Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 49961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
Seeing no one, she relaxed against the seat. A knock on the glass made her scream. Carina spun sideways to look at the passenger window. An enormous figure stood there. She fumbled with the ignition as she focused on getting far away.
Sorry, Little girl. I didn’t mean to frighten you.
“Marcus! I’m going to kill you!” she ranted as she tried to slow her heart rate down.
Open the door, Carina.
Swearing curse words she didn’t even realize she knew, Carina hit every button on her door panel. When she lowered the window, he reached in calmly to press the correct control. Marcus settled into her passenger seat, setting her purse on his lap as he filled the space. He raised the windows for her that let in the cool evening air as he took her hand to his lips to kiss it.
“My apologies, Carina. I didn’t mean to scare you,” he repeated. “I realized I could reach you before you drove home.”
She stared at him, wishing she had something to throw at him for being so calm. She snatched her hand from his. “Does anything scare you?”
“Losing you.”
“You didn’t even stop to think about that.” She stared at him in shock when he’d replied immediately. To make herself feel better, Carina grabbed her purse from his lap and whacked him across the chest. “You almost gave me a heart attack!”
His amused chuckles erased the last of her annoyance. She slapped a hand over her mouth, trying to hide her laughter. He plucked the purse from her hand and set it in the backseat before winking at her.
“You!” she managed to say.
“I missed you today.”
“It seemed endless,” she confessed. “And I even got to see you.”
“Perhaps you could find a job where you could work from home. Or from Nightfall.”
“Right. I doubt Nightfall needs someone who can unravel fouled-up medical billing,” Carina said with a sigh. She checked in the rearview mirror before driving toward her apartment.
“No, but Darius would like to speak to you about a position working with him on the Nightfall accounts.”
“Are you kidding?” Carina stared at him. A honk behind her made her concentrate on the flow of cars.
“Sorry!” Carina called and waved as she left the parking lot. She focused on the road, not wishing to piss anyone else off. When she had merged safely into traffic, she glanced sideways at Marcus, who sat quietly next to her.
“Were you joking?” she asked. “Darius has a job for me after meeting me casually? There’s no way he has a clue whether I’m even competent.”
“Actually, Bram created a thorough profile of your training and core abilities. We were impressed.”
Carina barely prevented the eye roll that threatened as she concentrated on rush-hour traffic. “Did he have pie charts and bar graphs?”
“No. But I can ask him if you believe that’s the best way to showcase your skills.”
That time she rolled her eyes. “It’s intrusive that your group is investigating me.”
“Carina, Bram knew everything about you the moment you appeared as my mate.”
“What does that mean? Appeared as your mate? What told them I was your mate?” she asked. The traffic lightened as she turned off to the side street that led to her apartment.
“Part of the ritual to enter Nightfall includes receiving the approval mark.”
“That glowing moon. You said it would only become visible in the presence of someone in your clan or around Nightfall.”
“That’s correct. As it is placed, a drop of each attendee’s blood registers in our system. Bram has engineered a program that alerts the clansmen. Vampires recognize their mates by scent and touch. This eliminates the need for a chance encounter.”
“That’s why you inhaled so strongly when we met. I was afraid you could smell how aroused I was.”
“That was icing on the cake,” he said with a wolfish grin that almost made her drive off the road. “Careful.”
“You could jump out of the car, lift it on your shoulders, and place it down somewhere safely before I could hit something,” she said.
“True, but you’d regret damaging the car, so let’s avoid that.”
“You could really do that?” she asked, turning into her apartment complex.
“If I needed to keep you safe. Yes. What do you think about emptying your things completely from your apartment?”
“Sounds like a lot of work for two people,” she answered.
As her building came into view, Carina spotted a truck and a dozen heavily muscled guys stood around the front entrance. She shook her head. They’d have her packed and loaded in an hour.
“I guess I’m moving in with you tonight.”
“I want you with me, Little girl.”
To her surprise, Carina wasn’t worried about her future with Marcus. The mate bond, as he’d explained it to her, was rock solid. Their attraction would never fade or disappear. She loved that she could rely on their bond forever.