Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 38466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 192(@200wpm)___ 154(@250wpm)___ 128(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 192(@200wpm)___ 154(@250wpm)___ 128(@300wpm)
Jessa knew she wasted valuable time, so pulling up her courage she darted out of the car and ran toward the opener. She knew she would have to be quick, because once Paul knew what she was doing he’d attack with a vengeance.
Jessa reached out and slammed her hand on the opener, but just as she turned to make a mad dash for the car the door burst open, and Paul grabbed a chunk of her hair.
She screamed and reached back as he tugged hard enough to have fierce pain slamming into her skull and her body flying backward.
Her ass landed on the cement ground, and a burning agony climbed up her spine. Tears of pain, fear, and frustration pricked her eyes as she stared up at Paul.
A dark look crossed his face, a look she had seen so many times. It was the expression right before he hit her. Bracing herself for the blow, she saw his hand swing toward her right before it connected with her cheek.
Her ear rang, and floaters flashed before her eyes. She felt her lip split open, and then the tangy, metallic taste of blood filling her mouth.
“That was just a sample of what I’m going to do to you.”
Before he could say anything else, or move for that matter, two bright headlights filled the driveway.
She felt the floodgates open up as she cried hard and powerfully.
Deacon and Thayer were back.
Chapter
Twenty-Three
“What. The. Fuck?” Deacon slammed the truck into park, but Thayer had already jumped out of the cab and taken off at a dead run to the garage.
Deacon tore after his brother. He felt his animal clawing and roaring to be free. The sight of Jess on the ground with some male’s hands on her had his blood pounding.
The smell of her blood filled the air, and he saw her split lip and the nasty bruise starting to form on the side of her face. He couldn’t stop it from happening. His bones broke, and his muscles contorted.
He kept his eyes on Jessa as the shift took over him. Her eyes grew wide, and the tangy scent of her fear bathed the night.
Thayer was still in human form, but Deacon could tell his brother was on the verge. The scent of fear rolling off the man when he got a look at him in his snow leopard form would have had him grinning, if he could have.
He had a feeling the man trying to place claim on what was theirs was Paul. Deacon wanted blood, a lot of his fucking blood.
Thayer reached them first and lunged at the man. Fists flew in a flurry of movement, and although he wanted in on the action, he knew he had to get Jessa away from the violence.
He moved toward her, slow and steady, but her fear of him grew. She kept casting glances at Thayer. Deacon made a low sound in his throat, and she whimpered in response.
Deacon had meant to try to ease her, but he cursed himself for frightening her even more. She scrambled back and then turned and bolted.
Fuck!
He looked at Thayer, who continued to beating the shit out of the guy. Blood poured from his mouth and nose and mouth, and his eyes were rolling back in his head.
Deacon could see the flash of white behind his brother’s eyes, and knew he was precariously close to shifting. At this point he didn’t give a shit if Thayer tore the asshole limb-from-limb.
What he was more concerned about was Jessa running into the woods.
Deacon sprinted toward the tree-line. Lifting his head, he inhaled deeply, caught her scent, and took off in that direction.
Chapter
Twenty-Four
It felt like fire burned in Jessa’s lungs. She pumped her arms and legs as she ducked and dodged low hanging tree limbs.
The snow was thick, and it was like making her way through mud, but she didn’t allow that to slow her down.
Did she really see what she thought she saw? Shaking her head, she narrowly dodged a branch. She stumbled on the ground and clawed at the snow to right herself.
Jessa couldn’t hear anything aside from her beating heart and the air leaving her lungs. It sounded loud in the eerie darkness of the forest.
Had that really been Deacon, as a leopard? God, she’d lost her freaking mind, but it had been real. She had seen his body contort from a man to an animal.
Even though it sounded so absurd, she knew what she saw, and it had been horrifying. Even the low growl he had directed toward her had been so fearsome. One of the men she had grown to love was not really a man at all.
And when she had looked at Thayer, who had been destroying Paul, she had seen the same supernatural flash of color that seemed to glow in his eyes.