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)
Pale-hazel eyes narrowed for the briefest moment. ‘How exactly will you make your feelings clear? You can’t beat them all up. They weren’t all guys, Rip. Some were women. Some were elders. There were even two teens in the group.’
‘There’ll be no violence. Well, not much. Providing they apologize to you.’ He swept a hand up the back of her neck and sank it into her hair. ‘There needs to be consequences, Emberlyn. I want the coven as a whole to see that. They already know you’re under my protection. They ignored that so, yeah, I agree that someone riled them up. Let’s make them resent that person.’
She twisted her mouth. ‘Intriguing approach.’
‘That a yes?’
Her phone rang, snaring her attention.
He reluctantly released her and watched as she walked to the wall-mounted phone. She plucked up the receiver and answered, ‘Hello?’
Muffled words came gushing down the line, the voice loaded with anger. Paisley.
‘I did call you, you didn’t answer,’ said Emberlyn. ‘If you had, I would have told you . . . I wasn’t gonna drive to your place just because you didn’t pick up . . . I had no reason to assume you were sleeping; I thought you were out.’
It was no surprise to him that Paisley had overslept to such a degree – a werewolf’s first full moon tended to massively exhaust them.
‘Calm down, it’s not really me you’re mad at.’ Moments later, Emberlyn’s body stiffened, her eyes going squinty. ‘Already worked up about what, exactly?’ Whatever response she received made her gaze snap to Ripper and harden. ‘I see. No, I hadn’t heard . . . He’s right here, but we were discussing the Bellcrest incident . . . I will . . . Yeah, later.’
Emberlyn returned the receiver and then faced him. ‘So, it seems that there may be something you’d like to share with the class regarding CeCe.’
He sighed. ‘I did intend to tell you. Paisley just beat me to it. How much did she say?’
‘Just that CeCe tried embarrassing her for having a threesome. Is there more?’
‘A lot more.’ He crossed to Emberlyn and cupped her hips. ‘Basically, CeCe decided to make a fool of herself last night. She came onto Kerr. Taunted Paisley. Challenged Clem. Toilet papered Logan’s house. And . . . and she was seen in her wolf form pissing on one of my truck’s tires.’
Emberlyn stared at him, her expression turning creepily vacant – a sign of fury, he’d come to learn. Her muscles were locked in place, tight with tension. ‘She took a piss on your tire?’ Each word was soft. Quiet. Dangerous.
Ripper smoothed a soothing palm up her spine. ‘She offered to replace it. I said no.’ Had it been anyone else, he would have allowed it. But he wouldn’t accept something from a werewolf who felt she had a claim to him – it would have been as good as acknowledging the claim as legit. ‘I told her you’d likely have some potion that would clean it.’
‘I do.’ A flatly spoken confirmation.
‘I also made it clear you belong to me now.’
There was no shift in Emberlyn’s expression. ‘What did she have to say to that?’
‘She claimed it can’t be possible; believes I love her. I disabused her of that mistaken belief fast, and I warned her – as well as the women who’d helped her toilet paper Logan’s house – that you were to be left alone or they’d be temporarily banished from the clan.’
An almost infinitesimal pinch of softness flickered in Emberlyn’s eyes for the briefest moment. ‘You would really do that?’
‘Of fucking course I would, baby.’ He burrowed his hand in her hair. ‘While I don’t believe she would risk that happening and so should therefore leave you alone, I’m not so confident she’ll cease being a general pain in the ass. Hence why I’ll be leaving her punishments to Kerr and Crew from now on. Any direct attempts I make to deal with her would be counterproductive – she wants the attention.’ He caught her face in his hands and snared her gaze with his. ‘Never again will I be called away from your side to deal with her.’
Still no real change in Emberlyn’s expression. ‘Hmm.’
‘You’re scaring me just a little.’
‘Why?’
‘You look eerily calm. I can’t sense any underlying emotions in you at all. If I didn’t know you, I’d swear you weren’t one bit affected by any of what I just spilled to you.’ He nipped at the corner of her mouth. ‘But I’ve come to learn that the calmer you look, the more pissed you generally are.’
‘I would like to choke her,’ she told him matter-of-factly, completely serious.
He blinked and dipped his chin. ‘Understandable.’
‘And curse her soul to never be reborn.’
‘That’s . . . You could do that?’
‘Of course not. It was just an idle remark.’