He’d run to save her and everyone else.
She transformed back to her human body. She wanted to be able to speak in the hopes that he’d be drawn to her voice.
“Antony?” she called. “Antony,” she tried again. “I’m wandering the countryside naked. I need you.”
A lone howl marked his position. She knew he wouldn’t be able to resist his Alpha’s calling. She ran toward him, merging back to her wolf form just long enough to make her way to his position.
It really wouldn’t do to be discovered prowling around the desert naked. Then people would have to die.
He was on his knees and she stood upright and human. The beast was bigger than she was, taller, even on his knees. She walked to him and even though his jaws were open, slavering, and his claws had curled into his palms, she put her arms around him.
“It’s okay. Feel my heartbeat. Strong, steady. Fast from the run, exhilaration in my blood. Smell it.”
He was frozen and still.
“Feel me against you. Your mate.”
He growled, deep and low, a menacing sound.
“She needs you to be calm.” Marchessa wasn’t lying. Seeing him in this form, he could tear her in half. She needed to know that he was Antony in there.
The growl got louder, but he didn’t move.
“Stop that. I’m not afraid. Not of your bite, your cock, or your wolf.” She took a deep breath and nipped at his neck.
He yanked her forward, his claws tearing at her flesh, just as Cassius’s had. It was strange, there was something so familiar about the way he moved. Something so like the other wolf.
Antony pulled her down and she straddled his lap, his cock filling her. She held on to his shoulders, daring to use her claws on him, daring him to go harder. Do more. Maybe Cassius wasn’t a sex god after all, because Antony had him beat all to hell.
He stretched her, filled her, made her feel whole. It was a dichotomy, this feeling of splitting apart and being stitched back together by him.
She rode him, loving the way it felt when he drove so deep she saw stars. He muzzle nosed at her neck and she dug into his shoulders drawing blood and spurring him on to bite.
It tore into her neck, marking her deep.
His mark was indeed venom. It burned like poison, scalded her insides and made her blood boil in her veins. But then it spread through her, a virus that changed her on a cellular level.
Just as she knew it would.
Her pleasure, her need, it was a tonic for him. The black, twisted beast shifted back into the form of a man.
A man she knew well, but who was not Antony.
It was Cassius driving up into her. Cassius holding her hips. Cassius who’d bitten her.
She shoved at his shoulders and scrambled away from him.
“What the fuck?” she demanded.
He met her stare. “Secrets. I told you I had them.”
She’d just been thinking how perfect it would be if Cassius and Antony were the same male, but she hadn’t meant it literally. Had she?
“Explain this to me. Explain how this is possible?” Her hands shook and she couldn’t breathe.
“I am Antony Cassius Rommulus, son of Rhea, brother to Remus. Mate to Marchessa.”
“No.” She pursed her lips. “You don’t lie to your mate.”
“Marchessa,” he began, reaching out for her.
“Don’t you fucking touch me, you lying bastard.” She shook her head slowly. “I’ve never lied to you. Not once. I slept with a wolf who was not my betrothed and I told you the truth.” She shook her head more vociferously. “Or who I thought was not my betrothed. No wonder you were okay with this. I was hurt, confused, upset. And this was all some fucking test of my loyalty, wasn’t it?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“So what was it like?” she demanded. “You know what, no. I don’t even want to know because it’s all bullshit. I’ll never trust you again.” Marchessa held up her hands as if that would ward off everything she was feeling.
“Will you let me explain?”
“When hell grows chilly and serves gelato. You had all the time in the world to tell me, Antony. From day one, you could’ve told me.”
“You can still choose.”
“What fresh fuck is this?” He was just screwing with her now. Well, she’d bet he’d had a damn good time with that.
“If you want to leave with me, Cassius, we’ll go. We’ll run away and start our own pack, together. You and I until the wheels fall off, baby.”
“But you’re Antony.”
“I’m an incarnation of Antony. I’m his immortality. If you choose me, we’ll have a longer than average wolfish life span. If you choose him, well, I’ll be what gives you eternity with him.”
“This doesn’t make sense to me.” She didn’t want it to. Marchessa didn’t feel as if she could believe anything he said.
“Remus is the same, only he found his one true mate centuries ago.”
“So you’re saying if I choose Antony, you die. If I choose you, he dies?”
“Yes.”
“But you’re in the same body?”
“Yes.”
“Split personality motherfucker.” She shook her head. “I don’t want either one of you. Where does that—”
Her eyes widened and she crashed forward into his arms as something sharp pierced her throat.
Marchessa’s whole body went numb and she put her hand to the hot fountain that spurted at her neck.
When she pulled her hand away, the last thing she saw before her whole world slipped into darkness was silver.
Her fingers were covered in it and had begun to smoke.
Chapter Seven
Marchessa dreamt.
She dreamt of pretty things like angel’s wings, but there were dark things that stalked her feverscape.
Dark things that had no business in the waking world, the daylight, and they grabbed her hard, pulled her down, wanted to keep her there with them. They wanted to drink her down like some exotic cocktail.
If she stayed down in the deep dark, it didn’t hurt.
She couldn’t feel her body burning. It felt like someone had peeled off her skin and every nerve was exposed and all she could do was suffer.
No, down in the deep dark, with the bad things it was cool and quiet. Safe with the bad things that would swallow her whole.
If she let them have her, the pain would end.
Poison on her tongue, like chilled venom. It was cold, so cold. Like metal.
She tried to tear it out, but she couldn’t reach her face. Something locked her hands into place.
The stench of burning flesh and animal hair was rancid and turned her stomach. But she couldn’t get away from it. Not even if she stayed down deep.
But down deep wasn’t for Alpha bitches. It was for the weak. It was for prey and those who would be prey rather than predators.
She was a predator.
Marchessa fought her way to the surface, struggled to breathe and when she did, she smelled lemons.
Lemons everywhere.
It was light and tart, with just a hint of sweet.
She managed to open her eyes and found that she lay on a bed of grass in an orchard of lemon trees. The bright yellow fruits were so vivid, they almost hurt to look at them. Such a contrast to the green of the leaves, and green grassy countryside that lay open and ripe for miles.
For a moment, she wondered if she was in heaven.
Until she saw Antony leaning over her.
Nope, still in hell.
“Where am I?” she croaked like a bullfrog.
“Roluscany,” he said quietly.
“How long?” It felt like a century. Her teeth were strangely smooth. She’d expected them to feel like they were wearing a sweater. The rest of her mouth did.
“Weeks.”
“Go eat something. Your cheeks are hollow,” she commanded weakly.
She struggled to pull herself up
, but her limbs were like jelly and refused to obey her. She was as weak as a kitten.
“I thought you were going to die.”
She saw his face was a tightly knit mask of concern and fear. Her heart twisted in on itself for him. She couldn’t stand the thought of him suffering, even if she was still pissed at him.
“Obviously, I’m fine.” Well, that was a lie. She was refried shit. “What happened?”
“You were shot by a hunter.”
“Did you catch him and rip off his face?” she growled.
He looked even more pained. “No. I had to get the silver out of your system.”
“Silver?” That explained a lot. Like why she felt like she was dead. Why he’d been so concerned.
There was something else wrong. She could feel it. “What else,” she asked. “Tell me.”
“With my venom in your blood, the silver…” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “It changed you.”
“What’s wrong with me?” If he didn’t tell her right now, as soon as she could stand up by herself, she was going to—
“Nothing is wrong with you. You’re the perfect weapon.”
She noticed that wolf’s teeth hadn’t receded back into her gums. She had long, sharp canines that seemed to fill up her mouth. “I need to see.”
“Not just yet you don’t. I need to tell you what happened to you.”
“You’re making it worse.”
He picked her up and she allowed it. “Why aren’t I feeling that healing from you?”
“Because you have to choose. Antony or Cassius. Only one can be your mate. Only one can heal you.”
“I’m still very angry with you.” She didn’t want to choose. That meant forgiving. She wanted to be mad still.
“I know.”
For some reason, that quiet acknowledgement enraged her. He knew. No, he really didn’t. Anger swelled and bubbled hot inside of her. She wanted to spew it out all over him, but she didn’t have the energy.
As soon as he carried her into the small cottage and the mirror, she looked at herself in his arms. She was thin, emaciated. It wasn’t cute, to say the least. If Antony looked hungry, she looked like a plague victim.
Only the startling thing that happened was when she opened her mouth.
Her wolf teeth were extended, as she knew they would be, but they were bright and silver.
“What the hell?” she gasped, almost a whisper.
“You tried to change to heal yourself and the silver and my venom bonded somehow. I’m really not sure. I’ve had teams of our scientists analyzing your blood, your DNA. Everything, trying to understand what’s happened to you.”
“You? What about Cassius? Has he run away now that I look like Moonraker?”
“Do you want him? He’ll come.” Antony looked pained.
That part of her that was still small and petty wanted to hurt him. Wanted to make him feel what she felt, the betrayal… But she couldn’t. “No, I don’t want him to come.”
“That’s probably the first and last time you’ll ever say that.”
She managed a weak laugh. “Damn it, don’t make me laugh when I’m angry.”
“Why? I like the sound of your laugh.”
“That’s not saving you either. You betrayed me, Antony.” It would be easy to fall back in to their banter. To let it go, because she understood why he did it, but that still didn’t make it okay.
“I just wanted you to be happy. It was never supposed to end up like this.”
“How long did you think you could keep it up?”
“Forever,” he admitted.
“Are you sorry you mated me now? It looks like I’m the one who’s impotent. I can’t kiss you. Or do that thing with my tongue.” She gave a self-deprecating laugh. “That part of our relationship is over before it began.” She didn’t think she could face it. Didn’t want to. But her teeth would be poison to him, even the slightest touch.
“Give it time, princess. The power is still all yours.” He kissed her forehead.
She just wanted to cry. Marchessa didn’t feel at all in charge or in control of anything.
“It’s ugly,” she blurted.
“No, baby. It’s not ugly.” He stroked her hair. “It’s powerful. It’s strong. It’s beautiful.”
She turned her face away from the mirror. She didn’t want to see what had happened to her face. Marchesssa had always known herself to be attractive and now… this monstrosity.
This horror.
“I’m going to find him, Antony. I’m going to find him and kill him.” This was a vow she made to herself.
“How about we find him and turn him? Make him what he hates.”
“I like that even better. Then I can rip his face off every day.” Her claws elongated and she saw they were silver, too.
“What am I going to do?” she gasped.
“What are we going to do,” he corrected. “It will be okay, Marchessa. I swear.”
She leaned into his quiet strength, feeling bolstered by him. “I’m still angry with you.”
“I know.”
The thought of being without him was like a knife in her belly. She knew then that he was who she wanted. But making that choice, choosing him, she still felt trapped.
Still felt betrayed.
“What happens if I don’t choose?”
“You’re free to live your life.”
“What happens to you?” she specified.
“I don’t know.”
“Are you afraid?”
“No. If my time has come, then it has come. I couldn’t watch that again, Marchessa.”
“What do you mean?”
“Watching the silver poison you. It was like Carolina all over again.”
“Exactly like Carolina all over again?”
“You have to understand, I’d just bitten you.”
“No, that’s not what I’m getting at. Have you ever wondered if Luc’s sickness, his self-hatred started before Carolina died? Maybe he killed her.”
“I’ll admit that the symptoms were eerily similar, but he loved her. And he didn’t know we were meeting.”
“He could’ve been following her. How would any hunter have been able to track us through that darkness? It had to be a wolf.” She shook her head, feeling a little bit stronger. “What’s the likelihood that there was some hunter just waiting out in the desert for us to stumble by? I mean, it’s possible. Breslin has a lot of resources. For all we know, he had guys posted all throughout Mexico just waiting to see where we’d crash. But how likely is that? The simplest answer is that it was a wolf.”
“A wolf wielding silver.” He growled with disgust.
Marchessa looked down at her own silver nails and felt a surge of self-loathing.
“I didn’t mean…” The pain and regret in his eyes burned her.
“Can I see Cassius now?”
He didn’t respond, but instead, his countenance changed. He was probably glad for a reason to be free of her.
“Hey, you.”
“Hey.” She’d asked for him and now she didn’t know what to say.
“That’s a lot of lemon trees, huh.”
She found a smile. “Yeah. I think I like them though.”
“There’s something about this grove that’s good for healing. Maybe it’s because the lemon stimulates something in our brains. But I like it here.”
“I’m sorry I thought you were the one who sabotaged the jet.”
“It was a reasonable assumption, given that you didn’t have all of the information.” He looked down at her with a sadness that was different than Antony’s and then back up again out at the lemon orchard. “I don’t know if I’ll see this place again.”
“Why? What’s Antony not telling me?” Her stomach knotted.
“It’s what you haven’t told either of us, but I know deep in my bones. You’re going to choose him.”
When faced with him, with telling him that she’d choose Antony, that he’d�
�� it broke her heart. “This isn’t fair. You made me have feelings for both of you. I don’t want to say goodbye to either of you. The idea that I’ll never see you again? I can’t stand it.” She swallowed hard.
“You’ll see me again, cara. I’ll always be with you.”
“Fuck you, Cassius,” she said without any real heat behind the words. “That’s just the bullshit you say to people who are left behind to grieve you and you have nothing else to offer them in way of comfort.”
He smiled at her so softly. “Oh, Marchessa.” He sighed. “I was never meant for life outside of Antony. I’m just his wildness personified. A rebellious part of him that refused to die with Carolina even though his heart wanted to. When he’s whole, when we’re whole, that’s how it was meant to be. And I’m okay with that.” He nodded slowly. “I burn hot and fast. How long can any flame burn?”
“No,” she said, emotions choking her. “I don’t accept that.”
“You should. I have.” He touched her cheek. “I’ll burn in you. What better use of my life that to give you forever?”
She opened her mouth to deny it, but he pressed his fingers against her lips. “No, don’t. It’s what I want.”
“Why? I don’t understand how you could want this.”
“Because we love you. You are the Alpha we’ve been waiting for. Now, all that’s left is for you to tell him.”
Suddenly, it was Antony holding her again and she felt like a piece of herself had been ripped out of her chest.
But Antony… his vitality was back. His cheeks were no longer hollow and his skin had this warm, golden glow that had nothing to do with his tan.
“Marchessa?”
She couldn’t speak. Yes, she’d chosen him, but she needed time to grieve Cassius. She supposed that was stupid, he was a part of Antony. But that part of him, it meant something to her. She’d never have him that way again.
Never run with him under the moonlight and frolic in the warm sea. She’d never know what it was like to touch him again. To hear him laugh. In essence, he was dead.
Even though she knew this was how things were supposed to be. Antony would be whole. She wanted that for him.
Her feelings and emotions were so complicated.
She sniffed.
“What happened? Was he a dick? He can be such a dick.”
Princess of the Pack Page 7