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)
I raised my eyebrows but shrugged. Fair enough. We could trade.
“Why are you here?” was what he asked. At this ranch, he meant.
“Because it’s a safe place for him,” I answered.
“Do you like it here?”
I didn’t see why that would be any of his business, but all right. “We haven’t been here long, but it’s growing on me, and Duncan loves it.”
He’d caught on to the nuance in my words, but his face didn’t reflect what he thought of it. “Why don’t you?”
Another shrug had me hunching my shoulders. “I don’t have deep bonds here yet, other than one… and the children.” And that “one” was a stretch. “I’m new, and they’re all nice enough, but that kind of thing takes time. It’s easier to get settled when you’re young. You know what I mean?”
The man named Ilya nodded slowly, and if he was the leader of his Alaskan community, I figured he’d be aware of that. He shot off another question. “How long are they giving you to marry someone? Is it a year?”
How did he know that? Or was it common knowledge? “Something like that,” I answered.
The man nodded before glancing down at Duncan. The silence stretched and stretched, and I wondered what he was thinking and what he was going to ask next.
But he didn’t. Those blue eyes levelled on me, and even though his features didn’t change, it was obvious he was thinking about something. It just wasn’t what I expected.
“Come to Alaska.”
I was going to need a Q-Tip. “Excuse me?” I repeated, hearing a scoff in my voice, and even Duncan put more weight on my foot.
Ilya repeated himself. “Come to Alaska with me. We have the same policy they do here, but you can have three years to choose a mate. You wouldn’t have a problem finding one with us. I can promise you a worthy partner, a home of your own, protection, and you would both be welcome there with open arms,” he shot out one sentence after another. One explanation on top of another.
I rocked back on my heels. Surprised. Stunned really.
He wasn’t done either. “You wouldn’t be feared there.”
I scrunched up my face. “I’m not exactly feared here either.”
He tilted his head and got squinty. “But you aren’t exactly welcome here either, are you?”
I got squinty right back. What made him think that? “What do you get out of both of us going with you?” I asked, trying to figure out why he’d be making this offer. We’d been trading questions for information. He wasn’t a fool. I had a feeling he’d known dang well what he was doing when he’d made the offer.
The corners of his lips tipped up, and that small gesture made him slightly more handsome. “You are what you are, Nina. Only an idiot wouldn’t welcome that.”
My whole body stilled.
“There’s a chance they don’t know better because some of them aren’t aware of what they have with you. But you ask me, and everyone who lives with us, and there’s nothing to deny. You wouldn’t have to keep who you are a secret around us. You and the child would be safe.” He didn’t smile, but he made a face that projected acceptance. “And more.”
His words didn’t exactly rock me, but they did slide into a place in my heart that was on edge and uncertain. Three years was a hell of a lot longer than one. But all I had to do was take a deep inhale, taste the magic surrounding us, and….
There was only one way to answer his offer.
“Thank you,” I told him. “Really, thank you, but we’re here and….”
Ilya took a step forward. “Think about it. The offer doesn’t expire. Franklin knows how to find us. We’re a small community, but it’s by choice.” He paused. “There’s a reason why both of your kinds have called our community home.”
I pressed my lips together, caught off guard by his reasoning, just as his hand came up and cupped the side of my neck.
I raised my eyebrows at him; at the same time, the paw on my foot put even more pressure on it.
His blue eyes searched mine, his magic feeling so bright in my chest.
What was going on?
“I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but may I?” he asked, gesturing in the direction of my neck.
“Smell me?”
He tipped his head slightly downward.
I’d forgotten I’d left my bracelet on the deck earlier. I needed to pick it up on the way back in. But in the meantime…. “Sure, since you asked so nicely,” I told him, tilting my head to the side, not seeing the harm in it. Duncan didn’t seem too wary of him, which reassured me too.
But to be safe, I reached for my magic with one invisible fist and searched for the flame in his chest, finding it instantly, and nearly letting it go at the same speed.