Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 95196 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95196 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
“It doesn’t matter, I suppose,” he intoned, breaking the silence, “since I won’t be letting you go.”
An invisible hammer beat against my defenses. Cracks formed and tenderness leaked out. It felt as if he’d spoken the words to me, Elizabeth. I wondered…
Would he choose me when I switched back? Or would his affection shrivel beyond repair, taking his trust with it as soon as he discovered his wife’s willingness to steal the identity of an American schoolteacher simply to escape him?
Heart thudding, I stalked around his chair and knelt between his legs, peering up at him. “You shouldn’t want to keep someone who doesn’t want to be kept,” I rasped, trying to make him understand the crux of the problem without revealing my secret.
He flinched. “Ah, but the shame of doing so is my punishment, isn’t it?”
I canted my head, deepening my study of him. “Why do you think you deserve punishment?” For rendering the killing blow to Roderick?
“When you’ve lived as long as I have, warred as much as I have, the reasons stack up.” A note of bitterness accompanied the words.
“People learn and change. Who I was isn’t who I am, and who I’ll become isn’t who I am now. The same is true of you.” What I wouldn’t give to talk to him openly and honestly, nothing held back. “Why should New Callen keep feeding Old Callen’s misery, keeping it alive?”
He set his glass on the floor, the corners of his lips curving down. “Who are you?”
Had I revealed too much? “What do you mean?”
“Does this charming American persona reveal the real you or hide her, hmm?” He reached out to trace a fingertip along my jawline.
Shivers rained over me, my next words slipping out unbidden. “What if by some unseen twist, I’m not your fated one? Something I’m not sure you even need.” Gripping his thighs, I reminded him, “You keep your berserkerage under lock and key without me.” I tightened my grip. “Would you still desire me if my appearance drastically altered?”
“I didn’t pick you for your beauty.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “But you are my firebrand. I only wish I was yours.”
Easing back on my haunches, I rasped, “How do you know I am? And don’t tell me you just knew. Not this time.”
He drew in a deep lungful of air. “You remember the meaning of uisge ciùin?”
“Many things. Namely, calm waters.”
He nodded. “That is accurate, but the significance runs deeper. Every minute of every day, a sentinel can be swept into an inferno of fiery fury or let the waters snuff out the flames. The choice is always ours.”
“That’s lovely. But what does it have to do with mates?”
“When a sentinel meets a firebrand, the constant burn of fury cools. For the first time in our lives, we feel as if we bathe in tranquility. The sensation didn’t last for me, as it does for most, but I felt it when we first met, and I wanted so badly to feel it again.”
“Did you?”
“Once or twice. But it hit me like a tidal wave at our reception.” Raw longing coated his shocking statement. “I crave more.”
I absorbed his confession, reeling, certain of the exact moment he spoke of. When I’d been eating scones, and he’d watched with that all too brief ravaged expression.
Was this body responsible or was it possible Isobel wasn’t his fated?
I licked my lips, suddenly breathless, and attempted to steer us to steadier ground. “What if I lose my temper with you?”
His eyes lit up, and he grinned. “I think I can handle it.”
“Oh, really?” I lifted a brow. “You’re making a lot of assumptions about my wrath.”
He barked out a laugh, and I soaked up the lightening of his mood.
There was no stopping my next words. “I came here to accept your mark. Did you change your mind about giving it?”
He went still. Dropped his chin and pinned me with a smoldering stare I couldn’t break. Such intensity! The most he’d ever exuded. “Stand up,” he rasped.
Nerve endings singing, I obeyed and backed up to give him space. Slow and measured, he unfolded to his feet and prowled forward, walking me backward until I pressed against a moonlit wall.
I panted my breaths as he caged me in with his arms. His incredible scent enveloped me, fogging my head. Heat blazed over my skin.
“You are a prize I’ve yearned to collect all the centuries of my life, and you’ve fought me every day of our acquaintance. Until now.” He held my stare. “Why? What changed?”
Thud, thud, thud. “I’m not a prize. I’m a person with thoughts and feelings.”
He didn’t seem to hear me as he pressed closer, burning me inside and out.
“Why?” he insisted.
“Because.”
His lids slitted. “Is this how you made Roderick feel?” Golden moonlight warred with shadows, couching his chiseled features. “As if he would die if you didn’t belong to him? He knew he risked everything when he challenged me, yet still he did it. For you.”