Chapter 20: Chapter Twenty

Genesis

The minute he bit down— I knew I’d just done something I couldn’t undo… experienced something I would never, in all my days, be able to forget.

He said I’d know when he bit.

What he’d meant was I’d know when he finally gave in to his instincts. It wasn’t fast, like I’d expected, where he greedily sucked, pulled from my life source until I was drained.

Instead, the minute his teeth slid into my neck…

The world stopped.

Time stopped.

I closed my eyes, only to open them again and watch the world go by me in slow motion. Dust flicked in front of my face. The clock on the far side of the hallway moved… slower.

Everything was slowed, even my heartbeat, and for those brief seconds or maybe even minutes…

I felt every single part of him.

Every stretch of muscle.

Every breath.

His pleasure was mine. It was almost hard to breathe because my senses were so overwhelmed with not only him, but with the world around me.

The world I’d always known to be normal… was anything but normal.

The color of the wall had been blue.

Now it was electric blue.

Even Ethan’s skin looked different, almost transparent as he clung to my body, his fingers digging into my flesh.

It was indescribable, and I was failing at trying to soak everything in.

His tongue swirled across my neck, and then I felt him draw a little bit more; this time the feeling changed, and suddenly all I could smell was burnt sugar—like Christmas, only better.

My body felt heavy; it pulsed in perfect cadence with him.

Ethan sighed against my neck, and the world returned to normal bland colors. The clock finally made it to the next minute.

And I had to fight to keep myself from crying out for him to keep going.

“I’m sorry.” His voice was so low, so hoarse it was almost hard to understand his words. “I—you—” He cursed and pulled back.

His eyes were so green that I looked away. I had to because I was afraid if I kept staring, they would somehow burn my irises, blinding me.

“Don’t be,” I whispered. “I offered. Besides, you pulled me from my dream last night. It was the least I could do, right?”

“You have no idea,” his lips lingered in front of mine, grazing my mouth with each word he spoke, “how good you feel—how wonderful you taste.”

I leaned forward; the temptation to kiss him was too much.

A throat cleared. “Uh, do you still want eggs?”

I pushed against Ethan’s chest, taking a step back, and glanced at Mason.

His eyes betrayed nothing, so I wasn’t sure if he’d seen us, or if he’d just assumed I’d been offering up myself as Ethan’s breakfast.

“Yes,” Ethan answered for me. “She’s lacking protein.”

“Huh?” I asked, dumbfounded. “How would you know…?”

He smirked.

“How’s my iron?”

“Perfectly balanced.”

We shared a smile. It felt good to talk to him like he didn’t hate me, yet I still felt like I had no choice but to keep my guard up.

It was a tie between wanting to open up to him, yet knowing that if I did and he rejected me again, I’d have no one to blame but myself.

I needed to remember he was still an immortal.

School really hadn’t prepared me for what I was up against.

“Eat,” Ethan urged. “I’ll wait for you in the study. We can go over your horrible education after Mason’s convinced you’ve eaten enough.”

Mason held up the pan of eggs again in his hand.

Ethan kissed my head and left, leaving me and Mason alone in the hallway.

“So…” Mason moved out of the way so I could step by him. “Good morning so far?”

I fought to hide my grin. “The best.”

“Wait until you eat my eggs.”

“You mean it gets better?” I joked, elbowing him in the side.

“Yes, but be warned, I made the whole carton on account I’m used to cooking for more than one person. You’ll insult me if you don’t eat. Besides, according to your mate, you’re lacking in protein.”

I rolled my eyes and sat at the table while Mason served me an ungodly amount of eggs.

Both Stephanie and Alex were nowhere to be found.

I shoveled some eggs into my mouth and fought back a moan. The man could cook. They might tease him about eating berries and pinecones, but his eggs were fluffy.

“So what do you guys do during the day?”

“As opposed to during the night?” Mason laughed. “Tell me, are you under the impression I go outside and howl at the moon when night falls?”

I felt my cheeks heat.

He barked out a laugh. “I may sit in on your studies this afternoon just so I can watch you blush the entire time.”

I poked a few more eggs. “So?”

“The four of us are Immortal Elders, not only do we each have business holdings all over the world—ones we're still very much involved in—but we keep the peace.”

I frowned. “Like the police?”

“Sort of.” Mason shrugged. “I guess, in a way, I'm pack leader. I check in on the different families of werewolves in the Greater Seattle area and keep in constant communication with them.

“Some of the families like to live outside of the city and, naturally, outside of the country, so I get reports on them on a daily basis.”

“Alex and Stephanie? What about them?”

“Sirens,” Mason leaned back in his chair and lifted a mug of coffee to his lips, “tend to focus on play more than work.”

“Meaning?”

“Curious little thing, aren’t you?”

“Well…” I put down my fork. “I’m curious because, to be honest, when I was in school, I was taught you guys kept to yourselves. Nothing ever mentioned jobs or hobbies.

“I guess I assumed you just sat around and thought about your own immortality.”

“How boring…” Mason’s eyebrows lifted. “To sit around and only think about yourself. Sounds more like a Dark One than a werewolf.”

“Is that what they do?”

“I’ll let Ethan explain exactly what Dark Ones do, other than rule with an iron fist and petition archangels.”

My ears perked up. “Real archangels?”

“No, fake ones… we just like the name because it sounds cool.” He smirked. “Yes, real ones.”

“You’ve seen them?”

“Once, a very long, long time ago. As long as we keep the peace between all species, they don’t interfere. They have no reason to.”

“And if war breaks out?”

Mason glanced over my shoulder, his eyes drawn to the hallway. “Ethan’s irritated with me for keeping you so long. Two more bites then go back down the hall, first door on your left.”

“But—”

“Two bites.” Mason held up two fingers. “And then you get to go to school with a vampire.”

I felt myself blush again because all I could think about was Ethan, in all his sexiness, trying to teach me something—anything—in that deep seductive voice of his.

Yeah, it was going to be a really long day.