Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
Logan approached. ‘Anything we can do to help?’
‘Nah, but thanks,’ she replied.
Ripper pinned his brother in place with a glare, not wanting him any closer to her while she was injured.
Logan pursed his lips and raised his hands in a placatory gesture.
Still antsy, Ripper edged closer to her and breathed her in. The smell of blood wasn’t unpleasant to werewolves. And hers? It was spiced with magick, giving it a real kick.
She eyed him, one brow hiking up. ‘Getting bold, aren’t we?’
Okay, yeah, it was pretty audacious to invade her personal space and sniff her that way. But ask him if he gave a fuck.
Logan snickered. ‘He’s an Alpha. “Bold” comes with the package.’
Emberlyn made a humph sound and turned back to the table.
‘What exactly happened out there?’ Ripper asked her.
She crushed dried herbs in her palm and sprinkled the bits into the mortar. ‘I came straight home after leaving your place.’
Ripper sensed more than saw Logan lift his brows.
‘I heard growling when I got out of my car. The Rabid came out from behind the willow tree. It attacked. Retaliating sucked – it was a person at one time. I mostly tried to just put it to sleep, but it was a tough son of a bitch, not to mention fast. I only managed to daze it.’ She briskly wiped her hands on a cloth. ‘Logan yelled as he approached, and the Rabid heard him and fled.’
They didn’t often flee, so . . . ‘You must have hurt it bad enough that it felt too vulnerable to stick around.’
‘You don’t look at all spooked,’ Logan noted. ‘I mean, most people are after an encounter with the Rabid.’
She shrugged but then winced as the move pulled at her shoulder wound. ‘When I was a kid, I went through a stage of having recurring nightmares. It started after my mom died. Millicent took me down to the basement and summoned the devil.’
‘What?’ The word burst out of Ripper.
‘She thought that if I knew what it was to look into the face of pure evil, nothing would ever scare me again.’ Emberlyn added some chamomile tea to her mixture. ‘The nightmares did stop, and it is exceedingly difficult to spook me.’
Logan blinked. ‘You . . . you met the devil?’
‘He was pretty low key compared to the deities she regularly chatted to.’ Emberlyn’s spoon scraped the mortar as she stirred the contents fast, blending it all together.
Ripper exchanged a look with his brother. ‘Low key. Right.’ The more he heard about her upbringing, the more positive he felt that Millicent should not have been permitted to raise her. Gill and Dez knew what their mother was like, but they hadn’t offered their niece a home after their sister died. The assholes had left her with Millicent, not caring what it would mean for her.
‘Almost finished,’ said Emberlyn, tossing some glittering magick dust into her mortar. She gave the paste one last stir and then set down the pestle. ‘There. Done.’
Ripper lifted a small wooden spatula from the table. ‘I’ll put it on for you.’
Her brow pinched. ‘No need, I can do it.’
‘So can I.’ And he wanted to do it. ‘Let me.’
‘That wasn’t even really a request,’ she noted, her eyes narrowing. ‘It was an order. I don’t respond to those, in case you haven’t noticed.’
He cocked his head. ‘You know, people usually don’t argue with me.’
‘Yes, I’m sure they mostly roll over, show you their bellies, and give you your way. I’ll bet there’s even boob-jiggling when it comes to the ladies.’
Logan snorted.
‘But I’m no one’s idea of a people pleaser,’ she added.
‘Your shoulder has been clawed at an angle which is going to make it tricky for you to apply the poultice,’ Ripper pointed out. ‘Let me do that, and you can smear it on your leg wound. All right?’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Fucking Alpha werewolves,’ she muttered to herself, placing her hands on the surface of the table. ‘Always up in someone’s business.’
‘We’re helpful that way.’ He planted one hand on her upper back, hooking three fingers around the crook of her neck while resting his thumb and forefinger on her nape. Her skin was warm and soft and it pebbled at his touch. Her reaction made his gut clench.
It seemed only fair that they were both slaves to this damn chemistry that wouldn’t shift.
He scooped up some paste with the spatula and sniffed it. ‘I half-expected it to smell like feet or something. It smells like old books.’
‘I find the scent comforting, so I added it to the paste.’
He carefully applied it to one slice. ‘Did you notice any distinguishing marks on the Rabid?’ Old scars would show up as white slashes in the fur. It helped identify any Rabid.
‘It was missing a finger.’
Ripper blinked. ‘I don’t know of any wolves-turned-Rabid that only had nine fingers. The injury must have occurred during the time it was in Bloodhill.’ He smeared paste over the second claw mark. ‘Anything else?’