Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 171176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
“No, I’m a phoenix. It’s why I am charged with getting you back. It’s safer because I can’t die. You don’t mean any harm, though, do you.”
It wasn’t a question, though I couldn’t really focus on that now. I’d turned and grabbed his arm in excitement, beaming up at him.
“You’re the phoenix!” I half shouted at him. “And you have red hair!”
“Guilty as charged.”
“Until Hadriel told me about you, I’d thought phoenixes were just myths. It blows my mind that they are real—you are real, I mean.” I was brimming with excitement. “Tell me truly, is it super cool being you? I bet it is. Are people just always delighted to be near you?”
He laughed. “No, definitely not. They don’t love that I can read their emotions, especially when that emotion is sadness or fear. Warriors don’t like to admit their vulnerabilities.”
“That’s right! You gain power through consuming other people’s emotions, right?”
“Correct.” His eyes sparkled as he looked down at me, his focus acute. My belly wiggled at the notice, unused to the interest. “Something tells me it won’t bother you.”
“Why is that? I mean, no it won’t. I don’t really care if you can read me. How did you know, though?”
His head tilted again. “You advertise your emotional state. What are you?”
“A wolf, I guess,” I replied, but something prevented me from telling him how I knew. Maybe it was his confident, relaxed manner and easy smile, or his attractiveness, or how comfortable he made me feel—light and carefree. Hell, maybe I was just awestruck. Whatever the reason, I just wanted to keep my business to myself. Maybe hide my baggage a little.
He shook his head a little at that. “Not just a wolf, though, surely.”
“I didn’t know I had magic until recently. My . . . guardian, I guess—Granny. You know of Granny?”
“I do. She and her organization are not well liked here.”
“Right. Well, she should’ve been able to feel my animal, and yet she told me all this time that she couldn’t feel any magic.”
“I feel your pain. Why did you believe it, if you don’t mind my asking?”
I told him about my mom and my upbringing, noticing how he veered away from the castle doors and took me across the grounds instead. He asked how I’d ended up with Granny, and I tried to give him a summary. He stopped me, though, with a gentle hand to my forearm, and asked for the full account.
He listened with a patient ear and then reciprocated with his own experiences. He’d grown up dirt poor, barely able to put food on the table. His grandma and mom had been lost to the sickness that plagued the kingdom, and his dad had barely made it. His sister had been the hunter of the family and he the caretaker, a role he greatly enjoyed.
Something about that last fact sent butterflies through my belly. I loved a strong man who enjoyed taking care of his own.
Memories of Weston’s attention to his pack surfaced, as did the constant small things he always did for me, even when he and I were at odds with each other.
“Shall we sit?” Hannon said, cutting through my reverie.
He stopped in front of a bench placed before a bed of flowers.
“I’m not keeping you from anything?” I asked, hesitating.
His gaze was unwavering. “No.”
I grinned like a dummy. A mythical phoenix was taking a moment with me.
A phoenix!
“Okay,” I said. “I don’t really have anything to do, especially since the royals have all my stuff.”
“About that . . . What brought on the change from making the product to wanting to stop it? Other than how Granny has treated you?” he asked.
My smile dwindled. “Oh. Is this step one of my interrogation?”
“No—well, yes.” His vivid blue eyes sparkled. “I’m sure the royals will want to know a lot of this information and, coming from me—with my type of magic—they’ll know it is genuine. But I’m asking because I am curious. I enjoy talking with you. You’re so fresh and honest, so forthcoming with your emotions. I’m interested.”
My face heated, and I had no idea why his words would cause a tingle of both embarrassment and delight. “I like talking with you, too.”
Chapter 13
Weston
Icould barely focus with the feelings seeping through the bond. Delight, intrigue, attraction. I didn’t know whom she was with, but I wanted to find that person and snap off his or her limbs.
“Dismissed,” I growled when the meeting had come to an end. The various shifters gave me cagey looks, knowing something was wrong but not really wanting to find out what it was.
“What’s up?” Micah asked as I stood and gathered my things. He was the dragon commander—the same rank as me. Together we oversaw the armies and guard.
“Nothing. I gotta go. My—the captive has a meeting with the royals.”