Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 121146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
“No—it’s only right that she should know,” he told his brother. He turned to Celia. “Yes, my lady—we broke the rules that state we may only touch you with some kind of fabric or barrier between us during our Holding Week,” he told her. “I cupped your bare breasts in my hands and Fierce rubbed his shaft against your bare pussy with nothing to separate us. You may, if you wish, end the Claiming Period right now.”
“Then I think…think maybe we should end it.” Celia looked down, her lovely dark eyes troubled. “I never thought of myself as a cheater before last night,” she told them. “And believe me—I don’t blame either one of you—I’m just as much at fault. But I’m afraid if we stay together for an entire month, I’ll ruin everything with Peter. I’ve already gone a lot further than I ever meant to with the two of you. We have to stop now, before it’s too late.”
“What?” Fierce demanded. “You want to go back to that sniveling, weak little human who’s never worked a day in his life and treats you like you’re his fucking servant?”
Celia lifted her chin and a dangerous glint came into her eyes.
“Yes—I want to go back to Peter. He loves me for myself—he wants me.”
“We love you! We want you!” Fierce nearly shouted, gesturing between himself at Hold. “And you know we’ll treat you right—we won’t act like you’re a servant sent to wait on us hand and foot! Or tell you that you look fat and you need to lose some weight—because you fucking don’t need to lose any weight! Or ask you to ‘put on a happy face’ when you feel sad or any of that bullshit!”
But his brother appeared to have gone too far, Hold thought. Celia’s face went from red to white and her tiny hands squeezed into fists at her sides.
“You two have been spying on me through those damn dreams!” she stormed at Fierce. “What else did you see? Did you watch the last time we had sex and it lasted less than a minute?”
“So what if we did?” Fierce demanded. “We can’t help what the dreams show us!”
“You and your dreams can both fuck off!” she snapped. “Besa mi culo you big pendejo!”
Then she stormed off in the general direction of the grotto’s entrance. Fierce started to go after her, but Hold caught his brother by the arm.
“No, Brother—let her go. Give her some time to cool off,” he told him.
“But she’s being fucking unreasonable!” Fierce growled, his eyes flashing.
“And you think she’s in the mood to listen to your ‘reason’ now?” Hold demanded, arching an eyebrow at him. “You shouldn’t have brought up all the bad things we saw about her fiancé in our dreams. I think you really offended her.”
“I was just pointing out what an asshole he is!” Fierce raked a hand through his hair in a gesture of pure frustration. “Why can’t she see he’s no good for her? Why can’t she see that she’s supposed to be with us?”
“She’s not going to ‘see’ anything with you yelling at her,” Hold snapped, losing his patience. Why was his brother so bull-headed? Why couldn’t he ever see when it was time to back away from a situation and give someone time and space?
“Fine.” Fierce glared at him. “I’ll leave her alone…for now. But she’s being unreasonable and you fucking know it. That asshole fiancé of hers isn’t good for her and we are.”
“I doubt anyone hearing you shout at her would have gotten that impression,” Hold snapped. “Now help me finish packing so we can get out of here while it’s still daylight outside!”
Fierce gave him a look and he could feel his twin’s anger and frustration through the Twin Bond they shared. But this time he was too tired and too upset to try and make peace between them. His twin might have ruined the only chance they had at securing the one female in the universe the Goddess had set aside just for them—their Fated Mate.
And at the moment, Hold was in no mood to forgive him.
24
CELIA
The liftoff into space was a silent one. It seemed that everyone was angry at everyone else, Celia thought. She knew she was pissed off at Fierce, who in turn was angry at Hold for telling her they could end the Claiming Period because they had broken the rules. Hold also seemed angry with Fierce—at least, he wasn’t talking to his twin and would barely even look at him. They must have had a disagreement after she left them at their campsite, she thought.
Fierce was clearly angry with her as well. And though Hold was calm and courteous towards her, he hadn’t called her “my lady” once since their fight. He had helped her from the grotto to the ship however and then buckled her harness before liftoff. But he acted like they were just friendly acquaintances—as though she hadn’t cried in his arms and admitted some of the most painful truths of her childhood to him the night before.