Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 138274 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138274 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
And then he was consumed by heat and light.
CHAPTER FIFTY
It tasted like Yoo-hoo.
That was what Zsadist thought when a blast of light woke his sorry ass up and his eyes popped open. He didn’t need any reorientation, he knew exactly where the fuck he was.
And who he was with.
As a billow of smoke curled up in front of Nate, and the stink of lesser both flared and dissipated, Z had the blurry visual of his daughter leaping into the male’s arms, the two embracing at the foot of a short stack stairway. When they finally parted a little, he watched them exchange words, and even though he was groggy, he could dub them in.
After all, he and his Bella had said similar things at various times in their lives, when near misses had saved two people from catastrophe… the reunion all the sweeter for the almost-didn’t-happen.
Funny, he thought as he continued to suck on the straw that was in his mouth, how he went back to a specific moment in his own life as Nalla and Nate turned to him and warily approached the bed.
I am the luckiest male.
Those were the words that had gone through his mind when Bella had come back to him even though he hadn’t deserved any kind of second chance, and told him she was pregnant with their beloved daughter… and he had been able to write three words in bad penmanship to show her that he had changed.
“Father?” his Nalla said in a voice that cracked.
“I’m okay.” It was hard to talk around the straw, but as his brain came back online, he realized what the not-Yoo-hoo was about and why he had to keep drinking the synthetic blood. “You… okay?”
“Yes,” she whispered as she held on to the hand of the male who stood beside her, tall and strong—and covered in the blood of the enemy.
“I have something I have to say to you, sir,” Nate intoned gravely. “I don’t know if now’s the time, though.”
Was this fucker was going to ask for her hand in mating right here? Z wondered. Over what might have been his deathbed if… well, if the male hadn’t acted so quickly with the first aid.
Or if Nate hadn’t jumped in between Zsadist and a stabbing that would have killed him instantly out on the lawn.
Talk about taking one for the team.
“Shut up,” Z said harshly. “I don’t want to hear it.”
The way his daughter’s face fell told him everything. And yet he had to ask, “Do you love him, Nalla?”
“Yes, Father. I do.” She looked up at Nate. “I love him with everything I am.”
“And you?” He mostly kept the warning out of his voice as he addressed Nate. “Do you love her.”
Even though he knew the male did. There was no forgetting the expression on Nate’s face as he’d come out of that cabin, a bonded fighter, ready to defend the female who was his whole world.
Nate nodded and looked down. “I love her.” Then the male glanced back to the bed. “But that’s not what I have to tell you.”
Zsadist frowned as the guy brought out his cell phone. After he futzed around with things for a moment, he put the screen out.
“That’s a picture of me,” Z mumbled.
Nate nodded. “One of the black market kingpins downtown thinks he’s hired me to kill you. I wanted you to know this right now, so in case you’re out in the field, you’re extra careful. I’m going to take care of it, though, don’t worry. Uncle’s not going to live another twenty-four hours.”
The shooting in the parking lot, Z thought. Behind that club Bathe.
It hadn’t been him with the trigger pulling at those organized crime types, but someone had decided it was.
As Nalla gasped, Zsadist stared into the eyes of the other male. “Much appreciated.”
“Consider it the first of a lifelong series of apologies.” Nate nodded at Nalla. “Everything is different to me now.”
“We’ll see about that.”
“You can bet your life on it.”
Fuck that, Z thought. It looked like he was betting his daughter’s life on it.
Then he focused on his Nalla.
Clearing his throat, Z felt like he was jumping off into an abyss. But he knew, if he was going to keep his daughter in his life… he was going to have to set her free.
And you know, he didn’t think she was blowing up her life over a bad male, after all.
“You two have my blessing,” he said with authority. “For whatever future you choose to make together.”
Nalla let out a strangled sound, and then, just like she had when she was little, when he’d come home at the end of the night and he’d been the only one she wanted to see…
She was careful about getting on the bed next to him. Because reasons.
But as much as she could, she launched herself at him.