Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 121871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
“You’re perfect,” he says again, bringing his hand up from between my legs to his mouth, licking his fingers clean and making me blush a little.
“You taste perfect, too.”
Both his hands come to my hips and slide over to my stomach. “We might have made a cub,” he says smiling.
“What if it’s not a cub?” I ask, unable to help myself. I know mates tend to conceive fast, so the likelihood of me being pregnant is high.
He shrugs like it’s no big deal either way.
“What if it’s human like me?” I push, needing more from him. “I know you don’t like humans.”
“I like you.”
The word like stings a little, because I more than like him.
“Will you like our babies if they’re human?”
“I will love them either way. You aren’t the only human I like. Sheriff Dominic’s wife is human too, and she doesn’t bother me. If our babies are human, they will be perfect like you. Anything from you would be perfect.”
His words hurt way more than he could ever know, because they can’t be true. My father was his jailer. I’m almost a hundred percent sure of it now that he’s told me about his time in captivity. He only told me bits and pieces, but I recognized his descriptions and I knew he was talking about the same place I had run from.
Not only that, he had a clear hatred for humans. I know how much that hatred can eat someone up. I’d seen it with my father. He hated shifters. Thought they were science projects. Hell, I think he hated humans, too, if how he treated me was any indication. It was why I ran to begin with. He wanted to start running tests on me, too. I’d seen an opening to escape one night and took it. I ran for what felt like forever until I collapsed in the snow, where my brothers found me. I’d only been eleven.
I’d refused to tell them my name, so Snow was born that day. Pulling myself from Koda’s lap, I grab the discarded shirt from the floor and use it to cover myself a little as I exit the room. I hear his chair push back and his heavy footsteps following me down the hallway and into the bedroom where I start to look for clothes to wear.
He stands in the doorway, watching me get dressed, with a confused look on his face.
“We aren’t going anywhere. I like you naked,” he protests as I slide a shirt over my head and pull on socks. I ignore him as I find pants and slide them on next.
“What’s the matter? I can tell you’re sad. Tell me and I’ll fix it. We can go to town now if you really want. Maybe I have something that can keep you warm. It might be a little big but—”
“Koda,” I say, cutting him off. “You can’t think every part of me is perfect.”
“I can,” he growls, taking a step into the bedroom. I match him with a retreating step, making him growl again.
“The Denalis are my brothers because they found me in the woods one night. Covered in snow. It’s how I got the name, actually. I was eleven when they became my family.”
“I’m your family now,” he corrects, possessiveness coating his words. A half smile pulls at my lips. I love that he’s like that with me. But it’s not real. He keeps calling me perfect and it’s not true. Each time he says the word, it cuts a little deeper.
“Before I was Snow Denali, I was Angie Madden.” His eyebrows rise like he’s thinking. “That night I was running from a facility my father ran. That was the night the Denali brothers found me. His name was Dr. Jack Madden.”
I see the color leave his face before a roar of rage sounds though the house, making me jump. “See? Not everything that comes from me can be perfect, because I come from him.”
We stand in utter silence for what feels like an eternity before Koda turns, storming from the room. After a few moments I hear the front door bang open. Following the sounds, I enter the living room to see the door that’s always locked up so tightly is wide open.
I grab my shoes next to the door and my cape and slip them on, stepping outside onto the porch to see if I can see where he went, but I only see his tracks in the fresh snow. A sob hiccups from my chest, and I feel the tears start to slide down my face.
Stepping off the porch, I start walking. It’s clear that he wants me gone. He’s been so protective of me, but he just left the door wide open. It’s not long until I start to hear howls, and I start running towards the sounds, knowing who it is.