Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 48827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 163(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 163(@300wpm)
My shoulders drop. Of course that's why he's here. Of course it has nothing to do with our past and only to do with his duty to our king. To his calling.
“Fuck my life,” I mumble under my breath. “Fine. You can tag along, but I'm going to need you to be quiet. You think you can manage that or did the long sleep make you forget how to be an actual hunter?”
It's a cheap dig, but I can't help it. The hurt that he’s fostered inside me is slipping out in the form of sharp barbs that spear straight for him.
Zachariah arches a brow at me, his dark eyes trailing along the curves of my face. There's definitely some emotion there, but I don't bother sticking around to puzzle it out. I spin around, prepared to continue my hunt like he isn’t following me. Like nothing has changed.
“You're hunting Conrad Gladstone, aren't you?” Zachariah asks, his tone hushed but loud in the silence of the woods that are crisp from the autumn night air.
I whirl around, eyes wide. “How do you know it was him?”
“I have powerful friends,” he answers plainly.
“Powerful friends? Not the superiors?”
“No,” he answers. “We connected with them briefly when we were awoken, but they have assigned us to be at the king's disposal.”
Anger boils in my blood, threatening to explode right out of me.
I take a breath, and blow it out slowly, curling my fingers into fists so I don't reach for a dagger and stab him.
“So you've been awake long enough to form powerful friendships, but you couldn't take two minutes to actually track me down.”
It doesn't matter how many times I say it out loud or to myself, the rejection and lack of initiative from this male continues to break me over and over again.
Something like pain flashes over his features, but I'm too angry to give a fuck. He seems to track that attitude and accept it, shifting his weight and puffing out his chest just enough to make me want to punch him.
“Look,” he says. “I’m perfectly content to stand out here all night and take the shots I clearly deserve. But from the look of you, nothing is going to deter you from this hunt. So, what will it be, Talia?” he steps closer to me. “You want to hash this out, right here, right now? Let’s do it. Or do you want to channel this into a smart play, because I know how to sneak attack Conrad. All you have to do is let me take you home and you track down a dress.”
I eye him suspiciously. “If this is a ploy to get me to some party to act as a trophy for you—”
“Talia,” he cuts me off. “Do you really think so little of me? Do you think I would lie to you about something this important?”
My heart sinks to my stomach. “I don't know you anymore,” I admit.
Zachariah draws closer, too close, but I can't find willpower to pull away. “You know me better than anyone ever has, Talia. You know me like only a mate can.”
“We never completed the bond,” I say. “Whatever fate-bound trust we may have had is dead now.”
Zachariah flinches like I stuck a dagger in him. “I'm not lying to you,” he says so softly I barely hear it.
“Fine,” I say motioning for him to lead the way. “Then prove it.”
CHAPTER 5
Zachariah
Islide into the tux the king's personal tailors crafted for me as stoically as if I’m slipping on a shield of armor.
And the need for that armor has nothing to do with the mission at hand, despite its severity, and everything to do with the female intent on slicing into me every chance she gets.
She has every right to. Hell, she could actually sink a dagger into my chest and I would tell her I understand.
I deserve nothing less than her hatred, her scorn, but it's my fool's heart that’s clinging to the hope of reconciliation.
My mark may have faded from her skin, but she was my mate in another life—the only life that ever mattered to me. And now that we’re working together, sleeping close to each other, living under the same roof, it feels like no time has passed at all.
She may have hardened over the centuries—understandably—crafting herself into this incredibly astounding lethal huntress, but she's still Talia. She's still the female I fell for the second I saw those lilac eyes, those full lips shaping the softest, most kissable smile, her laugh ringing in my ears like music after centuries of dead quiet.
“Are you sure you don't need backup?” Ajax asks as he comes through the door to my chambers.
I finish adjusting my tie, spinning around and walking past him out the door and down the hallway.
“I'm sure,” I say, nodding as Talon falls into step with Ajax behind me. “The demon king is already going to be there criticizing and calculating every single one of our moves. And the place will be crawling with humans, better to be discreet.”