Total pages in book: 401
Estimated words: 390373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1952(@200wpm)___ 1561(@250wpm)___ 1301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 390373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1952(@200wpm)___ 1561(@250wpm)___ 1301(@300wpm)
Suddenly, I was airborne and flying backward. I smacked into the wall, and pain flared on the back of my head and down my spine, throwing me into the darkness.
CHAPTER 3
CASTEEL
I fell forward onto my hands, feeling the hot gush of blood running down my throat. I ignored the pain, and my head snapped up just as Poppy smacked into the wall.
Time seemed to grind to a halt as she yelped and crumpled to the floor. Her limbs were splayed at awkward angles, her body completely still.
I saw red.
I saw fucking red. Tasted it. Became it.
Barely feeling the cold, hard floor under my palms or the fiery sting of my torn flesh, I pushed upward. Eather throbbed in my chest, sending a chill through the air as I locked eyes with the fucking draken standing between her and me.
He lifted his hands. “I can see you’re angry—”
With a roar that shook the walls, I shot forward. Rage, pure and scalding, coursed through my veins, joining the surge of essence that rose from the very depths of my being. I grabbed Reaver by the shoulder and hair, lifting the draken as if he were no heavier than a sack of grain. I saw a brief flicker of surprise in his widening eyes, almost as if he couldn’t believe I had lifted him off his feet before he quickly masked it and the room blurred in a whirl.
I hurled him across the chamber.
The sound of his body thudding against the far wall with a force that echoed brought a too-short, savage sense of satisfaction before concern for Poppy took over.
I rushed to her side, dropping to my knees. Or maybe I had fallen. I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that Poppy wasn’t moving. Icy panic had a grip on me, even though, in the back of my mind, I knew she had to be okay. She was a godsdamn Primal god, but my fingers still trembled as I brushed the hair back from her cheek. Her skin was ashen, a stark contrast to the glistening blood smearing her chin and neck. She lay there, fragile and still, and it messed with my head.
“Casteel,” Reaver called.
My jaw clenched as I leaned over her, pressing my lips to her cool forehead. Slowly, I rose and faced the draken, discovering that he’d dragged his ass off the floor.
He sighed heavily. “Can we just not do whatever it is you’re thinking?”
The laugh that came from me was dark and sharp.
Reaver tensed. “Casteel—”
I shot across the chamber and tackled the draken. The impact reverberated through the chamber as I took him to the floor. Straddling him, I drew my arm back and slammed my fist down again and again.
It wasn’t enough.
I wanted him to bleed.
I grabbed him by the hair and started to rise, punching down.
“Gods, you’re worse than that wolf.” Reaver caught my hand, his vertical pupils thinning as the blue of his eyes brightened. “Done yet?”
I was nowhere near done.
“Didn’t think so.” Turning his head to the side, he spat out a mouthful of blood. “But I am.” Reaver rocked back, drawing his knees back as the hand around my fist hardened. “Don’t make me send you off to dreamland.”
I drove my knee into his stomach just as I caught sight of the ridges of scales appearing. If that fucker thought shifting would save him—
He slammed his feet into my chest, knocking the air from my lungs. Stumbling back, I hit the wardrobe. The heavy oak doors cracked, and dull pain flared across my back.
A shivery wave of energy swept over me from head to toe as I straightened and shook off the pain. “I’m going to break every bone in your body.”
Reaver rose slowly. There wasn’t even one godsdamn bruise forming on the fucker’s face. “No, you’re not.”
“And when I’m done doing that,” I said, my voice a guttural scratch against my throat, full of frostbitten wrath, “I’m going to rip your hands off.”
He stepped to the side just a few inches. “That’s not going to happen either.”
I stalked toward him, the tips of my fingers stinging. “Then I’m going to beat you with your own fucking hands.”
Reaver raised a brow, his lips moving silently as he repeated what I said. He chuckled. “That’s actually amusing to picture.”
“You won’t be thinking that when it happens.” I swung at him.
He caught my arm again, his eyes narrowing. “You should really get your nails trimmed.”
I glanced at my hand, seeing claws. My upper lip curled. “I’ll trim them on your bones.”
The draken rolled his eyes and shoved me back. “You should be thanking me instead of threatening me.”
“I’m about to thank you with my fist punching straight through your chest.” The air charged with static as the essence flared hotly within me.
“Look, you have to realize I’m not trying to hurt her permanently,” he said.