Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 140780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
She gulped. “What happened?”
“He got hurt in an accident.” Marcus played the tragic father so well that if I didn’t have first-hand accounts of how he’d tortured Lucien, I’d believe his terror at his ‘son’s’ condition.
“H-How?” the woman asked, shaking and wary but not so afraid that she couldn’t run Marcus’s credit card through her machine and charge him whatever rate she felt like.
“Circus accident.” Marcus sniffed. “The panther is part of the troop.” Leaning forward, he took his credit card back with a grin. “He’s house-trained and won’t hurt a fly. You don’t mind if he stays here too, do you? Actually, I’ll tell you what.” Passing her the card again, he added syrupy sweet. “Charge me another ten thousand for the inconvenience. Call it gratitude for being so accommodating and...for keeping this just between us.”
I wanted to scream at the woman to call the police.
To beg her to summon a thousand witnesses but she just returned Marcus’s smile and ran his credit card again. She passed it back, along with a tray of keys. “It just so happens that I’ve been meaning to visit my sister in the county over. Might just be the perfect time to go.”
“I think that’s a wonderful idea.” Marcus grinned, running his fingers over the wooden tags. “Which is the biggest room?”
“Dewdrop.” The woman plucked a key and held it up. “It’s the honeymoon suite.”
“Thank you.” Marcus took the key, and tossed it at me.
I fumbled to catch it, juggling my rucksack, the two doctors’ bags, and a seriously bad case of tunnel vision.
Grabbing my elbow, he dragged me toward the narrow, whitewashed stairs.
Once we were far enough away from the woman, he hissed under his breath, “If he dies, you’ll take his place. If you run, I’ll kill the cat. If you call anyone, I’ll hunt down your loved ones and make them pay. If you do anything to jeopardise what I’ve worked so fucking hard to achieve, I will ensure every loss will be taken from you as slowly and as painfully as possible, got it?”
Wrenching me to a stop, he forced a tight smile even as his eyes churned with hate. “Just because I’ve allowed you this little adventure, doesn’t mean he’s free. Every inch of this place is surrounded. He can’t get out and no one can get in. You’ll soon learn that you don’t have to be in Cinderkeep to be trapped.”
Stepping away a little, he sucked in a cleansing breath and grinned. “Have a good rest, Rook, and make sure Lucien wakes soon. I’ll be waiting.”
Chapter Twelve
I WOKE TO SOMEONE TAPPING MY CHEEK.
My eyes flew open, clear and focused, locking onto the older doctor who risked his life to rouse me. Straining over Whisper, his body was as far away from the grumbling panther as he could get, his fingertips barely grazing me.
Licking my lips, I went to sit upright, only to find every muscle had seized from fainting in wet clothes. A whimper escaped as I rallied my strength and pushed upright, shrugging out of the soggy rucksack still clinging to my shoulders.
Whisper took my sounds of pain as a battle cry. Launching himself to his paws, he snarled at the doctor.
The man backed up, almost tripping in his haste.
“It’s okay.” I held up my hand to stop him. “He won’t hurt you.”
“I’m afraid I don’t believe you.” Eyeing Whisper, the doctor cleared his throat and stood next to the desk that was now covered in bloody towels but...empty.
Leaping to my feet, I wobbled on the spot. “Where is he? Is he okay? Where did they take him?!”
The doctor’s face softened. “He’s fine.” Arching his chin at the bed crowned in soft light from the two bedside lights shaped like pinecones, he sniffed. “Well, he’s alive. I think fine is probably an exaggeration.”
The blond doctor came out of the bathroom, drying his hands with meticulous attention. His short hair looked damp with sweat, his white smock smeared with blood that wasn’t his.
His eyes flicked nervously to the panther pressed tight against my legs, vibrating with lethal intent. Both men seemed as weary and as wired as I felt but they were suddenly the most incredible people I’d ever met in my life.
I wanted to throw my arms around them and hug them in gratitude.
“So...he’s not in danger anymore?” I stepped toward the bed, drawn to Lucien who lay unmoving beneath the covers. The lavender quilt had been drawn to his waist, leaving his bare chest on display, bound tightly with fresh white gauze. That awful metal disc peeked out, inhuman and sadistic.
“He’s stable and that’s all we can do in a situation like this,” the blond doctor said, tossing the hand towel onto the littered desk. Leaning his backside against it, he crossed his arms and focused on me. “We’ve done our part as physicians. We didn’t fight when we were accosted at the hospital—we were commanded to come and we did. We didn’t refuse to do our duty in saving someone’s life, despite everything we’ve seen. However...this is the part where you give us answers.”