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)
“Yes,” my donut agreed, his whole focus still out on the man who stood frozen in the middle of his spiel. “Love.”
“I love you too,” I promised, giving him another long pet. “That was incredible!”
He’d had fire coming out of his throat! Nobody said anything about that! I hugged him so tight.
Fire! From his throat!
I lifted my head. “Henri, did you see that?”
He was already grinning, his eyes wide and bright, as he nodded. “That was great, Duncan.”
He deserved another hug, and I gave it to him.
“This is the child you mentioned, my brother?” my DNA dad decided to ask in a voice that didn’t sound so angry anymore. It actually sounded… intrigued? “My child bonded with a hellhound? And you didn’t think to tell me that’s why you were poking around with the brothers?”
I wasn’t going to bother acknowledging him calling me his child again, and apparently neither was everyone else.
“I don’t need to tell you anything,” Franklin replied tersely.
My biological father huffed, and I watched his body language change as I got back to my feet. He seemed to relax? “I see.” His huff was a little lighter. “I supposed I would like to hear this story in the future, how you came about giving me a hellhound grandchild.”
I wasn’t sure if I stumbled into Henri or he stumbled into me.
Hellhound grandchild? Was this man who I had never actually met before already referring to my Dunky as his grandchild? This wasn’t a dream. It couldn’t be.
But then he ruined it again. “Is this the man I’ve heard is attempting to taint my bloodline?” he went on, literally digging himself into the world’s deepest hole.
Henri and I made eye contact, his lip curled with a snarl.
I didn’t need to fight his battles. He’d cemented that by shaking Dom like a rag doll. I bowed and flipped my hand, palm up, to give him the floor. Something told me he wanted it.
And this flirty, funny man hidden beneath layer after layer of responsibility and duty, with the strength of how many men I had no idea, winked at me. But only me. Because when he faced the direction of my father, all that affection was wiped clean and His Fluffy Highness was out. Jaw line rigid, chin high, his glare on point.
He was unbelievable.
“The only person assuming anything here is you,” the Great Wolf growled, an absolute menace. “This is my forest, and you’re trespassing.”
My DNA dad’s scoff echoed. “Is that supposed to intimidate me?” my father asked, his tone back to that one that couldn’t mean anything good. “She is my daughter.”
A laugh rumbled out of Henri’s chest, and it wasn’t an amused one. It was honestly sort of scary. I liked it.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed even Franklin turned to him like he was surprised he had that in him. But I guess it was one thing to know you were stronger than a normal werewolf, and another thing to instigate a death god. Then again, Henri wasn’t just any old wolf.
“Everything you see here is mine. She is mine.” His magic—bright and more intense than ever, like he’d had it hidden within him—carried through the night on swift wings, covering everything in its path with possession. “And I’ll remove your bowels and shove them down your throat if you think you have any say in our future,” Henri snarled, the muscles of his back flexing visibly through his shirt.
I had to throw my hand over my heart because I had freaking known it! He would disembowel someone for me! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!
I must have made a sound because he glanced over his shoulder.
The expression on my face must have said I was in love with him because his lit up, a smile spreading across his face, which had been so pissed a second ago. His eyebrow went up that millimeter. “You didn’t even smile that much when we agreed to mate.”
“Violence might be my love language.” I still had my hand over my heart. “I knew you would do some shady stuff to protect me. I just knew it, Fluff.”
He reached back, and his hand nudged mine.
I took it.
“Always,” Henri claimed, his own voice a hoarse promise in the night.
“All the bowels?”
“Slowly and painfully,” he promised.
My nose tickled, and a weight hit my calf, and I peeked down to find Duncan leaning against me, though his attention was still aimed at my biological father. The fire in his throat was gone and his tail was normal-looking, by his standards.
Steeling my spine, I gripped Henri’s hand tighter and faced my DNA dad with him. He had moved a little closer, and it was really easy to see all of his features now. Good. Now there’d be no mistaking my intent. “This isn’t your bloodline, it’s mine, and if my future children turn out to be the size of a miniature pony when they’re toddlers, you don’t have a say in it,” I let him know.