~

 

Dane couldn’t help feeling aggrieved that his mate had agreed with the vampire about staying on the man’s land, but he could understand it.

It hadn’t been the vampire that had infected her with the venom that threatened to turn her into a monster.

It hadn’t been the vampire that had put her humanity on the line.

It had been the vampire that had offered her his blood and a possible antidote.

He could see why she would put a little more faith in the vampire than in her own mate. He didn’t like it — his beast didn’t like it — but that was the way that she wanted it, and he couldn’t deny her that choice.

Dane paced around her like a predator deciding if it was going in for the kill or not. She’d asked for some time alone and some air after hearing what the vampire had to say about the ramifications of being bitten. He certainly couldn’t deny her that either, but he could stay as damn close as possible to her.

If she was transitioning, then he needed to be extra-vigilant of the vampire. The man could decide to end her rather than face repercussions himself.

Dane wasn’t going to let that happen. She was his mate, and he would defend her with his life.

The snatched looks that she tossed in his direction made his heart hit his ribs every time. Guilt played over his nerves, and anger festered within him for his brother’s part in all that had happened.

He was damned if she did transition and damned if she didn’t. What did he know about helping a bitten human?

Either way, would she ever forgive him?

Could she ever forgive him?

 

~

~

~

 

Rayner had never been good with what ifs. Her life had been about one simple thing; do it or go home with your tail between your legs.

The fact that she might be getting a tail wasn’t lost on her. Hell, she might be getting a whole suit.

Rayner liked to take every day as it came — lemons and all — but, today was a day that she’d like to restart.

Would she have done anything differently? Not if she didn’t know then what she knew now.

A bear mate. In the grand scheme of things that didn’t seem so bad anymore.

She could see that her mate was practically climbing the walls with guilt, and in a way, she really wanted to be able to blame someone else for her own stupidity, but the only problem with that was that she always took responsibility for her own failings.

Boy, had she fudge it this time. She’d screwed up bad, and she knew it, could feel it inside of her, there was something festering, waiting, stalking her, and for all of the vampire’s words about even odds on his blood healing her — she knew better.

It was in there, sitting in the darkness in the recess of her mind, waiting, not yet clawing to be released.

A beast.

A monster.

If that monster was formed of her own personality and deep-rooted experiences then look out world; it was going to be a wild ride.

She snatched another glance at Dane. Even in his hyped up state with his beast just beneath the surface, he still looked good — he looked as sexy as hell.

An alpha, she could tell that before she’d been bitten, but now it was almost painfully obvious to her. He was the biggest, the strongest, the protector of his clan, and boy, did she find that a turn on.

There had been something between them from the first moment that she’d laid eyes on him, but now that feeling was growing within her — just like her beast.

On the one hand, Rayner had the urge to stalked over to him, rip his damn clothes off, and do what came naturally.

On the other hand, she felt the need to go over there and beat the hell out of him.

Light and dark. Bat-shit crazy and nymphomaniac. She almost cackled a laugh at just how screwed up her brain was.

Rayner put one foot in front of the other and started toward him. It was the strangest damn thing; she couldn’t seem to walk in a straight line, not when her brain was telling her to circle him.

Dane’s eyes were locked and loaded on her. He slowly twisted his head to one side and regarded her with the look of the man that was curious about a circus freak.

In her mind, that was what she was — turn back the clock, and she’d have been on display.

Rayner felt the rush of anger within her like a fire in her blood. She fisted her hands at her sides so damn tightly that she felt her short nails pricking her skin.

She had the urge to draw blood, from herself, from him – it didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but there it was, inside of her – climbing over the wall that she’d built within her to cage in that pent-up aggression, the rage that had been building throughout the crappy years of her life.

There he was; the target for all of that crap, that uncertainty of having two parents that cared more about the booze than their own kid. The anger and pain of being singled out from the masses at school.

Bute, Chet, life – her life. It was swirling inside.

“Easy, Rayner,” Dane tried to soothe his mate. He could see the beast squatting within her.

Maybe the vampire’s blood wasn’t working — but, if she embraced the beast within then, she would never be free of it. She needed to deny it, push it away, and yet, he didn’t know how to make her do that.

“All you needed to do was pay the damn money.” Rayner felt the rumble of a growl within her chest, and it felt good.

“Easy — push the anger down…”

“Oh, I do,” Rayner growled as she stalked towards him in a kind of semicircle. “Until it’s time not to anymore.”

Dane saw the flash of amber take her green eyes — the bear was winning the fight within her — not that he could be sure that she was actually putting up a fight against it.

“Now is not that time,” Dane growled.

Rayner’s lips pulled back; he wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be a smile or a sneer, or if she was flashing the fangs that she didn’t yet have at him. He knew he needed to save her — from herself — but he didn’t know how.

Dane raised his hands, palms out toward her, and tried his damnedest to look unthreatening. He didn’t need just to soothe her beast; he needed to subdue it in the hope that the vampire’s blood would work its magic.

“Fight it, Rayner.” Dane tried to hold back a growl of his bear, but he didn’t succeed.

His beast embraced hers. And why wouldn’t it? Then it would truly have a mate of its own.

Rayner rushed the last few steps toward him. Her eyes flashed from amber to black, and a heartbeat later she was attacking him with everything that she had.