Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 130619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
“That makes the vetting process a disaster.”
“There is no doubt a lot was broken for you to end up where you did. And don’t assume anything about yourself without reading the entire book. There are subtle messages in that text that deliver a completely different perspective.”
“And ten thousand years from now, I will have read enough to find my perspective.”
He shrugs out of his jacket, making a big deal out of it, and tosses it to the boulder. “You’re angry,” he observes. “You’re frustrated.”
He’s right. I am. And the fact that I can’t take my eyes off his body, or the angel wings peeking out from his T-shirt sleeve, which I’ve never noticed before, only drives that emotion tenfold. “You seem to want that from me.”
“Maybe I do,” he says, using his fingers to motion me forward. “Let’s see if you can fight without the serpent.”
“I don’t want to fight you.”
“You’re afraid you’re nothing without it, then?” he taunts.
“Damn it, Micah.” I turn away from him.
He catches my wrist and pulls me around to him, throwing a punch that I dodge. I counter with my own, and he throws another one that lands in my palm. I find it remarkable that I’m capable of catching a blow as powerful as his. “Do you want to hit me?” I demand. “Is that what this is?”
“I wanted to know if you could stop me.”
I glower at him. “And if I couldn’t?”
“But you did.”
I growl low in my chest and try to knee him, but he captures my leg and then sweeps my calf, and I tumble hard and fast. Self-preservation kicks in, and somehow, I rift before I fall, landing in the center of the ledge overlooking the water. I’ve barely set foot on the ground, still wrapping my head around what I’ve done, when Micah appears in front of me, his fist rocketing toward me. I rift again, but he anticipates my move, and he’s in front of me the instant I reappear a few feet away.
He grabs me, and his legs tangle with mine. I land hard on the ground with him on top of me, gasping at the dagger that appears in his hand, his fingers wrapped snugly around the hilt. Adrenaline surges through me, a tornado roaring from my depths, and I can feel some unknown part of me come to life, primal and fierce.
He intends to kill me, and I will not die.
As if in confirmation, the blade slices through the air, and with a strength I didn’t know I possess, I shove him away. He lands on the rock and layer of dirt beneath us, rolling away from me, but the moment he’s on his back, I act. I’m on top of him in a flash, straddling him, but in the next moment, he’s flipped me over, and his big body slants over mine, pressing my back to the hard ground, and just that fast, the blade swipes through the air.
I gasp as he slams it into the ground next to my head, and either the dirt is thick and deep, or he’s strong enough to plant it in stone. “What did you see?” he demands.
“What the hell are you doing?!” I shove at his chest, and when I start to rift away, he captures my wrist and demands, “Don’t rift, or I swear I’ll bind your damn powers, which I can do in Elysium. What did you see?”
He means my familiar, the one beat up and destroyed by the serpent inside me, and realization washes over me, much like a cool wave burning away the heat on the sandy beach. “I didn’t see it,” I whisper. “I felt it.”
There’s the tiniest hint of what I think is relief in his eyes, gone before I can be certain. “What did you feel?” he presses.
“A white wolf. I don’t know how I know it’s white, since I didn’t see it, but…oh my God, Micah, I felt a wolf.” I laugh with joy—happiness and relief bubbling from deep inside me, a cavern of fear burning away. “I felt a wolf. I was right. The serpent was binding my familiar. I think…I think it was killing it. It’s weak. I’m weak right now.”
“Thank fuck,” he breathes out, the words vibrating from his lips, almost an eruption of relief as his body relaxes against mine.
In that moment, I know the truth of this day, of this moment. He’d bet I wouldn’t leave this island alive, that he couldn’t let me leave alive, but now, the tide has turned, and the future that was darkness is now alight with possibilities. I don’t like that he would have killed me, but I feel the genuine relief in him that tells me how much my death would have been his duty to mankind and Nephilim, not his choice.