Chapter 149: Chapter Thirteen

Serenity

My neck burned.

Blood caked my fingertips.

I wasn’t healing as fast as I normally did, and that thought alone shot every last nerve I had.

I could feel his teeth.

He hadn’t even numbed me.

Just tore right in like a complete animal.

It was the most terrified I’d ever been in my entire life.

And then.

Pleasure.

So much pleasure.

His. I felt his arousal through the blood; I felt the rightness of what he was doing even though he was doing it wrong. He was a messy savage with no restraint.

And I loved it more than I should.

My heart had soared for his, even as he’d drained my body.

My only thought had been, ~“Take your fill.”~

Even if it meant my death.

I’d been so disgusted with myself I could barely look at him before Timber took me from the room.

The fact that he’d been able to even send me away after tasting for the first time, after experiencing the link between our minds, the crashing rightness I felt between our souls…

Was a terrifying thought.

If he pushed me away, if he left me, my future, that psychotic wolf with bad manners and chef-like tendencies, I wasn’t sure my heart would survive.

It was already too fragile from my parents.

I heard his heart speed up—mine matched it—and then his scent was everywhere, different from before, sweeter, as if he’d just rolled around in honey and forgotten to shower.

Then the spice was back filling the air with more flavor as I tried to calm my breathing.

The door opened.

He’d changed into new clothes and wiped most of the blood from his body.

His eyes were crystal blue.

His feet bare.

His low-slung jeans made a noise as they rode low on his hips and pressed against his tan skin while he crossed the room.

I licked my lips and finally gained enough courage to speak. “So… you, uh… still hungry?”

“It’s not funny.” He ran a hand through his shaggy hair and cursed.

I lifted a shoulder, “It’s sort of funny. Who knew wolves could bite like that?”

He exhaled and bit down on his lower lip so hard it turned white, and then his eyes were on my neck darting back and forth with uncertainty. “Let me heal you.”

“It’s nothing.” I covered the place with my hand where he’d bitten me and came back with more blood staining my fingertips. “I’ve survived worse.”

“I doubt it.” He leaned forward, his massive body hovering over me. “Please, Serenity, let me fix this.”

His plea hung heavy between us.

There would be no fixing what had been done.

I leaned forward and pulled my hair over my left shoulder, bravely exposing my gaping wound to his lust-crazed eyes.

Bad idea?

Maybe.

But I stupidly trusted him.

Maybe it was the link between us; maybe I was just a sucker for deep brown eyes that flickered to blue and pierced the air with sensuality unmatched by anyone I’d ever met.

Mason leaned forward, his face inches from mine.

Maybe that was what had gotten me in this predicament in the first place, my inability to separate the fact that he was both beast and man— and I was easy prey.

His tongue very tentatively reached out and slid across the skin near my collarbone and then higher and higher, and with a moan, he swept over the wound.

I felt my skin knit together, fuse from his healing abilities, and when the pain finally subsided, he rested his head on my shoulder.

I ran my fingers through his hair while he picked up my free hand and licked a cut I hadn’t realized I had.

His tongue felt smooth against my skin. I immediately wanted it in my mouth, pressed against every inch of my body— even the parts that didn’t need healing.

With a shudder, I pulled my hand away.

He lifted his head, eyes so blue they reminded me of ice.

I saw the truth in his eyes. I saw the sentence he didn’t want to utter. I wasn’t sure if I should be offended, hurt, both? I bit down on my lip, took a gulp of air into my lungs, and whispered, “We’re mates.”

I figured if I said it aloud, it would sound less terrifying.

It wasn’t.

He was a council member.

An immortal king.

I was a part-time college student with no purpose and no friends outside of school and the small coffee shop I frequented where Mike, my barista, added extra espresso into my mochas with a side of blood.

I kept people at arm’s length.

Because I was afraid that if they got close, the truth would slap me in the face.

I wouldn’t be enough to make them stay.

“I had a mate,” Mason whispered, “before.”

“What happened to her?” Jealousy flared to life over this nameless, faceless woman who’d shared his heart like mine— who’d kissed his lips and touched his skin. I wanted to rip her face off.

Mason tensed next to me. “It would be easier to tell you the story if you stopped thinking of all the graphic ways you could dismember her.”

I gasped. “Werewolves don’t read minds.”

“Not typically…” He sighed. “…no.”

“How?”

“That’s not the story you asked for, and it’s not one I know how to tell.” He gave his head a shake. “She was frail. I always imagined I’d be mated to a warrior, someone who understood my needs, who allowed me to take care of them. And she did all those things— but I always felt fear from her. It made her love feel tainted. It made me feel like I wasn’t doing enough to keep her happy, to keep her safe.” His voice cracked. “We had just found out she was with child when I woke up to find her dead next to me, no explanation, no reasoning. We’d been together so long we’d wrongly assumed that we were safe, that she was safe.”

I gasped and covered my mouth with a shaking hand. “I’m so sorry.”

“So am I,” Mason whispered. “So am I.” He moved and stood in front of me, his blue eyes locking onto me with such intensity I was afraid to breathe. “When balance was restored, and Ethan married Genesis, a war broke out, a war we cannot fight unless we’re at our strongest.”

I was afraid of where this was going. “My parents said something was coming. They just never said what. They didn’t involve themselves with immortal gossip. They thought they were above it.”

“Gossip?” Mason ground out. “And why do you talk about them like they no longer—” His eyes searched, found the answer on my face, and then looked away. “I’m sorry too. It’s a hollow feeling, one that is never quite filled again.”

I nodded. “So, what now?”

He looked hesitant and then almost embarrassed.

“Mason?”

“I, uh…” He jerked away from me so fast the moment shattered. He ran a hand through his shaggy hair and then eyed the door as if it were a narrow escape route he may not make in time. “…I should.” He gave his head a shake, his eyes going from brown to blue then back again.

“Mason?” When I said his name a second time his eyes stayed a blazing blue. I held my hand out to him. “Mason, are you okay?”

He went completely still. “Don’t speak.”

I gave him a small nod as he closed his eyes and looked like he tried to breathe with great effort.

I didn’t want to be afraid, but if he attacked me again, there would be no way to fight it, no way to fight him off whatever.

“Can’t.” He shuddered. “I can’t anymore.”

I stood.

He held out his hand to stop me; it shook as his fingers snapped and twisted, revealing a giant claw that could rip me in half if I breathed wrong.

“Mason, listen to my voice.” I was basically worthless as a vampire. I was fast, but not fast enough to escape him, and not strong enough to overthrow him.

Weak.

~Is that why they left?

Why does everyone leave? ~

“Ever since you came…” His chest heaved. “…I have no control.” His teeth snapped together as the muscles in his neck flexed like they were seconds from snapping. “Just stay the hell away from me!” he roared.

He jerked the door open, and it went flying behind him, slamming against the wall nearest the bathroom.

I took cover as a piece of wood flung in my direction and hit me in the elbow.

When I lowered my arms…

Mason was gone.