Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 112398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
They stared at each other for a beat.
Affection and disbelief clear.
For so long, each of us had been on our own. Never thinking we would meet another of our kind.
Forbidden to even think about it.
Isolated and alone.
And here we were, standing out in the light of day.
Together.
A moment later, a smirk hitched the edge of her mouth. “God, Pax, you’re freaking terrifying. What are you trying to do, scare people out of listening to the voices in their heads?”
He was still foreboding in Tearsith and Faydor, but none of his tattoos or scars were visible there. I’d been struck by his intensity the first time I’d seen him, too.
I choked on a laugh, and Pax scuffed out a chuckle as he roughed a tattooed hand through that shock of white hair.
“Flattered.” Sarcasm rolled off his tongue.
She widened appraising eyes. “You should be. Because you, my friend, are handsome as hell. No wonder our Aria here would shake in her boots every time you walked into Tearsith.”
“I wasn’t that obvious,” I defended myself. There was no stopping the smile that played across my mouth. The joy I felt at being here, at seeing her face in the waking world for the first time.
Dani sent me a withering look, mischief lining her voice. “Oh, please. It was written all over you both. I’m surprised we didn’t catch you trying to sneak off past the boundaries or behind a tree, your pants down for all to see. The number of times I’ve had to skip over and intervene before anyone else noticed Aria getting all hot and bothered was kind of ridiculous.”
Softness flooded her as her gaze drifted between us. “But I’m glad to know we don’t have to do that anymore.” Lines furrowed her brow as the severity came rushing back. “Do you really believe it? That we’re safer together?”
She scanned the area as if she were searching for the danger that swelled in the distance.
“We think so . . . or at least, as Nols, we’re stronger together.”
“I can’t believe this.”
Wonder and confusion filled her spirit.
The things we’d been taught.
Commanded.
No doubt, it was hard for her to wrap her head around the changes. Unquestionably, it applied to all of us. The revealing of much that had been hidden. Truths that had been secreted and concealed.
But I also knew that meant there were complexities that only brought us more confusion from the lack of answers.
It was as if a crack had been made in the well that contained all that we knew. Uncertainties and doubts leaking out with the new freedoms we were discovering.
Freedoms we’d barely found.
Freedoms we had to stop from being stripped away.
The low hum of an engine echoed up the street, and everyone froze as we turned to watch a pickup truck pass.
A sharp edge cut into the mood, each of us wary of everything and everyone.
A collective sigh rippled out of us when it didn’t slow and drove by without incident.
“We should go inside,” Pax suggested.
“Oh my gosh, yes, come in.” Dani jumped into action, and she widened the door and gestured for us to enter. She shut it as soon as we passed, hurrying to engage three big locks and plugging a code into an alarm-system keypad on the wall.
I took in her space while she did.
The house was small and cute. Chaotic and cluttered.
Kind of like Dani.
The living room was crammed with an oversize, plush cream-colored couch that was pushed up against the left wall, decorated with a slew of throw pillows in every color. A black cat with a white spot between its eyes was curled up on the back cushion, and it only lifted its head to peek at us in annoyance before it went back to its nap.
There was a coffee table with a bunch of books scattered across the top, and white shelves boasting a gorgeous collection of hardbacks were situated on the wall opposite the couch. A flat-screen television was built into the middle of it, the glass surrounded by a white frame.
On the far side of the house was a round table that sat beneath the bright light that flooded in through the windows set into double French doors that overlooked the backyard.
It looked like the kitchen was to the left of it, and just before the wall that separated the kitchen was a hall to the left.
“Your phone not working?” Pax asked.
Dani huffed. “I’ve been so nervous that when my sweet girl Pixie”—she gestured to the cat snoozing on the back of the couch—“jumped up onto the counter behind me in the kitchen yesterday, I screamed and basically launched it into the air like I was about to be murdered, which apparently I was, since you two are standing here. It completely shattered the screen when it hit the floor. I emailed my mom and asked her to get me a new one because there was no chance I was going out there by myself.”