Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 38523 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 193(@200wpm)___ 154(@250wpm)___ 128(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38523 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 193(@200wpm)___ 154(@250wpm)___ 128(@300wpm)
“What?” He doesn’t even look up from the computer.
“I’ve been summoned.” He stops typing but still doesn’t look at me. “They want to meet in person to discuss our partnership.”
“The vampires are a silent partner. What’s there to discuss?” He sounds disinterested, but he’s merely tapping a single key over and over, not typing, just waiting to hear what I have to tell him.
“There are other aspects of our deal.” That gets his attention. Finally his eyes meet mine. His hard expression reflects the anger and nervousness I’m doing my best to contain.
“What the fuck do they want?”
“They won’t answer over the phone.”
“What are you thinking?”
“No fucking clue, but it must be something big for them to summon us.”
“Us? No fucking way. Only one of us goes.” We stare hard at each other. I clench my jaw so hard I hear something crack. “We can’t leave her and we sure as fuck can’t bring her.” He casts his eyes down and turns away from me. “I’ll go. You stay with her.” My chest pains at the sight of him. He’s so fucking beat up that she turned him away yesterday. I don’t know why she did it. She wouldn’t answer me when I asked. She wouldn’t let me leave but wouldn’t talk to me. She wouldn’t let me get him. I imagined this may be difficult for her but I didn’t expect her to…to be so willfully distant. I’m grateful she didn’t deny me. I can’t imagine what Luke is feeling.
I expected him to come in last night. I thought he’d try again to win her approval. “Stop fucking moping. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
“I am.” He starts typing again and I know he’s trying to ignore me. Anger gets the best of me as I rise out of my seat.
“That’s not what I meant.” I rip the keyboard out of his hands and throw it on the ground. It shatters and I can tell it pisses him the fuck off, but I don’t give a shit. “You’re just going to give up on your mate?”
“It’s not giving up.” His eyes find mine and I can tell he’s only holding on by a thread. “I’m giving her what she wants.”
It fucking kills me to see him like this. Even if he weren’t my brother, knowing what we went through, what he went through… “Fuck, Luke.”
“What the fuck do you want from me?” He screams at me, pounding on his chest. The action rouses his wolf. It’s the first time my wolf has felt his all day.
I stress my answer although it should be obvious. “Not to give up on her.”
He looks at me like I’m his enemy and a cold chill runs through me. “She wants you, not me. She’s made that clear.”
I spear my fingers through my hair and watch Luke as he stands to leave. “You have to stay.” My words keep him from leaving. It takes a moment for him to face me again. He looks like the shell of the man he was just yesterday. “You look like shit and your wolf is silent. You’ll look weak to them.” My words hurt me just as much as they hurt him. A sickness churns in my gut watching my once strong and proud brother turn inward. “I don’t think she realizes what she’s doing. She’s just scared of what she feels or something. Heat can be hard on the best of us, and she’s only just come into this world.”
Luke nods his head and tries to speak but doesn’t. His eyes fall and I can see his inner war. “It’s not over Luke.” His sad eyes find mine and I feel guilty as fuck. “You stay with her. Try. Just try.”
“It fucking hurts, Owen.” Luke’s hand rubs against his chest. I’ve never seen my brother so disheveled and wretched. I pull him in for a quick hug and pound on his back.
“You can’t just let her go.” I can’t believe he would even consider leaving our mate.
“I’m not. She’s with you.” Luke pulls away from me and stares down the hallway. “At first, I thought I’d kill you.” He looks back at me with no remorse although his eyes rolling indicates he’s aware of how ridiculous the thought is. “I literally thought, for the smallest of moments, I should kill you.” His words should chill my blood but they don’t. “Then I thought, I can’t do that to you, you’re my brother, and she would only hate me more because she loves you.” He slams his fist on the door frame. “But then I realized the truth”—he swallows thickly—“I couldn’t do it, because it would hurt her.” His tortured eyes find mine. “It would hurt her to take away someone she loved.”
I stare back at my twin with nothing to say. I wish I could take this pain away from him, but I can’t. Only Emma can.