Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 67138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
“I think he does. I think it is just that we don’t see everything…”
“Yeah, like Luciana,” Sean laughs, and I notice that Ettie gives him a dirty look. She has grown quite fond of Oracle. She’s the one who gave him his name. Before that, we were all just given numbers for a name. I was Seven—a lab rat who was mostly numb inside. I didn’t know there was a life outside of the lab that I was held prisoner in. My world up to that point consisted of living in a small six by nine cell and being experimented on endlessly. All I wanted was someone to care about me. Someone to give a damn. I swore to myself that if I ever got the chance to live a life like the stories that I would read in the books the security guard would sneak in for me, I would grab hold of it with both hands and never let go.
That’s what I always intended. What I didn’t ever imagine was that I would grab that life by lying. It feels wrong. I’m going to confess everything to Grace. I don’t want to start our life together as a lie.
It’s also just another reason I need to talk to Oracle.
“I need to talk to him.”
“And I am here,” Oracle says coming in from the hall that leads to the floor under this one.
Oracle is a tall man. He has long, salt and pepper hair with extremely defined bone structure. In another lifetime, and, if he was a normal human, he could be a runway model. He’s overly slim—where once he was muscular. For a while, we believed he wasn’t drinking, but he seems to do that—although not as much as the rest of us. There’s no point in trying to talk to him about it, either. Talking to Oracle about anything is an exercise in futility. Still, that’s exactly where I’m headed.
“We need to talk,” I respond, praying he’s lucid.
“What’s going on?” Leo and Sean ask, sitting up in attention. Ettie does the same, studying my face. I know they pick something up in my tone. I can’t keep the worry out of it.
“I’m not sure.”
“Why do I think you are, Stark?” Oracle says. I get the feeling he does know what I’m about to say.
“I picked up a strange scent on my mate at the hospital.”
“Strange how?” Leo asks.
“It was the scent of…”
I pause as I try to figure out how to explain what I’m afraid of.
“It was a familiar scent. There’s a chance that I’m just imagining it. I’ve been worrying, so it makes sense that my fear would manifest near the woman who is my mate…”
“Are we sure this woman is your mate?” Sean asks. “I mean, you’ve been so determined to find her, maybe it’s a case of wishful thinking on your part.”
“She’s my mate,” I practically growl. Hell, I can feel the tips of my fangs begin to pierce through my gums. It’s not that I’m mad at Sean—it’s a legitimate question. It’s the mere fact that anyone would suggest Grace doesn’t belong to me. She does. I hate that I’m having to lie to her, but I’m not giving her up. If she gets her memory back, I’ll figure out a way to make her unafraid of me. Hopefully, when that time comes, she will need me as much as I need her.
“Whoa!” he says, raising his hands up in a self-defensive manner. “Just asking man. Don’t take my head off.”
I shrug, push away my irritation, and decide to concentrate on what I need to tell Oracle instead.
“I thought I caught the scent of Scar in the hospital,” I finally respond, looking straight at Oracle—the man who has become our leader even after finding out he tricked us into drinking from him.
He was trying to protect us. Part of our group couldn’t accept his reasoning, but oddly enough, it doesn’t bother me. It kept me from falling under Draven’s thumb and being captured. That’s all I look at. To me, the ends justify the means. Leo and Sean haven’t spoken to me about it, but they’re still here so I figure they feel the same way.
“Are you sure?” Ettie asks, and you’d be a fool not to hear the panic in her voice. Then again, she has more reason to fear Scar. He only wants to torture us. We know what he did not only with his mate but what he helped Draven do to mates that didn’t even belong to him. No, what he would do to Ettie is far worse than what we would endure. That’s probably why Leo looks like he wants to hurt someone right now.
“My emotions were everywhere, so maybe not. It’s just…”
“Spit it out, Seven,” Oracle says, forgetting to use the name I gave myself. We’re doing our best to fit in with this world and to do that, we need normal names—not numbers.