Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
“You can’t think like that, okay?” Elle said. “Nothing bad is going to happen.”
“Until something bad does actually happen.” Layla closed both books. “Look at me, Elle. I can’t protect anyone. I don’t even know when I’m doing magic.”
“Like the fact that book is floating,” Elle said, pointing beside Layla’s head.
She quickly put her hand on top of the book and pressed it down to the seat beside her. “I don’t even know I’m doing that.”
Elle laughed. “Come on.” She nudged Layla’s shoulder. “You have to admit this is all pretty cool.”
With her friend laughing, smiling, and seeming so happy, she couldn’t quite deny it was cool.
“You’re right. It is kind of cool.”
“See. You’re focusing on all the bad stuff.”
“Well, can you blame me?” Layla asked. “There’s a cult out there that wants to drain my blood and, you know, kill me in the spot where I was conceived and then born. It doesn’t seem like any of that is good.”
Elle winced. “So true, now that you say it like that, it kind of sucks, doesn’t it?” Her best friend had her lips pursed and Layla couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
It felt so good to laugh. To not worry or freak out, or be fixating on who her parents were.
Layla didn’t know how long they were laughing for, but they ended up on the floor. She put a hand to her stomach. Her head was next to Elle’s as they stared up at the ceiling. “Do you realize how many people or beings must have been here?”
“Brandon said there have been a lot of people during his time.”
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?”
“Yep.”
“And a small cult wants to completely wipe them out. To take control.”
“Yes, it’s just greed,” Elle said. “Their thirst for control and power.”
“Are you afraid?” Layla asked.
“No, I’m not. It probably helps that I’ve got a kick-ass mate who’ll do anything to protect me.” Elle rolled onto her side. “And speaking of mates, are you going to spill the beans on Alexander?”
Layla groaned. She should have known that was coming.
“You’ve been so busy with, you know, attempting to be this amazing woman, and don’t think I didn’t notice how disheveled you looked the other night.” Elle winked.
She rolled her eyes and couldn’t help but laugh.
“How was it?” Elle asked. “You know, with a vampire?”
“I imagine it’s the same no matter what species they are.”
They both couldn’t help but chuckle. It had felt like a lifetime since they had just had some girly time.
“Do you love him?” Elle asked.
“Yeah, I do. It’s the strangest thing.”
“You mean after your crush on Lewis?”
“That too, but I don’t know. I think with Lewis, it was because he was cute and I was this young girl.”
“You’re still a young girl,” Elle said.
“Very true, but with Alexander, it was like … I guess, an obsession. Does that not make me sound creepy?”
Elle wrinkled her nose. “Not in the least.”
She burst out laughing. “Then fine, I can be creepy. After work, I’d go home, wash, because I smelled like wolf, and I’d change, wander into the forest, and he’d be there, you know, watching me.” She couldn’t help but smile. “I … unlike the pack, he didn’t treat me any differently, you know? I wasn’t insignificant to him.” She shrugged. “He made me feel important.”
“Because you are important and special, and everything in between.” Elle took her hand and they locked their fingers together. They had done this for years, growing up together. They were the best of friends. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“I don’t either. I’m scared, Elle.”
Her best friend pulled her in close and tightened her hold around her. In that moment, she knew even her friend feared for her.
Chapter Eleven
“You need to do matey things with Layla.”
Alexander looked up to see Crazy Lizzie had folded her arms across her chest and was glaring at him. He closed the book he’d taken from Brandon’s selection. It had all the details of Layla’s parents. He knew she had gone there several times to read the book and he wanted to see what she had seen. To understand his mate better.
“What?”
“You heard me, fang boy. She needs to not think about the threat that’s coming, and trust me.” Crazy Lizzie stopped to suddenly burst out laughing. She did so, holding her stomach, and then in the next second, she was serious. “It is coming. Her magic is there, but I can’t keep forcing it. This is not how a witch is supposed to work. It’s meant to be all magic and rainbows, and fun. Not a crash course on how to die. I also need to get some stuff. I sense something powerful is coming and I need reinforcements.”
He got to his feet. “You’re telling me to take Layla away from focusing right now, when the threat is getting closer?”