Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 121008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 605(@200wpm)___ 484(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 605(@200wpm)___ 484(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
Beck stands in the doorway, covered in blood. He holds a bloody sword in his hand.
“We have to go,” he says with dark eyes.
Then the images come rapidly. The gun that is Cian’s brain suddenly goes into machine gun mode. I can’t keep up.
I’m in a forest running from soldiers who swore to hunt the twins down and execute them. I run from plane to plane. Then I’m building this cottage with Cian’s hands. Refugees are everywhere. There isn’t enough food to feed them, and they look to Cian and Beck.
A smoke-filled image invades my brain. Liadan stands by the bed, whispering to Cian. He tries to get up, but the smoke is too much. It’s time to fade.
It’s far too much. It’s way too fast. I feel the moment my brain shorts out. I barely make a sound as I slip into a blissful darkness.
Chapter Twenty-One
Cian
I come to on the bed in the cottage I built so many years before. It takes me a moment to focus. Nothing surprising about that. It seems to be morning, or maybe afternoon. I study the shadows on the wall and decide it’s definitely afternoon.
What is surprising? Now that the initial fog is gone, I feel magnificent.
My head is clear. How long have I been like that? I was living in a nightmare of chaos. The clarity in my brain is bliss after the long pandemonium that was my world for so long.
I sit straight up in bed, remembering what should have been the first thing on my mind. Meg. Meg bonded with me. It’s difficult to sort through everything that happened in the last few years. I’m certain now it has been years since I began the long slide into chaos. I won’t ever get those years back, but I remember Meg. Meg is the clearest thought in my head.
She is my wife.
I feel a moment of pure panic when I see her lying so still on the bed. Her legs are underneath her at an odd angle. For a moment, I’m sure I killed her, and I know my life is over, just as I sit back. Then her chests rises slightly, and I breathe a sigh of relief. She’s alive. She survived the onslaught that bonding with me will have caused.
Gently, I open the bond between us. It’s new, but there is such strength to it. Her mind is tired but functioning. She’s in a deep, dreamless sleep. Her brain needs respite.
I feel such…everything for this woman. She is brave and kind and…wounded.
I intend to heal her.
I lean down and pull her legs into a more comfortable position. She sighs and rolls toward my warmth, as though she knows I’ll protect her. I feel a grin cross my face as she cuddles closer.
If I hadn’t just put her through hell, I would consummate our marriage in the physical sense. Had she been conscious, I would roll her onto her back and get between those pretty thighs of hers. I would ride her until we both pass out from the exertion. She’s mine. I’ve seen down to her soul. I know she’s perfect for us.
During our bonding she went through many of the important events of my life. And I went through hers. I kiss the top of her head and inhale her sweet smell. So many people have disappointed her. How can they not see how wonderful she is? Sure she’s quiet, but her mind is quick, and she has the most delicious sense of humor. She’s sassy and independent. Her sensuality is completely untapped and unappreciated by the men in her life.
I won’t make the same mistake. I’m considered to be the smartest man of my generation. I have no intentions of proving dumb when it comes to my wife. She is an amazing gift.
My hands clench as I think about the last little scene I saw when I was in Meggie’s head. I’m going to kick my brother’s ass when he returns. He’s an idiot, that other half of me. Beck made Meg feel worse than that worthless ex-husband of hers.
She’s exhausted. Her entire body relaxes as she sleeps so trustingly in my arms. I’m going to make her see how beautiful she is. I have to be careful, though. My brother has dug a deep hole. Beck took her body but refused to share his soul with her. It’s selfish, and I intend to have a long talk with him about it. She’s our responsibility. We have to fulfill all of her needs, and Beck has to see that her needs are different than the women we grew up with. Meg doesn’t want to be a perfect princess on a shiny throne. She needs to work. She needs to contribute. She needs to be valued for all the things that make her unique.