Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 113332 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113332 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Beast spun around and approached the window, looking outside with eyes like stormy clouds. “And that thing he said about Magpie? That he lied? How do we know we haven’t been duped too? Making pacts with those creatures... it is and will always be shady business!”
Laurent stared at the glinting shell, but no matter how beautiful it was, the dark presence in his chest was growing by the second. “You have to put your trust in something,” he whispered. “You said it yourself when you decided to offer Magpie the Pigeon Heart.”
Beast clenched his teeth. “And you said we shouldn’t trust him, only to ask him to make a child out of our blood. It’s not the same at all! We have no choice about the ruby.”
“What kind of choices do you feel we have with the egg, then?” Laurent was trying not to raise his voice, but it was futile. “What if we never had this kind of opportunity again?”
Beast spread his wide arms in anger. “What then? It wouldn’t be the end of the world. We have each other. Isn’t that enough for you?”
Something shrank inside Laurent, and he pulled the egg made of their blood closer to his chest. “It is… but… this is important,” he uttered, for once at loss of words. Did Beast truly not care about the kind of life they were to lead together?
Beast rubbed his face and leaned against the window, his face disappearing in the shadow. “There’s too many uncertainties. We might be dealt a hand we hadn’t expected.”
Joy was draining out of Laurent like blood from a pierced artery. “I didn’t think I’d ever have a child of my own,” he said, taking a step away.
Beast rested his forehead against the glass and said nothing. Neither did Laurent, sinking into the dark hole inside his chest. He could only hope for their baby not to feel it.
Minutes passed without a single word from either of them, and for once Laurent relished the ticking of the clock, because the sound he usually found so aggravating proved he hadn’t gone deaf. Hound must have sensed the tension, because he came up to Beast with a whimper and started licking his master’s hand.
No such consolation would come Laurent’s way. Had it really been so wrong of Laurent to ask Magpie for the baby? Beast hadn’t opposed it.
When Beast’s cell phone rang, Laurent was glad for the shrill noise it made, but when he saw Beast’s expression darken, blood drained from his head, leaving it cold with emptiness.
“Beast? What’s—?”
But Beast already shoved his cell phone into his pocket and made Laurent sit deeper on the sofa with a single aggressive gesture. “Don’t move.”
“But what is it? Maybe I can help.” Laurent gently put the egg back onto the cushion.
Beast’s nostrils flared when he inhaled all the air necessary for the barking words that came from him next. “You wanted a child. Now protect it. Do as I say,” he warned before bursting out of the door without offering any explanation.
Laurent pulled the egg back into his embrace and held back a sob, even though there was no one to judge him for a moment of weakness. The sudden change of energy after he and Beast had been so close confused and saddened him so deeply he couldn’t even put his feelings into words. Didn’t he deserve to be involved in matters that affected him too?
He was alone with their flesh and blood combined in a fragile shell.
This wasn’t the time to feel sorry for himself or for sulking, Laurent would take in stride whatever came their way and make sure the situation between him and Beast was mended.
For his entire life, he’d longed for family, and now everything he’d hoped for seemed under threat.
Just as he was about to get a knife from the kitchenette—in case he wasn’t as safe here as he’d hoped—the lights went off with a loud screech. Not only the lamps, but all the electronics, and even a battery-operated clock.
It was as if Laurent had been pushed straight into the pit of Hell.
Chapter 6 - Laurent
The silence that befell Laurent was so hollow it affected his inner ear. He could hear nothing, but there was an odd vibration in the air, at the very edge of his awareness. The clubhouse wasn’t usually this quiet, even here, in the distant wing situated away from the noise. The eerie dullness surrounding Laurent was thick and impenetrable, as if he were imprisoned in a giant copper vat and about to be cooked alive.
The hair on his nape bristled when he glanced toward the window in search of moonlight yet found none. He was trapped in darkness that affected him as if he were completely blind.
His arms tightened around the egg, and for the briefest moment he could have sworn he felt it pulse, as if the shell somehow resonated with the baby’s heartbeat.