Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 125179 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125179 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Cain hummed, sliding a hand down Wynter’s back to rest just above the swell of her ass. “How long before I get to whisk you out of here? I want you to myself.”
“You want me naked.”
“That, too,” he admitted without apology. “First, though, I mean to hike that gown up around your waist and fuck you hard. Can’t do that here.” His eyes blazed with possession. “I don’t want anyone else seeing or hearing you come.”
Really, the dude was far more territorial than she would have thought he had the potential to be. Ancients just seemed so unmoved by so many things. Which would be natural if you’d been around since the beginning of time and there was little you hadn’t seen, done, or heard.
She hadn’t expected that the one night she shared with Cain would turn into a relationship, or that he’d one day grow to care for her. He hadn’t ever given her those three little words, but she didn’t need them. All she needed was—
A loud booming sound came from outside the warehouse and seemed to reverberate in the air.
Wynter jerked her head back. “Was that thunder?” It sounded like it, yet it seemed too close, and there’d been no build up.
“Yes.” Cain exchanged an odd look with Azazel. “But I don’t believe it’s a natural thunder.”
“What, why not?” Wynter frowned as the two Ancients headed for the exit. “Hey, wait!” She trailed after them, signaling for her coven to come along.
“What’s happening?” asked Xavier.
“No clue,” replied Wynter as they shrugged through the crowd now surging toward the exit, no doubt curious about the ongoing cracks of thunder. “But I’m gonna find out.”
Outside, she sidled up to Cain as she glanced up at the sky. Her mouth fell open. “What in the . . .” A cloud had formed, a face flickering within it like a static holographic image. A face Wynter recognized and would truly like to rearrange with a shovel someday. Her inner monster stirred, opening its eyes, not liking what it saw.
“D’you think it’s God?” asked Hattie.
“No,” replied Delilah. “I think we’re looking at something far from holy.”
Anabel grasped Wynter’s hand. “So this is how we die.”
Oh, for heaven’s sake. “We’re not going to die, and it’s not God.”
“Then who is it?” asked Xavier.
“People of Devil’s Cradle,” a booming voice crackled as the mouth of the face within the cloud moved. “For those who do not know me, I am Adam, the last ruling Aeon.”
Anabel’s eyes went wide. “Wait, he’s here?”
“No,” said Cain, though his gaze remained on the cloud. “Think of this as a news broadcast. We see him. He doesn’t see us.”
“I’m no doubt the last person you all wish to hear from,” Adam went on, his voice both compassionate and reasonable, “but I did not trust that this message would reach you unless I delivered it personally. The Ancients tell you only what they want you to hear.”
There was some truth in that. Actually, there was a lot of truth in that. But the Aeons were just as bad for only revealing what they wished to reveal, so . . .
“I do not want war,” Adam added. “I never did, in truth. All I originally wanted was for the witch who cursed my land to be handed over to me. Simple. Easy. Fair.”
He wouldn’t know what fair was if it slapped him in the face and force-fed him a cracker.
“Imagine if your own town was rotting,” he continued. “You would want the person responsible to undo their curse, would you not? It was all I asked; it was not unreasonable. But your leaders refused to surrender Wynter Dellavale to me, and so blood was spilled in your town. I want no more of that. Enough people have died on both sides, including my son.” The latter word reverberated with anger and grief. “But I will bring pain and suffering to your town if my needs are not met—I want Cain and Wynter to surrender themselves to the custody of my people. If they do, everyone else will then be left alone.”
Her stomach lurched. She looked up at Cain, but his eyes were fixed on the image in the sky.
“Until they appear at Aeon, I will punish the town of Devil’s Cradle itself at random times, and others will die,” Adam went on. “You may wonder what I mean by that or how exactly I would achieve it. You will never have to find out if my terms are met. My offer is a kindness. Two individuals are not worth the lives of so many.”
Wynter noticed in her peripheral vision that plenty of people were glancing her way. Hopefully they weren’t contemplating doing as Adam requested. Because she’d otherwise have to kill them, and that would be a bummer.
“I do hope for your sake that Cain and the witch make the right choice,” Adam went on. “But my feeling is that they will not, and so you may well have to take the matter into your own hands. I will pay one million dollars to anyone who delivers either Cain or the witch to me alive.”