Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 126570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
“What the fuck happened just now?” he asks.
“I don’t fully know,” I say as I pull my suit jacket off and start unbuttoning my sleeves. “I swear to you, on my blood, I felt my wrists being sliced open to the tendons. I was being physically drained.”
Looking down at my arms, I search for any evidence of the wounds, but there’s nothing there. Nothing at all.
“I felt…” I trail off as I remember the crushing feelings of shame, violation, and pain.
There was also guilt… Some type of guilt that seemed so fucking fruitless.
Taking a seat across from me, Raphael leans forward. “Felt what?”
“Chloe was experiencing something. Something humiliating and painful. It was a violation of her mind and body, but I don’t know what it was. I swear to you, Raph, it felt like I was the one being slit open,” I say, and look back down at my wrists.
“That’s not unheard of, but it’s very rare,” Andrei says.
Moving silently into the small space, he takes the remaining chair.
For a man as large and bulky as he is, Andrei moves as quiet as a shadow. He can even sneak up on me, his fucking sire, and it’s rare I catch him if he doesn’t want me to.
Looking at my cheeks, Andrei frowns. “That’s even rarer.”
Leaning forward, he swipes a cotton napkin across my cheeks, wiping off what blood is left.
Trying to knock his hand off my face, I growl, “What the fuck are you? My nursemaid?”
“Stop it, you grumpy fuck,” Andrei growls at me as he keeps wiping at my face. “I’m collecting a sample.”
Raph starts to laugh. “I swear, if you lick your thumb to get the rest, Andrei, I’ll give you a thousand dollars right now.”
“No,” Andrei says quietly before finishing up whatever the fuck he’s doing.
“Why in hell did you need to do that?” I ask.
“It’s a theory I’ve been working on,” Andrei says dismissively before tucking the bloodied white napkin back into the inner pocket of his suit coat.
I lean forward. “Which is?”
“Nothing to concern yourself with just yet.” Andrei leans back in his chair. “I’ll know more once we find your mate.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Raphael grumbles. “You’re still on that?”
“Yes.” Andrei turns to Raphael. “And if you’d like me to assist in finding mates sooner rather than later, I suggest you shut the fuck up.”
Raising his hands up in the air, Raphael quickly wards off any further comments. “I stand corrected.”
Andrei is quite the oddity in our band of motley vampires. He’s all brain with a shit ton of brawn thrown in the mix. For the last ninety years or so, he’s been on a researching kick, trying to make strides in the field of vampires and their mates.
But any true progress always seems to come up short. We need more mates found and studied.
A phone rings further back in the plane, and I force myself to remain still instead of slamming my hands over my ears. Loud sounds don’t normally trigger me, but I still feel on edge and it’s affecting everything. Even the clothing I wear feels as if it’s rubbing me raw.
“Asher.” Andrei leans forward and his words come out with a soft calmness to them. “I need you to talk to me.”
“About?” I’ve got a feeling I already know what he’s going to ask.
“What happened out there? What came over you?”
“I felt her pain, Andrei. I felt someone slitting her wrists. I felt someone violating her. It was like my mind was being raped,” I say, my hands gripping the armrests.
The groaning of metal beneath the leather tells me I need to let up.
“Was it your mind or her body?” he asks quietly.
“She wasn’t being raped, not in a sexual way, but it was close enough,” I say, and think about those words. “Whatever was happening to her, it wasn’t exactly physical, but I could feel her shame and the violation.”
Matthias briskly walks past us to reach the cockpit, not stopping. “We got word,” he says before he disappears behind the door.
Standing up from my chair, I move to follow him but stop when the plane veers sharply, almost throwing us all sideways.
Matthias reappears, walking slowly now, and looks to me. “Bad news or good news first?”
“Good news,” I say.
“We were headed in the wrong direction, but I’ve got our course corrected. We’re on our way to where she might be located now.”
My mind instantly slams on the breaks. I refuse to count my chickens before they hatch. “What’s the bad news?”
Matthias frowns. “We’re flying to New Elysium.”
Andrei growls so loudly it almost drowns out both Raphael and me saying one word at the same time.
“Fuck.”
Eight
Chloe
I’m unable to get my racing heartbeat under control as I stare at the vampire standing in my living room.
He found me.
He finally found me.
I’m so terrified, so freaking petrified, I can’t move. I can’t think.