Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
‘You head off,’ Kerr told him. ‘Go back to your witch. We got this.’
Crew nodded with a grunt.
‘I’ll give you a ride,’ said Logan, knowing that Kerr had driven him here.
‘Wait.’ CeCe snapped out the word, a hint of panic there. ‘Rip, you can’t honestly be serious about her. Dammit, you love me.’
‘No, I don’t. I thought I did. I was wrong. Did I care about you, though? Yeah. Once. You changed that.’
Her face flamed. ‘You’re just saying all that to hurt me. You love me. You love me so much you refuse to share me.’
‘I did share you,’ Ripper reminded her. ‘And you know something? I’d never share Emberlyn – not even for a single night, not with anyone.’
‘Rip, I—’
‘Don’t,’ he growled when she reached out to touch him. ‘You can give up trying to “get things back to the way they were”. It won’t happen. Not for you and me. Too much shit has gone down at this point.’
‘But—’
‘Someone get them out of my sight,’ he gritted out.
Crew instantly herded the women away. Her friends went easily – no, eagerly. CeCe moved in a daze, her gaze inward.
Kerr turned to Ripper. ‘You were right in what you said. It was all an attempt to get your attention on her part, and it was sparked by you choosing to be with Emberlyn over running with the clan.’
Logan took a step forward. ‘You really stayed the night at the witch’s place?’
‘Yeah,’ Ripper confirmed. ‘I’ll be doing it every night from now on.’
Kerr grinned. ‘I knew even at the start that you were fighting a losing battle by trying to keep your distance from Emberlyn. It’s why I nagged you to just give in already and try dating her.’
Ripper frowned, correcting, ‘You nagged me to bed her. That was it.’
‘I knew you wanted more than a one-nighter. But I doubted you’d admit it to yourself until you’d spent an evening balls-deep inside her, so I figured I’d push you in that direction.’
Ripper felt his frown deepen. ‘You’re an interfering motherfucker.’
‘And you’ve got the woman you’ve wanted for years, so it’s all worked out. You should be thanking me.’ Right then, the radio attached to Kerr’s belt crackled.
‘Kerr, we got an issue you might want to relay to your Alpha,’ said one of the Watchers.
With a speed that spoke of long-term practice, Kerr grabbed his radio and pressed down on the side button. ‘What’s going on?’
‘I just heard that some fuckery went down at Bellcrest. Ripper’s witch was at the center of it. She left, she’s fine—’
Ripper snatched the radio from his friend and spoke into it. ‘Tell me what happened. Exactly what happened.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
As had become usual, the front door opened in welcome as Ripper vaulted up the porch steps. He stalked inside, rage firing through his blood. He’d been pissed at CeCe before. But having learned what Emberlyn had gone through in his absence, he was even more furious.
If he hadn’t been called away, he would have gone to Bellcrest with Emberlyn. He could have had her back; could have kept those fucking assholes from getting anywhere near her.
‘Emberlyn?’ he called out, prowling through the manor. ‘Emberlyn?’
Footfalls came thundering down the steps. He halted, his gaze on the empty staircase. A cold breeze fluttered past his left side, ruffling the sleeve of his tee. Fuck, this house gave him the creeps at times.
A creak came from the direction of the kitchen. He tracked the sound, his pace slowing as Emberlyn stepped out of the door that led to the basement. She closed it behind her and turned to him, her face composed and showing no trace of anger.
His woman was good at hiding her emotions.
Visually taking stock of her, Ripper walked straight to her. ‘You all right? I heard what happened at Bellcrest.’
‘I’m fine,’ she said, her voice as empty of emotion as her expression. ‘Just a little agitated.’
Yeah? She didn’t look agitated. ‘You should have called me,’ he said, inching closer.
‘I did. You weren’t home. I figured Kerr would hear of it from one of the Watchers and tell you about it once you were done doing Alpha stuff,’ she added with a slight shrug, as if the incident hadn’t been noteworthy enough to warrant his immediate attention.
‘No “Alpha stuff” is more important to me than anything concerning you,’ he firmly stated, not missing the flare of surprise in her eyes. ‘I want the names of who circled and attacked you.’ The Watcher from the coven who’d relayed what happened had refused to name anyone, not trusting that Ripper wouldn’t hunt them all down.
‘I already dealt with them.’
‘So I heard.’ He was proud of how well she’d handled the incident. ‘But now it’s my turn.’
‘It would be playing into the hands of whoever bespelled the Rabid. We’ve established that our little shit stirrer wants to isolate the coven and make Reena look bad. If you go to Bellcrest on the bounce, she’ll have no choice but to defend her people even if she agrees that you have a right to your anger. That’ll make things worse, which the shit stirrer will love.’