Total pages in book: 193
Estimated words: 184001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 920(@200wpm)___ 736(@250wpm)___ 613(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 184001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 920(@200wpm)___ 736(@250wpm)___ 613(@300wpm)
“Will you talk to me?” I ask just to get out of my head. Only silence answers back, but Bane’s gaze remains steady. “Is Zeke okay?” I sit up when he doesn’t answer and draw my knees to my chest. “Bane, I can’t stay here. You know that right? I have to go back.”
A frustrated sound comes from him then that almost makes me spring to my feet.
I blow out a shaky breath and tell myself to get a grip. If he were going to hurt me, he would have.
“No offense,” I say with frustration lining my tone. “I really appreciate you saving my life, but I really need Zeke back now.”
I don’t wait for a response that never comes. Instead, I lie down on the hard slab once more and turn my back to him. When sleep comes for me, I don’t fight it.
There will be plenty of battles tomorrow.
AURELIA
Morning comes too soon.
I’m lured awake by the flap of a bird’s wings, and when I open my eyes, I see one flying around inside the cave. It chirps emphatically and then swoops low over the slab before circling the back of the cave and then flying over to one of the stalagmites and perching on top with another chirp. I’m still watching it and listening to the storm outside when I feel the hair on my nape rise. This time I don’t question my instinct. I leap from the slab and whirl around in one move.
Bane is crouching on his haunches in the shadows, and the only part of him that moves is his eyes as he tracks my retreat. His forearms are resting on his strong thighs as if he’s been keeping vigil like that all night.
“Bane, what the fuck?”
“Mine awake.” Rising to his full height, he runs and leaps from the slab, landing right in front of me. I stumble back, fall, and land on my ass. Bane crouches again and then prowls forward on his hands until his body covers mine while I’m left trembling on the rocky cave floor. “Mine safe.”
“I would really like to t-talk to Zeke or Seth now.”
Bane makes a rough sound that sounds like frustration. “Mine scared.”
“Yes, Bane. You scare me.”
His frown deepens, but he looks tortured more than angry. “Safe with Bane.”
Realizing I’m getting nowhere with him, I suck in a resolving breath meant to give me courage and then I place my hand on his cheek. “I don’t feel very safe right now,” I say as I caress the rough stubble gathering there. “And that’s not your fault. It’s mine. I shouldn’t have left the cabin. I know that now, so can you help me out? Please?”
Bane tilts his head closer, and I force myself not to make a sound even though he can probably hear my heart pounding. For an insane moment I wonder if he’s going to kiss me, but then he stops just short of his split lip touching mine and then he inhales and a rumbling sound vibrates from his chest. “Not safe…at cabin. We stay.”
I don’t even realize my hand is moving until I feel the soft, damp strands of his dark hair slipping through my fingers. It’s shorter now that Zeke is awake. Bane practically purrs when I dig the pads of my fingers into his scalp, but I pause when I feel something warm and more viscous than simple rain. When I pull back my hand, I see red coating my fingers and I gasp. Bane surprisingly lets me sit up, and even more surprisingly, lets me touch him as I practically crawl into his lap to inspect his head for the wound.
It’s impossible to forget that it’s Bane though, so when I feel his hands circle my waist, I suck in a fearful breath and force myself to keep going. I let him explore me while I search his hair. He seems particularly fascinated with my belly button as he pushes a thumb inside. I finally find the source of the blood near the back of his skull, but I can’t see more than that, so I stand and limp over to the mouth of the cave. My feet are fucked. I don’t think about it as I let the rain soak the hem of my shirt.
“Ah!” I yelp when I turn back to find Bane standing over me like a shadow. “Bane,” I say, exhaling his name wearily with a hand over my heart. “What are you doing?”
He’s frowning now, and oddly, it scares me less than the stillness. “Mine can’t leave.”
“I’m not leaving you.” I punctuate my promise by tentatively claiming his hand and walking him back over to the slab. “I need you to sit down,” I say, and to my surprise, he lowers himself onto the slab without taking his gaze from me. My teeth dig into my bottom lip as I move between his legs, and then I stretch a corner of my long loose shirt toward the cut on his head, dabbing away at the blood until I can see the wound.