Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 43080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 215(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 215(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
Had he finally given up on this reality all together and stepped into one of his imagination?
Bain walked slowly closer, holding out his hands. “Don’t be afraid, Clive. I’m still me. This is just a part of what I am. I knew you saw through the glamour when I took off my glasses, but I’m sorry you had to see me that way without warning.”
“I’ve cracked,” Clive whispered, voice breaking on the word. “Finally and truly cracked.”
“No, you haven’t.” Bain shook his head, long, shining hair swinging around his face. “It’s why you mostly stay home, isn’t it? Because you see things you can’t explain. How long have you seen us, Clive?”
It took him a few moments to gather enough saliva in his bone-dry mouth to speak. “My whole life. Everyone told me I was crazy.”
“You’re not. There’s a whole other world mixed in with the human one. Beings like me, among all of you.”
Beings. Like him. Like the horned musician, the winged bird man, the woman he’d seen at five years old who’d smiled at him, showing sharp, pointed fangs. “What are you?” he whispered.
“I’m a basilisk,” Bain said softly. “I have two forms. The only things that don’t change are my eyes. You’re not crazy. You’re just special because you can see through the magic most of us use to blend in.”
“Special?” Clive was coherent enough to see true worry in Bain’s wild but strangely beautiful eyes.
“Somewhere in your family’s history, there is a preternatural like me. It gave you a kind of gift.”
“I wouldn’t call it a gift,” he muttered. “More like a curse.”
“No, it’s not.”
Clive looked at the body on his floor. “What was that?”
“A wendigo. Sent here to kill you, which is why it didn’t bother with a glamour. Whoever is after you is serious and very, very dangerous. I had no choice but to kill it.”
Clive was reeling. Though he’d come to realize today that this was all real, seeing it in such a…blatant way brought it completely home. He stared at the body, the hooves, the claws, the long, gnarled antlers. That creature had been sent here to kill him.
If Bain hadn’t been here, he’d be dead.
His legs gave out, and he slid to the floor, staring at the streaks of blood around him.
It was time to figure out who was after him.
“You okay, Clive?” Bain asked.
His gaze flicked back up to his bodyguard, and again, he took in how very naked Bain was. Naked and fucking stunning. Lean muscles rippled all over his long body. And his dick… Clive’s mouth went dry. Even soft, its length and girth were impressive. He tried to force himself to look away and he just couldn’t. Not until he heard Bain’s soft chuckle.
“Like what you see?” Bain asked as the corner of his mouth twitched.
His already heated skin went molten. “Sorry. You’re just so…naked. It’s impossible not to look.”
“You’re welcome to look all you like. Stay right there, okay?” Bain walked back toward the hall. “I’ll throw on some clothes, then I’ll explain more about my world, okay?”
“Yes. Please.”
He stayed still as Bain rummaged in the guest room but before he came back out, there was a knock on the front door. He didn’t want to walk past the dead creature on his floor, but he scrambled to his feet, still having to hold onto the edge of the counter.
“I got this,” Bain said as he swept back into the room, this time in his plain jeans and a black T-shirt. For some reason, Clive suddenly missed Bain’s usually colorful clothes. Kind of like he needed them for any of this to feel normal.
Bain answered the door. Two men, also in jeans and black T-shirts, came into the house. They looked like brothers with identical brown hair and features so similar, they could be twins. But one had blue eyes, while the other had brown. The one with brown eyes had a wicked-looking scar down the side of his cheek.
They glanced around the room, nodded at Bain, then walked to the wendigo. One pulled out a vial and sprinkled a shimmering, golden powder over the body. Then it felt like all the air was suddenly sucked out of the room.
Clive raised a hand to his throat. Opened his mouth to breathe, but couldn’t. Every hair on his body stood on end as if electricity had chased away the air. The room blurred before going so bright, he had to squint. No way was he closing his eyes with all this happening.
It was a good thing, too, because watching the wendigo’s corpse just…disintegrate was wild. Not only that, all the blood coating everything disappeared. His books were still on the floor, but they were all clean again. His refrigerator still held the huge dent, but no longer the signs of the fight that had happened here.