Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
I do not like this, Zohr tells me. I do not trust him.
Me either, but I’m low on options.
10
ZOHR
My thoughts are clear without the endless rage, and I am glad…but it makes the day seem long and time passes slowly. No matter how hard I pull against my bonds, they do not budge. My body is uncomfortable, my mind tired, and my skin itches with the need to shift. This is the longest I have been in my two-legged form without changing to battle-form, and it fills me with frustration. As the day creeps on, my frustration begins to turn to rage once more. I can feel the blackness seeping back into my thoughts, and I almost welcome it.
Almost.
But I remember that anger. I remember being…nothing, no drakoni warrior, no Zohr in that haze. I only existed. I lost who I was. I do not want to go back to that. But this endless captivity is gnawing at my sanity, and I worry it is only a matter of time before I slip under once more. Only the thought of my new mate helps calm my spirits. I feel the bleak, empty anger building, and reach out to her, feeling her mind. Something—anything—to anchor me. To make me feel like myself.
Emma’s thoughts are like pure sunlight. The touch of her thoughts burns away the clouds of anger, and I breathe a little easier. She is close enough that her mind-link feels strong, her emotions filling my head. But she is far enough away that I cannot smell her, and my thin control threatens to snap. I tug, snarling, at my chains again. Emma! My patience comes to an end. Where are you? I send desperately. I feel myself slipping, and it worries me how easy it is to descend back into madness. I am losing control.
Be calm! Please. I’m heading your way, I promise. Her thoughts wash over me like a wave of cool water, but it is not enough.
I need to see her, to breathe her in. How soon?
Soon. I need a good excuse to come find you and I’m working on it right now. I get a visual of food and other humans standing around. She is getting something for me to eat. I realize dimly that I am hungry. I have been going on instinct for so long that such a thing is surprising to me. How much of my sanity have I lost? Tell me more about you, I demand from her. Keep my mind occupied. If I think about the fact that I am held down, trapped, it will make me wild. I need a distraction.
What about me? Her thoughts are filled with a calm amusement, as if she cannot believe that we are talking, as if she sees everything the world throws at her and does not let it faze her. I like that. She is strong in spirit, and fearless. I admire that, because I feel my own anger bubble forth far too quickly.
I reach through her surface memories, looking for something to catch. I want to know everything about her, but I must begin somewhere. A thought rises—another male. The dead one. What happened to your sibling? I ask her, trying to recall what she has told me.
He got eaten by a dragon a few days ago. Do you remember the others flying here? Dakh and Kael and their humans?
I consider, but the names mean nothing to me. Have I known them and forgotten? Or are they total strangers? I hate that there is no answer. I do not recall. It was recent?
Yup. Her thoughts are both wry and sad at the same time. A few days ago. Right after I came to…visit you. Her mind grows shy, and a visual flicks between us, of her straddling me. Quickly, her mind flits away from it again and focuses on something else. Her sibling. She is determined not to think of what happened between us.
I do not know if I like that. I plan to remind her—frequently—that she is mine.
But my mate’s thoughts remain focused on her brother, and the ache inside them grows. My brother attacked the dragons and lost. I can’t say he didn’t deserve it, though. Boyd wasn’t a nice person.
He wasn’t nice, but Emma still hurts now that he is gone. She feels responsible. Sad. Frustrated. I know these feelings well - they are constant companions since this place stole my mind and my memories. At least she has those of her kin. You can still be sad that he is gone.
I shouldn’t be. Like I said, he was terrible and he caused more trouble than he was worth. But yeah, I still feel bad. And I miss him, weirdly enough. I miss when we were kids and we were friends, back before everything turned to shit.