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 don’t have to guess what it means—he’s bidding on Romy, just to spite me.
What he doesn’t understand, though, is that I don’t respect the rules of this sanction any more than I respect him and the other men here. It doesn’t matter if I have the winning bid or not—I’ll kill if I have to.
I assume you’re ready? I ask Rook, chambering my anger into preparedness.
Of course. Blair and Kylie are too. As soon as the bid is over, we’ll make our moves.
Scanning the room again and forcing my eyes away from Romy temporarily, I spot my uncle in the back, discussing something with his assistant and Narris, the president of the Council.
I should be able to hear what they’re saying, but I can’t, and the temporary loss of ability is unsettling.
I look back at Romy as Lucian, Narris, and Lucian’s assistant part ways, to find that she’s calmed considerably. She doesn’t shake anymore, and despite the bullshit reason for seeing her like this, she looks exceptionally beautiful.
“Stop!” The sound of my uncle’s voice jolts my attention back to him as he takes a spot in the front of the group, unexpectedly obstructing the view of the women through the glass.
There’s a titter of confusion and then quiet, as he clasps his hands in front of himself and looks down toward the carpet with a shake of his head.
When he looks back up, he’s staring right at me.
“Something’s happening with Lucian,” Kane warns suddenly. “Intention is muddy to say the least, though.”
Oh, I know, I mentally respond. He’s just stepped to the front of the room.
“Gentlemen, I’m sorry, but I have to interrupt,” Lucian commands the room. “The auction cannot go on without addressing the news I’ve received about a violator in our midst.”
Noise ticks up again, and my uncle holds up a hand, sweeping the room with sharp, angry eyes.
“A vampire, last night, violated the isolation order and entered the room of one of the auctioned,” he states through a tense jaw. “Not only that, he mated her, drank of her blood, and betrayed the treaty we hold so dear by robbing her birthright.”
A wave of anger rolls through the room, men jumping to their feet all around me and demanding an answer.
“Who?”
“We’ll kill him!”
Rook, I prompt, standing up and steeling my nerves. I hope you guys are ready. It’s happening now.
“Oh, we’re ready, buddy,” Kane answers for him. “When the shit hits, we’ll be at your back.”
One of you get Romy.
“We’ll take care of it, bro. We promise.”
My uncle’s voice is booming. “The man at large—the man you want to kill—I’m sad to admit…is my nephew. Calloway Slater.”
A hundred sets of eyes meet mine, and before even a beat, the first of them is on me. I move faster, the drive of knowing Romy is just on the other side of the glass pushing me well beyond my normal limitations.
I’m faster. Stronger. Smarter. I anticipate moves before they happen and before even a moment has passed, ten men are on the floor, dead at my feet.
Two men exit immediately, running for the women, and a scream rends the air from the other room. I want to look—to check on my mate—but I know better than to spare the time. It’ll get me killed.
I move with precision and ease, working my way through the room with fast hands and an even faster knife. When Kane flips a man over in front of me and breaks his neck, I exhale.
Backup has arrived, thank God.
Rook doesn’t hold back, unleashing every ounce of his anger and strength on two vamps at the same time—quite literally smashing their heads together and managing to choke them to death simultaneously.
The room is fucking chaos. It’s bloody and violent and as vicious as anything I’ve ever seen.
And as the bodies pile up, the cowards make themselves known. They don’t challenge us—they hide.
The Wrath brothers are some of the worst offenders, along with the Council members. They don’t do the dirty work. They simply reap the rewards.
“The Wraths and the Council,” I call to Rook, who’s just felled another at his feet. “Make sure they don’t leave. Without them, all of this is for nothing.”
He nods, moving swiftly as Kane and I face our next challenge of vampires. They’re fast, but we’re faster, and the result is a bloody trip to join the other men on the floor.
Julian, the vampire who was kind to Romy, is left in their wake, but his eyes are surprisingly wide. As I approach, Kane yells to me from behind the next row of chairs.
“He has remorse! He doesn’t want this!”
With no time for long-winded negotiations, I issue my own ultimatum. “Julian, help us or die. Your choice.”
Without hesitation, Julian turns and stops the next approaching vampire in his tracks, sending him careening into the wall before smashing his skull against a metal table with a sickening thud.