Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 125121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Well, maybe not too different reasons because the longer I sat there, the longer uncertainty had to work its way in. I wasn’t sure what would happen next with Cato, and if I knew what to do about Saylor, I wouldn’t be staring at a piece of paper with two words on it and nothing else.
Again I flicked to the clock, then down. I didn’t think my temperature could rise any hotter, but it did as I stared at my robe, then at the two outfits I placed on my bed after my shower.
It didn’t matter if I locked my door. It never stopped Cato from climbing into bed with me any other night and it wouldn’t that night either. Soon, he would come to me. Wrap me in his arms. Tuck my head under his chin. Mold my body to his chest. Croon in my ear when my nightmares leaked whimpers through my lips.
He was coming, so what was I going to do?
I padded over to the bed, sizing up the regular baggy t-shirt and old pajama pants that I wore every night, and the sexy, satin tank and matching shorts that I bought during an outing from boarding school. At sixteen years old, the naughtiest thing my friends and I could think to do was buy lingerie from the little shop by the outdoor market. We took turns running in and out of there while the others kept a lookout for our eagle-eyed escort.
I’d never been more thankful for the giggly, guilty little secret I snuck into the bottom of my drawer and never wore. It was the only sexy nightclothes I owned, and as the man who’d seen all my others, Cato would know it.
What would he think when he lifted the covers and saw me wrapped in satin? What did I want him to think? What did I want him to do?
Pressure built between my legs. Scratch those stupid questions, I knew exactly what I wanted him to do. But would he do it? There was absolutely no predicting what Cato Dumont would do in any given moment. Lucien and Wilder still watched themselves around him—the guy was liable to attack whenever the mood struck him.
Letting out a slow breath, I picked up my ratty old shirt and baggy pants. My head was already wrecked. Signaling Cato to have his way with me wasn’t the best idea when the number of enemies around me was growing. Yes, Ashton Scott was in a hole where he belonged. But I didn’t anticipate that Saylor, Everleigh, Piper, and Gabriella would become the unrelenting problem that they were.
They had me jumped. Stole my ring. Taunted me with the secret that stole my sister. Threatened me to leave Regalia U. Then that day in the classroom...
It was clear that Saylor and her minions wouldn’t stop until I was gone, and that was fine with me. If they wanted a war, they’ve got one. But I needed to focus if I was going to fight them, destroy the T.O.D. Club, squeeze Winter’s killers of everything they know, and then execute them along with the Phantom who sicced them on her in the first place.
I got dressed and turned out the lights, burrowing beneath my covers. The last thing I should be doing is plotting how to seduce my muzzle-wearing neighbor.
The clock ticked the seconds, lulling my eyes closed. It amazed me how peacefully I drifted off into my nightmares. It should be a fight. I should toss, turn, and scream as they dragged me under. But no. My lids grew heavy. My body weightless. My skin cradled in warmth. And I surrendered, letting it take—
Footsteps sounded on the landing. I held my breath when the shadows stopped outside my door. It swung open, snapping my eyes shut.
Cato always appeared after I fell asleep. I figured it was because he wasn’t interested in the part where I told him he couldn’t sleep with me. He wasn’t asking, a fact I accepted after waking up over and over again in his arms, flushed as I tried to convince him and myself that getting the best sleep I’ve had in months was a bad thing.
I didn’t want him to see I was awake and leave.
Cato lifted the covers and slid in. He grasped my hips and stopped, the satin bunching under his fingers.
Maybe it was true that the last thing I should be doing is trying to seduce my muzzle-wearing roommate. But right then, Saylor, Everleigh, Gabriella, Piper, Owen, Wesley, Levi, and the Phantom were out of my reach, safe in their beds.
And Cato was in mine.
It took Lucien dressing me as a vampire mistress and giving me multiple public orgasms for me to accept it was okay to hang on to the tiniest thread of happiness. It wasn’t a betrayal against Winter—my sweet, loving big sister who wanted me to be happy more than anything. The betrayal would be if I let those monsters take everything from me. Our story wouldn’t end that way.