Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 120475 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 482(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120475 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 482(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
Bipolar is my new shiny diagnosis, and the head doctor was sure he could get me all sparkly and new by swallowing these pills more and more every two weeks until I was at optimal dosage. Well, I finally reached the magical dose last week.
I thud my forehead against Kira and Isaak’s kitchen window in a slow, repetitive motion until Kira comes back in and catches me doing it.
“Moira! What are you doing?”
“Nothing.” I let the side of my face smoosh into the cool glass of the window. “All I ever do is nothing.” Then I roll my eyes. “And no, before you ask, I don’t feel like harming myself or others today.”
That’s everybody’s favorite question.
She puts her hands on her hips, which is especially effective because of her cute, round belly bump.
“I see you didn’t quite make it up from the breakfast table, but look, you ate!”
I slither like a slug from the glass onto the table, my body completely flat.
This is all I can seem to manage to do lately—slug from one place to another.
I don’t think it’s the meds, necessarily. Just... the sad face part of sad face me.
“Mama, help me to the couch,” I whine, wiggling my hands at Kira.
She sighs. “Well, at least I’m getting some training for when I have a baby around.”
I cry dramatically, but she stays where she’s standing, arms on her hips.
“What if I told you Bane was asking around about you again at the club last night?”
I pull my arms in and bury my head in them.
“Doesn’t matter,” I grumble into my sleeves, face still hidden.
“Oh yeah?” she challenges. “Even if he told Isaak to give you a message?”
I shake my head, mumbling into my arms again. “I don’t want to hear it.”
It’s too painful.
My chest squeezes in on itself because what I just said is a lie. Of course, I want to hear it.
The fact that he’s still thinking about me—even after all this time, even after I broke his heart—makes my stomach twist.
But then I think, You didn’t break his heart, you ninny. Yeah, he married you, but that was just because he had to. That’s probably what his message is—just letting you know he found some way to let you off the hook or got the marriage annulled.
“He said to tell you that his father is dead.”
I spring fully upright in my chair for the first time in weeks, blinking up at her.
“Mad Blackwolf is dead?”
Kira’s mouth drops open. “Bane’s father is Mad Blackwolf?” Her eyes go round. “Wow. I had heard that he passed.”
“What did he die of?” is my immediate follow-up question.
She waves a hand. “It was all hush-hush with the media at first, but apparently, he picked up some wasting disease from his travels. It took him out in just a few months. There was nothing they could do.”
“And... he just died?” I ask again, still unable to fully wrap my head around it. “Where’s my phone?”
Kira glances down at me, eyebrows raising. “Are you going to call Bane?”
“I need to call Domhn.”
Kira suddenly bites her fingernail.
“What?” I ask suspiciously.
“Nothing.”
She jerks her hand down, but I catch the hesitation.
“It’s just... we’ve all been worried about you. You’ve been in kind of a fragile state.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I snap. “I’m fine.”
I stand up.
Oily curls fall into my face, reminding me that I haven’t exactly been the best at showering lately. I push them back and tie them at the base of my neck with the ponytail holder that’s always around my wrist.
“Why? What’s up? What’s going on?”
“Well...” Kira hesitates. “You know how MadAnna wasn’t at my baby shower? Oh, wait—neither were you. Anyway. Apparently, she’s taking another “leave of absence” for her mental health,” Kira continues. “That’s what Domhn’s been calling it, anyway.”
“What?!” I shriek. “And you’re only just telling me this now? Where’s my phone?!”
“I think you left it by the couch.”
I scurry over, my limbs feeling only slightly less heavy at the unusually quick movement. Depression is a bitch when she gets her claws into you.
Immediately, I dial my brother’s number.
“Moira?” Domhn answers, surprised. “Hey.”
His voice gets all gentle and weird—which is never a good sign.
“How’s everything going?”
“Where’s MadAnna?” I cut to the chase.
He sighs, and I can just imagine him dragging his hand down his face.
“Uh... she said she had to go take care of some things.”
“When?!” I all but shout into the phone. “How long ago?”
He sighs heavily, and that tells me I’m not going to like what he says next.
“Ever since she and you...” He doesn’t finish the statement.
“But she came back, right? After we got kidnapped, she came back home. We’ve had a few video calls...”
And then it lands.
Oh, shit.
“Domhn, is she on the run because of what I did?”
“You didn’t do anything, Moira,” he says firmly. “You fell in love with a good guy who just happened to have a psychotic father. It’s nothing you or anyone else could have controlled.”