Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 108563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Reaper scoffs as he makes his way toward me. “She finds the idea of me fucking you gross but has no issue carrying around a dead man’s eyeball.”
A stupid smile cuts across my face, and I can’t help but laugh. “She’s thirteen. I don’t think we’re supposed to understand her.”
Reaper steps right into me, wrapping his arms around my body and grabbing my ass before lifting me up and settling me on the edge of the kitchen counter, right next to the one-eyed head. He moves right between my legs, his hands resting on my thighs as his gaze locks heavily onto mine. “Did I fuck up?” he asks just as the familiar sound of a call ending comes from my phone, reminding me that I was in the middle of a FaceTime call with Mila. Well, not anymore. I’ll have to remember to call her back.
I shake my head as my arms wind around his neck. “No.”
“But you slept in a different bed,” he tells me. “I didn’t fucking like it. My time with you is limited, and I don’t want to waste it like that.”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, leaning in and brushing my lips over his. “I was being petty and stubborn. I’ve never been good at accepting when someone gets the better of me, and yesterday . . . You kicked my ass. I was embarrassed that I couldn’t even figure my way out of that stupid cave. I should have known better.”
“Don’t—” he starts.
“No,” I say. “It’s okay. I’ve made so many mistakes during these games, and I hate myself for it. I’m better than this.”
“What does it matter?” he asks. “We’re both fucking dying in eleven days. So what if we fuck up and make mistakes? To be honest, I don’t even give a shit about the games anymore. All that matters to me is spending what little time we have left making you happy.”
“Speaking of what little time we have left,” I murmur, lowering my voice so that Shadow doesn’t hear me from down the hall. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot, and what if we didn’t kill each other? This thing between us . . . this is more real than anything I’ve ever had, and I’m not ready to let it go because of some bullshit games. I don’t want this to end.”
“I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been thinking about the same thing,” he tells me. “But we’d be opening ourselves up for a life on the run. We’d be hunted every fucking day. Is that the life you really want? You would never be able to go home, never be able to see Mila again. It’d just be me and you with a fucking bounty on our heads.”
“And Shadow.” His brow arches, and I continue. “As if I’m about to leave her to go back to whatever bullshit life she came from. She’s better off with us.”
“Siren—”
“Don’t pretend like you don’t agree with me. You know I’m right.”
Reaper lets out a heavy sigh before lifting me off the counter, walking us through to the living room, and dropping down onto the couch. I straddle his lap and sit up against his strong thighs, my fingers brushing against the sharp ridges of his abs.
“You are right,” he tells me. “I’m not ready to let you go, but I don’t see how we could possibly get out of Blue Springs without submitting ourselves to a life of hell. I’m a hunter, Siren. I’m not prey. And the only way we’re getting out of here is in body bags.”
Leaning into him, I wrap my arms around the back of his neck as I snuggle into his chest. “I just . . . I can’t do it,” I tell him, feeling completely helpless about our situation. “I can’t kill you, and I won’t stand back to allow anybody else to do it either. Not even Shadow. I can’t . . . fuck. I can’t lose you yet. I’m not ready. I want a life with you, Reaper. I want everything. I want to love you.”
His body stiffens, and he glances down at me, that dark, lethal stare locking onto mine. “Are you in love with me, Siren?”
I swallow over the lump in my throat, unsure what to say. A man like Reaper doesn’t strike me as the type who’s capable of handling declarations of love, but I’m not willing to lie to him, not if we only have eleven days left. “I think so,” I tell him truthfully. “I’ve never felt this way about anybody before. I don’t know if this is what love feels like, but if it is, then yes. I’ve never been so in love in my life.”
His arm locks around my back, and he pulls me in tighter, our bodies pressed together as one. “It’s okay, my sweet Siren. I won’t let anything happen to you. Nobody is taking you away from me.”