Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 85306 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85306 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Talk about a shocker.
"She shouldn't even be here," another voice joined in as their footsteps grew closer.
How fucking long was that corridor? I hadn't exactly seen it—or anything—after Lachlan had bound my wrists and covered my eyes with a blindfold.
"Valor!" Lyric appeared at the bars to my cell, her eyes sweeping over me with concern. "Let her out!" she snapped at the hulking brute who stood at her left.
Lachlan.
That prickle of awareness danced right down my spine and swayed in my stomach. If I'd been a romantic idiot, I would have called them butterflies, but I wasn't, and they weren't.
And besides, the six-and-a-half-foot vampire with the tatted-up arms was the kind of menace that killed delicate, breakable things like butterflies.
It was his actual job.
"I'm not the one who gave the order, my queen." He said the words to Lyric but didn't take his eyes off me.
I fought off the urge to wrap my arms around my knees and instead leaned forward on the wooden bench and crossed my legs, raising my chin. So what if the guy was a trained killer? That didn't mean I'd give him the satisfaction of intimidating me.
"I don't blame him," I said with a teasing smile. "If it had taken me six months to track someone down, I probably would have locked them up, too."
His eyes narrowed, and a low growl rumbled in his chest.
My breath hitched for a millisecond, but it sure as hell had nothing to do with fear. I'd always had a thing for the dominant, bad boy type, and Lachlan didn't just fit that mold—he fucking broke it without even trying.
If he'd been human, I probably would have climbed him like a tree just for the fun of it, but he wasn't...and I was.
So there would be no hot-highlander-against-the-wall sex for me. I didn't give a crap that his "branding mark" or whatever Jocelyn had called it had shown up on my neck like a bad spring break decision.
"I'm the one who told him to bring her here." Another vampire appeared, taking the place at Lyric's right.
Alek. The King. He was impossibly beautiful, just like every other vamp, but where Lachlan had dark, bottomless eyes, Alek's were an eerie shade of pale blue and were studying me like he could see straight through to my bones.
Maybe he could.
As much as we knew about vampires, it wasn't turning out to be nearly enough.
"Why would you do that?" Lyric leveled a glare on her husband and smacked his chest with the back of her hand. "She saved my life."
"She put your life in danger in the first place." He cocked his head to the side, and his gaze turned icy. "She's not leaving here until I know she has no intention of doing so again."
"I never wanted Lyric hurt." That was true. By the time I realized how far she'd fallen into the supernatural world, my father and brother had put their plan in place and stolen her right from under my nose.
She looked good now, though, thank God. Her blonde hair was thick and shiny, her cheeks were full, and her dark green eyes were bright and lacked the dark circles she'd had while we were in grad school. She didn't look mistreated...she appeared healthy and happy, which eased a little of the guilt in my chest.
"You just wanted to kill our king," Lachlan challenged, crossing his muscled arms over his chest.
Even his voice made my thighs shift.
"I didn't want to kill anyone," I snapped. "And if you'd been raised hearing half of the anti-supernatural bullshit I'd been spoon-fed, you'd think that protecting the human race was a pretty honorable thing to do."
"What do you think we're doing, lass?"
"Enough," Alek barked.
My heart jumped, and I white-knuckled the bench. My best friend's husband could kill me with half a thought, and then what would happen to Daphne?
"She is my best friend," Lyric whispered, reaching for her husband's hand.
"Which is why she's still alive," he countered.
Comforting.
"She's not lying." Another vampire stepped into my line of sight. Benedict, if I remembered correctly, the Armani-clad lie detector. "She didn't want Lyric hurt."
Lachlan grunted.
Lyric smiled. "See?"
Alek sighed, cursing under his breath. "Fine. Answer truthfully, and you'll live."
I nodded.
"Is it your intention to harm my wife?" His words were soft, but the menace in his eyes was anything but.
"No. Never," I answered. "I would never hurt Lyric. Or you, not that I could, anyway." I gestured down my body since it wasn't like my tank top and shorts were hiding much over here. "I'm fresh out of Night Thistle."
That was the only vampire weakness we'd ever found. Not we, I reminded myself. I wasn't one of them anymore.
"Funny." Lachlan arched a brow.
"Valor," Lyric said softly with a blatant plea in her eyes.
"Okay," I agreed, keeping my attention on my friend. "I would never hurt you. I have no intention of hurting any vampire. I haven't even heard from my family in five months, and even then, my brother told me to watch my back because they weren't just hunting vamps anymore—they'd be hunting me for betraying them, which I did to save you."