MASON

I nuzzled her neck.

I was a freak.

She smelled — healed.

My nose touched her chin as my mouth watered with the need to pierce flesh.

I jerked back and gave my head a shake, my hair whipping against my cheeks so hard I probably looked half crazed.

Her eyes locked on my mouth.

I licked my lips instinctively.

Expression dazed, she blinked up at me and then frowned. “You smell… different.”

“Now I smell?” I lightly shoved her away from me. “You’re not the best at compliments, vampire.” I nodded toward the TV. “Let’s get this over with. I have a hunt to take you on.”

Her eyes narrowed in on mine before she directed her attention to the set and pressed a button on the remote. “Game on.” She scooted away from me.

I felt the distance in my soul. As if she’d just put this invisible barrier between our bodies. I sucked in a sharp breath to ease the pain, to help myself calm down.

But my blood boiled beneath the surface of my skin.

It demanded I pay attention.

And just as the screen changed to music, I knew only too well that music reminded me of so many years ago when I was born. I fell into a familiar trance…

“Take him!” my mother screamed. “Take him from me!”

“We will be killed for this,” Father whispered hoarsely. “Nobody must know, not even Sariel.”

“He sees all!” Maither wept over my body.

Blood. Why was there so much blood?

Flashes of light burned my eyes.

“It was the only way, mo leannan.”

With a cry, she threw herself over my small body, “He will be stronger than us. He will be stronger than them all.”

The light burst through my eyes. What had just been darkness turned to a bright shining sun as heat enveloped my body. I lunged for my mother.

My father held me back.

I was two.

I saw blood red.

I felt their pulses.

I felt their hearts.

I wanted to rip them out with my teeth.

“Son!” Father held onto me so tight my lungs burned. “You must control the lust.”

I screamed. I fought him.

I just wanted.

“Son, if you do not control yourself, you will kill everyone you love. You will destroy your life before it even begins. You must learn self-control.”

I understood the words.

Werewolves talked at one year old.

At two, we were expected to hunt.

I gave my head a shake.

A thundering sound pounded my ears, and I covered them with my hands and screamed as the archangel Sariel swept into the tent.

He eyed both of my parents.

And finally me.

“He is no longer your son.” Sariel’s eyes went white. “He is other. If he stays, he will kill you.” He jerked his attention to me. “What do you hear?”

“B-blood!” I raged.

He pressed a hand to my forehead. “And now?”

“Sleepy.” I yawned.

He picked me up into his arms and gave my parents one last look. “Your punishment for what you have done. You will stay in this state until he makes his choice.”

“My baby!” Maither wailed. “Give him back!”

“Silence!” Sariel waved his hands, and immediately no words came from her still-moving mouth. “You know the cost of creating.”

“He is ours.” Dad stood to his full height. “We made a pact to—”

“I know exactly what you have done!” Sariel roared. “You have taken matters into your own hands because you lack trust. Therefore, I will take what is most important to you before you suffer the consequences of his blood.”

I didn’t understand.

I didn’t want to.

What did they do to me?

I felt normal.

Except for the burning in my lungs… the parched feeling in my mouth…

As Sariel carried me away, I saw tears fill my mother’s eyes. All I kept thinking was that I would never see them again. I would never know love again.

My mom ran after Sariel and handed him a pouch.

Inside were berries and pinecones.

“We will meet again.” Dad nodded to me. “Be well, son.”

My vision faltered.

It was my last memory of my parents together.

Of Scotland the way it used to be, with both of them smiling down at me.

Of the large castle and the grounds around it where vampires and immortals lived and protected one another.

I gasped for air just as the music stopped, and the show started to play before my eyes.

It was painful to see the scenery. I could almost smell the heather.

I looked away. “Turn it off.”

Serenity frowned. “But it just started—”

“I said turn it off!” I jumped to my feet and kicked the coffee table over; the glass fell to the ground with a shatter as tiny droplets of blood spread themselves wide over the hardwood.

I sucked in a heavy breath as Serenity froze next to me.

I could have sworn the world tilted on its axis as I eyed the three drops, not even enough to make a mess; one swipe of a cloth would cause them to disappear, it was a downward spiral, the way three drops tempted me more than the glass of blood.

Weak.

I was so weak.

I rocked back on my heels just as Serenity stood. “I’ll clean up.”

My wolf howled with outrage.

That was what I called it.

Because I refused to believe that there was something else lurking inside my body, begging to break free.

I was bad.

A monster.

My own mate had told me I was too heavy to lie on her after I’d licked her dry, after I’d pleasured her.

If someone who loved me was afraid of me, of the way I looked in the steamy throes of sex, of the way my fangs pointed differently than others of my kind, of the way I asked if I could bite her — begged her even…

Then where did that leave Serenity?

A stranger.

Where did that leave me and my place in the world?

I punished myself well for my monsters.

I just never realized there would come a day when they wouldn’t recede, when they wouldn’t listen — when I suddenly wouldn’t care if they broke free and destroyed me and everyone else around me.

The longer I stayed in that spot…

Staring at that blood…

The longer I thirsted beyond all reason.

And the longer I wanted to lick the blood dry then turn my attention three inches down Serenity’s neck where her pulse sang.

“Mason…” My name fell like a whisper from her lips. “…calm down.”

“Never—” I clenched my hands into fists as claws started breaking through my skin. “—tell a wolf to calm down when he is angry.”

She pressed a hand to my shoulder.

I didn’t jerk away. My body instantly calmed. I frowned down at the blood. “How did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Make it go away?”

“I don’t understand?” She moved her hand.

The rage returned.

Adrenaline pumped through my system.

Run. I need to run.

Before I could think any more about the blood, about her touch, about what any of it meant, I turned on my heel and ran out of the house.

Through the trees.

Picking up speed.

Until my wolf broke free.

Until I shed my human skin like one would a Halloween costume and morphed into a wolf that was the size of a small Honda.

I knew what people saw when they viewed my transformation. A black wolf with dark eyes and huge teeth.

I made my way to the river and leaned over to drink my fill.

Only, when I saw my own reflection, I did a double take.

My fur.

It was not black.

It was blood red.

My eyes black.

And as if seeing a stranger for the first time, my wolf-self smiled with a secret.

Dread threatened to overtake me.

I was not in control of myself.

I tried to stop smiling.

I told myself to look away.

I lost.