Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 152666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
I realized my eyes were closed, reveling in the press of her body, in the feel of her breasts pushing up against my chest and her lips resting against my neck.
Fuck, this was heaven.
“We need to get out of here,” I said gruffly, starting the horse forward. “I know of a place we can stop and regroup. We’ll ride like this until we can get there. If it gets to be too much for you, we’ll figure something else out—“
“The horse will be okay? You’re much bigger than Hadriel.”
“You’re a waif.” A pang of unease hit me, remembering her stories about food in the village. I needed to ensure she had plenty. “Tell me about that . . . product you found. What does it do?”
“If I’m honest, will you stop reading my journals?” She leaned back a little so she could look into my eyes.
My breath caught as I took in her beautiful face. Those gorgeous eyes held a sunburst of golden browns, honey, threads of green. She wet her plump lips and it took everything in me not to lean forward and capture them with mine.
“I really want to say yes,” I replied honestly, “but you had a couple passages where you wrote down names Granny had mentioned in passing. Another one where you detailed what Alexander had gossiped about when he returned from one of his trips. You give time frames when you note Granny coming in with various presents.” I lowered my voice, falling into her gaze. “I need that information, baby. I need those details. You aren’t the only part of this outfit. If we want to stop this operation, we need to find the other part of it. It’s not stuff you’d be able to remember off-hand.”
Her gaze drifted down to settle on my lips. Her thumbs absently stroked my shoulders. “Don’t call me baby.”
Not yet.
The answering thought was so quick it shocked me, then unsettled me. I felt my brow knit together.
“I apologize,” I said stiffly, my cock painfully hard. “I need the contents in those journals.”
“What if I go through and point it out to you?”
I studied her for a long moment, unable to tear my eyes away even to see our surroundings. Hopefully my people were doing their jobs, because I certainly wasn’t doing mine. I couldn’t help it, I was entranced.
“Do you really want to?” I asked her softly. “You’ve written about some dark times in those journals. Do you really want to go back and remember them?”
Her eyes clouded over, sadness permeating the air around us. She didn’t comment.
“What did that . . . product do?” I asked again.
She tightened her left arm around me so that she could reach down with her right, digging into a pocket. She pulled out another of those tabs. “This one wasn’t far from the other. It’s a relaxant. It works best on shifters and goblins, but Granny made an off-handed comment about vampires buying them for some reason, as well. She didn’t give me any further info. It smooths out all the rough edges. Rounds the corners, so to speak.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“It helps to calm anxiety, basically. It helps to de-stress.” She popped it into her mouth.
A shock of alarm ran through me. I pulled the reins to stop the horse before I grabbed her face, squeezing her cheeks to pop her mouth open. I dug in my fingers, searching for that drug before she swallowed it down.
Chapter 17
Aurelia
“Wh—“ I slapped his hands away, twisting in his grip.
“Spit it out,” he barked at me, what sounded like terror dripping from each syllable. Other horses stopped beside us. “Spit it out!”
I jolted forward, head butting him above his right eye and then trying to wiggle out of his grasp. His arms came around me, holding me tight, his grip much too strong for me to break away from.
“What is wrong with you?” I shouted.
“Don’t eat that, it’s dangerous!”
“Oh for the love of—“ I pulled back until he could see me and opened my mouth, sticking out my tongue. “It’s gone. I chewed and swallowed it. For the last fucking time, it’s not dangerous. You’ll barely even notice the change in me. I’ll be a little spacy at times but that’s it. Don’t worry, you’ll have a living body to deliver to the dragons.”
He put his hand to the side of my cheek, waiting while I tried to lean away from it, and placing it there again when I settled. His eyes darted between mine, his worry evident.
I wrapped my fingers around his wrist. “I promise you, Weston, I will be fine. More than fine. I’ll be a lot calmer riding on this animal. It’ll be okay, I swear.”
He let out a slow breath, stroking a thumb across my cheek. A moment later he nodded, though I could tell he was not appeased.