Midnight Magic, page 88
Zander nodded. "Name it."
Eonis blew out a harsh breath. "Promise me that if anything happens to me, you will not let Meli exact revenge. I don't want her or our daughter hurt."
"How do you expect me to stop her?"
Eonis gazed toward the window for a long moment and then back at Zander. "I want you to tell her to remember what she promised me tonight. In blood."
Zander wasn't convinced an impassioned promise between lovers would be enough to stop an enraged vampress, but at the moment it was all he had.
Then Eonis did something Zander did not expect. He walked to Zander and wrapped his arms around him.
Zander's rib cage grew too tight as he hugged Eonis back. Eonis was the only pack and family he'd had for close to twenty years. He'd never been away from Eonis for more than half a day before. The idea that Eonis was leaving without him pushed a sense of helplessness through him he'd not known before.
After a minute Eonis stepped back and laid his hand on Zander's shoulder.
"If I was to ever have a son, I would wish him to be just like you."
"You have been the best father, brother, and friend any man could ask for."
Eonis nodded as a bloody tear leaked from his left eye. "Remember," said Eonis. "Keep them safe."
"And you remember you said you’d be back in a few days."
Eonis smiled. "Of course."
Zander got the feeling Eonis at least feared he wouldn't be returning. But Eonis was wrong. If Eonis didn't return it wouldn't be him holding Melisandre back from going to get him— Melisandre would have to bind him with a spell and throw him into one of her super secret spelled holding cells to keep him from going to the Savoy coven and ripping every last one of them apart.
*.*.*.*.*
* * *
Natalia strode down the hall to the front door. She pulled it open when she heard her name.
"Natalia?"
She paused and turned. Melisandre and Eonis headed down the stairs.
"Where are you going?"
"Out for a run."
Melisandre looked to Eonis, and he kissed her cheek and headed down the hallway the way she'd come from.
Melisandre squeezed her arm. "Are you okay?"
Natalia swallowed. "I just... I need some air."
Melisandre nodded. "The sun will be up in an hour and a half."
"Lock the house. If I'm going to be later than sunrise I'll come in through the old way."
Melisandre searched her face. "Did something happen?"
Yes. Natalia walked away from our mate like a scary puppy.
Natalia shook her head. "Nothing more than usual."
Melisandre nodded. "Promise me you won't go too far off."
If I can’t have Zander, I’m not promising anyone anything.
"I won't."
Melisandre leaned in and hugged her.
Natalia hugged her back and then headed out the door. The moon hung low in the sky. Good thing Natalia knew the grounds like the back of her hand. It would be pitch black out soon.
She hurdled off the top stair and landed on all fours on the grass.
Talia howled at the moon. Finally, I thought you would never let me out.
One hour, said Natalia. You can run for one hour. And if you do anything stupid—
Like running away from our mate?
Natalia groaned. Give me a break alright? Just… She sighed. Just give me a break. I need time to think.
Fine, said Talia. For now. But this isn’t over, not for Zander and not with me.
Talia howled again and took off around the side of the house to the woods beyond and Natalia relinquished control of her body, her mind on nothing but Zander.
* * *
An hour later and both mentally and physically exhausted, Natalia emerged from her hiatus and scanned the area, trying to orient herself.
Talia breathed in deep as her pace slowed.
Natalia's heartbeat quickened. Where are we? What have you done?
We need this. We need to end it.
Natalia grabbed the reins and pulled Talia to a stop. No.
Yes, Talia insisted. I am tired of running. Tired of hiding. You promised to kill him on the night he murdered our parents. We have yet to fulfill that promise. And if you won’t let me have Zander, you will let me have this.
Natalia turned them to go.
Stop. Talia refused to move.
Talia this is not happening. We need to go back to the house. We don't have time for this, right now.
We do have the time. And we have the opportunity. If we end this now you can move on. I can move on. We can move on, with Zander.
A sound behind them made Natalia freeze. A door creaked, and then heavy footsteps lumbered down a set of old wooden stairs before crunching through the dense leaves and sticks.
She breathed in deeply and then closed her eyes and blew out a breath. A sour musky scent mixed with alcohol and cigarettes made her stomach turn. No. No. No. This wasn't happening.
She couldn't stop herself from turning and peering through the trees.
A hulking figure trudged across the yard to a dwindling pile of cut wood and grabbed several pieces. He stacked them in his arms and headed back toward the front door of the dilapidated shack.
Natalia stretched her neck around the thick trunk of the oak she stood behind. Still hidden in shadow she couldn't make out his face but his foul scent hadn't changed. She should go. Wait until he went inside and then run straight back to the coven house. But for some reason, she couldn't. She needed to see him. Needed to see what had become of him. Curiosity won out and Natalia took a step forward to see more clearly. She hit something with her foot and a group of cans clanged together to her left. The man stopped and dropped the wood.
"Who's there," he demanded.
The sound of his voice made a chill race all over Natalia's body. It'd been close to fifty years since she'd heard his voice and yet still it instilled a mixture of rage and terror at the same time.
We should go.
We should kill him, Talia retorted.
Kill first, think later. So like Talia.
"I'm not going to ask a second time," Degan growled. "Either identify yourself or die."
His threat sent a shot of anger through her so violently she almost attacked him right there. Instead, Natalia stepped over the alarm line and headed into the clearing around the cabin.
There he stood. Same height, same build, but now with muscles that sagged more than stood at attention. Wrinkles and scars etched deep into his face. One eye cloudy with blindness.
He stared at her without blinking for several seconds before sniffing the air.
He shook his head. "So, you've finally come back. Finally, here to do what you said you would? Kill me? Well, come on you old bitch, let's see what you've got."
Natalia shifted into human form and stood before him. His mouth fell open and he gaped at her.
"It's a trick."
"It's not," she said.
"You can't possibly look like that you're what? Sixty-nine?"
"Sixty-eight."
"You're no different from the night you ran away."
"You mean the night you murdered my parents."
"I paid for that and then some."
The hell you have, asshole. Talia growled.
"Not enough."
"Enough? Enough?" he bellowed. "I lost my eye because of you. My pack. Everything. My brothers overthrew me and I couldn't find another mate. I was shunned. Shunned from my own pack because of you and your stupid family."
"Still isn't enough compared to what you put me through."
He stormed over to her. "I loved you. I took you as my mate."
She nodded. "Oh, you took me all right. Again. And again. And again. All against my will. And all with the force and brutality of a troll. You call that love?"
"I gave you everything!"
"You gave me black eyes and bruises. Cuts and broken bones."
"You refused to bear me a son."
"I physically couldn't, you asshole! But you know what? If I could've I never would have. No matter how hard you beat me or how many times you raped me I never would have given you what you wanted. I would have rather forced death upon myself and the child before allowing you to spawn more bastards like yourself."
"How dare you?" Degan raised his hand to strike her but as his wrist turned downward Natalia caught it in her grip.
His eyes widened, and he pressed downward on her hand, but she didn't budge.
Natalia squeezed his wrist until the bones cracked.
Degan cried out and Natalia flung him away from her. He hit the ground with a thud and roared at her while cradling his arm.
Natalia advanced on him and pinned him to the ground. She lengthened her nails and held them to his throat.
Kill him. Rip out his throat like he did to mother and father.
"You can't hurt me anymore, Degan. Not mentally. Not emotionally. And not physically. You are nothing to me. When I leave here tonight, I want you to know I won't think of you again. I will go home to the Alpha who is my true mate and I will make love to him and gain pleasure from him in a way you could never satisfy me. In return, I will show him the greatest pleasure he has ever known. Pleasure, you have never, nor will you ever know. The pleasure only true mates can bring to each other. And every single day until you die, I want you to think of me and him together and know that for the next hundred years or more I will be his forever and you will have nothing."
"But it will still be just you and him you barren sow."
"Maybe, maybe not. You see what I've become. I've not aged a day. If magic can do that for me, who knows what else it can do. And if I can bear him children I will. I will bear him a dozen sons all with his name. But your seed dies with you."
Degan's nails slashed across Natalia's face, flaying her cheek open.
Without a moment's hesitation Natalia shifted and Talia buried her teeth in Degan's throat and ripped it out.
Finally.
CHAPTER 7
Natalia stared at Degan's body for almost an hour before deciding he wasn't coming back. Then she dragged him into the hut and scattered the remaining embers from the fire across the floor, the bed, and the curtains. It didn't take long for everything to catch fire. Satisfied she stood back and watched the structure burn to the ground and with it, all the pain of her past.
Gone. He was finally gone.
Natalia walked, not ran, back to the coven house. Her mind spun with thoughts and memories she'd buried away for too long. Not only the bad, but the good as well. The memories of her parents. Of her extended family. Of friends. Playing at the lake and hunting together as a pack. Sleeping under the moon in a pile of furry bodies, and reunions with other packs. The happy moments. The things that had made her childhood and teen years bearable and good at times.
By the time she reached the grounds of the coven house her memories had drained her but also left her lighter than she had in almost fifty years. She was finally free.
She walked through the graveyard to the mausoleum that housed Melisandre's ancestors. Natalia bowed to them in respect as she headed to the back of the marble room. She walked to a statue of the first vampress and crouched down depressing two large rubies on either side of the stand. The huge statue pivoted a fraction and Natalia climbed up on it and pushed it inward. She slid through the narrow opening and dropped down into a tunnel lit by everlasting scones on the wall. Natalia pressed her back into the statue and pushed with her legs forcing the effigy back in place. It closed off the tunnel with a boom that reverberated around the stones.
It'd been forever since Natalia had been in the tunnel, even so, she knew the way through the labyrinth. The magical underground had been created by Melisandre's great, great, great, great, great something or other as a safety precaution should they ever need to escape the coven house without being detected. Back then they'd not yet learned to move the coven house from place to place. But even with moving it, every time they returned the house lined itself right back up with the labyrinth the way it needed to.
She wove through the underground maze to the door she needed and pushed it open. The door opened into the basement of the coven house on the back wall of the ritual room. She closed the stone panel and stopped, listening for any sounds but none came. It was close to seven a.m. almost everyone would be asleep for the day except the werewolves who were on that week's day shift.
Natalia wove her way through the basement and up to the communal bathroom being sure to stay out of eyesight. She couldn't handle any questions about where she'd been or what she'd been up to. Not yet.
She locked the bathroom door and stripped off her jacket before heading to the sink. She splashed water on her face and hissed at the sting of her cheek. She’d all but forgotten Degan's parting gift to her. She caught her reflection and gaped at the horror that stared back at her. Her cheekbone sported a deep angry gash that continued to bleed down her chin and all over her shirt. Her face had been painted crimson with Degan's blood. Flecks of his skin and blood had also splattered and dried in her hair.
Tears welled in her eyes, not in sadness for guilt for what she'd done but for the fact that it was finally over, and she was finally free.
Natalia stripped off her clothes and stepped into the shower. She turned on the water and the icy spray pebbled her skin. She braced her hands against the wall and let the water stream down her back. The reddish pink water fell to the tile and seeped down the drain.
Free. She was free.
* * *
Natalia awoke to a loud bang on her door and someone trying the handle.
"Natalia? Natalia?" Zander called, a frantic edge to his voice. "Natalia are you in there?"
She wrapped the bed sheet around her naked body and raced for the door. She pulled it open to find Zander standing in low slung pajama pants holding a bundle in his arms.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
He stared at her, his gaze traveling her face and arms.
"What's the matter? Is it Melisandre? Has Eonis returned?"
Zander continued to stare until Natalia smacked his chest.
"Hey! You woke me up, remember? What is going on?"
He pushed his way into her room and scanned it before sniffing the air and turning and sniffing her.
"Zander, will you tell me what the hell is happening?" Silence was definitely not Zander's go to.
His alpha golden gaze connected with hers once more before he held out the bundle he'd been carrying.
Her gut tightened. Crap. Her clothes. She accidentally left them in the bathroom.
"I can explain."
"Who hurt you?" His voice came out more animalistic than human.
"It... it doesn't matter. I took care of it."
He stalked toward her, and she bumped into the door, shutting it accidentally.
He tilted her chin and inspected the stitches she'd used to sew her cheek shut. "Tell me."
The aura wafting off him made her knees wobble and Talia cower away from him.
Her tongue clung to the roof of her mouth as she fought to not tell him where she'd been.
"No," she whispered.
Strangely his magnetism grew and his eyes brightened as his fangs descended into his mouth.
He grabbed her roughly and pinned her to the door. He spread her legs with his thigh and pushed her higher up the door. The bed sheet raked across her most sensitive parts making her gasp in delight.
"Why do you do this to me?" he demanded. "Why do you hide? Runaway? Keep secrets? Why won't you open up to me? Let me in? I know you felt what I felt yesterday. We are meant for each other so why do you fight it?"
His warm body pushed against hers and her head swirled with fantasies and desires she'd never thought she would experience.
"Why?" he pleaded. His eyes grew soft and rounding as his fangs retracted.
"I'm no good for you," she said. "I was broken long ago and I cannot be fixed."
"Who says I want to fix you?"
"You will. Someday if we let this thing between us go any further you will try to fix me. Everyone always has."
"What if I like you as you are, broken like a beautiful piece of pottery that needs to be put back together with gold and loving care."
"No amount of gold or love can fix what is broken inside me."
"Tell me."
She shook her head. "There's something wrong with me. Always has been. I was born sickly. My parents tried to hide it but there are some things that cannot be hidden."
His brow furrowed. "What?"
Her chest squeezed so tight she wasn't sure she would ever be able to breathe again.
She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't tell him. Didn't want him to see her as weak— or worse worthless.
His hands traveled up her bare arms to her shoulders and up her throat to her face. He cupped her face, careful to not touch the stitches on her cheek.
She opened her eyes.
"There is nothing you could tell me that would ever make me not want you. Nothing."
Natalia drew in a shuddered breath. "I... I can't have children."
She waited for him to say something, to move away, to tell her he'd lied. But he didn't. He simply waited for her to continue.
"When I was sixteen the alpha of our pack told my parents I was his fated mate, and he wanted me. They were terrified of him so they consented. But he lied. I wasn't his fated mate. I was an omega, and he thought if he mated me, it would secure his position, but he was wrong. For the three years we stayed married I never once got pregnant. Not from his lack of trying. He beat me relentlessly. He beat my parents. My relatives even suffered at his hand. Finally, one night he'd beaten me so badly I didn't think I would live through it. That's when he learned the truth. I can't have children. I had been sick since I was born. The next night he dragged all three of us in front of the entire pack. Naked and bloodied he told the pack my parents and I were traitors. He rejected me in front of all of them and I accepted his rejection. But when he saw the rejection brought me no pain, he grew enraged and killed my parents. I ran before he could kill me as well, but before I did, I promised him I would return and kill him one day. Today, I fulfilled that promise."
Eonis blew out a harsh breath. "Promise me that if anything happens to me, you will not let Meli exact revenge. I don't want her or our daughter hurt."
"How do you expect me to stop her?"
Eonis gazed toward the window for a long moment and then back at Zander. "I want you to tell her to remember what she promised me tonight. In blood."
Zander wasn't convinced an impassioned promise between lovers would be enough to stop an enraged vampress, but at the moment it was all he had.
Then Eonis did something Zander did not expect. He walked to Zander and wrapped his arms around him.
Zander's rib cage grew too tight as he hugged Eonis back. Eonis was the only pack and family he'd had for close to twenty years. He'd never been away from Eonis for more than half a day before. The idea that Eonis was leaving without him pushed a sense of helplessness through him he'd not known before.
After a minute Eonis stepped back and laid his hand on Zander's shoulder.
"If I was to ever have a son, I would wish him to be just like you."
"You have been the best father, brother, and friend any man could ask for."
Eonis nodded as a bloody tear leaked from his left eye. "Remember," said Eonis. "Keep them safe."
"And you remember you said you’d be back in a few days."
Eonis smiled. "Of course."
Zander got the feeling Eonis at least feared he wouldn't be returning. But Eonis was wrong. If Eonis didn't return it wouldn't be him holding Melisandre back from going to get him— Melisandre would have to bind him with a spell and throw him into one of her super secret spelled holding cells to keep him from going to the Savoy coven and ripping every last one of them apart.
*.*.*.*.*
* * *
Natalia strode down the hall to the front door. She pulled it open when she heard her name.
"Natalia?"
She paused and turned. Melisandre and Eonis headed down the stairs.
"Where are you going?"
"Out for a run."
Melisandre looked to Eonis, and he kissed her cheek and headed down the hallway the way she'd come from.
Melisandre squeezed her arm. "Are you okay?"
Natalia swallowed. "I just... I need some air."
Melisandre nodded. "The sun will be up in an hour and a half."
"Lock the house. If I'm going to be later than sunrise I'll come in through the old way."
Melisandre searched her face. "Did something happen?"
Yes. Natalia walked away from our mate like a scary puppy.
Natalia shook her head. "Nothing more than usual."
Melisandre nodded. "Promise me you won't go too far off."
If I can’t have Zander, I’m not promising anyone anything.
"I won't."
Melisandre leaned in and hugged her.
Natalia hugged her back and then headed out the door. The moon hung low in the sky. Good thing Natalia knew the grounds like the back of her hand. It would be pitch black out soon.
She hurdled off the top stair and landed on all fours on the grass.
Talia howled at the moon. Finally, I thought you would never let me out.
One hour, said Natalia. You can run for one hour. And if you do anything stupid—
Like running away from our mate?
Natalia groaned. Give me a break alright? Just… She sighed. Just give me a break. I need time to think.
Fine, said Talia. For now. But this isn’t over, not for Zander and not with me.
Talia howled again and took off around the side of the house to the woods beyond and Natalia relinquished control of her body, her mind on nothing but Zander.
* * *
An hour later and both mentally and physically exhausted, Natalia emerged from her hiatus and scanned the area, trying to orient herself.
Talia breathed in deep as her pace slowed.
Natalia's heartbeat quickened. Where are we? What have you done?
We need this. We need to end it.
Natalia grabbed the reins and pulled Talia to a stop. No.
Yes, Talia insisted. I am tired of running. Tired of hiding. You promised to kill him on the night he murdered our parents. We have yet to fulfill that promise. And if you won’t let me have Zander, you will let me have this.
Natalia turned them to go.
Stop. Talia refused to move.
Talia this is not happening. We need to go back to the house. We don't have time for this, right now.
We do have the time. And we have the opportunity. If we end this now you can move on. I can move on. We can move on, with Zander.
A sound behind them made Natalia freeze. A door creaked, and then heavy footsteps lumbered down a set of old wooden stairs before crunching through the dense leaves and sticks.
She breathed in deeply and then closed her eyes and blew out a breath. A sour musky scent mixed with alcohol and cigarettes made her stomach turn. No. No. No. This wasn't happening.
She couldn't stop herself from turning and peering through the trees.
A hulking figure trudged across the yard to a dwindling pile of cut wood and grabbed several pieces. He stacked them in his arms and headed back toward the front door of the dilapidated shack.
Natalia stretched her neck around the thick trunk of the oak she stood behind. Still hidden in shadow she couldn't make out his face but his foul scent hadn't changed. She should go. Wait until he went inside and then run straight back to the coven house. But for some reason, she couldn't. She needed to see him. Needed to see what had become of him. Curiosity won out and Natalia took a step forward to see more clearly. She hit something with her foot and a group of cans clanged together to her left. The man stopped and dropped the wood.
"Who's there," he demanded.
The sound of his voice made a chill race all over Natalia's body. It'd been close to fifty years since she'd heard his voice and yet still it instilled a mixture of rage and terror at the same time.
We should go.
We should kill him, Talia retorted.
Kill first, think later. So like Talia.
"I'm not going to ask a second time," Degan growled. "Either identify yourself or die."
His threat sent a shot of anger through her so violently she almost attacked him right there. Instead, Natalia stepped over the alarm line and headed into the clearing around the cabin.
There he stood. Same height, same build, but now with muscles that sagged more than stood at attention. Wrinkles and scars etched deep into his face. One eye cloudy with blindness.
He stared at her without blinking for several seconds before sniffing the air.
He shook his head. "So, you've finally come back. Finally, here to do what you said you would? Kill me? Well, come on you old bitch, let's see what you've got."
Natalia shifted into human form and stood before him. His mouth fell open and he gaped at her.
"It's a trick."
"It's not," she said.
"You can't possibly look like that you're what? Sixty-nine?"
"Sixty-eight."
"You're no different from the night you ran away."
"You mean the night you murdered my parents."
"I paid for that and then some."
The hell you have, asshole. Talia growled.
"Not enough."
"Enough? Enough?" he bellowed. "I lost my eye because of you. My pack. Everything. My brothers overthrew me and I couldn't find another mate. I was shunned. Shunned from my own pack because of you and your stupid family."
"Still isn't enough compared to what you put me through."
He stormed over to her. "I loved you. I took you as my mate."
She nodded. "Oh, you took me all right. Again. And again. And again. All against my will. And all with the force and brutality of a troll. You call that love?"
"I gave you everything!"
"You gave me black eyes and bruises. Cuts and broken bones."
"You refused to bear me a son."
"I physically couldn't, you asshole! But you know what? If I could've I never would have. No matter how hard you beat me or how many times you raped me I never would have given you what you wanted. I would have rather forced death upon myself and the child before allowing you to spawn more bastards like yourself."
"How dare you?" Degan raised his hand to strike her but as his wrist turned downward Natalia caught it in her grip.
His eyes widened, and he pressed downward on her hand, but she didn't budge.
Natalia squeezed his wrist until the bones cracked.
Degan cried out and Natalia flung him away from her. He hit the ground with a thud and roared at her while cradling his arm.
Natalia advanced on him and pinned him to the ground. She lengthened her nails and held them to his throat.
Kill him. Rip out his throat like he did to mother and father.
"You can't hurt me anymore, Degan. Not mentally. Not emotionally. And not physically. You are nothing to me. When I leave here tonight, I want you to know I won't think of you again. I will go home to the Alpha who is my true mate and I will make love to him and gain pleasure from him in a way you could never satisfy me. In return, I will show him the greatest pleasure he has ever known. Pleasure, you have never, nor will you ever know. The pleasure only true mates can bring to each other. And every single day until you die, I want you to think of me and him together and know that for the next hundred years or more I will be his forever and you will have nothing."
"But it will still be just you and him you barren sow."
"Maybe, maybe not. You see what I've become. I've not aged a day. If magic can do that for me, who knows what else it can do. And if I can bear him children I will. I will bear him a dozen sons all with his name. But your seed dies with you."
Degan's nails slashed across Natalia's face, flaying her cheek open.
Without a moment's hesitation Natalia shifted and Talia buried her teeth in Degan's throat and ripped it out.
Finally.
CHAPTER 7
Natalia stared at Degan's body for almost an hour before deciding he wasn't coming back. Then she dragged him into the hut and scattered the remaining embers from the fire across the floor, the bed, and the curtains. It didn't take long for everything to catch fire. Satisfied she stood back and watched the structure burn to the ground and with it, all the pain of her past.
Gone. He was finally gone.
Natalia walked, not ran, back to the coven house. Her mind spun with thoughts and memories she'd buried away for too long. Not only the bad, but the good as well. The memories of her parents. Of her extended family. Of friends. Playing at the lake and hunting together as a pack. Sleeping under the moon in a pile of furry bodies, and reunions with other packs. The happy moments. The things that had made her childhood and teen years bearable and good at times.
By the time she reached the grounds of the coven house her memories had drained her but also left her lighter than she had in almost fifty years. She was finally free.
She walked through the graveyard to the mausoleum that housed Melisandre's ancestors. Natalia bowed to them in respect as she headed to the back of the marble room. She walked to a statue of the first vampress and crouched down depressing two large rubies on either side of the stand. The huge statue pivoted a fraction and Natalia climbed up on it and pushed it inward. She slid through the narrow opening and dropped down into a tunnel lit by everlasting scones on the wall. Natalia pressed her back into the statue and pushed with her legs forcing the effigy back in place. It closed off the tunnel with a boom that reverberated around the stones.
It'd been forever since Natalia had been in the tunnel, even so, she knew the way through the labyrinth. The magical underground had been created by Melisandre's great, great, great, great, great something or other as a safety precaution should they ever need to escape the coven house without being detected. Back then they'd not yet learned to move the coven house from place to place. But even with moving it, every time they returned the house lined itself right back up with the labyrinth the way it needed to.
She wove through the underground maze to the door she needed and pushed it open. The door opened into the basement of the coven house on the back wall of the ritual room. She closed the stone panel and stopped, listening for any sounds but none came. It was close to seven a.m. almost everyone would be asleep for the day except the werewolves who were on that week's day shift.
Natalia wove her way through the basement and up to the communal bathroom being sure to stay out of eyesight. She couldn't handle any questions about where she'd been or what she'd been up to. Not yet.
She locked the bathroom door and stripped off her jacket before heading to the sink. She splashed water on her face and hissed at the sting of her cheek. She’d all but forgotten Degan's parting gift to her. She caught her reflection and gaped at the horror that stared back at her. Her cheekbone sported a deep angry gash that continued to bleed down her chin and all over her shirt. Her face had been painted crimson with Degan's blood. Flecks of his skin and blood had also splattered and dried in her hair.
Tears welled in her eyes, not in sadness for guilt for what she'd done but for the fact that it was finally over, and she was finally free.
Natalia stripped off her clothes and stepped into the shower. She turned on the water and the icy spray pebbled her skin. She braced her hands against the wall and let the water stream down her back. The reddish pink water fell to the tile and seeped down the drain.
Free. She was free.
* * *
Natalia awoke to a loud bang on her door and someone trying the handle.
"Natalia? Natalia?" Zander called, a frantic edge to his voice. "Natalia are you in there?"
She wrapped the bed sheet around her naked body and raced for the door. She pulled it open to find Zander standing in low slung pajama pants holding a bundle in his arms.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
He stared at her, his gaze traveling her face and arms.
"What's the matter? Is it Melisandre? Has Eonis returned?"
Zander continued to stare until Natalia smacked his chest.
"Hey! You woke me up, remember? What is going on?"
He pushed his way into her room and scanned it before sniffing the air and turning and sniffing her.
"Zander, will you tell me what the hell is happening?" Silence was definitely not Zander's go to.
His alpha golden gaze connected with hers once more before he held out the bundle he'd been carrying.
Her gut tightened. Crap. Her clothes. She accidentally left them in the bathroom.
"I can explain."
"Who hurt you?" His voice came out more animalistic than human.
"It... it doesn't matter. I took care of it."
He stalked toward her, and she bumped into the door, shutting it accidentally.
He tilted her chin and inspected the stitches she'd used to sew her cheek shut. "Tell me."
The aura wafting off him made her knees wobble and Talia cower away from him.
Her tongue clung to the roof of her mouth as she fought to not tell him where she'd been.
"No," she whispered.
Strangely his magnetism grew and his eyes brightened as his fangs descended into his mouth.
He grabbed her roughly and pinned her to the door. He spread her legs with his thigh and pushed her higher up the door. The bed sheet raked across her most sensitive parts making her gasp in delight.
"Why do you do this to me?" he demanded. "Why do you hide? Runaway? Keep secrets? Why won't you open up to me? Let me in? I know you felt what I felt yesterday. We are meant for each other so why do you fight it?"
His warm body pushed against hers and her head swirled with fantasies and desires she'd never thought she would experience.
"Why?" he pleaded. His eyes grew soft and rounding as his fangs retracted.
"I'm no good for you," she said. "I was broken long ago and I cannot be fixed."
"Who says I want to fix you?"
"You will. Someday if we let this thing between us go any further you will try to fix me. Everyone always has."
"What if I like you as you are, broken like a beautiful piece of pottery that needs to be put back together with gold and loving care."
"No amount of gold or love can fix what is broken inside me."
"Tell me."
She shook her head. "There's something wrong with me. Always has been. I was born sickly. My parents tried to hide it but there are some things that cannot be hidden."
His brow furrowed. "What?"
Her chest squeezed so tight she wasn't sure she would ever be able to breathe again.
She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't tell him. Didn't want him to see her as weak— or worse worthless.
His hands traveled up her bare arms to her shoulders and up her throat to her face. He cupped her face, careful to not touch the stitches on her cheek.
She opened her eyes.
"There is nothing you could tell me that would ever make me not want you. Nothing."
Natalia drew in a shuddered breath. "I... I can't have children."
She waited for him to say something, to move away, to tell her he'd lied. But he didn't. He simply waited for her to continue.
"When I was sixteen the alpha of our pack told my parents I was his fated mate, and he wanted me. They were terrified of him so they consented. But he lied. I wasn't his fated mate. I was an omega, and he thought if he mated me, it would secure his position, but he was wrong. For the three years we stayed married I never once got pregnant. Not from his lack of trying. He beat me relentlessly. He beat my parents. My relatives even suffered at his hand. Finally, one night he'd beaten me so badly I didn't think I would live through it. That's when he learned the truth. I can't have children. I had been sick since I was born. The next night he dragged all three of us in front of the entire pack. Naked and bloodied he told the pack my parents and I were traitors. He rejected me in front of all of them and I accepted his rejection. But when he saw the rejection brought me no pain, he grew enraged and killed my parents. I ran before he could kill me as well, but before I did, I promised him I would return and kill him one day. Today, I fulfilled that promise."
