Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 165649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 663(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 165649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 663(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
Heart beating fast like the little songbird he always called her, she turned back to examine the area in the corner, now much wider without the bars in the middle. She didn’t want to fail at the last minute, but she really wanted to take the outer bars of the cage down and be totally free of Sergey’s captivity. The vampire had done that to her. Forced her to look at everything in her life through bars. She was never a participant but always a watcher. Ferro gave her the opportunity to become a participant but only in what she wanted to do and at her own pace. She might be frightened, but he stood with her, giving her courage.
Gripping Ferro’s forearm tight, she brought down the last of the bars, the two on the outer edges of the cage she’d constructed in front of her eyes. First the one on the right side. With that curved bar down, far more space was allowed into her line of vision, or at least it seemed that way. She forced air through her lungs and pressed as close as possible to Ferro, refusing to close her eyes.
Her stomach lurched just for a moment but Ferro leaned down, his hair sweeping over her bare neck, sending delicious little shivers of awareness through her body, totally distracting her. His teeth scraped back and forth over the pulse pounding in her neck.
“You are so incredibly brave, sívamet. I think you should be called kont o sívanak instead of me.”
Strong heart. He thought she should be entitled to such a name. Her heart soared. Every time his teeth slid over the pulse in the side of her neck, she nearly forgot her own name, let alone to be disoriented by the space in front of her. Every nerve ending in her body was alive and entirely aware of him.
“I think we will leave that title for you,” she murmured. Encouraged, she brought the last of the bars down.
The view of the room in front of her opened wide, spreading out so she could see so much more that it seemed enormous, far larger than anything she’d ever been in that she could remember. Her first inclination was to close her eyes and turn to hide her face in his chest. Before she could, pain and pleasure burst through her simultaneously, so close together the two sensations couldn’t be separated. Then it was the most erotic feeling she’d ever experienced in her life, so much so it was overwhelming. She could barely think straight, let alone worry about what she was seeing.
I could not resist tasting you again. You are . . . exquisite. Ferro stopped himself and immediately closed the wound with the healing saliva from his tongue. You are such a temptation, lifemate. Your blood calls to me. Your body calls to mine. If you have need, I will give you my blood. I was careful not to take too much.
She wouldn’t have cared if he’d drained her dry. He made her feel so beautiful and sensual, things she hadn’t known were possible. She liked that her blood called to him, but the fact that he said her body called to his made her want to hug that statement to her and hold it tightly to examine later.
“Now that you have looked at the space, Elisabeta, what do you think we should do since neither of us has a clue what a home should look like?” His chin moved back and forth over the top of her head.
She froze, unable to give him an answer. It didn’t seem to matter to him.
“Perhaps you can practice your walking and I will call Andor and his she-devil lifemate, Lorraine, to come meet you. She can bring us some ideas to look at as well. I will warn you, do not take anything she says as something I would have you do other than when it comes to house decorating. Her lifemate gives her free rein; I would not be so lenient.”
He sounded stern, but she was merged with him, and although he believed Andor should take a firmer hand with Lorraine, Ferro felt unfailingly gentle toward Elisabeta.
“That sounds like a good idea,” she agreed, feeling his hint of amusement and letting it wash over her, knowing it was just for her alone.
7
What once was a blaze, grows stronger than before;
A metal in the forge, turns a sword for the war.
Josef arrived with Traian and Joie, and he’s already begun to work on updating the programs for Tariq,” Andor said. “He brought tablets for the brethren and is going to be giving lessons.” Andor smirked. “Sandu is first. You know how resistant he is to learning actual technology. He does not mind in the least picking it out of someone’s mind, but to use it on a computer, no way.”