Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
There was respect in her voice, but with her, he couldn’t tell if it was genuine or not. He wasn’t going to consult Rogue. He had to be able to read her on his own if they were going to live together. They had to be real together, and she had to be on the same page with him. He stepped back, away from the door, worried that once he opened it, she would slip back into fight-or-flight mode.
“It was good preparation for my life. I was able to train mentally and physically nearly every second of the day and night.”
“But your family doesn’t really know who you are.”
He turned away from her on the pretense of opening the door. “That did bother me more than I expected, but I got used to it. I didn’t want to lose them. There was a time when I was so certain I was like Patva: brutal, vicious, without any ability to feel. I didn’t want Patva to die. I wanted him to suffer. I had a plan and was determined to carry it out. I wanted him to suffer every day of his life. To lose everything. To never trust anyone. The idea was too good to give up, no matter what.”
He stepped aside so she could see the beautiful suite—and it was extraordinary. He had designed the room as a refuge for both Rogue and him to find peace. Once the door was closed and locked, it was the one place they could fully relax. He had made a pact with his leopard, and Rogue had given his word that he wouldn’t escape while Gorya was relaxing. This place was their last stand, and they were making it together.
Maya didn’t look around; she continued to stare at Gorya with her bluish-green eyes. They didn’t have that flat color in them at all as she inspected every inch of his face.
“You didn’t have to tell me the truth. You’re good at deceiving everyone around you. If Rogue refused to tell Wraith the truth, she might not be able to discern whether you were lying to me. But you are telling me the truth. Why?”
“How can you tell?”
“I just know.”
“You don’t want to be in a relationship. It will be extremely difficult for you. If you choose to do this, really try with me, I’m going to give you the real me, not some bullshit person I make up for everyone else. You deserve to know who I am if we’re going to do this.”
Her brows drew together, and she rubbed at them. “I’m not sure exactly what ‘going to do this’ entails.”
Before he could answer, she turned her attention to the room, her eyes widening with shock as she spun in a slow circle, taking everything in. “This is bigger than most people’s houses, Gorya. This is your bedroom?”
“It’s more than a bedroom.”
Gorya couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was very small, but for him, she was the only thing in the room. Every movement was graceful and fluid. The floor plan was wide open from one end to the other. Rather than approaching down the middle to the far side, where the room curved into the floor-to-ceiling bank of windows, she instinctively moved along the wall, where tall plants with wide lacy leaves created a haven for his leopard.
Maya didn’t stir a single leaf as she slipped through the jungle of trees and shrubs. She didn’t need to be in the form of a leopard to move like one. She was absolutely silent. He had acute hearing. At times her image faded in and out, as if even in human form, she blended in with the foliage or the background around her.
What did he know about her and where she came from? He was beginning to be a little suspicious about her origins. How could she be in a territory filled with shifters with not one of them suspecting she was leopard? Not just that, but they hadn’t detected her presence. She had to have passed through quite a few shifters to get to the building where Theo Pappas had imprisoned her in the interrogation room.
Maya stared out one of the tall windows, her fingers bunching the thick drapes as she looked at the massive outdoor plants. The branches on the outside trees beckoned him in both forms—man and leopard. Gorya always found the various shades of green cool and inviting. Truthfully, the trees were one more escape route out of many. He hadn’t yet told her about them, but he would.
Strangely, when he had created this room for an escape from others, where he could isolate, relax and be his authentic self, where Rogue could, he found he was more at peace than he’d ever been. He had no idea what to do with Maya, but the longer he was in her company, the more he wanted to be around her. Was that the pull of a leopard’s heat? Of the mating ritual? He wasn’t feeling Rogue’s influence at all. This was all about him, which made him uneasy.