Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
The sounds the lake makes under my feet terrify me, but I don’t stop. I don’t look behind me either to see which of them is chasing me. Hopefully, all of them are, and Pete got away.
I’m nearing the middle of the lake when a new sound reaches my ears that has me slowing against my will. The splintering and rumbling continue, getting louder as it reaches me. My stomach tightens and my ears ring from how hard my heart is pounding.
Don’t look down.
Don’t look down.
I’m too afraid of what I’ll see. Instead, I slowly turn and meet blue eyes.
“Thorin…”
His gaze is on the ice beneath my feet, and I swear I see him pale. “Songbird, don’t look down.”
“The ice.”
“I know, baby. Don’t move.”
A few feet behind Thorin, I see Khalil frozen in place, and then a few feet behind him is Seth.
I knew at least one of them would come after me, maybe two, but I was wrong.
They all came for me.
Pete is a distant memory.
The ice cracks again as if it can sense that I’m swooning over cold-blooded murders and is deciding whether I’m too stupid to live.
Then again…the only safe way is back to them, so maybe the lake is Team Psychos.
“Thorin, I’m scared.”
Not just of the cracking ice, but the fracturing happening inside of me. What am I to do when I’m being pulled in opposite directions and without a compass to guide me? I don’t want to be a prisoner, but even now, even after seeing them murder four innocent people out of jealousy—God, help me, I still want them.
Something is seriously wrong with me, but the thing is…I’m pretty sure I don’t care anymore.
“I won’t let you fall,” Thorin promises.
“I’m so tired.”
“I know, baby. They drugged you.”
Even my shivering bones seem to pause. “What?”
“The one who gave you the cup.” Sam. “I was watching him through the scope. He slipped you something, Aurelia. It’s what’s making you sleepy. My guess is you have another five to seven minutes before you’re out cold.”
“W-why would they do that?”
“Take one guess,” he answers tightly. When I don’t respond, he speaks again. “I wasn’t going to let anything happen to you, wolf.”
“I don’t care what they were going to do. You didn’t have to kill them, Thorin. That was extreme. You have to know that.”
“The only thing I know is that I’ll cross any lines to keep you safe.”
“If they deserved to die, so do you, you hypocrite!”
“I didn’t say we saved you because we’re good. We saved you because you’re ours, Aurelia.”
Thorin takes a step forward, and I take one back.
The thin ice between us cracks a little more.
“What’s the fucking hold up?” Khalil yells. “Stop fucking chit-chatting! The ice is going to give!”
“Aurelia, we don’t have time for this,” Thorin says as gently as he can. I can still hear his irritation, though. And something else. Something foreign. He’s…scared.
If I fall, I die. Probably.
Well, so what? I should have died in that crash. I should have died when I fought to save an assistant I cared nothing about. I should have died so many times in the three days I searched for salvation and found my penance instead.
Thorin, Seth, and Khalil aren’t the only ones who deserve to die. I do, too. Yet here we are, defying death at every turn.
“I think it’s the perfect time, Thorin. You want me off this ice, and I say we need to get a few things straight.”
Thorin reacts in a way I don’t expect, but I guess I get? He tips his head back and yells his frustration at the sky. Out of the three of them, I probably test his patience the most. When his gaze falls on me again, it’s carefully blank, and then he gestures for me to proceed like we’re two war generals negotiating a cease fire across a table.
“I don’t want to be your prisoner anymore.” His jaw tightens, and I can see him fighting not to tell me what I already know. “I know you won’t let me go. I know. I’ll stop fighting you. I won’t run. But I want something in return.”
“And what is that?”
“No more punishments, no more indentured servitude, and I want this tracker off.”
The ice rumbles another warning, but I hold my ground—so to speak.
It won’t hold for much longer.
“What’s she saying?” Seth calls out.
“How the fuck should I know!” Khalil yells back.
Thorin ignores his brothers, his gaze remaining locked with mine. “And you?” he finally asks when the splinter in the ice spreads and reaches the tips of his boots. We’ll probably both go down at this point, but he doesn’t seem concerned as he says, “Can we still have our wolf?”
“I said I won’t run.”
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it, Aurelia.” Thorin steps toward me, and the ice breaks where he just was. Water rises from the small hole, but he keeps inching toward me until he’s within grabbing distance. “You want more, and so do we. Just your body isn’t cutting it anymore. You’ve given us a taste of the real forbidden fruit, wolf. Mind, heart, and soul. It’s the only way I can sell it to them.” He jerks his head toward Khalil and Seth. “And it’s the only way you can sell it to me.”