Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
“I know, but you don’t need to see such things. Come.”
And the two women headed for the door of the tiny back room where they had bound Aleena, leaving the two hulking males they’d hired to close in on her…
39
BEAR
“Where is she? Where is my wife?” Bear burst into Sir Greggor’s residence and found the man standing in his own richly appointed living area.
“What?” Sir Greggor looked startled as he glanced up. His eyes widened when he took in Bear’s state.
Bear was right on the edge of Rage—he could feel the fury coursing through his system and a crimson curtain kept trying to drop over his eyes and color everything he saw in shades of bloody red. He was holding it back by force of will, knowing that going into a berserker fury wouldn’t help him to find Aleena. But he was very close to letting it rush over him as he strode forward and took Sir Greggor by the throat.
“Where’s Aleena?” he roared in the other man’s face. “I know she’s here—where the fuck is she?”
Sir Greggor’s eyes went wide and he seemed to lose the power of speech. With a trembling finger, he pointed towards the back of the house.
“B-b-back room,” he finally managed to get out. “At the end of…of the hall.”
Bear didn’t need to hear any more. He shoved the other male aside and ran through the house, heedlessly passing through rooms full of tapestries and paintings and all the trappings of idle luxury. He didn’t care about anything but finding Aleena.
And then he smelled it—her scent! There was a lingering trace of her perfume but also the aroma of her skin and hair, which was sweet on its own. But then he caught another smell in the air—a coppery tang that could mean only one thing.
Blood.
His fury doubled and the Rage pressed against his mind like a beast eager to escape its cage. He rushed forward, following the scent of his beloved and found himself in a long, narrow hallway. There was a door at the end and just then, it opened and Grindelia and Faleesha stepped out. Grindelia was holding the platinum breast shield he’d bought his bride and Faleesha had the amethyst jewelry clutched in her greedy hands.
Both women looked up in surprise as they saw Bear charging towards them. Faleesha gave a squeal and pressed herself flat against the wall but Grindelia tried to stop him.
“You can’t go in there!” she declared. “You can’t—”
Bear rushed past her, knocking her roughly to the ground with one shoulder as he went.
“Oh! How dare you?” she squalled indignantly, but he had no time to waste with her. He pushed through the door and saw a sight that nearly stopped his heart.
In the middle of the dark room, lit only but a few corner glows, Aleena was bound to a kind of rough wooden cross in the shape of a large X. Her breasts were bare and two strange men were in the act of ripping off her long flowing skirt. There could be no doubt about their intentions—one of them was palming her breast roughly and the other already had his naked shaft out in his hand.
The Rage took Bear fully then—a fury so intense he lost all cognitive function and became nothing but a beast. His only thought was to kill the ones hurting his mate—to completely obliterate them so they could never hurt her again!
Lowering his head, he charged forward, goring the male who was fondling his wife’s breast. The male howled in surprise and pain as one of Bear’s horns took him in the kidney. He staggered back and Bear gripped the hand that had been on Aleena’s breast. Twisting ruthlessly, he broke the male’s wrist with a crunching of bones.
“Ow! Son of a bitch!” The male fell crying to his knees, one hand dangling limply as the other reached for the hole in his side which was pouring blood. Bear didn’t spare him any more attention—he turned to the other man who had been ripping Aleena’s skirt.
This attacker still had his shaft in one hand but it had gone as limp as a wet lepta noodle. He put up his free hand, his eyes going wide, as he started to back away.
“We didn’t touch her!” he whined as Bear advanced on him. “I swear we didn’t! And anyway, we were ordered to do it by her stepmother!”
If Bear had been in his right mind, he would have demanded to know if the other male always took orders to beat and rape women. And if he and his friend hadn’t touched Aleena, then why was her lovely face bruised and bloody?
But the Rage still pulsed through him, robbing him of all words but one—
“MINE!” he roared and lunged forward.
Taking the male’s head between his hands, he wrenched it to one side. There was a horrible crack and suddenly the male went limp, his body nothing but deadweight.