Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 140462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 702(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 468(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 702(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 468(@300wpm)
He goes still, doesn’t even chew, and his pupils grow wider as if I’ve dropped a splash of ink into the dark blue. “Hawk. Are you saying you’ve not believed me all this time?” Sylvan swallows and clenches his jaw.
I don’t want to confront him about it, I really don’t, but what the fuck am I supposed to do when my life could be on the line? I might have picked a better moment for it, but it’s not like I can reverse time now.
“You claim to be an elf from another world. How can I believe that? I thought we’re… acting out your fantasy,” I mumble, leaning back as his mouth trembles. I hate how disappointed in me he looks, but that expression is soon replaced by a growing frown, which… yeah, does make him resemble an offended royal.
“How dare you? I have given you my body. We have made promises! It will be full moon in the Nightmare Realm tomorrow, and you’re questioning my intentions? Worse, you don’t even believe in them?”
I hate how the mask muffles my voice, so I pull it under my chin and lean toward him. “Look, you’re great, but I have no reason to believe all this fantastical stuff, do I? You wouldn’t be the first guy to believe he’s something he's not. This dude in my prison believed he was taken by aliens every night, and that was a load of shit.”
Sylvan gets up, probably to look at me from above for once. Fire dances in his blue eyes, but we need to talk about all this sooner rather than later. “Did you make your promise to become my Dark Companion because you thought it to be of no meaning?”
I clear my throat and take note of the shop owner glaring at us. “I figured you liked me as much as I liked you.”
“‘Liking’ is of no consequence, Hawk! You are on the cusp of pledging your shadow to me. Binding your life to mine. Our mutual attraction and shared desire are only a lucky twist of destiny.”
I’m the one who should be angry, but when I sense the scorch of his disappointment on me, it’s like being lashed.
I have such a weakness for him.
“Look, I will believe when I see proof, but you gotta admit it’s kinda difficult, no?”
Sylvan is so flushed his whole face is rosy, but his voice is like ice. “Fine,” he grits out through his teeth. “But until your shadow is bound to mine, my body is not yours to toy with. I will not be made a fool.”
Despite my best intentions, I roll my eyes, because he’ll be under me before we work out the level of his delusion, and we both know it. He’s drawn to me just as much as I am to him.
“Why are you like this? I’m not trying to cheat you. In fact, I asked this question because I feel you're too deep into the whole elf thing, and I’m worried!”
“Because my whole life I’ve not been taken seriously, and here you are, my promised, doing the same!”
I get up as soon as I see his eyes glazing over.
“Sylvan, I do take you seriously, but would you believe me if I told you we could live on the moon, without seeing any proof?” I ask and reach out for him, only to have my hand brushed off.
“Don’t!”
I flinch, feeling as if he’s struck me.
“Is there a problem?” A male voice asks, and I freeze, looking over Sylvan’s head, straight at one of the two cops buying fucking pretzels.
When did they even enter? I was so wrapped up in Sylvan, I didn’t notice. I feel my face flush as the colors of a police car loom on the edge of my vision, and my hand darts to my mask, but the other cop zeroes in on me, taking a sharp inhale.
“It’s him!”
Fuck.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
This will be the most costly fucking meal I ever consumed.
Chapter 14
Hawk
Years of staring at the world through bars, years of concrete, steel, and men in identical uniforms flash before my eyes. The reek of the toilet in my cell might be only a memory, but right now it overpowers the fresh aroma of pretzels and coffee. And when I dash forward, grabbing a chair as I let the weight of my body carry me forward, all I can see is a future in a cage.
A future I should have done more to avoid.
The cops reach for their guns when I collide with them, swinging the seat of wood and metal. I hit something with a dull slam sounding like a head being stomped to death, and the force of the collision reverberates over my makeshift weapon, echoing in my muscles. The policewoman stumbles back toward Sylvan while the male cop’s eyes go wide. I face the muzzle of his 9mm SIG Sauer, but the chair pushes his hands up before he can pull the trigger. My stomach tightens at the burn of gunpowder, but when the bullet whistles in my left ear, I know we won’t get another chance to scramble out of this mess. I need to put my full force into it now.