Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 43080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 215(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 215(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
Bain unleashed his speed, swiping the claws of both hands in wide, slashing motions. Blood splattered the walls and cabinets, but Bain didn’t let up.
The wendigo jumped and sank its teeth into Bain’s shoulder. Despite his tough hide, a few of those teeth broke through. Bain yelled, ripped it off, and threw it into the living room. It crashed into one of the bookcases, sending books spilling off the shelves.
While it scrambled to its feet, Bain rushed it. He was tired of this fight. He grabbed the wendigo by the shoulders and glared into its eyes. He didn’t bother to mesmerize, too furious that this creature had come after Clive. He used his full power.
That was all it took.
The creature’s entire body shuddered before it collapsed.
Sightless eyes faced the ceiling, the body sprawled and bleeding into the gray carpet. The floor was littered with blood-splattered books, shelves broken, walls a gory mess of blood. The wendigo’s body took up half the living room.
Bain curled up his tail, his heart pounding, fury a burning, writhing mass in his gut. It had come here to kill Clive. To take him from Bain. He went to his ruined clothes and grabbed his phone, fumbling with claws but too impatient to shift back.
“What is it?” Xavier barked out. He’d probably been asleep.
“Whoever is after Clive sent a wendigo here. I took care of the problem, but we need the cleanup crew.”
“Clive is okay?”
“Of course.” In this form, Bain’s words were part hiss, but Xavier had been around him like this many times and would easily understand him. “But if they’re sending preternaturals, they could possibly be one themself.”
“That’s my thought. Clive gave me a list of all his new clients, so I’ll start digging in deeper. I know he prefers to be home, but it’s time to take him to one of our safe houses.”
“I agree. I’ll take him to the one in Lake Forest Park.”
“It’s free and the wards are all in place.” Xavier paused. “Are you okay, Bain?”
“The wendigo barely touched me, nothing that won’t heal when I shift back.”
“That’s not what I meant. Now you know what Clive is to you. Your protective instincts will be stronger, could make you reckless. Or distracted. Maybe it would be better to have Alaric with you from here on out.”
Bain thought about that. He’d prefer to have stronger protection on Clive, but he also wanted more time alone with him. But those feelings were selfish, and as an elf, Alaric had special talents Bain didn’t. Like the ability to heal. “Send Alaric there. He could be outside eyes.”
“Will do. The cleanup crew is already on their way.”
A loud gasp sounded from behind him, and he briefly closed his eyes. “I have to go,” he muttered into the phone before shutting it down.
Turning, he saw Clive, eyes impossibly wide and both hands over his mouth.
Well, shit.
Chapter Twelve
Clive
A massive dark silver snake man was standing in his living room.
It was so damn tall its head nearly brushed the ceiling. It had a man’s shoulders, arms, and chest, but that narrowed into a thick snake body that stretched out into a long tail. The scales were actually gorgeous, though it shocked the hell out him that he’d even noticed that. Nearly gray, the shadowed silver had streaks and shapes of black throughout, which made the silver shimmer in the overhead lighting. Fangs glistened in the stretched mouth, and slitted gold eyes stared at him in obvious alarm. How the hell could a snake’s eyes show emotion? He had no idea, but they did.
He knew those eyes.
“Bain?” His voice shook.
Right in front of him, Bain’s body began to change. The long body and tail disappeared, bones shifting and rearranging. The sound made Clive wince and shrink back, especially when his bodyguard stood naked in front of him.
“I can explain,” Bain said, lifting his hands.
Clive took another step back, partly out of sheer shock, but also because despite his scrambled brain from what he’d just watched, he needed to move away from that very naked body. Bain was gorgeous. Ripped. Strong biceps and abs to die for. His long legs were corded with muscles. And yet a moment ago, he’d looked so very different.
He hadn’t been a man at all.
Familiar fear slammed into Clive, turning his legs to jelly. Years of worry, a lifetime of seeing unusual beings, it all swarmed in his chest, and he grew dizzy from the power of all that emotion. The swirling mass of mixed responses to both the…magic…of what he’d watched, and the absolute power of that very naked, strong body.
He backed up more, until his spine hit the counter and he gripped it hard, trying to stay on his feet. He’d spent most of his day and night in his office thinking about Bain’s strange eyes, but this was more than he could fathom. His gaze darted around his kitchen, taking in the splatters of blood, the dent in his refrigerator.