Page 85 of Blood Sweeter than Honey

You’re going to tell him and then you’re going to drink his blood, fuck him like your breeding him, and then your going to hunt down his obsessive ex.

A tremendous sigh escapes me as if the weight of the world is finally being lifted from my shoulders.

Yes. I’m going to tell him. I’m going to tell him, he’s going to love me regardless… and then we’re finally going to fuck like there’s no tomorrow, we’ll drink one another’s blood to complete our bond and live happily ever after. The end.

Closing my eyes, pressing my hands into the earth, and inhaling deeply, I visualize the golden breath ofAkashfilling my entire body.

Exhaling steadily, I visualize all my fear and anxiety leaving me in a dark cloud and being transmuted into light by the precious soil beneath me.

Fuck, I feel so much better already.

And just as a wave of calm washes over me… a tendril of my hair slips from my hair tie into my eyeline.

And my heart nearly fucking stops.

My verdelume.

Oh, fuck… Did I say I was ready?

No, no, no, no, no. I am not ready. I need… time. More time. To brace myself. To prepare for the worst.

Why, oh, why does Violette’s glamour have to fall now?

I suddenly feel like the universe is throwing me off the edge of a cliff so I can learn how to swim.

Don’t panic. Maybe it’s just the one verdelume… right?

With a shaky hand, I trail my fingers along my scalp…

My horns.

I stifle my sob with a dirty hand.

My breath catches as I hear hoofbeats pounding in the distance.

In the same instant, I’m leaping to my feet and running as fast as I can into the house. In the distance, Trigger begins barking wildly, and I don’t dare look back.

GIDEON

Atop our horses, Gertie tips her head toward my house behind me, from where we’re gradually herding the cattle back toward the barn.

“Uh, boss…”

Beau, Levi, and I follow her gaze to find Winnow dashing across one of my fields in a full sprint.

Beau chuckles. “Damn. Girl’s got some speed on her.”

Anxiety is a familiar knot in my gut and has me urging Juniper into a gallop. Winnow, with the speed of Usain-fucking-Bolt, somehow makes it to the porch steps before I do.

“Winnow baby, you okay?”

She doesn’t respond. I was only mildly concerned before, but now my adrenaline is starting to pump. By the time Juniper reaches my house, I’m already climbing out of the stirrups and ascending the steps in one long stride.

Trigger’s on my heels as I burst through the front door, and when I slam it behind me with more strength than I’d intended, I vaguely hear the sound of the door’s weatherproof, double-pane glass shatter.

“Winnow!”

I hear the bathroom door slam shut from within my bedroom and march down the hall.

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