Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
“Course you did. Sounds hilarious.”
“It was.”
I tossed my head as more strange liquid fell from my eyes. “I don’t know what she’s done to me. I keep looking at her and thinking I could have sex with her and only her every day for the rest of my life, and never tire of her or want anyone else, but that can’t be right, can it?” I burst out. “Monogamy? Who the fuck does that!”
“No one I know,” Tristan mused. He fell back against the dresser, gazing at the same expression on Charlotte’s face that’s been plaguing me ever since I saw it. “But here I am thinking the same thoughts. Even though it’s my duty to repopulate the pack with as many strong alpha sons and daughters as possible, the thought of smashing anyone’s ass that isn’t Charlie’s makes me puke. Is this that love stuff that Charlie was going on about?”
I nodded gravely. “It’s gotta be. Charlotte said when you’re cursed by love, you want to do crazy shit like sacrifice your own wants and needs to make the other person happy.”
“Wait. Even if it makes you unhappy?!”
“Even then.”
“Whoa, that’s a head-fucker,” he breathed, head clunking against his dresser. “So me wanting to throw away everything I’ve fought and killed to achieve, just in the hopes that Charlie will let me remain at her side... is a symptom of the curse.” Tristan growled, rubbing the back of his neck. “This shit’s unreal.”
I scoffed, glaring at him. “You think you’re tripping? I’m the one who has to wake up tomorrow morning without her.”
Tristan glared right back. “Are you serious? Dumbass! Thanks to you and your phone tricks, so do I!”
Oh, yeah, that. I forgot. “This isn’t about you,” I gritted. “I’ve lived two hundred and twelve years without her, and two months with her, and there’s no contest for which time of my afterlife was most worth living. So tell me how to get her back. How do I make her smile again?”
Tristan’s gaze was serious. “Belphe. You already know the answer to this one.”
My face hardened to stone—tears evaporating. “And you know why it’s not an option, No-Name, so stop fucking around.”
He sighed like I was stomping on his nerves. “Fine. If you’re choosing the hard way, there’s only one thing you can do now.” Despite the topic, a grin stole over his punchable face. “It’s a good thing you’re not the prince of pride, because this is the part where you grovel.”
Chapter Thirteen
Charlotte
The next morning, I dressed in a long, black A-line halter gown with black pearl earrings. As I got ready, I could hear pure soul Dora in my ear, telling me how pretty I looked.
My hands shook searching for my piercing. In the bathroom mirror, black blood stained my fingertips.
I spun away, gasping on air and head spinning. The Dora cursed with the pure soul spell wasn’t the true Dora, but still, we had fun and started our own little routines since she became the new student at Abaddon Academy. Right about then, she’d be running in with a cup of hot cocoa to cheer me up from whatever asshole thing Ronin had done.
But cocoa’s not fixing things this time.
Turning back, I ran a hand over my smooth scalp as I thought through the plan. Even though Ronin was the reason I cut my hair, it was fitting that I did this. After losing our parents, one of the things I despised the most was how outwardly everything else was the same.
The house was the same. The neighbors and their routines were the same. I looked the same. Even Dora’s nurses wore the same scrubs and rubber clogs from week to week. This horrible, life-imploding thing had happened to me and my sister, and the world just kept spinning like it wasn’t even a blip on the radar.
Not this time.
I rubbed soothing, scalp oil over the raw, cool skin. This time, I’d make everyone feel how dark and desolate the world had become without her in it.
That done, I walked out the door, and scowled. “What the hell do you want?”
Ronin leaned against the opposite wall, hands shoved in his pants, and staring at the ceiling. I hated that, even then, he was so gorgeous it made my head spin.
Another shower left his thick, wavy hair curling and clinging to his horns. Red kissed his cheeks from a hot shower, or from running all the way over here so he could post up looking all nonchalant by the time I came out. Since his chest was heaving pretty fast, I’d go with the latter.
“What are you doing here, Ronin?”
“I’m here for you.”
My traitorous heart thumped.
“I promised to protect you,” he went on. “More than a few braindead fucks are going to think you’re fair game now that you’re pissed at me, Radu’s dead, and you’re no longer hooked up with Lucifer’s daughter—”