Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 115347 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115347 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
Imagine it. A new forest, and a true, valuable resource for his people. Kaysar and Cookie would no longer be the sole source of such delicacies.
Yes! “Farther back,” he instructed his men. Seemed his wife’s protector would be surviving this encounter, after all. “And gather the fruits and nuts but eat nothing.”
The beast calmed a bit, though its strain never lessened. It watched Micah more intently than anyone else. Because it knew. They always knew. There was no threat worse than the Unwilling.
He ran his tongue over his teeth, sensing this belua merely waited for him to sleep or leave the area to run.
Well then. Here I stay. No matter what.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
HEAVY EYELIDS SLID CLOSED. So tired.
No! Micah jolted, forcing his lids to pop apart. The belua came into view once more. Six days he’d stood immobile. Six days since his treacherous wife had created a monster and fallen asleep in its arms. Six days of facing off with the abomination. A creature he utterly despised. From his stare to his posture, Micah dared the beast to take a single step in any direction.
All the while, the sandcats protested anyone’s nearness to him.
The sun glared with passion, harsher than the day before. Which had been harsher than the day before that. Any section of exposed skin charred and healed, then charred again. Sweat rolled over his chest and back, soaking his tunic. His lips remained chapped. Fatigue ebbed and flowed, but Micah dared not reveal a weakness.
The moment he slept or exited the creature’s line of sight, it would bolt. He sensed this. Because, in the chaotic tangle of his thoughts, he believed he’d been interpreting the crackle of the beast’s radiating emotions since day two. Terror. Love. Fury. Hate. Hope.
No, Micah must be mistaken. Hopeful? What belua would ever experience such an emotion with a chimera nearby?
What he knew beyond a doubt: if he attacked, the men surrounding him would attack as well, and the strange creature would fight to the death to defend Vee. While such combat could serve a purpose, proving his strength, forcing his opponent to submit to his will, the end result would do him little good if his wife were harmed.
She deserved to hurt. Evil. From the very beginning, she’d sought his downfall, attempting to save her “children.” Had used the war with Kaysar to burrow into Micah’s life. Any excuse to stay by his side and seduce him into forgetting his purpose. He intended to punish her for it, to make her suffer as she’d made his people suffer, but not through death.
No, he would use the beast to do it. But first, he would break its spirit—with patience. Anyone could use a sword; only skilled warriors brandished unshakable persistence. A difficult weapon to employ, but far superior to battle, giving him a stronger hold of his opponent’s mind. But, as proven, this strategy required more time and energy on Micah’s part. Time, however, was running out. The truce with the Unhinged One ended in only three weeks. Then, his focus became divided.
Who was he kidding? His focus was already divided. The easy victory against the other king—the one he’d boasted of at the feast—now struck him as an intangible dream. Take out a depraved, bloodthirsty king and queen...while dealing with the mother of monsters. How?
A muscle jumped beneath his eye. Had Kaysar sent Vee for this very purpose? A weapon meant to destroy Micah from the inside out? Had the other king heard rumors of his rival’s obsession with a green-eyed, scarlet-haired beauty, then hunted and recruited her to his cause? If so...
Muscles hardened as rage burned away the last vestiges of his civility, leaving him raw. Vee had sought to garner his capitulation for Kaysar.
Agonized moans rose from the men around him. A soldier clawed at his own cheeks, as if attempting to peel off his skin. Someone toppled to his knees.
Micah floundered—I’m responsible for this?
The soldier on his knees crawled closer, reaching for Micah, as if he hoped to unseat the source of his pain. The sandcats reacted in an instant, delving beneath the ground, vanishing from view.
Foreboding electrified the air. What might happen next...?
In a blink, the felines burst forth and tore into the warrior who’d fallen, shredding his torso in seconds. To end any threat to Micah? Why? Why did they continue to do this?
A pained shriek rang out, the male scrambling backward. The sandcats retreated, returning to their preferred positions near Micah.
Oh yes. An ending. And a showing. An example had just been made.
Their protectiveness only tossed fuel on his fury. He worked his jaw while attempting to calm. Difficult to do, now that he grasped how his oracle and mistress had escaped. The sandcats must have dug their way to the underground maze to find and free the women from their chains. A supposition he’d never entertained. Had Vee created the pair for such a purpose as this?