Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87502 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87502 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Maybe I had taken it too far, breaking Harris Murdoch’s finger and then threatening the whole town to leave Vivienne alone. But I swear, when he threatened her—when he talked about the filthy things he wanted to do to the woman I was beginning to care for so deeply—I absolutely lost it.
Seriously, he was lucky I hadn’t done worse than just break the dirty finger he was poking in my face. At least I hadn’t let my Beast out—though I had felt it coming very close to the surface. Which is probably why it almost made an appearance when that woman offered me her daughter.
“I’m sorry about what happened back there. And I’m sorry that fucking Harris talked that way to you,” I said to Vivienne, who was staring out the window.
She looked down at her hands, her face troubled.
“It’s not the first time he’s said what he’ll do to me if…if he wins the Alpha Challenge,” she said in a low voice.
“What?” I was instantly incensed. “He talked to you like that before?”
She nodded.
“At Carter’s funeral—right before you came in.” She sighed. “You asked why I backed you even though I didn’t know you. Well…that’s why. I was hoping you can beat him at the Alpha Challenges. Otherwise…” She trailed off, a miserable look on her lovely face.
I felt my heart fist in my chest.
“Baby, don’t worry. Of course I’m going to beat him,” I told her. “I’ve known guys like that all my life—his bark is worse than his bite—literally.”
“I don’t doubt you can beat him on strength alone,” she said, casting a glance at me. “Especially after what happened with Mrs. Browder. But Kor, you have to be careful. Harris fights dirty.”
“I could tell by the way he convened a whole town council meeting just to accuse us of fucking,” I said dryly.
Vivienne’s pale cheeks went red with shame, and she looked down at her fingers, which she was twisting together in her lap.
“He wasn’t wrong, though,” she said in a low voice. “We have been doing things…things we shouldn’t be doing.”
“We haven’t broken the Unbroken Laws,” I said firmly. “Not even close.”
“I know. But we’ve been—I’ve been—unchaste,” she murmured. “Besides, I’m too old for you. You ought to be with someone Cynthia-Ann’s age.”
“What?” I gave an incredulous laugh. “That girl was eleven years younger than me and that’s if her mother wasn’t lying about her age—which I doubt.”
“That’s the same age gap between you and me,” she pointed out. “Only I’m eleven years older than you.”
“I don’t give a damn!” I protested. “I’d rather have a woman than a girl. We’re both consenting adults at least! And nobody is buying or selling anyone—we want each other—our ages don’t matter.”
“Well maybe…maybe they should. Maybe they matter to me.”
She cast a glance at me that was filled with regret.
“Kor, I don’t think we ought to do anything else together like…like what we’ve been doing. I think we need to stop before…before we go too far.”
My heart sank—not just because she was cutting out our physical activities—but because of the fear and pain and guilt I saw in her lovely gold-ringed eyes.
“If that’s the way you want it, that’s how it will be, baby,” I said. “I don’t want to do anything that will make you feel uncomfortable or unhappy.”
She looked at me uncertainly.
“You mean…you’re okay with it? You’re not going to get angry or try to…to…”
“I’m not my uncle,” I said shortly, keeping my eyes on the road. “I would never, ever force you.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. And then she started to cry.
I wanted so badly to pull the car over and take her in my arms—to comfort her and soothe her. But there was a wall between us now—an invisible barrier I couldn’t breach without her permission.
So I just kept driving, wishing things were different and knowing they never could be.
THIRTY-THREE
VIVIENNE
How could I be so happy and free at the start of the day and then feel so sad and trapped by the end of it?
The question kept circling through my mind as Kor and I drove home from town. Neither of us had much to say after the disaster at the Council meeting and the unpleasant encounter with Mrs. Broward and her poor daughter. The cheerful mood we'd shared that morning had vanished completely and in its place was a heavy silence that seemed to press down on both of us. I sat looking out the window as the mountains rolled by and tried not to think about everything that had happened. Unfortunately, I wasn't very successful.
The words people had said about me kept replaying in my head. Barren. Old. Useless. A Moon Widow who ought to be in mourning instead of running around town in a pretty sundress with a handsome young Alpha.
I told myself I shouldn't care what they thought. I told myself they were cruel and small-minded and jealous. But cruel words have a way of finding the places where we're already wounded and I couldn't stop hearing them.