Chapter 112: Chapter Eighteen

Mason

“Relax,” Cassius said again with a flick of his wrist as Stephanie moved her chess piece. “Things are going as planned.”

“Planned?” The hell! I stood and paced in front of the fireplace. “I heard the wall crack! He’s going to kill her!”

“Alex has only killed a sexual partner three times in his entire existence,” Stephanie said in a bored tone. “And he was young.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better,” I grumbled. For some reason, I felt protective of the little thing. She was a curvy little spitfire who would most likely fight him at every turn, and the mating process—it needed two minds to willingly join both physically and spiritually.

I gulped as a spasm of pain sliced through my chest.

I placed my hand over the spot that hurt and rubbed.

It always hurt.

Because of her.

It would hurt for an eternity—until we were re-joined in the afterlife… that was if the heavens allowed us to be together.

It wasn’t as if we were doing a good job of keeping evil at bay—I glanced around the room at the ragtag team.

The Immortal Council was strong.

Ethan had Genesis and their twins, who were growing before my very eyes. Cassius was an archangel and had his Stephanie.

And now what? Alex had Hope.

But did he truly have her?

Besides, she was royalty. She was special. The only elf who could not die through childbirth. And he, the most powerful siren, yeah that was going to work out just great!

The guy literally had the power to kill by orgasm.

I let out a frustrated growl as a scream of pain erupted from the kitchen. My knuckles burned with the need to fight. My beast roared for me to transform and take that siren’s head off.

I’d been alive for hundreds of years.

And it wasn’t until recently that I had trouble controlling my temper.

My urges.

I blinked back the anger, the pain, the need to attack, and tried to take a deep breath.

“It grows within.” Cassius suddenly said at my side. Seconds ago, he had been playing chess and now he was annoyingly poking around in my head.

“Go to Hell,” I grumbled, running a rough hand over my face. When was the last time I ate? Maybe that was it. I needed to feed.

“On something more than a berry, perhaps?” Cassius suggested in that ridiculously arrogant tone of his.

“Don’t make me kill you, Angel.”

“I would pay to see that fight,” Ethan smirked from across the room as he sipped a cup of blood, his eyes flashing green.

“She could die,” I said again. Maybe if I kept saying it, they would take me more seriously. “We need them to mate. And she is afraid of him!”

“She’s afraid of all of us,” Genesis’s soft voice was the only one able to bring me comfort. Her hand slid into mine as she laid her head on me, her weight settling nicely against my body. I craved her warmth, but not as much as I craved her friendship. “It’s a normal reaction.”

“Normal,” I repeated with a snort. “None of us are normal.”

“Humans are the weird ones,” Stephanie agreed.

“Humans are the chosen ones,” Cassius corrected.

“They cannot even feed themselves!” I argued, raising my voice. “If you asked a human to hunt a lion, they would become dinner!”

“Hunt many lions in your day?” Ethan piped up, and suddenly all of my family surrounded me like I was about ready to break through the window and go completely savage like those zoo animals in that silly Disney movie Genesis forced me to watch.

“What?” I blinked at each of them. Ethan stood protectively in front of the hall leading to the kitchen while Cassius braced my shoulder with his heavy-as-hell hand.

“Control yourself,” Ethan warned. “Your hunger grows.”

“Fine!” I threw my hands in the air. “I will eat when they are done… coupling.”

Genesis snorted out a laugh.

“Not that hunger.” Ethan seemed amused.

“I don’t understand.”

“Your sexual hunger.” Ethan’s smile was so wide I wanted to punch his teeth out then slam his face into the glass coffee table. “You can smell their lust — it is awakening your own need to mate.”

“So you’re saying…” I clenched my fist. “That in a messed up way, Alex is turning me on?”

Cassius shook next to me.

I turned slightly.

The bastard was laughing!

He never laughed!

“I’m killing all of you,” I muttered. “Fair warning.”

“Get laid, Wolf,” Ethan winked. “Until then, maybe stay away from the Siren’s scent.”

The warning left a sour taste in my mouth, and I recoiled with a grimace. “I don’t want Alex.”

“To be fair…” Cassius shrugged. “Even the houseplant leans with all of its might toward the kitchen. Nature cannot help itself, and it seems… neither can you. Go for a nice long walk, maybe jump in a river.”

“And stay there, cool off,” Ethan added. “For at least a half hour.”

I glared at my companions. “I hate all of you.”

“Walks are good for dogs,” Ethan grinned.

I flipped him off and ran out of the house.