Total pages in book: 174
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I did not need the reminder.
Irritation lit me up like a flame, and I scrubbed a palm over my face.
What was I supposed to do? Turn them away? I’d committed my life to protecting the vulnerable.
But I didn’t need to take them on myself. I had options. I could pack them up and take them to The Sanctuary, where Theo could keep watch over them until we hashed out exactly what was happening and set up a plan to protect them.
Place her under Sovereign Sanctum’s wing.
I knew that was exactly what I should do as I felt that connection pulling like a magnet. Tugging me in her direction.
Motherfucking compulsion.
One I could never heed.
I looked up at the deep blue sky stretched overhead. The sun was beginning to set, its rays turning to a glittering gold as it dipped toward the spires of the trees.
A slight chill had begun to fill the air as the day faded away.
It would be night soon, and there was no chance in hell I could leave them out here.
I found myself mumbling, “Fuck, Daisy.”
The words were complete surrender.
Succumbing to the one person I had never been able to say no to.
“Get dressed, and I’ll take you back to my cabin. Temporarily.” I emphasized the last.
A warning.
One I pretty much directed at myself.
“Until I understand what’s happening and we can figure out a plan.”
Relief blasted through her being, and her shoulders sagged with her exhalation. “Thank you, Cash. I know you didn’t expect us…I mean…I haven’t seen you in years.” She laughed an unsettled sound. “But I…” I watched her gulp before she whispered and peeked up at me. “I need you. We need you.”
I couldn’t stop the way greed smacked through my being at her words.
I need you.
That right there should be the inciting factor. The one thing that had me packing up their things and dumping her at The Sanctuary.
I could not afford the reaction she incited in me.
I leaned closer, trying not to breathe her in. Or maybe that was exactly what I wanted to do.
Gulp her down.
Devour her.
Consume her in a way I’d never gotten the chance to do.
“Once we get to my place, you’re going to answer every fucking one of my questions.”
Her nod was choppy, and she peeked up at me with those cornflower eyes that did something stupid to my senses.
On bare feet, she spun around so she was facing me as she fumbled backward in the direction of her kids, holding that towel to her body as she tossed me one of those playful looks like she used to do.
“I see you never stopped being bossy,” she mumbled before she turned around and hurried for the tent.
“You have no idea, Daisy. Not one fuckin’ idea,” I grumbled to myself as I stood there wondering what the hell I was getting myself into.
“Whatcha doin’?” The tinkling voice came from the little girl who crouched beside me, so low her butt nearly touched the ground.
She had her tiny arms wrapped around her knees as she grinned over at me with far too much interest.
I rolled the flimsy tent into a ball so I could stuff it into the bag. “Packing,” I grunted.
“Why you packing it? We not camping anymore?” she asked in a slight babble.
Frustration lining my bones, I grunted again, this kid cute as fuck and messing with my head. “No.”
“I wike camping. Do you wike camping?”
Air huffed from my nose. “Yeah.”
One-word answers were the most I could get out. Hell, one-word conversations were normally my forte. I lived out here for a reason. No one around me for miles.
Isolated.
Solitary.
I didn’t like people in my space.
But shit…
“Did you know my name is Eva, and I am fee?” She held up three fingers. “How many are you?”
That time she only got an exasperated shake of my head as I shoved the tent into the small bag and forced the zipper closed.
I stood, and the little girl did, too, that smile unending and canted in my direction, which meant she basically had her head tipped all the way back. Soft curls the same cinnamon color as her mother’s framed her cherub face, the brown locks tinted with wisps of shiny red, though the strands were messy and tangled.
Her shirt was smudged with dirt and debris. No doubt from being out here camping on my property.
Disquiet stirred through my being. My mind whirled through every scenario that might have brought Daisy to my door. What would have led her to take these drastic measures.
I was sick at the thought that she might have been in pain for even a day of her life after I left her.
It wasn’t supposed to be that way.
The child hopped from foot to foot. “Now we get to go to your house?”
Agitation stirred through my middle. “Looks like it.”