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)
Ripper wasn’t so sure he believed that. ‘Can we move on from talk of her now?’
‘Sure,’ she easily agreed, her tone still flat.
Yeah, his baby was nowhere near the realm of ‘calm’. In her shoes, he wouldn’t be, either. He’d want to skin alive anyone who dared act as if they had rights to her. And after what went down at Bellcrest, Emberlyn wasn’t liable to quickly dial back her anger.
Wanting to give her time, he held her close and silently reminded her he was there – nuzzling her face, trailing his fingers down her throat, rubbing at her nape, sweeping his hand over her hair, dabbing a featherlight kiss on her temple, stroking his palm up and down her back.
The tension began easing out of her muscles in such tiny increments he wouldn’t have noticed if he wasn’t so wholly focused on her.
A line briefly dented her brow as he once more petted her nape. ‘You’re scent-marking me again. And you’re being all touchy-feely. I’m not a werewolf; these things don’t soothe me.’
‘Sure they do,’ he said, tracking the path of his fingers as they weaved into her hair. He fucking loved her hair. It was soft and sleek and stunning with its iridescent tint. ‘Everyone needs touch sometimes, even you.’ He caught her chin with his hand, dipping his face to hers. ‘Kiss me.’
‘No.’
Ripper almost smiled at the grouchy response. He tugged at her lower lip with his teeth. ‘Kiss me.’
‘No.’
He pinched her nipple, making her lips part on a gasp. He sank his tongue into her mouth. Kissed. Nipped. Licked. Sipped. Until finally she relaxed against him and kissed him back. ‘Now, let’s go deal with those fucking assholes who thought to dare harm you.’
As she turned the corner onto Bennet’s street, Emberlyn noticed his yard was now empty of people. In fact, the street itself was quiet. His nosy neighbors were nowhere to be seen – their doors closed, their windows shut.
She couldn’t claim to have wrestled back all of her anger just yet, though that was partly because CeCe’s little stunt had fueled said anger. That bitch had thought to mark Ripper’s possession like she had every right; like he was her possession.
And Ripper . . . he’d threatened to temporarily banish CeCe and her friends from his clan if they didn’t leave Emberlyn be. And he’d meant it. He would honestly do that. It touched her on a level he probably hadn’t anticipated.
So many times she’d dealt with bullshit from the coven. None had ever truly been punished by Reena. Emberlyn had become far too used to having to dish out her own brand of justice – no one else was going to do it for her.
But Ripper would.
He would place her feelings before those of his wolves. He would never expect her to let things slide for his sake. And now here he was, determined to ‘talk’ with every witch that had been part of the earlier scene, despite the fact that she’d already handled it.
She understood his need to make his own point. It wasn’t even solely a personal need; wasn’t only born of his protectiveness toward Emberlyn. It was a political necessity. Like her, he could never afford to look weak or be seen to not deal with any offenses.
Still, she would have preferred that he’d stayed out of it. Not merely because confronting the assholes could worsen the overall situation, but because she didn’t want him to be further dragged into this mess.
Too many times lately he’d felt compelled to ‘step in’ on Emberlyn’s behalf. Would he not eventually reach a point where he tired of it? He was an Alpha. He had a clan to manage, businesses to oversee and any related issues to address. He didn’t need to be dealing with her messes on top of that.
It was Sunday. A day of rest, for the most part. And if it wasn’t for his involvement with Emberlyn, he could be resting. Instead, he was here.
Things weren’t normally this bad – both Millicent’s will and the rebellious faction had triggered a lot of the recent problems. But Emberlyn would never truly be left in peace by the coven as a whole.
Maybe she could convince him to let her handle things from here on out . . .
Doubtful.
He was an Alpha. They were freaking renowned for swooping in, taking over and fixing the problems of those they felt an attachment to.
As she parked outside Bennet’s house, Ripper looked at her. ‘Want to play “bad cop, worse cop”?’
She might have smiled at that if she wasn’t still wound so tight. ‘Should be fun. Which one of us is “worse cop”?’
‘This time round, me. It’s only fair. You’ve already had your fun with these assholes.’
True.
They exited the car and, with Ripper in the lead, advanced up Bennet’s path. As this was mostly her wolf’s show, she hung back slightly when he knocked on the front door.