Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 157308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 787(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 787(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
“Hphmf!” I shouted at them—smothered cries appealing to their sense of humanity. Those cries fell on deaf ears as one after the other, they grabbed my legs, arms, and head—pinning me to the floor.
Levi positioned the blade above my forehead. Leaning in, he whispered against my mouth. “Your sister whined and cried like a little bitch too. Guess it runs in the family.”
Breaking free, I smashed my forehead into his nose. Levi flew back, howling.
“Fuck’s sake!” Owen shoved him off me. “I’ll do it.”
Grabbing the knife off the floor, Owen climbed on top of me as Darren and Silas wrestled my head back down.
“Apparently, I don’t listen when someone says no.” Owen’s wrist shook as he pressed the tip to my forehead. “So I’m listening. Say no and I’ll stop, Sinclair.”
Smothered shouts poured through the fabric.
“What was that? Hmm. Didn’t sound like a no to me. Oh well.”
Owen pressed, splitting my skin. My blood coated the tip.
The door blew off the hinges, crashing onto my desk and taking Emmett out on the way. Over Owen’s head, they filled the entrance—avenging angels of fury.
Caleb ran at them—to attack or get away, I had no idea—but Cato leaped out of the pack, his muzzle nowhere to be seen. He tackled Caleb to the floor, his teeth sinking in his shoulder.
“Ahh! Help! Get him off!”
No one was in a position to help him.
Wilder ripped Owen off me and sank a fist in his gut. The mottled red dick doubled over on the carpet, the knife clattering to the floor.
Levi sprang up. In one fluid move that could’ve been the first step in a dance, Rafael kicked him in the face. Levi clutched his ruined nose, blood pouring through his fingers as a sob ripped unbidden from his lips.
Emmett, Darren, and Silas abandoned me on the floor to help their friends. Lucien was on me in an instant.
Ripping off that long, ridiculous, old-fashioned coat, he covered me head to toe, his touch impossibly gentle. He lifted me up, carrying me through the fray into the bathroom.
“It’s okay, Luna.” Lucien pulled the panties out and threw them at the tub. “You’re safe now.”
I sobbed—lung-shredding cries that made it impossible to breathe. Of all the things this was, okay was not one of them.
“Stay here.” Lucien stroked my tangled, paint-splattered hair. “I’ll be back in two minutes.”
Lucien joined the fight, standing there as the thin, pale extra who wandered off the set of Sweeney Todd. Emmett threw a punch at his jaw, and Lucien caught it in midair.
Twisting his fist, he dropped Emmett screeching to his knees. Bending his arm back, he struck him once, twice, four times in the face. Emmett dropped unconscious on my rug.
Darren broke away, racing for the door. Cato shot out, sweeping his legs. He was on the fallen man before his head bounced off the carpet. I winced as Cato’s teeth closed on his ear, and the screams followed.
Everywhere I looked, the Rogues were fighting, punching, throwing, biting, dancing around my room, reducing my attackers to the bleeding mess on the carpet that I was.
They came for me.
I slumped against the bathroom cabinet, black crowding my vision.
My heart raced out of control. Pain and adrenaline battled to overtake my senses. All I wanted was to not feel.
Oblivion opened its arms. Willingly, I sank. The last thing I recalled was a beautiful, heavenly sound rising above the shouting, lulling me to sleep.
Chapter Seven
“...is she okay...”
“...got there as fast...”
“...bastards will regret...”
Noises pressed on my ears, peeling an eye open. A blurred, shiny shape stood over me. Objects bobbed around its head.
“Luna?” the shape called to me. “Are you awake?”
Darkness crept back in, stealing me away.
THE NEXT TIME I WOKE, it was the arms of sleep that willingly set me free. No voices, lights, or figures helping me along.
I blinked up at the pale-pink ceiling, slowly taking stock.
A deep-seated ache burrowed into my skin. I didn’t need to see my arms to know they were covered in bruises.
Owen, Levi, and the Royals attacked me. They held me down and...
...the Rogues saved me.
I turned my head, almost expecting to see Rafael in my bed. Instead my gaze fell on a bay window. A very familiar bay window.
I knew where I was. Turning my head the other way, my nose tickled the hair spilling onto my pillow.
And I wasn’t alone.
I reached under the sheets, shaking her.
“Luna?” Sliding across the pillow, Katie flicked on the lamp. “You’re awake. Are you— Whoa, that’s a look.”
A head-melting glare more like. If the thought of moving didn’t make me want to cry, I’d fly across and rake my nails down her face.
“What am I doing here?” The thin, wispy rasp grated out of my throat. “Why am I in your room?”
“Because no matter how much those weirdos argued with me, it wasn’t a good idea for you to wake up alone in a house with a bunch of strange men after you were just assaulted.”