Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68509 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68509 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
I thought I was in the clear.
Then a searing pain sliced across my side, distracting me enough to let my foot miss a downed tree limb, sending me falling hard and fast, my head cracking off of something hard just before I lost consciousness.
I woke up confused, in pain, and facedown in a pile of dirt and leaves.
Not more than three feet from my face was a giant fucking spider.
Up close, hurt, confused, I had to admit that maybe Violet was onto something with her bug phobia.
Violet.
Her name might as well have been a jolt of electricity through my system.
I pushed up onto all fours, then forced myself up to my feet. And damn near fell face-first into a nearby tree with how hard my head spun.
“Fuck.” I threw out a hand, pressing into that same tree as I waited for some equilibrium to come back to me.
I’d hit my head harder than I’d realized.
Lifting a hand, I pressed it to my temple, feeling the sticky heat of my blood and the edges of an open wound.
It needed to be cleaned. And possibly glued, since stitches weren’t an option.
The burning in my side had me looking down to see more blood soaking through the material. Lifting it up, I saw a nasty cut across my side.
A bullet graze.
I was no doctor, but I figured it would be okay if I kept it clean.
Not that I needed to worry about my baby scrapes and scratches when Violet was fucking dangling from a cliff.
With that in mind, I turned, trying to get my bearings, figure out where the hell I was, how to get back from where I came from.
My brain was fuzzy but, eventually, I heard the rush of the water, then moved through the thick jungle to see the cliff, then follow it back.
“Violet!” I called, not caring about the shooters, about their guns. I just needed to find her. To pull her up. To make sure she was okay.
I’d just called her one last time when there was a loud crunch.
Then there she was.
She came to me at a dead run, colliding hard with me, her arms wrapping me up tight as a loud sob escaped her.
Her whole body was violently shaking as I wrapped her up, holding her tight as she sniffled and I felt the wet of her tears through my shirt.
“It’s okay. You’re okay,” I assured her as my hands slid over her, trying to see if I was lying to her or not.
She jolted as my hands touched her back. But it was impossible to tell if the wetness there was sweat from pulling herself up. Or blood from hitting the rock wall.
“Alright, duchess, you need to breathe for me,” I said as her fear, relief, exertion, and tears made it impossible for her to catch her breath. “Breathe with me,” I said, sucking in an exaggerated breath, coaxing her to do the same. “Okay, another one,” I said, even though she hadn’t exactly managed a full first one.
She worked with me slowly over the next few minutes, slowing her breathing. Only to have it break off on a sob.
“Hey, okay, you’re okay. I got you, Vi.”
Her fingers curled into my shirt as her tears soaked through it.
I couldn’t say how long we stood there while we waited to come back down from all the fear and adrenaline.
When she pulled back slightly to wipe at her eyes, I reached out to frame her face, angling her up to look at me. “Are you hurt?”
“No,” she said, sniffling. “I mean, I hit my back. But no. Wait… you’re—are you shot?”
“Grazed. Here,” I said, touching my side. “This was me not watching where I was going, tripping, and hitting my head. That’s what took me so long. I was coming back for you. I was going to pull you back up.”
“I thought you were dead,” she admitted.
“Upset you wouldn’t have someone to use as a human shield against creepy crawlers?”
“Yeah,” she said. “That must be it.”
There was a softness in her voice that matched her eyes, a hint of something that looked dangerously like longing.
“I’m really happy you’re alive, duchess.”
My thumbs slid up across her cheeks, watching the way her breath went quick and shallow, how her eyes slid from my eyes to my lips and back again.
My thumb moved to tease the outline of her lower lip as I watched her face, promising myself that I would drop my hands if I saw even a hint of uncertainty.
But her pupils blew wide, and her lids went heavy.
When her lips parted slightly, there was no going back.
My hand slipped under her jaw, and I lowered my head, waiting a beat to see if she pulled away, then sealing my lips over hers.
A low moan escaped Violet as she swayed into me, her hands grabbing my arms, holding on as my lips pressed deeper.