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)
SETH | EKEZ
Fuck, she’s perfect.
Thanatos, bless you, Savior.
Her gaze falls on Khalil first. No surprise there. He’s not just the biggest physically but also has the biggest presence.
Picture a live wire—untamed and exposed—with untapped frenetic energy and nowhere to go, so he charges the air and everyone around him until they’re as miserable as he is.
Khalil Poverly equals pretty plus an insufferable ass.
I try to see him through her eyes as if he isn’t Zeke’s best friend, and I haven’t suffered his company for far too long.
Khalil is Black with semi-dark brown skin, warm brown eyes, and shoulder-length hair braided into plaits. At the moment, the top half of his braids are pulled up in a ponytail, showing off the sharp angles of his cheekbones and jaw and letting his full beard steal the show. Inevitably, though, the girl notices that a pretty face isn’t all he’s packing.
His broad shoulders and massive pecs are straining against his gray thermal. Zeke told me once that Khalil went pro right after high school and retired early as an undefeated champion. He’d also spent some time working for his dad’s construction company. Needless to say, Khalil’s body has been honed into a lethal weapon of mass distraction.
Despite the fact that Khalil wants to fuck her, his game face is on as he scowls at her. That lasts until her attention shifts to his arms. I nearly face-palm when that narcissist notices and flexes a little.
The girl doesn’t seem intimidated by his brute strength. Instead, she nods once as if telling herself something or giving her approval.
Who is this girl?
She looks barely twenty but purports herself like a queen.
Fuck. Is she? Do I kneel? Call her majesty? Swear a vow of eternal knighthood?
When her gaze travels to Thorin, I panic a little, knowing I’m next. I chuckle under my breath when she looks Thor over and moves on, dismissing him a lot faster than she did Khalil.
Thor’s gaze narrows to slits, and despite the fact that he wants to murder her something bad, he’s jealous too.
It’s not that he isn’t hot.
He looks like a Nordic god, for fuck’s sake—flowing blond hair, blue eyes, a straight nose, high cheekbones, thin lips, pointed ears, and a prominent forehead. He’s also the tallest and almost as big as Khalil. Thor’s a real-life dreamboat with the personality of a wild boar.
Unlike the egomaniac, Thorin was a little too successful in scaring her. I can tell by the way her brown cheeks warm, and she subtly clutches her dress hem a little tighter.
I can’t stop myself from standing a little taller when our gazes finally connect. She’s everything to me, and I don’t even know her name. I want her to like me. We could have so much fun together. Thorin and Khalil are so boring.
What does she see when she looks at me?
Or rather, Zeke.
He has olive skin, courtesy of his Portuguese mother, dark-brown hair, and green eyes, courtesy of his Italian father. On his right bicep is a tattoo of a skeleton hand holding a new moon between the pointer and thumb and two smaller half-moons on either side.
Zeke’s gained more muscle tone in the years since he defected, and as much as I don’t care for Thorin or Khalil, I can’t deny how much they care for him.
Despite my attempts to please the Savior, Zeke’s punishments came often, and Isaac’s favorite was starvation. Zeke had nearly withered away to nothing when Thorin and Khalil showed up and rescued him from the compound.
The memories of that place fade away when the sun speaks and I hear her voice for the first time.
“You’re here,” she says while tucking a loose curl behind her ear. “It’s about time. I’ve been waiting.”
If she’s a spy for Isaac, then she’s really bad at it. Khalil and Thor move closer to me while I move closer to her.
“Thanatos sent you?”
She gives me a slow, unimpressed blink. “Who?”
“Death.”
“Riiight,” she draws out slowly.
Ah, hell. I’ve freaked her out.
“He allowed you to escape him and find us,” I can’t help but say. “You must be very special.”
Reaching for her hair, she casually frees it from the ponytail at the top of her head before tucking the tie between her teeth. “That’s what they tell me,” she retorts around it dryly.
Her golden curls, which have seen better days, fall around her shoulders and down her back. She shakes them out and makes a face when she brings a strand to her nose and sniffs. Glowering her displeasure, she grumbles to herself before starting the process of tying her hair up again.
“So then, you’re here for me?”
“Uh-huh,” she absently answers when she’s finished gathering the huge mass of curls in her small fist and grabs the hair tie from her mouth with the other.
My heart races from excitement. If this girl is here, she must be a gift from him.