Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 85552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
“Leeta is having a bad reaction to Camille’s blood. I want her behind locked doors until after I clean up.” Xander led me around them. “Don’t go in there until we’re done washing up.”
“What type of reaction?” Victoria bared her fangs. “Are you putting my husband and me in danger?”
“Of course not.” Xander’s voice boomed through the room. “Just give Camille and me time to wash up and eat, then I’ll take you both in there to check on Leeta.”
“You have an hour,” Victoria declared.
“And if I take longer?” Xander turned around and faced her. His fangs burst out. Black claws as dark and sharp as an obsidian blade erupted from his fingertips.
Gasping, I jerked back in shock.
Did he always have claws?
“Claws!?” Victoria shrieked in terror, jumping a few feet back. “When did you get those?”
“Holy Goddess.” Ty approached, kneeled by Xander’s hands, and studied the claws that had burst from Xander’s fingertips. “It’s one thing to say your powers are ripening, but. . .it’s a whole different matter to actually witness it. The only vampire with claws that I’ve ever seen was the Quiet King.”
Xander raised his hands to his face and turned them around, gaping at the sharpened black tips. “This is the first time claws have come out. I didn’t even know I had them.”
Unsure of my movement, I touched some of the torn flesh that surrounded the claw on his index finger. “Does it hurt?”
“No.” He shook his head. “I just felt like Victoria was challenging me and I got angry.”
Ty quirked his brows. “Do you feel challenged a lot lately?”
“No,” Xander mumbled.
I widened my eyes. “You did get pretty mad with Ian and me in the tunnel.”
Xander growled.
“The anger could be related to your ripening.” Ty sniffed near Xander. “Do you feel territorial towards your queen?”
“Back away from her and she’s known as Camille to you,” Xander said through clenched teeth. “And I have no new anger or territorial issues.”
A tiny laugh escaped my lips and he glared at me.
“Fine. I’m a little territorial.” Xander’s claws retracted.
“Well, regardless, this is happening so quickly,” Victoria murmured in a hushed tone. “I’ve read that in the ancient times before the Quiet King, when there were lots of princes, it took them several years to ripen. Only strong domina blood could speed up the process and still that only cut a year or two off the process.”
Ty and Victoria directed their gazes to me.
Ummm. . .
“We’ll be back after we’ve cleaned up.” Xander seized my hand, guided me to another iron door, and opened it. New flesh formed around his wounded fingertips and sealed. “We’ll finish this discussion after we’ve settled.”
Chapter 18
Rainbows
Camille
Crossing the threshold into Xander’s room was like being transported to another world.
Lush carpet, as green as a field of grass, decorated the floor.
Sky blue paint coated the walls. A mural of a huge sun hovering over a blossoming forest had been painted on the wall across from me.
Silver and gold paper birds hung from the ceiling by tiny wires embellished in glimmering beads.
I stood in front of the door with my mouth gaping open.
“Don’t laugh at my bedroom.” Xander frowned and lit several baby blue candles on a table by a big bed in the center of the room. Blankets with an intricate pattern of rainbows covered the bed.
Loud laughter fled my lips.
Fast, I wrapped my hands around my mouth and still my giggling spilled between my fingers.
Xander opened a white door on the right side of the mural’s sun. “I didn’t decorate this. Victoria did.”
“No, I didn’t!” Victoria shouted near Xander’s open bedroom door as she returned to the campfire. “That’s all Xander’s doing right there, which is probably why he’s never brought a woman back to his room. No one’s sleeping with a man who loves rainbows. It would make me doubt his ability to perform.”
“Thank you, Victoria.” Chuckling, I closed the iron door behind me.
Xander escaped through the white door.
A shelf full of nature books was piled near the bed.
Three black treasure trunks stacked on top of themselves stood next to the shelf. A brass lock hung from the handle of each trunk.
I strolled closer to the mural of the sun, analyzing the subtle details of the forest. The artist had included many animals—from tiny birds to massive furry beasts displaying fangs and gazing back at me as if they were about to pounce.
“Who did this beautiful mural?” I called out to Xander.
“I did,” he said from the bathroom.
“You’re a wonderful artist.”
“No. I’m just a bored vampire.”
The sound of water running hummed into his bedroom.
Bath time!
I rushed toward the white door, kicking my slimy boots off.
Finally, I can get out of these nasty clothes and be clean.
I unbuttoned my pants and arrived at his bathroom’s entrance, inhaling the sweet perfume of mesoberries as it drifted from the blue candles.