Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 109245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 546(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 546(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Adrian’s laugh came out low and manly, the kind that made Gage want to keep hearing it.
“Okay. Sense of humor is intact. That’s going to help a lot.”
“So, where are we going?” he asked.
Adrian slid Gage’s hand into the crook of his elbow with practiced ease. He felt strength there, lean muscle under soft fabric.
“We’re going to test your environmental reading and reaction skills to echoes, climate, and crowd noise,” Adrian explained as they began walking. “It’ll allow me to gauge how you adapt. But I can already tell you’re far ahead of the curve.”
Gage frowned. “How do you know?”
“Because you haven’t bumped into a single corner in this wing. Not once. And you’re counting steps without realizing you’re doing it.”
Hmm.
They moved through the building, and Gage listened to everything Adrian said as though his life depended on it…because it did.
The hall changed from medical-clean to public-clean. The scent of people increased. Fabric. Perfume. Coffee. A noticeable ozone smell from all the electronics.
Adrian kept a steady pace, never yanking or rushing him, and he narrated only what mattered.
“Door on the left. Two people crossing ahead. Floor texture changing in eight steps.”
Gage’s confidence crept upward slowly.
They walked outside and the temperature drop filled his lungs with winter briskness. He realized they were in a garage by the resonance and contained smell of exhaust.
He was almost excited for his lesson until a feeling like a heavy hand pressed against the back of his neck.
Gage stopped so fast Adrian almost stumbled into him.
“What are you feeling?”
His stomach tightened like a knot being pulled tighter, until he could barely breathe around it.
“I don’t know. There’s someone else here,” he whispered. “It’s like…I feel eyes on me.”
Adrian leaned in and whispered, “Your instincts are phenomenal.”
“Am I right?”
“Yes.”
His pulse stuttered. “Who is it?”
“It’s your partner. He’s a couple of rows over, in the backseat of the Black Ravens’ SUV…and Meridian is with him.”
Gage didn’t move.
“Both of them are watching us.”
A car door opened and Adrian placed his hand at the small of his back, guided him inside, and closed the door.
The cabin sealed him away from the cold, but not from the feeling.
Adrian got into the driver’s seat and started the engine, creating a low vibration under his feet.
Gage turned his face toward the pressure, toward Scar.
It was strange the way he could feel him. Not by his scent or sound…but by the gravity of his presence.
In his old life, Scar’s attention had felt like danger, like footsteps closing in behind him.
Now it was more thrilling.
“You ready?” Adrian asked, breaking into his thoughts.
Gage faced forward. “Sure.”
White Ravens
Scar
Who the fuck is that handsy motherfucker? Scar frowned. And where is he taking Gage at eight o’clock at night?
Scar braced his hands on his thighs to keep from slamming his fist into the bulletproof window.
He wondered if it made him the worst kind of asshole that he was glad Gage couldn’t see what that guy looked like.
Whoever it was escorting Gage—which, where the hell was Roz?—he was the sort of handsome that a sweet Christian mother would love for her daughter to bring home.
He was tall, lean, with an athletic build as if he ran and swam for discipline rather than for health. His clothes and minimal jewelry were expensive without being showy, indicating he had money but didn’t feel the need to flaunt it.
The kind of man who never reached for or touched anything he didn’t think belonged to him.
And he was touching Gage.
Scar kept his eyes on the taillights of the Mercedes S-Class until it turned out of the underground garage.
His jaw worked, grinding in a way that meant his anger was about to become action.
He clenched and unclenched his fists, resisting the urge to test the durability of his window.
If Meridian noticed his fury flowing in the direction of violence, he didn’t acknowledge it. He simply waited and allowed him to look his fill.
When Gage was out of sight, Meridian told his driver. “Go.”
Scar was in a city he’d never visited, and he’d been too busy trying to swallow his temper to take in his new surroundings.
When they stopped at a red light, he finally glanced around.
“Where are you taking me?”
“To work,” Meridian said.
Already? Good.
Scar wouldn’t mind taking out his frustrations on a bad guy right now. His pulse steadied in an odd way. He liked the idea of having permission to be vicious…to kill.
He leaned his head back against the seat, exhaling through his nose.
Meridian sat beside him, too fucking quiet.
It irritated him more than it should. His silence felt like judgment. As if Meridian were watching his wayward emotions and deciding whether they were useful or pathetic.
He cut his eyes towards the notorious Black Raven—or so he’d been told that’s what he was.
His wardrobe designer, Elias, who he noticed loved to gossip, said Meridian was the greatest of them all.