Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 121924 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121924 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
His brows snapping together, he tracked my gaze to his upper arm. “Shit.” He reached down, snatched it from his skin, and then tossed it far behind him. “They’re everywhere here.”
I smiled in thanks when he tipped water into my pouch.
“As are snakes, but we won’t talk about that,” he added, his eyes lit with mirth.
I narrowed my eyes. “You just did.”
“I don’t know why they bother you. Is it because they have fangs? Venom? An unblinking stare? Or is—”
“Stop.” He knew it all bothered me; was only listing it to mess with me.
He chuckled. “I like them.”
“That’s your damage to deal with.”
Talon stepped between us, his jaw hard, stiffly urged the Lykaon to move along.
Quillen gave him an appeasing look, his lips quirking. “All right, I’m going,” he mouthed before striding away.
I didn’t look at Talon as I quietly admonished, “That was rude.”
An I don’t give a shit grunt slipped out of him.
Feeling the heat of someone’s attention, I glanced to my left. Ajax stood not far away, his speculative gaze sliding from me to Talon and back again. Choosing to ignore it—just as I’d ignored when Ajax had watched Talon and I closely during our last few breaks—I downed more of my drink.
“What the hell is your problem?” grated Bevan.
I whipped my head to the side, frowning.
Atticus, who was almost toe-to-toe with him, replied, “My problem is that my own cousin barely talks to me these days. He’s always with his new friends. And when I invite him to come have drinks with me at the tavern, he’s busy or tired or has some other excuse.”
I almost rolled my eyes. They’d had this conversation before. No matter how many times Bevan assured him that it wasn’t personal, that he hadn’t purposely detached himself from his cousin, Atticus never believed him. Probably because he knew that Bevan was lying.
Everyone knew that he was lying.
Bevan had pulled away from his cousin so as not to be associated with any trouble Atticus might cause—it was obvious. But instead of just accepting the situation, Atticus pushed and pushed him; wanting Bevan to confess it.
“Would you stop acting like I’m snubbing you,” groused Bevan. “Countless times I’ve waved you over to my table when we’re at the tavern. You don’t join me.”
“Because you’re with all your new friends,” Atticus bit out, his expression tight.
“I’ve also gone to you and asked if you were up for us having a drink together, just you and me. You said no.”
Atticus snorted. “I’m supposed to cancel my plans when you’re prepared to make time for me?”
“Okay,” Seneca cut in, shoving a hand between the two male Phoenixians. “Let’s just drop this once and for all.”
“Drop it?” echoed Atticus. “It doesn’t bother you that he avoids us?”
She sighed. “It’s not avoidance. He just made some friends and likes spending time with them. It’s natural. You did the same.”
“It’s different,” Atticus maintained. “I didn’t drop him when I befriended people, I just—” He jerked back when Talon crossed to him.
The Cardinal pointed to a spot a few feet away.
Outrage flared in Atticus’ gaze, but he obediently moved.
“If you were out here on patrol, you’d have given away your location and been so distracted by your own bullshit that you would have missed vital signs of danger and trespassers,” Ajax told him. “This is no time to air out your dirty laundry.”
Watching as Atticus’ flush deepened, I tied my pouch and pocketed it.
A low grating growl came from somewhere within the fog. Someone near the back of our line cursed aloud. Talon was gone in a flash of movement, and Ajax swiftly followed.
Something roared. Energy crackled. Screeches split the air as—oh, hell—a colony of bats zipped through the sky, as if fleeing from whatever activity was going on.
They swooped down low, rocketing toward us. Cursing, I backpedaled to avoid them, ducking my face to protect it. Mere seconds later, they were gone. I sighed, relieved.
And then the ground beneath me fell away.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Fear jumped in my belly as I reached out blindly to break my fall. I dug my fingers into the mud for purchase, my legs flailing, my knees scraping a hard dirt wall.
Wide-eyed, both Atticus and Bevan dived at me and gripped my wrists tight.
My pulse galloping, I peered down. I found myself staring at the bottom of a long-ass pit. Fright seized me tight and cramped my stomach.
I must have staggered backwards onto some sort of ledge that hung over the pit. A ledge that had then given way. Shit.
I snapped my gaze back to the two males above. “Pull me up!”
“We’re trying,” Bevan gritted out as he and Atticus began heaving me upward, their skin flushing with the effort.
The mud shifted beneath my elbows, and my heart leapt. Their combined weight was making the earth begin to sink. They scrabbled backwards slightly but didn’t release me.