Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 138217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
“Shit.” Pavel pulled out his phone and made the call right then, telling the guards to ensure that they positioned themselves right next to Keja at all times. “That work?” he asked Theo while still on the call.
“Yes, as a stopgap. Janine can still go to her, but she can’t teleport her out if she can’t touch her.” Tks like Kaleb Krychek didn’t need physical contact, but Janine wasn’t that powerful.
After passing that on, Pavel hung up. “What do Psy do about criminals like your aunt? People who can vanish out of locked rooms?”
“I don’t know.” She coughed, her throat dry. “I’m assuming there must be a way to block or shield certain abilities.”
“Drink first, talk later.” Yakov put a straw to her lips—it went into a glass of nutrients he’d arranged for her.
Theo sipped while scowling at him, but she wanted to cuddle her worried bear. She’d never forget the terror in his voice as he screamed her name.
“Ugh, goo-goo eyes, that’s my cue to get out of here.” Pavel rose to his feet. “But I’m fucking glad you’re in the den, where we can look after you both.”
Theo jerked her lips from the straw, her brain only now processing the import of her current situation. “I can’t be here.” The air suddenly jagged bits of stone in her lungs, she sat up, pushing aside the blanket. “I can’t be here.” She swung her legs over the side of the bed.
Her skin was hot, her chest compressing in on itself.
Chapter 68
“What’s it like being loved by a bear?”
“Everything. It’s everything.”
—Conversation overheard in a Moscow café
YAKOV BLOCKED HER from getting off the bed. “Pasha, can you give us a few minutes?”
“I’ll go help Arwen sort out food for you guys.” Then he was gone, closing the door behind himself.
Yakov cupped the uninjured side of Theo’s face. “Look at me,” he said when she continued to scan the small room for an escape hatch that would spit her outside, far from the families in this den.
When he wouldn’t allow her to jump off the bed, she grabbed his wrist. “You have cubs here!” Mouth dry, breath short, her skin hot. “You need to get me out—I could hurt them in a rage.”
Her bear didn’t budge. “Almost every single adult in this place is stronger than you,” he said in a voice that held the bear’s grumble. “You won’t be coming into contact with any cubs on your own while you’re laid up in the infirmary. Even Nova’s cub isn’t permitted to wander around the infirmary at will.”
She fought to draw in enough air. “I—” Grabbing the glass of nutrients, she sucked hard on the straw.
The blast of energy cleared her thoughts. “Okay, okay,” she said after a few deep breaths. “I won’t try to escape the infirmary.” He was right; she was under constant watch here, couldn’t act out without being halted.
“But I can’t live here.” Her eyes burned, because she knew this was his home, his heart. “I’m so sorry, but I can’t.” She’d exist in a state of constant panic and fear—yet the idea of being torn from him?
Sharp stabs through her veins, hurt in her soul. “I could stay at the apartment,” she suggested. “You wouldn’t have to be with me every day, could still stay in the den whenever you wanted.” Theo would never attempt to separate him from his clan and his family.
Even if she needed him with a desperation that hurt.
A growling nip of her finger. “If you think I’m not cuddling you every night forever, we’re going to have a problem.” Amber in those eyes now. “Because you and me, Theo? We’re locked in stone now.”
So much smug happiness in his expression that it cut right through her panic.
“But I know we mated in exigent circumstances,” he said, searching her face. “If you need time—”
“No. I don’t.” Theo spread a hand over his chest, her next words blurted out. “I’m keeping you even if you gave yourself to me by accident.”
A wicked grin. “I think of it more as stealing you.” He nuzzled her oh-so-gently. “We’ll build a place not far from the den, but far enough away that the cubs can’t wander out to it without supervision.
“We can come here to eat, socialize, hang out—but until we figure out the rages, you never have to enter the den alone. You can come with me, or with Pavel, or with anyone else in the clan you trust is strong enough to overpower you.” A dark glance at her bracelet. “Not that it’ll be necessary if you’re wearing that thing.”
“You won’t mind?” Theo asked, her stomach yet in knots. “Not living in the den? You love it.”
“I love you more.” Words so blunt it was impossible not to believe them. “Also, we’ll be overrun with visitors who never want to leave, trust me.” He rolled his eyes. “I’ll have to kick their butts out.