Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
“Do you two want to fuck or help me clean?” he snarls.
Aurelia and I pay him no mind as I quickly make her come before freeing my fingers and licking them clean. Pulling away, I catch the taunting smirk she tosses Thorin’s way before giving him her back.
“Be nice,” I whisper with a pinch on her ass.
“He started it,” she mumbles while swatting my hand away.
“Wolf.”
“Seth, did you hear something?”
My gaze bounces between Aurelia and Thorin. The former is back to scrubbing the walls, washing away the words Bane had written in our blood.
Death to the immortals.
The suds and blood run down the wall soaking the line under it. The one Zeke had written.
Bless the Savior.
The rest trickles down to the last line. My line. The one that Aurelia seems fixated on.
The promise that it ends is what makes life beautiful.
“Actually, I think I’ll go see if Khalil needs help,” I tell them before backing away for the door. Aurelia and Thorin are already bickering by the time I reach it.
“Stop following me, Thorin.”
“Then stop walking away every time I come near you! Why won’t you talk to me?”
“Because…” Aurelia hisses so spectacularly that Thorin actually takes an astonished step back when she whirls around to face him. “You’re an ass.”
“Baby, I said I was sorry for doubting you.”
“And I’m sure you meant it, Thorin. Until the next time it happens and you make me feel small again!”
I cover my ears while their arguing follows me out of the room, up the stairs, and out of the cabin. I find a shirtless Khalil outside, hovering over the workbench he dragged out of the woodshed. There’s a sliding miter saw on the surface and a piece of wood about ten feet long poised under the blade. Hearing me coming, Khalil looks up from the measurements he’s making on the lumber we picked up from town this morning while Thor babysat Aurelia.
Or maybe Aurelia babysat Thor.
Keeping him from hunting down the mercenaries and killing them all has been a full-time job, so when Aurelia proposed we clean out Zeke’s destroyed bedroom, I think we were all relieved for something to take our minds off our uninvited guests.
It makes me wonder if it was her plan all along.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Aurelia was already learning how to manage us.
“We need to talk.”
Returning his focus to the wood, he shrugs. “So talk.”
“Look. I know I don’t have the right to ask you for anything considering how many times I tried to end you, but I need a favor. It’s…it’s important.”
Khalil’s brown eyes return to me, and then he tucks the pencil behind his ear as he turns to face me. “What’s up?”
I shake my head when words fail me, and when it feels like my legs will, too, I take a seat on the front steps. My head is down while my hands grip my hair, so I don’t see Khalil walk over or sit beside me until he nudges me.
“Zeke is going to wake up soon,” I blurt.
Khalil doesn’t immediately react, and when I look up, he’s staring at me with a calm expression that hides what he’s truly thinking. “You sure?”
“Positive.”
Nodding, he rests a hand on my shoulder. “It’s going to be okay, Seth.”
“How do you know?”
“Because when you’re this happy and when you have everything, you’ll do anything to keep it that way.”
“You have to promise me you’ll have her back, Khalil. No matter what.”
Confusion crosses his expression. “What are you talking about?”
“Protect her. From Bane, from Zeke, from Thorin, and even you. Aurelia’s the priority. No matter what happens, you have to choose her.”
“Of course,” he readily agrees, relieving some of my fears. “But why are you telling me this?”
“Because Zeke won’t go down as easy as we did, and Aurelia still doesn’t get that yet. He won’t allow himself to trust her, much less fall for her—not after Tatum. And then Thorin and his paranoia…Zeke is very convincing, you know that. It will be two against one. Don’t make it three.”
Khalil blows out a breath because he knows that I’m right. “I’ll do you one better. I won’t just have her back. I’ll be her armor. Nothing will touch her without going through me. You have my word.”
My next breath punches out of my chest. “Thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me for that. It’s always been the plan, but for you, I’ll make that vow a thousand times if it’s what you need to hear.”
My eyes narrow suspiciously at the sincerity in his voice. I can’t help it when Khalil has every reason to hate me. “Why are you being so nice to me? I tried to set you on fire.”
“Yeah, I haven’t exactly forgotten, Seth, but I forgave you a long time ago.”
“Because of Aurelia?”
He tilts his head at me like I should know better. “Because you’re my brother.”