Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 109477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
She watched him, breathless, her chest heaving and her lips tingling and swollen from his fervor. Her back pressed against the wall behind her as if that alone were holding her up. She’d never received a kiss like that, had never felt like this, and wasn’t sure what to do with it. With him, her enemy. The danger of the realm.
His eyes leisurely came back to hers, the passion within them burning. His gaze stamped her parted lips.
“That kiss—those lips—belong to me now,” he said, and something clicked into place. She couldn’t identify what. “If they touch another intimately, you will have granted them their death tag.” Hardness stole over his expression, like he was getting himself back to reality.
She wished it were as easy for her. Her body still ached for him. Shivers continued to run her length. The haziness of passion wouldn’t clear from her mind.
“You are a human, my little treasure,” he went on, “and therefore, you must be a toy. My toy to play with however I like. To do with as I please. In the end, however, I will be forced to break you. It is the hazard of dealing with my kind. It cannot be helped.”
That sobered her up, the words ebbing and flowing around her pounding core and his dizzying proximity. She laughed, remembering what she’d thought earlier. Some dolls came to life in the middle of the night and killed their owners. She wasn’t the type of toy good little girls and boys would want lying around.
His lips tweaked into a panty-dropping grin. I am not a good little boy.
He winked, leaning closer again.
“When you wake,” he said with a devious sparkle in his eyes, “you’ll need to run. They aren’t the sort to let you live. Welcome to the game. It starts now.”
“When I—?”
All went dark.
9
Loud pounding dragged her to consciousness. Shouting pierced her cluttered mind.
She lay on one of the beds in Rutherford’s hotel room, her hands resting on her stomach. Deep night layered the window, as though the embodiment of blackness itself looked in. A soft pillow cradled her head. Little bits of tape covered each fingertip.
The banging kept in time to the pounding of her headache. A strange smell perfumed the air, metallic almost. Like rust?
She rolled off the bed, groggy, and paused when she noticed the splatter of darkening crimson against the wall. Blood, obviously. She remembered that happening. Liquid, darker still, clotted and cooled like gel, pooled on the multicolored hotel carpet near the end of the bed. A mangled body lay within the large puddle, the face still pristine. Rutherford.
No dove feather lay atop his chest. She knew who’d done it. He didn’t need the talisman.
Duct tape covered his mouth. In black Sharpie was written, Shhhhhh. A joke, clearly. Dead men told no tales, after all.
A laptop sat open on the desk. Duct tape was stretched across the blackened screen. This one read, You’re welcome.
She glanced at the tape on her fingertips. Still more writing, one word on each finger. D-o-n-’-t on one hand and t-o-u-c-h on the other. He’d made it so she wouldn’t leave fingerprints. How nice. He must’ve snatched Zorn’s instruction from her mind. Memory-thieving fucker.
More shouts came from the door. A beep signified the mechanical lock disengaging.
When you wake…you’ll need to run.
The door bumped open, caught by the additional lock. The sound of men’s shouting intensified as they became frustrated that they couldn’t get in. Another piece of duct tape stuck to the back of the door. Danger.
Her eyes widened as the situation came into focus. That fucking fae. He’d magically dosed her and left her to whoever was trying to break in.
They aren’t the sort to let you live.
“Fuck!” She rolled across the other bed to avoid the pools of blood. At the desk, she slammed the laptop shut and scooped it off the clean surface. Her knives had been put away neatly and placed on the floor in front of the open balcony door. Yet another piece of tape, containing a happy face, was stuck on the leather folder.
Why the hell would he make her scramble like this?
Welcome to the game. It starts now.
He was playing with his new toy.
The hotel door banged against the interior metal lock again. A body slammed against it; someone else yelled about busting it open. She didn’t have time for the panic button, and it wouldn’t make sense to press it now anyway. She couldn’t really wait around for Zorn to come rescue her.
That was nice of him, she thought sarcastically. The fae had given her extra time to save herself. Just not enough time to be saved.
She stepped out onto the balcony. The city lights twinkled and blinked below, a dizzying reminder of the height. She pushed the door closed behind her so no one would immediately assume she’d left this way. Hopefully the Celestials weren’t part of this clusterfuck.