Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 93727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
All at once, I realized this was his game face. This unyielding Vampire was who I would’ve met if I weren’t his mate, and we’d met on assignment. Not unfriendly, not unkind, but unyielding.
I bristled.
“I’m going with you,” I snapped, stepping out of my pants. “You don’t get to make unilateral decisions for both of us.” I turned toward my dresser and yanked out a drawer. “If you think that’s how this is going to go, you’re in for a rude awakening.”
When I turned back around, a pair of jeans in my hand, he was gone.
By the time I’d pulled them on and raced out of the room trying to catch him, he was already driving back down the driveway.
My hands shook as I braced them against the porch railing. Already, nausea was making bile rise in the back of my throat.
“He’ll be back, Flower,” my dad called.
“Fuck him,” I whispered to myself as cramps joined the nausea. Panting, I tightened my hands around the railing, trying to ignore the panic that thrummed through every inch of my body.
How dare he leave me? He knew what would happen. Anyone knew what would happen.
We weren’t supposed to be separated. Not for any reason.
Silently, I took back every kind thought I’d ever had about Daniel Boucher.
I’d somehow ended up with the worst mate in history.
Chapter 6
Daniel
By the time I pulled onto the familiar driveway, my chest felt like it was going to cave in. The pressure there was nearly unbearable.
I’d nearly turned around more times than I could count. The further I got from Rosemary, the more my entire body screamed at me to go back. Instincts were a real bitch when you were ignoring them.
My parents’ house was pretty quiet when I parked out front. The bodies that had littered the property were gone, but proof of the assault was still noticeable as I moved toward the front door. Bloodstains marred my mother’s pristine white porch, the front window was covered with a piece of plywood, and when close enough, you could still see holes in the siding where stray bullets had hit.
“Hey, fucker,” my brother Chance said in surprise, jerking to a stop as I walked inside. He looked behind me. “Missing something?”
“Funny,” I replied flatly. “What are you doing?”
“Mom’s rug is toast.” He kicked the rolled-up rug on the floor. “I’m going to dump it. Seriously, where’s your mate?”
“She’s safe.”
“But not here?” he asked slowly.
I shook my head. I knew they were curious about her, the same way I’d been curious about my brothers’ mates. We’d all been waiting for so long, and it was such a miracle when we found them that it was impossible to even fake nonchalance.
But somewhere deep in my head was the relentless thought that if they knew nothing about Rosemary—if they couldn’t tell anyone where she was, or who she was, or anything about her—she’d be safe. I’d never believe that someone in my family would knowingly put her in danger, but there were plenty of ways that they could accidentally slip up.
Ambrose and Beau, along with their mates, were also still targets. If, Gods forbid, they were taken somehow… well, it was just better if they didn’t have any information. Not yet.
“How are you still on your feet?” he asked with a huff of laughter.
“It’s a close thing,” I admitted. The entire back of my T-shirt was soaked in sweat. My skin was so hot that anytime my clothes brushed against me, it felt as if I were being burned. “I need a shower.”
“Yeah, you do.”
“Where are Mom and Dad?”
“Lower bedroom. I don’t think Mom’s awake, but Dad is. Don’t leave without seeing them.”
I nodded and turned toward the back of the house. “I’ll go now.”
“Hey, Danny boy?” Chance called, grunting as he lifted the rug from the floor.
“Yeah?”
“Uh, is she great?” he asked awkwardly.
I smiled as the memory of Rosemary screeching with laughter as I tossed her over my shoulder came to mind. “Yeah, brother. She’s perfect.”
“Good,” he said. He hefted the rug over his shoulder and carried it out of the house.
I found my parents right where Chance had said they’d be. Poking my head through the door, I locked eyes with my father, waiting until he’d given me a nod to step inside.
My mom was lying on her back beneath the blankets, pale, but breathing steadily in her sleep. “How’s she doing?”
“She woke up a few hours ago,” he replied quietly, reaching out to brush her hair away from her cheek. “Just long enough to curse me, the house, Alice, humans, and the sheets on the bed, before falling back asleep.”
“She’s never been a good patient.” I grinned softly, perching on the end of the bed. I wrapped my hand around my mother’s foot through the blankets.
“True.” He looked me over carefully. “You’ve found her?”