Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 61523 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61523 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
I jolt as a voice I recognize overpowers the ass-kissing being done by the president of the Elite Council and takes over my awareness.
“Cal, are you there? Can you hear me with those big-ass ears of yours, or did they cut them off?”
Relief, swift and unrelenting, hits me square in the face at the sound of Kane, my clowning, taunting, always playing brother…alive and well and talking directly to me using one of the only advantages we have—my super hearing. If I were with him right now, I’d kiss him on the lips for thinking of it.
The only problem, of course, is that my ability to listen doesn’t help at all with the part where I’m supposed to be answering him back.
I listen harder, hoping he’ll keep going without getting an answer from me. “Yes, Rook, I know. Relax. I’m getting to it,” Kane says. It’d be annoying to listen to their bickering right now if it weren’t so good to know that they’re together, alive, and sounding so much like themselves I could yell.
I don’t know if that’s by design or if they’ve managed to sneak a visit, but either way, it’s a small victory in an ever-deepening cesspool of bad news.
“Rook says to invite him into your mind,” Kane instructs.
Rook, I think.
“Okay, Rook says he can hear you.” Kane laughs. “Though, he says it’d be helpful if you thought about more than his name.”
“I didn’t say that,” Rook argues verbally with Kane.
“Yeah, but I could tell by the way you looked at me, you were thinking it,” Kane blathers on.
Rook, please, I interrupt again. Kind of multitasking right now, so it’d be great if we got to the point.
“Cal would like us to get to the point,” Rook tells Kane, which only makes him laugh.
“Right. Yeah. Well, there isn’t much of one…yet. I guess. We just wanted to see if we could get in touch with you and check that you were all right. Are you…all right?”
Fucking miserable and disgusted and crawling out of my skin, I answer. But yes. I’m fine.
“Good. We’re fine too. Bored as fuck and under lock and key, but fine. Kylie and Blair are hanging in there too.”
At the thought of their mates temporarily safe behind their protection and a locked door, all I can think of is my own. Romy.
Left to fend for herself while I fight the demons on this side of the mirror. I could tell by the look on her face and the posture of her body tonight that she’s terrified. Unlike many of the women here, she can sense the danger of the situation, and her trepidation only grows the longer the process goes on. I can only imagine how frightening it felt to be locked into her room tonight, and I wish I could comfort her or send her some sort of—
“Who’s Romy?” Rook asks, startling me violently into my own brain. I immediately slam the door shut on our connection.
I’d like to use the excuse that I’m not used to having someone inside my thoughts as the reason for my slip of consciousness, but it was a rookie move at best. And with the stakes as high as they are these days, I need to be better.
I need to be on my fucking game, day in and day out.
“Romy? What do you mean, who’s Romy?” Kane asks excitedly.
I sigh heavily, trying to rein myself in when my uncle’s eyes land on me from the front of the room. He’s watching me closely, and for the first time, I consider the idea that he might have some ability to read my thoughts or my intentions like my brothers. He already proved in our cabin in Connecticut that his powers go far beyond those considered normal. I don’t know if I could stop him if he can, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try.
Locking my brain in fortitude and metal bars and concrete walls, I shield myself with heavy armor and blind hope.
“Cal. His thoughts. He’s worried about Romy,” Rook explains to Kane as I listen, relaxing my shoulders and loosening my jaw for the sake of my uncle.
“Ah, fuck, Cal,” Kane says, his voice annoyingly sympathetic. “It happened, didn’t it? It fucking clicked for you too. You saw your mate…oh wait…fuck. Your mate is in there? At the fucking auction? Oh, holy hell, and I thought Blair and I had shitty timing…”
I don’t answer, of course. Not only can I not, I don’t have to. They know—just like they knew for themselves. The universe has spoken, and there’s no going back.
“Fuck, man.” Rook is in my ear now. “I’m…sorry. Sorry that it’s happening like this, where you’re going to have to fight it so hard. But just…don’t do anything stupid, okay? We really can’t afford to have shit going even more off the rails than it already is.”