Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23981 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 120(@200wpm)___ 96(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23981 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 120(@200wpm)___ 96(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
“The cold froze it,” she says as she looks at me wearily, “so it wasn’t too bad. It’s starting to hurt more now, though.”
I dab it gently, wiping away some of the dried blood around it.
“It looks worse than it is,” I tell her. I clean it up with the disinfectant and then put a bandaid over the worst part. It should take a few days, but it will heal. Her beautiful face will be back to flawless in no time.
“Thank you,” she whispers when I’m all done.
I get up to leave, to give her some privacy, but she grabs my wrist and holds me there. “Can you stay with me?”
I sit back down on the tiles and nod. “As long as you need. I’m yours.”
“What’s your name?”
“Leo,” I say.
“Like Leonardo the Ninja Turtle?”
I chuckle. “I prefer Leonardo Da Vinci the inventor.”
“Oh, right.” She shakes her head, embarrassed. I smile. “I’m Tara.”
Tara.
I say the name over and over in my head, each time sounding more beautiful.
“What a way to end your wedding,” I say, fishing for details. “Did you really get married today?”
My eyes dart to her ring finger, which is bare. Hopefully, that’s a good sign.
“It didn’t work out as planned,” she whispers.
I’m waiting for her to go on, but she doesn’t.
“So, what happened back there?” she finally asks. “Where did you come from?”
I tap her hand and then stand up. “Like I said, I’ll explain after the bath. I’ll leave you to it and go make you something warm to eat. I’m sure you need it.”
I smile at her before heading to the door.
“Leo?” she says, that angelic voice stopping me in my tracks.
“Yeah?”
“Why are you being so nice to me?”
I take a deep breath as I gaze into her stunning eyes. How can I explain to her how I’m feeling? How happy and relieved I am that she’s here? How obsessed I am with her even though I just learned her name? How can I tell her she means the world to me and one day soon, I’ll mean the world to her?
How can I explain to her that everything will be different from now on?
That her world has just been split in two—the time before we met and the time after?
“I’ll go make you something to eat,” I say with a warm smile.
I exit the bathroom and leave her to finish up.
There is no explaining it. There are no words to describe the intensity of a mate’s bond. They don’t exist.
There’s only showing. Only feeling.
And tonight, she’ll see…
Tonight, she’ll experience what it means to be mated to a grizzly shifter.
All. Night. Long.
Chapter Five
Tara
I step out of the draining bath and wrap a towel around me, feeling much much better. The blood is circulating through my body again. I can feel my toes.
I wiggle them on the wet mat, so thankful that I didn’t lose any to frostbite. I love wearing flip-flops in the summer and some mangled missing toes would have seriously messed up my flip-flop game.
A warm shiver ripples through me when I remember how it felt to have Leo’s big strong hand wrapped around them.
To be lying in his bed… My body flattened against his hard muscular frame… The sound of his heart beating to the same rhythm as mine… The feel of his warm breath on my neck… The kind words whispered into my ear, telling me that everything was going to be okay…
That man saved me.
I have no doubt about it.
I keep thinking about what happened and trying to put the pieces together. I’ve come up with a theory, but I’m nervous to ask him about it.
He left me a pile of clothes by the sink and I dry off and put them on. My bra and underwear need a good wash, so I leave those in the shower stall with my ruined bloody dress.
His pajama pants are way too big for me, so I tie the waist as tight as it will go and then roll them up my legs until I can finally see my feet. The t-shirt is huge as well, but it’s Leo’s so I’m already kind of in love with it. I’m already plotting how I can steal it.
It’s a band I’ve never heard of—Stone Temple Pilots—and I can tell it’s well-loved by the faded image. I sigh contently as I feel the soft material on my skin. The neck hole is so big that it falls over my shoulder, but it’s kind of sexy at the same time, so I leave it.
I fix up my wet hair as best I can and then brush my teeth with a brand-new toothbrush he left me on the counter.
I would like to be wearing some makeup when he sees me for the first time not dressed as an axe-murdering bride, but I don’t have any on me and his products are all for males.