Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 84864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
“She’ll die if she doesn’t,” I replied quietly.
“Let me die!” Aurora screamed.
My heart broke.
“Get Saint. He can put her under just enough to get her fed,” Gabriel ordered.
I nodded and left, Grace following me out into the hallway. “You're going to tell me that’s what you want, Grace? That’s how you want to spend your last moments on this earth? Because I won’t put you through it. I’d rather have these weeks with you than hold you as you fade away, screaming in agony before you die.”
“She doesn’t want to transition,” Grace said. “I do! It’s different!”
“Don’t ask me to kill you!” I paused, taking her face in my hands. “I want you to live more than anything, more than my own life. I don’t know how to live without you, how to breathe if your heart isn’t beating.” The words struck my chest like a physical blow. “Please don’t ask me to take your life faster.” I kissed her hard and quick, then left her standing in the hallway so I could find Saint.
I knew what that emotion was behind my ribs and it scared the shit out of me.
14
GRACE
“Wait,” Valor said, pausing with a drink extended toward me. “Are you okay to drink this?”
I tilted my head at her where I sat on a barstool at the bar, eying her where she stood behind it. The thing was custom built into one of the game rooms in Alek’s estate, currently filled with my new best friends, Valor, Lyric, and Jocelyn.
“Are you asking if I’m of legal drinking age?” I teased, the tension in my chest easing at the easy banter we’d adapted the last few weeks. The girls had all been a lifeline for me between training and arguing with Ajax over the state of my humanity.
Valor chuckled, shaking her head. “I only meant…you’re not on any medication that would be harmful if you drank this?”
I eyed the concoction she’d created behind the bar—something with whiskey and absinthe and crushed ice. “You think I’d let you make me a drink if I was?”
Valor eyed me knowingly. “I think you’re living your life on the edge right now, so I wouldn’t put it past you.”
I couldn’t really blame her there. They’d all been privy to my nightly debate with my mate, but they—and all their mates—had graciously stayed out of it.
“Give me the drink,” I said, grinning at her. “I’m totally fine.”
And I was…to drink it, at least. I wasn’t on any medication beyond the nausea meds, but I could feel my body slowly deteriorating on its own as it tried to fight off the mass in my brain. Training was getting easier—my mind was stronger than ever, but my body? That was another matter entirely. I was weak, sometimes barely able to stand from a sitting position, let alone take long walks in the estate’s gardens, which was my new favorite pastime—especially under the moonlight when all the night-blooming flowers were awakening.
Valor slid the drink across the ebony bar, and I took a fast sip. The sweet burn was a delicious, welcomed sensation when I usually felt like a strong wind would knock me over. She made quick work of making three more, and handed Jocelyn and Lyric theirs before settling on a barstool next to me. The vampire and witch-hybrid elected to take up a loveseat opposite us. A pool table, dart board, and sound system finished the large space, creating a bar setting with the safety and protection of a mansion full of vampire assassins and hunters.
What is my life?
I hadn’t been outside the grounds since Ajax brought me here, and after the arrival of poor Aurora—a forcefully turned vampire by Saint’s deranged and bloodmad twin—I doubted I’d be let out any time soon. Not that I was complaining. The only person I missed was Maria, but we’d been texting, and it wasn’t like we hung out on a regular basis. She was busy and I was…
I was still dying.
And noticing it more each and every day.
“Lyric,” I said after we’d all finished our first drink and had moved on to our second, our conversation hopping from topic to topic at rapid speed. “Can I ask you something?”
The vampire queen looked as regal as her title, sitting on the loveseat next to Jocelyn in a pair of red silk slacks and top. “Anything,” she said, so much friendlier than I ever imagined a queen would be. I mean, wasn’t there a rule about royalty looking down their nose at lowly newcomers like me? Especially supernatural royalty? Maybe Lyric was the exception or the books and movies had gotten it wrong.
Jocelyn raised her brows, sipping her drink as her long lavender hair fell over her shoulders. She was always down for spilling tea, and as the sole witch hybrid—one of the most powerful creatures in existence—she also had this constant crackling energy around her that was both intimidating and infectious.