Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 53656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
“No,” she answered. “You've managed to replicate Shadow completely. It's unnerving.”
Pride swelled in my chest. “I have been doing this for centuries, you know,” I said.
“Yes, and how grand it must be to blink and become something else entirely,” she said the words with a bite of sarcasm that didn't really reach her eyes. Her features screamed longing and curiosity more than the barb she’d intended.
“Oh, come on, Cassie,” I said into her mind, using the shortened version of her name that made her cringe every time I uttered it. “You know a little bit about shifting yourself, even if you can't do it as spectacularly as I can.” She tilted her head as if she wasn't catching my meaning. “I've seen you in court,” I continued. “Every single time your high-heels touch the marble floor, you become someone else. And if the rumors are true, you even altered your appearance once a few years ago—a splash of ink in the shape of our king's mating mark?”
Anger turned her features sharp, her fangs flashing as she bared them at me. She seemed to think better of it, and quickly smoothed out the rigid lines on her face, retracting her fangs as she white-knuckled the hand rest with her fingers. “You’re an asshole,” she said. “Do you know how hard it is to want to strangle you when you’re taking the shape of the only creature I've ever actually loved?”
The severity of her words hit me dead center in the chest. I shifted on my haunches, an involuntary whimper of apology escaping my panther throat.
Fuck me, I hadn't even considered that goading her while in this form would not only hurt her, but could very well blow our cover. Cassandra would never lay a finger on Shadow in anger, but if I kept it up, she wouldn't be able to hold back for long.
“Besides,” she continued before I could find the courage I needed to offer her a formal apology. “You have no clue what it was like to grow up a Zorin. And you certainly don't know the entire story behind the tattoo.”
I pawed past her, looking out the window and down where the Caribbean Sea stretched out in every direction beneath us, the moonlight reflecting against its turquoise waters. “Well, it looks like we have at least an hour until we land,” I said. “Why don't you tell me the story?”
“Telling you that story would involve a great deal of trust,” she said, doing her best to look everywhere but at my panther face. “As it is, I don't trust you. And I don't think there's enough time in the world for me to do so.”
“That makes two of us, little viper. I'm not entirely certain that you won't slit my throat in my sleep.”
Her eyes met mine and the smallest smile shaped her full red lips.
She looked at me like she was seeing the vampire and not the jungle cat. “The thought has crossed my mind,” she said. “Not from any agenda I'm following like you think I am, but simply because the sound of your voice is more grating on my nerves than knives on a chalkboard.”
If I could’ve laughed, I would’ve, but in this form, the only thing I mustered was a huffed chortle. “Now I know you're lying,” I said, purring as I brushed against her. “I scented you yesterday. I know for a fact parts of you enjoy my voice. And even more parts of you enjoy the way I look.”
The memory of having her underneath me in the training room flooded back, filling my veins with liquid fire. I hadn't intended to get so close to her, but godsdamn, was she under-trained. We were heading into a mission she wasn’t remotely qualified for beyond her family's connection. I never suspected that splaying her beneath me on the training mat would trigger our bodies’ reactions in a way neither one of us wanted.
Fuck, she’d smelled so damn good, desire turning her signature sent of irises into something sharper, some mixture of floral and moss I couldn't resist. My instincts roared to bite, fuck, and bite some more, and in that moment, I think she would’ve let me.
Thank fuck the queen had interrupted our session and had broken the predatory instincts that had me reacting to having a beautiful female beneath me. I was a thousand years old, for fuck's sake. I should’ve been able to control my reactions better than that, but I knew there was a fine line between hate and desire, and Cassandra liked to dance all over it.
“Wanting a release from a pretty package has nothing to do with trust,” she finally said. “And don’t worry, I have no intentions of touching you like that ever again.”
“That sounded more like a challenge than a threat,” I said, my heart racing at the tiny smirk on her beautiful mouth.