Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45605 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45605 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Something is in my mouth, but when I lift my hand to touch it, Daddy stops me by gently circling my wrist. Instead of allowing me to remove the strange object myself, he does it for me.
Tingles race over my skin at his odd gesture and the realization that I was sucking on a pacifier. My face heats.
“Do you feel better, Little doll? You needed that nap.”
I nod, glancing around. Do I feel better? I’m not sure. I’m worried. There’s no way Vincent will let me go easily. He’s probably ranting so hard right now that he’s punched a hole in the wall. The thought makes me cringe.
I grew up in that house. I hate to see it destroyed. Until my mother met and married Vincent, it had been just the two of us. My childhood was a happy one. I was a normal kid who went to school in town and had friends. I went to birthday parties and had sleepovers.
My mother worked as the school secretary. She took me with her in the mornings, and we left together after school. It was a happy time.
Then she met Vincent. At first, he was nice enough, though I never was fond of the way he upset my idyllic life. For a few years, we coexisted without much friction. My mother married him, he moved in, and life changed.
It didn’t have to be bad, but there were undercurrents of animosity from him even from the start. He would shoot me a glare when my mother wasn’t looking, snarl at me under his breath often enough that I grew uncomfortable.
And then my mother got sick. She had cancer. It slowly killed her, forcing me to grow up too young. She was so grateful that I wouldn’t be left alone in the world, that Vincent would take care of me after she died.
Little did she know that her husband was a monster who got worse with every passing day. As soon as she was in the ground, he used his threats to destroy my life. Until today, I never dreamed I would ever be free of him.
Am I lucky? I’m not sure yet. Depends on whatever else Daddy launches at me in the coming hours and days. I suspect it will be a lot.
Still cradling me in his arms, Daddy rises from the chair and carries me to the bedroom and through to the master bath. “Let’s get you bathed, Little doll. I want to wash the smell of smoke off you.”
He crouches down and eases me upright onto my feet.
I hold on to his shoulders as I get my balance.
“Any dizziness, Little doll?”
“No, Daddy.” I feel pretty good. Groggy still but the room isn’t spinning. When I flex my wrist back and forth, I find that it barely hurts. It’s still sore but nothing like earlier. Whatever he injected in me when he bit me is working miracles.
He bit me!
I stiffen. “Am I going to be a lion shifter now?”
“No, Little doll. It doesn’t work that way. My bite only binds you to me as my mate. You will always be human. In addition, there are no females among my people. It’s why we mate with human females. Any male offspring we have will be lion cubs. The females will be human and unable to shift.”
“Offspring?” My voice quivers. I hadn’t thought of that possibility yet.
He keeps one hand around my waist as if afraid I might fall if he doesn’t and uses the other to reach over and turn on the faucet in the tub. When he returns his attention to me, he’s smiling. “Babies, Little doll.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m not stupid, Daddy. I know what offspring means. But I’m not ready to have any babies. I’m too young.” Hell, until today I never saw children in my future. I would never want a child to endure what I’ve been through. It’s scary enough that I vowed to never open my legs for a man.
How did I forget that fact?
I squeeze my thighs together because the idea of parting them for this particular man makes my sex feel warm and swollen. I’m getting wet down there again.
Daddy gives me a crooked smile. “And yet the thought of practicing what it takes to make a baby gets my girl all hot and bothered.”
I gasp. How does he know that?
“I can scent your arousal, Little doll.”
My breath hitches. “What do you mean?”
He drops to his knees and grabs my hips. “I’m a lion shifter, Cora. My sense of smell is strong. I knew you were mine before I even approached you. Your pheromones called to me. I will always know when you’re aroused or sad or happy or any other emotion. I will also know if you’re ovulating and which days you can get pregnant.”