Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 83353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Goddess, what the fuck was wrong with him? Samantha might be an incredibly sexy and attractive Elite, but he was her Protector, not her lover or her mate! Also, they didn’t even like each other! What had possessed him to act like this?
Hastily he straightened up and stood her back on her feet.
“I’m so fucking sorry,” he muttered, shaking his head. “I…I don’t know what came over me. Don’t know why I did that.”
“I…you…” Samantha still looked stunned. She put trembling fingers to her throat and R’orn saw that he had marked her badly—there was a dark red love spot on her neck surrounded by teeth marks—his teeth marks.
They looked at each other and neither one of them seemed to know what to say. In fact, the only one who didn’t look shocked was Ms. Primrose, the Innkeeper.
“Oh, I think I know what possessed you to act like that—or should I say ‘who’ possessed you,” she said to R’orn, giving him a knowing smile.
“Wait…what?” Samantha picked up her dropped cell phone and immediately started filming again. “Please explain,” she said to the Innkeeper.
“Well, there’s a reason we call this ‘The Lover’s Suite’,” Ms. Primrose said, smiling mysteriously. “You see, the spirits of Beau and Caroline are still here and still longing for each other. From time to time they have been known to briefly inhabit the guests who stay here and use them to fulfill their longings.”
“You mean they possess the people who stay in this room?” Samantha’s eyes widened again.
“I wouldn’t exactly call it possession,” the Innkeeper protested. “It’s more like they borrow or share the bodies of the guests who stay here and use them to fulfill their unrequited love. You wouldn’t believe the stories I get from people who stay here overnight sometimes!” She put a hand to her mouth and giggled girlishly. “I’ve had married couples say it was the best sex of their life—even better than their honeymoon!”
“That’s…amazing.” Samantha sounded a little uncertain and also kind of shaky.
“That’s bullshit,” R’orn growled. “There’s no such thing as the spirit of a dead person possessing you and making you act out their fantasies and desires!”
“Oh, yeah?” Samantha rounded on him, her eyes flashing. “In that case, why did you just grab me and bite the side of my neck? If you weren’t being possessed by the spirit of Beauregard Hartford, then what excuse do you have for this?” She pointed to the side of her neck and glared up at him.
“I…I don’t know,” R’orn had to admit, frowning.
“I bet you left a mark, too.” Samantha strode over to the tarnished silver mirror and examined her neck. “Look at that—a bite mark and a hickey!” she exclaimed. “Do you see that?”
R’orn was staring at the mirror, all right, but not at the mark he’d made on her neck. Superimposed over her lovely face was another visage.
It was the small, blonde female he’d seen in bed with the male who had touched his shoulder, R’orn realized. She was looking up at him with hopeful eyes and somehow he could see both her and Samantha who seemed oblivious to the fact that there was another, ghostly face, covering her own.
“Look—there.” He pointed at the mirror.
“I am looking!” Samantha’s voice was irritated, but it still had that breathless quality. “I mean, that’s going to take weeks to fade!”
“No—not the bite mark! You say you can see spirits—can’t you see that?”
R’orn strode over and pointed to the mirror at the ghostly face of the blonde girl.
“See what?” Samantha frowned.
“That…that human female! She has blonde hair and big blue eyes—a lighter blue than yours! She has her hair tied back in a pink ribbon!” R’orn stabbed his finger at the mirror. “And she’s there—right there over your own reflection!”
“Ah—I see that the spirits have chosen to reveal themselves to you and you alone.” The Innkeeper glided over, smiling at their images reflected in the mirror.
“What? Why would they reveal themselves to R’orn?” Samantha frowned. “I’m the one with Second Sight—he doesn’t even believe in ghosts!”
“They often do that here at The Belgrave Inn—they reveal themselves to the unbeliever,” Ms. Primrose said mysteriously. “I’ve had famous mediums and spiritualists stay here and see nothing. And then people who claim to disbelieve everything about the afterlife come downstairs shaken and white after a night in one of our rooms. It’s my belief that they don’t feel the need to speak to those who already believe in them—they want to make those who don’t believe take notice.”
“That’s fascinating—but also really frustrating,” Samantha said. She looked up at R’orn. “Didn’t you say you saw a man earlier? You said he was standing right behind you.”
“I don’t know what I saw—nothing probably.” R’orn folded his arms over his chest. “A trick of the light—there are so many shadows in here.”