Total pages in book: 401
Estimated words: 390373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1952(@200wpm)___ 1561(@250wpm)___ 1301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 390373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1952(@200wpm)___ 1561(@250wpm)___ 1301(@300wpm)
The moment Kolis realized he wasn’t getting anywhere, he’d cursed me with her mouth and voice. I’d sat through it, not moving an inch, not speaking. The simmering anger grew into a rage as he used her hands to claw at herself. When she drew blood on her cheeks, I couldn’t take it anymore. Could no longer bear witness to it.
I snatched one of the blankets she had kicked aside, and the sound of stitches ripping rent the air as I tore a narrow strip off with my bare hands.
“Is someone mad?” she taunted with a dry, cackling laugh.
Turning, I wrapped one end around my fist and moved fast. Grabbing her hand, I yanked it from her face.
“What are you—?”
“Stop speaking.”
“Make me. You can use your co—”
“Shut up.” I caught her other hand and rolled her onto her stomach.
That thin, reedy laugh scraped against my skin. “I wasn’t suggesting this, but if that’s what you want…”
“Shut the fuck up.” I dropped to my knees, using them to pin her legs together. I yanked both arms behind her—
“Why?” she whimpered, causing my gaze to shoot to the side of her face. The slithery coldness was gone from her voice. “Why are you doing this to me?”
Teeth grinding, I pressed her wrists together.
“You’re hurting me!” she shouted, bucking her hips to dislodge me. “Why are you hurting me? Why?”
My chest felt as if the claws of a Craven had dug into it, ripping open the cavity. I faltered—
Poppy reared with a burst of strength, nearly throwing me off as she broke my hold on her wrists.
Cursing, I clamped my knees against her hips and grabbed her upper arms, pulling them back once more as gently as I could—it was still her body.
“Please, don’t!” she screamed. “Please!”
The scratching on the door started again. I shut myself down when Delano whimpered. I felt absolutely fucking nothing as I quickly wrapped the strip of blanket around her wrists, keeping it as loose as I could but tight enough that she wouldn’t be able to tear her way free. Once I was finished, I rolled her onto her side and rose, backing up.
“Please don’t do this,” she begged. “Please.”
Breathing heavily, I dropped into the chair.
She yelled. Screamed. She screeched and thrashed about until her voice gave out. Lying on her side, she panted as she glared at me with icy hate, Delano pawing and digging at the iron door the whole time, whining.
I ignored it.
All of it.
Until she finally quieted—either him giving up or her body giving out. Her eyes closed, and her breathing became shallow and quick but steady.
Delano’s whimpers faded but never truly went silent as I stared at the thin rivulets of blood coursing over her scars.
In that moment, I knew three things.
Kolis was weak—very weak. That was why the bonds around her wrists held. That’s why he tried what he had to escape instead of fighting. He’d wanted to distract me.
Kolis also didn’t want to feed. It would’ve strengthened him, but it also meant strengthening her—the reverse of when she refused to feed. Both were trying to keep the other weak.
And the third thing I knew without a doubt?
I was going to kill him.
CHAPTER 5
CASTEEL
I stood, leaning against the door with my arms loosely crossed over my chest as I did what I’d been doing for what felt like weeks now.
I watched Poppy.
I watched her sleep, thinking about all the shit that must be going on outside Wayfair’s walls. The battle at the Bone Temple seemed like forever ago, and we’d been in the cell for at least a day. Maybe two. My world had stopped moving, but I knew the realm hadn’t.
I picked up the sound of someone approaching and turned my head to the side. A moment later, a knock vibrated the length of my back. Pushing off the door, I turned and opened it. I knew it wasn’t just Emil who’d returned. My gaze met eyes belonging to the last person I wanted to see. Well, maybe not the last person. More like second to last. At the very least, the third to last.
My brother had returned from wherever he’d disappeared to since I last saw him with Millicent.
And he looked like shit.
Malik’s shoulder-length hair was pulled back in a knot at the nape of his neck, all except for the single sandy-brown strand that fell against a cheek that seemed sharper than before. The bruise on his jaw was gone, but the smudges under his eyes had gotten darker. It looked like he was getting as much sleep as I was.
“What in the actual fuck?” Malik rasped, his gaze moving from me to the cell door.
Lips pressed into a firm line, I glanced at Emil standing behind Delano. The white wolven passed me, leaving a trail of blood. Ears twitching, he kept looking back at the door—the iron door—he’d managed to score. Three of his claws had broken off. They’d grow back, but my stomach still soured. I lifted my gaze to Emil.