Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Being vulnerable… helpless… was a shitty feeling.
A really, really shitty feeling.
As if he could read my mind, Henri’s brawny arms opened, and he gave me this look, this invitation….
He didn’t have to tell me twice. I walked right into him. Right up to the living wall that was Henri Blackrock. Straight into his embrace, plastering my front to his, and let him wrap his arms around my back as I threw mine around his ribs like a freaking leech. And like a leech, I had zero shame about clinging to him.
“You’re safe,” he grumbled into the top of my head as he drew me in even closer somehow, meshing our fronts together.
“Okay,” I muttered, my cheek flat to the skin and hair on his sternum.
He was so warm, and he smelled good. Better than with clothes on. Like cool, fresh weather that couldn’t be soap or cologne because I couldn’t think of a single werewolf that would willingly use something scented since their noses were so sensitive.
A hand skimmed up my back. “What exactly did you hear?”
I’d swear his voice sounded deeper.
“It said ‘child.’ It—he—asked if I… someone… was there.” I didn’t want to say it sounded like it had been for me. That was ridiculous. Wasn’t it? He’d heard it too, after all.
“You heard ‘child’?”
I nodded, slipping my hands to land on the sides of his waist, right over the material at his hips. It was soft cotton. Thin too.
His heart beat under my cheek. “That’s all?”
I nodded some more, trying my best to take another discreet sniff of him. How can he be so toasty with no clothes on? I wondered, making sure to keep my grip on his waist loose and easy, while some part of my brain was ready to just… drape myself over him like a blanket.
“Ever heard it before?” he asked, not struggling to keep his thoughts straight, like I was.
“I don’t think so.” That… that might have been a lie. Already the memory of the speaker’s tone was leaving me. “Maybe? Remember I told you about that voice I’ve had ‘dreams’ about before? It might have been the same one, but I don’t know. It’s been a really long time since the last dream I had.”
The palm on my back stopped right in the center of it, his fingers molding to my spine. I wondered if he could tell I didn’t have a bra on, because I could definitely tell he didn’t have underwear on. But I’d run out here half dressed, and so had he. I’d gotten used to living around exhibitionist Sienna. I was pretty sure that after Matti and her mom, I might have been in third place for the person to have seen Sienna’s butt the most.
And now, I was thinking about Henri’s butt cheeks. Whether they were high and tight, or meatier at the bottom. Were they tan like the rest of him, or did he go without a shirt often enough that there was a nice tan line where his pants met his shirt?
Stop it, Nina.
“That’s all you heard?” Henri asked, oblivious to me daydreaming about his heinie while trying my hardest to pretend like his quarter chub was no big deal.
“Yes, just ‘child’ and ‘are you there?’ That was it.”
A thought strong enough to have me stop thinking about what was pressing against my stomach hit me.
Could it have been Duncan’s dad?
My knees almost went weak at the possibility.
“Do you smell anything in the air?” I asked Henri, instead of sharing my concern. “Anything close by that shouldn’t be there? I couldn’t see or sense anything out of the normal. The trees aren’t pointing fingers.”
“No,” he answered right before the sound of his inhaling filled the ear I had pressed to his chest. He held his breath for so long I was tempted to look up at him to make sure he was fine. His exhale only lasted a fraction of what his breath had. “There’s nothing close by out of the normal.” The hand on my back slid up a little, and I was sure this had to be considered a cuddle at this point. “What are you worried over?”
I wilted at getting busted again. Might as well admit it. “I was thinking… remember I told everyone that Duncan’s mom communicated with me telepathically?” I didn’t wait for him to answer. “Do you think that could’ve been his dad? Maybe he has something blocking his scent?” My legs felt out of sorts all over again, and my arms might have clung a little tighter around Henri’s waist.
His body went solid. “I see what you’re saying.” He pulled back, concern written on those hard, dark features. “I’ll look. Go inside.”
Go inside? Was he kidding? “I’ll get a golf cart and go with you.”
He shook his head. “I’ll travel faster on my own.”