MASON
“Yours,” Her blood sang.
“Mine,” I said right back.
I was crazed, angry, hurt. I was so many things.
And then she pressed an ear to my chest, and my heart thumped with purpose, with new reason.
And instinct completely took over.
An instinct to claim.
An instinct born into me from hundreds of years of trying to do exactly the opposite.
I burned for her in a way that made no sense.
I pined as if I’d been searching for her my entire life.
My body begged.
My heart thundered, demanding I give answers I couldn’t give to questions I refused to ask myself for fear of what I would discover.
And.
I.
Snapped.
“Mason!” Timber was yelling. “You’re killing her!”
Her eyes rolled into the back of her head.
Why was Timber angry?
Why was she dying?
No, no, this couldn’t be wrong.
Not when it felt so right.
So good.
I felt her everywhere.
In my blood, in my mouth, coating my fangs.
More. I wanted more.
To strip her bare.
To expose every inch of her to my mouth.
“Let. Her. Go.” Cassius’ voice shook me from my state.
Why was Cassius suddenly there? What was wrong?
I’d never experienced such pain as I released her neck and fell to the ground, Serenity falling across me, a bloody mess.
I’d done that.
I’d put that empty dazed look in her eyes.
Oh God, I’d hurt her.
I hurt everyone.
I scrambled backward, my head knocking against the wall as I tried to swipe the blood off me, but there was so much, and I still wanted it.
I wanted all of it.
Wasteful.
What the hell was wrong with me?
Serenity finally came out of her paralyzed state. When she looked at me, it wasn’t a look filled with fear.
It was a look filled with disgust.
I disgusted her.
I disgusted myself.
This was why I’d been taken from my parents.
Why I’d stopped being King.
An abomination.
A fool.
“I’m—” Damn it. I couldn’t even get the words out; my voice sounded all wrong — gruff, loud — like it wasn’t me speaking at all. “I don’t understand.”
Cassius let out a long heavy sigh that shook the room with its force before his wings pointed down and then disappeared behind his back. “Timber, take Serenity upstairs—”
“No!” I roared, as if I had a reason to keep her by my side, protecting her, harming her, nearly ending her life. “She’s…” Stunned, I tried to erase the word from my mind, from my very existence.
“Mate. Mate. Mate,” my blood chanted.
Hell, I could hear her heart begin to pound; mine raced right along with her. I’d just somehow sealed our fates. I should have known all along it would be my lack of control that would do it.
I should have known.
I closed my eyes. “Go.”
“Mason—” She opened her eyes.
“Just go.”
I felt her disappointment in the air like a crackle of sadness splitting us in two, separating our hearts when all they ever wanted were to be next to each other.
I was losing my damn mind.
Once Timber and Serenity were gone, Cassius took one look at me and scowled. “You need to be more careful next time.”
“Tell me I heard you wrong.” I snorted. “There will be no next time. It was a mistake. I just… I’ve been having weird—” I gulped. “—weird cravings.”
Cassius sniffed the air. “Half lie. More omission than anything. Alright, I’ll bite.” He grinned at his own joke.
I just covered my face with my hands and prayed he’d kill me and get it over with.
“How long have you been having these… cravings?”
“Why do you always ask questions you already freaking know the answers to!” I roared.
His eyebrows shot up. “Alex’s yelling, I’m used to. This is new for someone normally so calm, so reserved, so loyal.” He made the word sound dirty.
I glared and then flipped him off.
The bastard laughed even harder. “I can’t wait to tell Ethan.”
“You aren’t telling anyone.” I stood to my feet, wobbly, but at least I was standing. “This is a onetime slipup, a mistake a—”
“Why do you think her blood sings to you, Mason?”
I ignored the burning truth in my chest, the signs, the monster within. “Because I’m a wolf. I stopped eating red meat. Red meat contains blood. Therefore, it’s a misplaced craving.” There. That sounded good even to me.
“You are not what you think you are.” Cassius’ eyes went white as a chill overtook the room. Great. Just great. I hated when he went full-angel. Especially now that I’d tasted blood, now that I’d messed up so royally I was most likely going to get struck down or at least punished. “And yet, you’re exactly what you think you are. You’re just too scared to admit it.”
I looked away. I had to. The truth was like a punch to the chest.
Blood, mine and hers, covered the floor.
Mine, from trying to claw my way from the war with my wolf, the one where I’d tried to throw myself from a cliff in an effort to take back control.
And hers, from my attack.
God, I’d attacked her like the monster I was.
Like a savage animal.
I still tasted her on my lips.
“Hmm…” Cassius tapped his temple. “…our pasts can only stay locked up for so long. Don’t you ever wonder why your human mate died to begin with?” His wings spread out from his body like tentacles testing the air. “You mated with one because it was how things were done, but your soul has always belonged… to another.”
He disappeared.
Without judgement.
Without punishment.
And maybe that was the point. I’d already spent an eternity in a prison of my own making. It would be useless to give me another.
When I was so good at staying in mine.
Until now.
I eyed the stairway with hesitancy.
The stairs creaked under Timber’s weight. “I feel like I should stay and watch the show, take notes, make popcorn,” he teased, “but if what Cassius just whispered in the air is true, then I probably don’t want to be anywhere near this house for another few weeks.”
“Out.” I jabbed my fingers toward the door.
He grinned and then shrugged. “Maybe if you stopped keeping secrets from your friends and family, you wouldn’t lash out and bite the first girl who wants to adopt a puppy.”
“I will rip your throat from your neck with ease, demon. Now leave.”
He leaned in. “After what I saw, I think I believe you. Have fun!”
He shoved past me.
The door slammed.
One heartbeat.
I counted its rhythm; I told my heart to match it.
And the strangest thing happened.
It did.