost, or more accurately, the beast like the man Jenny had described to him. He held Jenny’s head under the water.
“Hey!”
The ghost jerked, letting Jenny go to look at him.
Slowly, the features started to fade, and before him stood a man he recognized.
“Wayne?” he asked.
Wayne, a member of an MC whose main members were wolves, stared back at him.
“You.”
They hadn’t been friends. There was a time Wayne had been part of his father’s group of soldiers. Dedicated to protecting and serving the Wolf family here in the city. The biggest problem was Wayne’s thirst for power, for more. He kept on demanding until Liam’s father decided to tear him down and send him back to his family.