Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 137871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 689(@200wpm)___ 551(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 689(@200wpm)___ 551(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
“I’m free because of you, Dane. It’s not my goal to upset you.”
“I know.” He plucked a ripe tomato off the vine and sniffed it. “I get the Jonas thing.”
“I’m not gonna do anything. Truthfully, I wouldn’t even know where to start. And I’m never going back there.”
He nodded. “I know it doesn’t lessen your grief, but if it’s any consolation, Grace wasn’t okay after what she did to your aunt. She’s not a violent person, and she deeply regrets her actions.”
“If only that brought my aunt back.”
“At the time, she was only acting on instinct. Gracie didn’t know what her father had done to you. If she could take back her actions, she would.”
“She told you that?”
“She, uh…didn’t have to.”
Juniper frowned. “What do you mean?”
He pointed to his head. “I can sometimes glean impressions from others. I’m really not that good at it compared to the immortals, but Gracie has always been an easy read for me, which further proves her goodness.”
“You can read minds?”
“Mostly just children. The more innocent a person’s mind, the easier it is for me to sense what they’re thinking. Gracie has a lot of regret about that day.”
“If you feel all that for her, why were you with that Magdalen chick?”
“Maggie’s like me—like us. She’s a half-breed. She taught me how to feed, and we kept each other company. It passed the time.”
She shivered, recalling how time never seemed to move in that place. “You were lonely.”
“Yes.” He set the tomato aside. “What I feel for Grace is different.”
It was clear he loved her very much. “How do they know half-breeds can’t get called?”
He shrugged. “The elders said so.”
“And they know everything?”
He shrugged again.
She hated the elders. “I don’t think they’re as all-knowing as everyone makes them out to be. If they were, they wouldn’t have been so afraid of little old me.” That was why they kept her muzzled and tied, why they did not let her look at them. “Or maybe they know more about me than I know about myself.”
“Aren’t you curious? Feeding can be incredible. It’s like a switch going off in your brain. Every cell in your body comes alive, and you feel—limitless.”
“No one’s limitless.” Juniper would eventually experience what he described, but she didn’t want to think about it now. “What if Gracie gets called to someone she hates?”
“It doesn’t work that way. I’ve seen it with Adam and Annalise, and Larissa and the Bishop. The bond between mates is unbreakable.”
“Bullshit. If that were true, Adriel wouldn’t be running from Cerberus.”
“You shouldn’t speak his name.”
“I have the whole property spelled.” She studied him for a moment. “Do you feel anything toward him, as your father?”
“Fuck no. I care about Adriel. He’s nothing to me.”
He was one more person Dane would lose. Not a terrible loss, but a loss all the same.
“I don’t know my dad either,” she confessed.
“Do you wish you did?”
She shrugged. “Not really. I only recently discovered he existed. My aunts didn’t know much about the calling stuff, but I assume that’s why my mother abandoned me.”
“Wait, she was called?”
“Why else would she leave her newborn child?”
“But she was a witch. Only full-bred immortals can be called.”
Juniper’s insides turned to ice, and she stilled. “Well, that’s just fucking great. I guess it really was just about Niro the Wonder Schlong.”
Dane nudged her shoulder with his. “It’s their loss.”
“Thanks.” The whole destined mates thing came with too many rules. Just when she thought she had it figured out, she learned something new. “I’m glad my future isn’t tied to someone I’ve never met.”
“Me too.”
“What will you do if Gracie never gets called?”
“I hope that doesn’t happen.”
“But you love her. Are you saying you want her to be with someone else?”
“I want her to be happy.”
Dane, once again, proved he was a good guy. She couldn’t knowingly betray or hurt him because she respected him. “I promise I won’t do anything that hurts her—emotionally or otherwise.”
“Thank you.” He sighed with relief and then glanced down at the basket of tomatoes by her feet. “Are you making something with them?”
They might as well eat some of the harvest before it rotted. “Pasta?”
“Can I help?”
“Sure, but you should know my cooking skills tap out at Ramen.”
“Maybe you don’t need cooking skills. When I was looking at your books, I read something about water magick. This could be a great opportunity to practice your craft. Think you could cook dinner without the gas?”
She smiled, encouraged by the challenge. “I can try.”
Adriel was in the kitchen when they entered the house. She didn’t appear surprised to see them together.
“We apologized.”
“I heard.”
Damn vampires and their supersensory hearing.
Needing a change of subject, Juniper hefted the basket of tomatoes onto the table. “Do you like spaghetti?”
Adriel’s smile triggered something protective in Juniper. She needed to heighten her magick skills because she couldn’t accept Adriel’s plan of surrender. “Who doesn’t? I’ll get the flour.”