Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 160578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 642(@250wpm)___ 535(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 642(@250wpm)___ 535(@300wpm)
“Care to explain?” The strain in Bishop’s voice sends waves through the room around the clinking of Evie’s tools.
Priest’s thigh connects with mine and my heart slows when darkness closes in around me, absorbing my fears and worry. He claims my surrender as if reading my mind. My mother. I’m not strong like her. It was what she loved most about me. Was her. What would she think of me now? Without the influence of something she resonated with.
“I’m not having that conversation until her parents get here, and since we have a more pressing issue at hand, I’m going to go ahead and say Novit enim dominus qui sunt eius.”
Bishop leans back in his chair, his composure threatening. Blood stains his suit and his hair is in disarray. Dark shadows form under his eyes, and even though he’s most likely going through unbearable pain, he’s a picture of controlled rage.
“I could tell you…” Her voice falls over the room. I’ve heard it before. It settles under my skin like an uninvited guest. “After I explain the reason why I’m here. Right, Priest?”
“I don’t doubt it,” he growls, leaning farther back in his chair, his hand moves up my thigh, stopping over his inflicted scar.
Evie whacks him with the back of her hand. “Sit still.”
In a display of tempered evil, the kind that’s patient and deliberate, he relaxes, keeping the tension in his jaw tight.
I trace the corded veins that ripple from his hand up his arm. When I feel the weight of the intruder’s gaze, I find her watching with a curved brow.
“…Huntress Supreme.” He squeezes my thigh. Right. That’s who she is. The one who…chooses the others?
“So quick to dust off death, Mad Prince. If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I’d think this one was another pretty girl on your wall.” Her deep-brown eyes darken, almost matching the color of her skin. Flawless. Not a single blemish. Bitch hasn’t changed.
Her dark hair curls down her back in tight coils. Shuffling out of the oversized coat, she chooses the chair opposite. One long leg crosses the other. She shouldn’t unnerve me, but when the corner of her burgundy lip twists up in a menacing grin, it triggers what little memories I have of her and I at Del Morts. She was gone the day after I arrived.
“Are you threatened by me, oh, Madness? I promise you do not need to be. He only took me to Wonderland once.” She pretends to ponder. “…maybe four times.” Her eyes darken to match her smirk as she holds Priest’s stare. She wreaks of femininity.
Jesus. He was fucking a Huntress? I thought she was off-limits for everyone except for her kind.
“Ah…” As if reading my mind, she locks on to me this time, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her thighs. “You’re thinking how? How did he bypass the laws written by his ancestors of Echelon.”
“Well, one is wondering why you would want to,” Evie grumbles, piercing a needle into his arm. She shoves the bag filled with liquid up to Vaden. “Here. Your height has finally come in handy with something else other than your ability to reach every level of my patience.”
Her eyes drop to Evie. “Oh, don’t be jealous. I’m sure we’ll see each other a lot since you’re the doc.”
“Isabella!” Priest snaps at her, and my eyes swing to the Huntress. She’s everything Priest was supposed to marry. Powerful, relentless, would probably not have a closet full of skeletons that always needed to be burned.
Nate enters the room, as a flurry of pink hair moves directly to the kitchen where Brantley and Saint disappeared into. “As much as we’ve all enjoyed this visit, oh Huntress Supreme, he’s clearly happy with your work, no need to leave claw marks behind. Get to your point.”
What does he mean, her work?
“Why do you assume he’s happy with me being his Huntress?” she asks, sugar dripping from her tongue.
Nate hisses through the first hit of whiskey. “Because you’re still alive.”
I groan, shifting away from Priest. Evie catches the movement, but not before Priest’s fingers sink into my thigh to stop me, holding me in place with a force I can only assume is inhuman.
She’s his fucking Huntress. Every member of The Echelon of the Five has one—why does he have to have her. Probably because of all the qualities I mentioned.
Like a magnet, my eyes land on Nate. If I could read his mind, I’d imagine him telling me to pull my shit together and not embarrass him.
Fine. Straightening my shoulders, the Huntress Supreme, or Isabella, responds with a wide smirk. “Touché.”
The Huntress can only be with a Hunter…
My eyes close to keep myself in check before reopening. “Madison’s maiden name was Venari.”
Isabella chokes on her laugh. I fucking hate her. “That she was, although she never took the title, since being a Hayes far outweighs any other name.” She makes sure to add emphasis. “But I’m sure she would have been great.”