Creature of Habit (Book 3)

by Lawson, Angel

  "Amelia!" Olivia gasped from behind me.

  No, no, no! I was already up, lunging towards her and I caught her this time, cradling her neck before she tumbled to the ground. Focused on the lifeless body in my arms, I was barely able to comprehend the sound of Olivia battling with Caleb or Elijah's voice as he and the others entered the room, swooping down on Caleb in a violent rage. Instead I sat by Amelia, resting her head gently on the floor, as I whispered her name furiously in her ear, chanting it like a prayer.

  Frantically, I ran my fingers down her neck, searching for her heartbeat, in a feeble attempt to comfort her and myself.

  Thump.

  …

  Thump.

  What I found was a soft, waning pulse under her paling skin. Fisting my hands in my hair, I stifled a wail and rested my head on her chest, so I could listen to the final beats of her heart instead of the skirmish around me.

  "Take her," I heard whispered in my ear. "It was what she wanted. She truly wanted it. Take her. Make her your mate—for eternity."

  I shook my head. "I don't want to condemn her to this life. I promised to protect her and failed."

  "Grant," Olivia said, brushing the hair out of my face, which caused me to flinch because the action was too similar to Amelia's touch. "This life is worth having when you have someone to share it with. Take her before it's too late. If you think you failed once, don't do it again."

  I looked at the sincerity of Olivia's face before shifting my gaze to Amelia below me, unconscious and lifeless, peace on her face. She looked like Aurora, Sleeping Beauty. A halo of golden hair, perfect ivory skin, sleeping and lying in wait.

  I listened again for her heart beat. It was my compass, my humanity. It connected us. It was now ticking away so slowly, each one further away from the last.

  Thump

  …

  Thump

  …

  Thump

  …

  thump

  I smoothed the hair away from her face and neck and kissed her warm, soft lips one final time, and then inhaled the scent that lingered beneath her ear that was pure Amelia. I wanted her. I needed her and she'd shown me countless times that she felt the same. She'd given me her body, mind, and soul unconditionally, only requiring that I give it back in return. Rubbing my hands nervously on my thighs, I made the only decision I could.

  Carefully twisting her head in my direction and running my fingers across her cooling flesh, I whispered, "I love you" in her ear.

  I felt the familiar rush of hunger, the burn at the back of my throat, but didn't attempt to fight it as I had a million times before. Ignoring the euphoric sensation taking over my body, not allowing the pleasure to cover the pain.

  “Come back to me,” I said, and placed my lips on the smooth skin lining her throat before sinking my teeth deep into her flesh.

  Part 2

  Chapter 13

  Grant

  I sat by the bed and waited. Time was all I had. It was all I’d ever had, but currently it moved at an excruciating pace. The minutes ticked by slowly, painfully, and eventually I did the only thing I had left to do.

  I mourned for Amelia's human life. Saying goodbye to the fragile, precious human I loved. The only person I'd ever fallen in love with. The only one I’d ever wanted.

  My mate.

  During my vigil, my eyes never left her body. Not once since we came to this place, a location far from Asheville and Black Mountain. Away from the valley of Lost Cove. We’d traveled deep into the wilderness. My body still streaked in mud from days before, my clothes dry and brittle.

  The sun filtered into the window from the east each morning, passing over the exposed skin of her feet. When it reached the patterned quilt draped over the end of the bed, the room would slip into night where I sat in total darkness. My body formed an imprint into the soft leather of the chair, molding to my weight. I was frozen, lifeless until she came back to me.

  Please come back to me.

  I waited, transfixed in my chair while she lay before me, largely unmoving, across the bed. Her body rigid—tense with transformation. I observed as her hair lightened, each strand thickening under my watchful eye. Curiously, her skin hadn’t paled. Or maybe my mind played tricks on me. I still heard phantom beats from her heart. My mind wasn’t ready for me to let it go. Her go.

  It was silly. I knew she would return to me—altered but not changed. Pretending her heart still beat was lunacy. Delusions from a man resistant to change.

  It wouldn't be long now, I considered, shifting for the first time in hours, eager and expectant. Two days had passed since I took what remained of her life, twenty-four hours since we’d moved her to his place. I reached my fingers out to touch her face but instead I ran them though my hair, becoming restless as the time was coming closer to when she should awake.

  I saw the two circular scars from when I'd plunged my teeth into her soft flesh and pushed the idea of murder out of my brain. I knew I had to do it. I wanted to do it, but my reasoning was conflicted. I wanted to save her, to live with Amelia for eternity. I wanted my mate and everything that could come from her death. But the second her blood touched my tongue, the instant it gushed down my throat, coating the sides with warm, slippery relief, the rush I felt was beyond euphoric. It was exhilarating and intoxicating, even erotic. Her blood was everything I had expected and then some. What was unexpected was the level to which I wanted to consume her. Literally. My mouth was suctioned to her neck in an attempt to gorge myself on her life. I moved my hands down to her arms, gripping tightly and I abruptly stopped once I felt the faint strains of her pulse buried under her skin. It beckoned like always, and I remembered what I was doing, who I was drinking from. I wasn't feeding, I reminded myself. For her to survive, I had to stop.

  I extracted my teeth and reluctantly wiped the blood from the wound on her neck, indulgently licking the remaining evidence from my fingers. I took in the scene around me. Caleb was gone. I felt the heat from the fire that had been started in the outer room. My family destroying the unexplainable evidence we couldn't risk leaving behind. I wasn't focused on revenge; I left that to Olivia and Elijah. My only thoughts were on Amelia and removing her as quickly as possible for her safety during the change.

  Miles wanted her in the family home where he could monitor her, but I shook my head uneasily. This wasn't a family affair. It was about me and Amelia.

  We had to do this on our own.

  Miles ran to the house and returned with a car. I quickly carried Amelia out under the protective eye of Ryan and Olivia and folded us inside. I cradled her in the back seat while they drove us through the night, over state lines to a secluded cabin. It was buried deep in the forest, and while I attempted to stifle the tremors that built in her body, Miles parked at the end of the long, winding driveway. I looked out the window at what would become our new home for the near future. One that was safe and secure for our purposes.

  By ‘safe’, I meant miles away from civilization.

  I'd carried Amelia into the cabin feeling weak from the bright daylight. I carried her into the house, using her body to block the door and bid Miles goodbye. He wavered, wanting to stay. That was what he did. He took care of us each of us as fledglings, but I gave him a hard look, which he returned unfazed.

  “I have to do this alone,” I’d told him.

  “It’s different when it’s with someone you love,” he replied.

  “You’re right,” I agreed. “It is. I’ll call you if I need you.”

  From that moment on it was me, Amelia, and a small cabin tucked in the woods.

  That was how we got here, her transformation near complete. I hovered slightly, waiting for her to wake, desperate to see the woman I loved after her rebirth. I inhaled silently as her body shifted with small, nearly unnoticeable movements and my fingers wove through hers in anticipation.

  "Amelia?" I whispered. It was a question. I'd never known someone before and after a change. I had no idea who
would be waiting for me on the other side. Again I murmured her name.

  Her eyes opened wide, startled. Mine widened in return, my lips tugging at the corners, ignoring her black pupils, reveling in the way her fingers dug into my flesh. She was awake.

  “Love?”

  Amelia's mouth opened slightly, and I watched her nostrils flare, taking in my scent. I waited again, letting her smell me, feel me before I acted, before I stroked her skin and pressed my lips to her own.

  She shifted her head, but instead of recognition, her now smooth skin creased by the edge of her eye and she snarled… viciously.

  Before I could react, because she was now faster than I was, her hand grasped mine tighter, and in a moment her other one was on my arm, tossing me over her shoulder. I flew across the room, crashing into the desk. Mid-air I heard the bed topple over, and I regained my footing quickly, moving to cover the door to block her escape. Amelia crouched in the middle of the room, her hair a tangle of knots at the back of her head, her hands balled into tight, defensive fists. Nervously, she flexed and un-flexed as she weighed her options.

  “Amelia,” I said. “It’s me—Grant.”

  Her reply came as a low, fearful growl building in her chest. It dawned on me at this moment that my Amelia was no longer with me—not exactly. This Amelia was wild and untamed. A fledgling. Short, gasping breaths quaked from her open mouth. She didn't need to breathe and her body had to adjust to this fact. She was primal and raw. Small and lean, I could see the muscles tense in her arms. I looked at her face and realized she was nearly feral and completely terrified.

  She was all of these things and she was beautiful.

  What I didn’t know, what I needed to know, was she mine?

  She shifted her body, moving backwards so her back was against the wall. I focused on her eyes, vivid blue, a deeper shade than before. I saw the hunger, but it wasn't what I searched for. I sought my mate, the woman I loved, under the blood thirsty haze that clouded her vision. I had to draw her to me, to remind her of our love.

  I held my hands out innocently.

  "Amelia," I said, and watched her eyes dart to the door and window, seeking an exit. I had no idea what to say, but I knew I needed to reason with her before she took off out of the house. "Amelia, I need you to look at me."

  Her eyes snapped toward mine, locking into my gaze while her lip curled and she revealed a glimpse of her straight, sharp teeth. I took a step forward and she flinched, because she was on edge, so afraid. "Amelia," I repeated. "I need you to remain calm."

  She wasn't listening. She pressed her body into the wall, her eyes wandering to the side.

  "Look at me," I demanded, harsher this time, but instead of complying she hissed loudly, offensively, clapping her hands over her ears.

  I ran my fingers though my hair, horrified, as I realized I had scared her. I’d forgotten. In my haste to be with her, I’d forgotten what life was like as a newly reborn.

  “I’m sorry,” I said in the lowest whisper. What I didn’t apologize for was for being an absolute fucking idiot. No wonder she reacted badly. My voice was too loud, my actions too quick. I wondered fleetingly if I should call Miles back. He could be here in hours if I needed him. He was right—I was out of my league.

  I sighed and looked toward the window and narrowed my eyes in thought over my possible defeat. She was so angry and afraid, neither reactions I had seen before, but this was Amelia, not Genevieve or Sebastian. She always processed things her own way. I glanced at her again, my heart breaking, seeing her cower now in the corner of the room, ears covered. Crouched near the floor. She looked like a cat, timid and scared, who had puffed its hair up to make it look larger.

  I had to remember who was in control here. Who had the power to make this better, to lure her from her state of shock? There was only me.

  Slowly, I dropped to my knees from my position across the room. Her eyes cautiously followed my movements but I only sat, completely still, letting us get used to the change. I heard her deep inhalations and fought a bitter smile as I considered her situation.

  Glancing over at Amelia, I started again in a measured voice, low as to not hurt her ears. "I remember waking up all those years ago in the forest. The smells and noises. It was truly an assault on my senses. I thought I would drown in hunger—it was a nightmare.”

  She watched me intently, but for the first time I could tell she was listening to every word that came from my mouth.

  I continued my murmured speech. "The noises, everything sounded like a cannon blasting in my ears. The birds and insects. I thought I’d gone mad like my mother.” I thought back to that day, the intensity of it all. "Even later, after Miles took me to his home, everything remained amplified. There was a board in the floor that led from one room to the next that creaked when he stepped on it. Over and over he passed it. I considered more than once snapping his legs off to make it stop.”

  I was barely whispering now, and she had removed her hands from her ears and to my relief her muscles relaxed a bit. I took the opportunity to move forward on my knees slowly, closing the gap between us.

  "The others, they had to deal with emerging talents. Olivia had her visions and Elijah dealt with an assault on his senses—all the smells. Things smelled much worse back then. Sebastian slipped in and out of a dozen different masks, as though he could make himself disappear." Amelia's face turned empathetic under its stony resolve and I knew my girl was under there—not so far from the surface. "Are you feeling anything like this?"

  She didn't respond at first but I waited; we had time, again, nothing but time. As the minutes passed I reveled in her beauty, wanting to touch her so badly, to soothe her shaking hands. The silence of the house pressed down upon us… no breaths, no words, just pure quiet. I realized for the first time how life with Amelia would be more magnificent than I could ever have imagined.

  "No," she squeaked from across the room, causing me to cock my head in her direction. I forced my lips not to curve in happiness at the sound of her voice but gave her my full attention. She shook her head and repeated, "Nothing different—not like that."

  I'd slid off my knees and was now sitting cross legged, and I used the shift to move forward a bit more. We were now only several feet away from one another. The floor around us was littered with pieces of the broken bed, linens and splintered wood, but the air between us had calmed. Amelia's eyes were softer under their darkened glaze.

  Before I could decide what to do next, she whispered so softly that I almost didn't hear.

  "Grant," she said, holding her hand to her chest. "It hurts."

  My heart crumbled at that moment because she was so strong now but still so fragile, like before, and she needed me as much as I still needed her. “The hunger?”

  “Yes,” she said with a frown. “No. Not just the hunger. My ears. My chest. Something’s wrong.”

  I tentatively scooted towards her. “You’re just overwhelmed.”

  “No. Can’t you hear it?” She shook her head and clamped her hands over her ears. I paused and listened. The house was still. Not a sound between the two of us, although there was something. Something faint. Something I’d thought I’d imagined. A phantom pain.

  Thump

  Thump.

  Chapter 14

  Grant

  Olivia found me outside picking up shards of glass. She looked between me and the busted window above and said, “Care to explain?”

  “Well, I suggested that Amelia may want to take up journaling.”

  My cousin lifted her eyebrow. “And?”

  “And, she threw a book at me.” I sighed and scratched my neck. “I ducked.”

  “And it crashed through the window.”

  “Pretty much.” I walked over to the trash bin and dumped the glass inside. I brushed off my hands and asked, “Are you ready?”

  “Yep.”

  “Maybe Miles can talk some sense into her,” I said, more than a little annoyed I’d had to call t
he family. I mean, it wasn’t that I couldn’t handle Amelia. I could. We were doing okay, frustration-related book assaults aside. But I had to talk to Judson and I couldn’t do it at the cabin.

  “It drives you crazy doesn’t it,” she said with a small, evil smile on her face. “That you can’t control this like everything else in your life?”

  “Control Amelia?” I laughed. “I had zero control over her as a human, there was no way dealing with her as a fledgling would be any easier.”

  I took a final look back at the cabin before following Olivia into the forest. It was much colder here and we’d already had the first, heavy snowfall. Our boots crushed and packed down the snow as we ran.

  “We never got the chance to talk after everything. After the bank,” I clarify. “We had to leave so quickly.”

  “There’s nothing to talk about, Grant.” She flashed me a smile. “Promise.”

  I grabbed her arm and brought her to a slower jog. “I’m sorry I wasn’t truthful with you—about your past and what I knew.”

  “Don’t apologize. I know it sounds false, but I’m thankful I had you to look after me and to wipe away the bad stuff. I can’t imagine having to carry that around for an eternity.”

  I waited for a beat and then asked, “Do you want them back? The memories? Because I can undo it.”

  “No. I don’t. I trusted you then and I trust you now.” She stopped running and stepped forward to give me a gentle kiss on the cheek. “Let’s leave the past in the past. Caleb’s gone and we have more pressing issues right now.”

  I nodded because she was right. Not only the stuff with Amelia and the meeting we were about to have, but Elijah hadn’t recovered as quickly as his mate. Oh, and Sebastian. None of us had heard from him in weeks—at least not personally.