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)
“Nothing happened.”
“Was it Ty?” Xander’s skin rippled with power.
“Of course not.” I frowned.
“Who?”
“First. . .relax. D-did the horns hurt when they came out?” I slowly lifted my hand to touch his right horn. “Please relax.”
“And then will you tell me?”
“Yes.”
He closed his eyes and exhaled as my finger slid up the smooth texture of his horns. They very much reminded me of polished obsidian—so rich with dark color and shiny like they were brand new. A humming noise vibrated from his chest as I stroked the other horn. “How long have you had these horns?”
“This is the first time they’ve appeared. I’ve always felt something hard around my forehead,” he confessed. “But I’m shocked that I have horns too, I’m just too mad right now to be in awe.”
“You have no reason to be mad. Nothing happened. I would never disrespect you like that.” I slid my finger over the curve of his horn. “Why do you think the horns came just now?”
“I think my rage speeds up my maturity.” Moving his horns away from my fingers, he opened his eyes. “Was Ty sitting in this bed with you?”
“No. It was Ian.”
Xander’s body shook. His two sharp fangs peeked from his top lip.
“Are you going to bite me now?” I smirked.
“No, but I would kill Ian if it weren’t for that stupid spell.” Xander’s eyes blazed with rage. “Instead, I’ll make him wish he were dead. Take his head off and tear away at his limbs. Scatter them around the sewer so that it takes years for him to find himself.”
“No. You won’t. Just let me explain—”
“Why did he come?”
“You’re going to be upset.” I returned to caressing his horn.
He purred again, paused, and moved the horn away. “Stop distracting me.”
“Promise me you won’t hurt Ian.”
The right side of his lip rose as he sneered. “I can’t make that promise.”
“I won’t tell you until you promise that you won’t hurt him.”
He growled.
“Please, Xander.”
“Then, I promise.”
“Seriously?”
“Tell me.”
“We made an exchange,” I admitted. The sound of ripping sheets greeted my ears as Xander gripped the blanket with his claws.
“He vowed to protect me.” I covered his hands with mine to stop him from tearing the material anymore. “And he’s going to tell me about my blood. His first queen had red hair and blood like mine.”
“And what did you give him?”
“What he asked for. My blood.”
“You mean my blood.” He narrowed his golden eyes at me.
Silence passed between us.
If Ian hadn’t told me about a ripening prince’s volatile reactions to their first queen, I would have argued with Xander right then.
Instead, I decided to calm myself down.
“Understand this.” I brushed my finger against his right horn and relished in its smooth texture. “I am your queen.”
Xander bared his fangs at me, but didn’t say a word.
“Understand that I would never disrespect or try to hurt you.” I wrapped my hands around both his horns and gripped them.
He trembled. A low moan left his lips.
I slid my hands up to the tip of his horns and then inch-by-inch slipped them back down, enjoying his reaction—his body shuddered, another moan left him.
“Also.” I licked my lips. “I don’t plan on taking any new lovers. In fact, I think you spoiled me for any other, vampire or human. There may never be anyone else.”
“He’s tasted your blood.” Xander closed his eyes. “I don’t like that.”
“It’s my blood to give to whomever I want.”
It is not!
I trembled and continued to stroke his horns. “Relax.”
He grumbled, laid his head on my breasts, and rubbed the side of his face against my nipple.
“It was only a few drops. He didn’t bite me or drink from my skin.”
“I’m still mad.”
“A hundred guards are looking for me. It wouldn’t hurt to have some more protection.”
“I’m your king and protector.”
“He is the Quiet King’s twin.”
He stilled against me.
“Ian knows a lot about him and what occurs with a ripening prince. You need information and help.”
A low grumble left him.
“You will be Ian’s king.”
A growl escaped him then.
“What’s done is done, Xander. Don’t be mad at me. We need Ian and probably the rest of the vampires down here.”
“They will not drink your blood.”
“Ian will help you to protect yourself and me—”
“I don’t need him to protect me. And I am only to protect you.”
“What if I need to be guarded from you?”
The air thickened with his magic.
Slowly, Xander rose. “From me?”
I swallowed.
His hands went to the top of the shirt I wore. In a blur, he ripped the shirt away with his claws and exposed my breasts. The cool air tickled my nipples. He licked his lips. “Ian won’t be able to stop me from getting to you if I want to. No one will. Not even Ambi.”
His tongue lapped at my nipple with long torturous strokes.
I writhed under him, crying out with delight.