Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 65871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
I stare up at him in shock, my animal eyes seeing him for what he is—an absolute apex predator. A perfect example of nature twisted by unholy forces into a creature whose sole existence is not to survive by taking lives where necessary, but to kill and kill and kill again, its existence entirely separate from its need to consume.
My animal brain tries to fight through the confusion and understand. Elena did tell me that Alexei had lied, but that was only an hour or two ago, and it’s something else entirely to find myself confronted with a disparate reality.
Dom is supposed to be dead. Permanently. Irreversibly.
But he is standing tall, naked, and muscular over me. He is a beautiful creature. He always has been. He could kill me in this moment, just as he killed Elena. To him, I am nothing but flesh and blood pumping through animal veins.
His stare makes me drop my wolf form, something in it compelling my human side to emerge. I crouch naked at his feet, vulnerable and eminently consumable. I imagine he must be absolutely ravenous with desire for revenge, and I would be the perfect feast.
“Hello, you,” he says, flickering a slight wink down at me. My blood rushes hotter, even as cold fear flashes over me. He has me in his thrall again, and I am almost certain that Elena’s potions and such have now entirely failed. I can feel him in my mind. I should be terrified, but I am not.
“Leave her alone!”
Alexei calls out as he finally reaches us and sees what is clearly not a shock to him. Dom’s presence in this place is a result of his actions.
Bright UV lights splash over the walls and floor as the guards open fire. They are terrified of the vampire and they have forgotten that UV bullets are still bullets. Lead is ricocheting dangerously close to me with every shot they take.
Moving with incredible speed, Dom stands in front of me, taking the barrage. They smash against his cold chest, burning him with every impact, but not making the same kind of destructive impression they would on a lesser vampire.
“Stop!” Alexei roars. “Anya is there!”
They hold fire, and by some miracle I am still unharmed. Dom pulls me out from behind him, and I see the places where the bullets struck already healing. They’re not going to take him down easily again. They might not take him down at all, not now that he has fed, and has me.
“Let her go,” Alexei says.
Dom does not so much as respond to that. He barely lifts the corner of his lip in a smirk. He knows very well that he now has control. I can see the devastation on Alexei’s face as he realizes his plans have once again been undone.
He thought he could hold this unnatural beast in chains forever, but he did not reckon on the conscience of his confidantes.
It was Elena that did it. Elena who let the vampire out. And Elena who has paid the price.
I am vaguely aware that there is a sticky substance on my feet. I don’t dare look down, because I know what it is. It is the essence of the woman who begged us all to listen to her. Nobody listened.
“She set you free and you ate her?” I find the question spilling from my lips in the heavy silence that stretches out between Alexei and Dom.
“She died sacrificing herself so the war might end,” he says, his voice soft while speaking to me. It hardens as he turns his attention back to Alexei. “And here you are, trying to, what… stop me from stopping the worst of the worst? The she-wolf was more community minded than either of you.”
“Anya. Come here,” Alexei says.
I try to move toward him, but I am stopped. Dom grips the back of my neck and keeps me in place.
We are all in a very big mess now, and I don’t think any of us really know what to do. I have questions that need to be answered though. Upstairs, in bed, I shied away from them. Now, standing in Elena’s blood, I ask them boldly and without deference to his station.
“You told me he was dead. Why did you lie to me?”
“I didn’t lie. It’s not your problem.”
My eyes widen as Alexei dismisses me out of hand, denying the lie simply because he thought I didn’t need to know the truth.
“You did lie. You told me I had nothing to worry about, and that you killed him. I have a lot to worry about, and he is alive. Well, as alive as a dead thing can be.”
“I don’t owe you explanations, Anya. I owe you safety.”
“Oh, and how is that going for me?”
Dom has said nothing, but now he interjects.