Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 78886 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78886 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
He frowned but gave a clipped nod. “Done.”
“Now listen.” I didn’t want him talking to the woman, but he had to want to sever their tie. If he desired a relationship with her, well, that was on him. I refused to protest again. I just knew our relationship wouldn’t last, and the mark I’d just decided to take wouldn’t happen. The choice was his.
A moment passed in silence. Two. His nostrils flared. “I hear her.”
I waited several moments more before saying, “Focus on her words.”
His eyelids narrowed to tiny slits. “She’s telling me…” He cursed beneath his breath. “She is the one Deco imprisoned. He’s harmed her. She’s weakening. Perhaps dying.” Viktor pounded at his temples again. “If I do not reach her—I must reach her.”
Ice spread over his expression. He looked to Bodi, to me. “Try to keep up.”With no other words, he took off in a mad sprint through the jungle.
Bodi and I shared a look before leaping into action, trailing him. Though I was faster than ever before, I lagged behind. The prince hung back, keeping both his brother and me in his sights, but something gnawed at my gut.
“Your outfit is an…interesting choice,” the prince said, all casual-like, as if we were merely taking a stroll in a park.
Twin circles scorched my cheeks. “Blame your brother. He picked it.”
The prince flashed a smile, there and gone. “You are good for him.”
“I know.”
He chuckled at my swagger. I comprehended the man responded to bravado. And Bodi hadn’t even heard the half of it! I’d done the impossible and made his brother smile. “But, um, maybe be on the lookout for turul-shifters, since he’s forgotten everything but his precious Valkara.”
A grunting sound escaped him. “As if I’m not always on the lookout.”
I scanned the canopy above our heads, through the teak and banyan leaves, unable to shake an uneasy feeling. “This could be a trap. I don’t trust her.”
“You are not the only one,” Bodi muttered.
We experienced a surprising beat of comradery.
“She’s powerful, right? Knows the secrets of the Starfire that turned mortals into berserkers. Can use a set of keys to unshift a shifter. This whole ‘Deco has captured me, and I may be dying’ feels a little too convenient.” Something didn’t add up. Maybe my suspicions revolved around Viktor’s feelings for the woman. Maybe not.
Rushing off with barely a second glance at his one, true firebrand to rescue another woman in distress…
Plus
A centuries long connection…
Equaled
Some part of Viktor might love Valkara, who may or may not be in love with him, too.
Finally, the math worked out. I’d believed my hold on him was stronger than hers. And maybe it was. But any hold she had tainted mine. She wanted me dead so badly that she’d sunk to invading my dreams to convince me to willingly accept death at his hand. And she’d done this since my childhood!
Though Viktor had promised to refuse her instructions, he might change his mind. I didn’t know what power she possessed, the strength of her influence, or the depths of his feelings for her.
My stomach churned. For too long, I’d missed the signs that Benjamin and my ex-best friend Kami bore an attraction to each other. And yet, the calculation had been right there in front of me. Stronger variables lay before me now. Otherworldly ones!
One thing was for certain. Viktor was a man with divided loyalties, and I was an all or nothing kinda girl. I had major feelings for him. I liked who I was with him. I liked him period. But I needed total devotion. Deserved it because I gave it.
An agonized groan echoed up ahead. Bodi and I shared another look before kicking into a supernaturally charged higher gear. We reached Viktor, who had stopped at the edge of an abandoned campsite.
I took in the destruction. A smashed shelter composed of mud, limbs, and leaves. A torn, bloodstained gown of multi-colors, from the darkest gray to the palest white, hung from a branch.
A dented canteen on its side, the lid several feet away.
“She was here, however long ago,” Viktor rasped, balling his hands. “There are no footprints but hers. They took her from the air.” He stalked about, ransacking the camp. On the hunt for something specific? “Why did she come here? For me? Did she find my key? Did Deco?” Roaring, he punched his fist into a tree trunk. His knuckles drove through the bark, leaving a gaping hole.
Bodi motioned me forward. “Well?”
I blinked at him. “Well what?”
“Calm him.”
What, I was a dancing monkey on a string now?
I didn’t calm Viktor because this wasn’t a berserkerage, but a tantrum over his precious primordial guardian. I crossed my arms over my middle and waited.
The king was panting by the time he finished.
“May we go now?” I asked.
“We may, but you should prepare yourself.” He squared his shoulders.