by Brianna Jean
“Yes, what harm could it do that hasn’t already been done?”
“Well, that’s a loaded question seeing as how twenty-four hours ago, vampires didn’t exist. What other supernatural creatures are you hiding in that body, Pup?” I wanted to lighten the mood, but I felt her stiffen next to me. Fuck. “Don’t do that, I’m just joking.”
She didn’t say anything for a few moments, but eventually she asked, “How do you feed? What do you eat?”
“Negative emotions.”
She chuckled. “Oh good, so I’m going to be a five-star meal.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, not liking the resentful sadness in her tone.
“Can you take them away?” she asked just as quietly.
“I wish I could.”
“So you’re useless.”
I was the one to chuckle then. “Basically.”
“Good to know.”
She was quiet for another moment, then asked, “How old are you guys?”
“The guys are both twenty-four,” I said, not sure how she would handle my age but again, not willing to lie to her. “I’ve been alive for three centuries.”
I held my breath.
“Cool.”
Her voice was bored, resigned, all together disengaged.
We settled into silence, and I felt her emotions reach new heights as she fell back into her thoughts. The anger she held within her was like a never-ending feast. Add confusion and loneliness to the mix, and it was almost too much for me.
Almost.
I fed in silence, pulling the emotions deep within my core. The darker parts of me, the demons I carried on my back, danced as they ate, loving the potency of Anna’s torment.
Then suddenly I was full.
In all my three hundred years alive, I’d never once felt full. I fed for hours on end from strangers, stalked funerals and whore houses, anywhere that emotions ran high, and never once had I ever been full.
Annalise managed to feed me, satiate me, and still have enough left over to continue if I needed to.
“Why are you so angry?” I couldn’t resist asking.
She turned her head to look in the direction she felt me but couldn’t actually see me. “I might tell you if you show me the animal inside you.”
Man, this girl was fucking me up tonight. She saw my animal too? Felt him? He perked up, ready for the shift, to show himself, but I held him back for a moment. “You see him?”
“Yes,” she whispered, as if speaking too loudly would shatter our moment. “He’s strong. Just now, when you were talking, I could only feel you, and then when we fell silent, and you got lost in your thoughts, I started to feel him. I want to see what he looks like.”
I didn’t give her the chance to change her mind, too wound up from feeding, too excited about the idea of her seeing the other half of my soul, the other being that lived within me.
I was the only one who had a physical animal.
They had wings, but I had my Bull.
I shifted.
A seven-foot-tall white Bull was now standing next to the bed, and I didn’t move, didn’t flinch. Wasn’t even shocked.
I was numb.
My eyes momentarily glanced at the nightstand, where I placed the gun that Lanier gave me. This was my life now.
I now drank blood? Sweet.
I had fucking wings? Amazing.
Quint could turn into a fucking animal? Perfect.
Sounds. Fucking. Good.
I rolled my eyes at myself, annoyed. I needed to pull it the fuck together. Lanier thought I was in enough danger to need a gun, and that meant that I couldn’t waste my time feeling sorry for myself. I couldn’t change my situation; I couldn’t even figure it out. I had to ask the questions, search for the answers, dig to find the truth. A week ago I was just a Human girl with a shitty childhood, and now I was something else.
It was time to move on from the shock and figure this shit out. Lanier was pissed, I knew that, he knew that, the boys probably knew that by now, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from asking him for help.
Cabe would help me. He was loyal, almost to a fault, and he wanted me here because he believed he knew me.
Yeah, okay.
I’d let him think that as long as he helped me figure out how I went from being no one, just a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, to this.
Then I had to figure out how to change it back.
If I even could change it back.
I couldn’t, and deep down, I knew that.
But I needed to be sure that I couldn’t.
Quint would also help me. Hell, he was ready to post up in this room with me for however long I let him. Turns out, it was his lucky morning, because I needed a nap and I didn’t want to be alone.
I studied the Bull with lackluster enthusiasm, but even then, I couldn’t ignore the fact that he was beautiful. Nothing like a normal Bull, Quint’s was strong with longer legs and horns, his white fur was shiny, his nose black and wet with a lethal looking iron ring hanging from it. It looked heavy but didn’t seem to affect him at all.
The animal stared at me as my eyes drank him in. I knew Quint was in there, that I could talk to him or ask questions, but instead, I just wanted to nap.
But I wanted him to stay with me while I did it.
“I’m going to move over, and you’re going to get in. You’re going to stay in Bull form and keep your meaty fucking hands to yourself.”
The animal huffed as if saying “yeah, right” and then nudged my leg with his snout, clearly asking me to move over.
I didn’t. “I’m serious, Quint. Don’t fuck with me right now. I just want to take a nap, and I know you’ll let me do that if the others come knocking. Kick them out and keep them quiet. I’m exhausted, and I need to fucking sleep.”
He huffed louder this time, agreeing with my plan, and nudged my leg again.
I moved over to the other side of the bed to make room for the massive animal to lie down. Luckily, Lanier must have ordered the biggest mattress in existence because he fit perfectly.
Quint let out a few sharp breaths as he got comfortable, kicking his legs to move the sheets back and lying down before placing his head on the pillow near my face. I turned onto my side to look at him better.
His coloring was brighter than it was before now that it was against the black silk on Lanier’s bed. I reached up and smoothed my hand down the center of his face, between his eyes. He was huge, his head the size of my chest, but I wasn’t scared.
I was a lot of things…but scared wasn’t one of them.
I wanted him to stay because I felt less crazy with him near, as if our manic sides cancelled each other out. Not to mention that he seemed like he needed it too. I could feel his turmoil, his jealousy, his insecurities. I didn’t understand why he cared so much about how I felt about his best friends, but his emotions told me that it was a big deal to him that I spent time with him, too.
I almost told him that my morning with Lanier wasn’t any fun, but I didn’t because I wasn’t sure if it was a lie or not.
Did I have fun, per se? No.
Would I do it again? Any day of the week.
Lanier made me fucking crazy. He flipped my bitch switch faster than anyone I’d ever known, even Joey, but I couldn’t deny that I wanted to fuck the shit out of him. Use my new fangs to see what would happen if I bit down on the flesh of his thighs. Would his dick twitch? Would he let me use my fangs if I wanted to suck his dick with them still out?
I groaned at the thought, forgetting the hulking animal watching me.
Shit.
“Okay!” I said too cheerfully. “Time for some sleep, big guy.”
The animal fucking snorted, as if he knew I was covering up my dangerous thoughts.
The bastard.
“When I wake up, I’m going to figure out what the fuck happened to me in the last twenty-four hours. So, if your boys come knocking, warn them. If I am woken up even a minute before I want to be up…
I will rip you all apart limb by fucking limb. I know how to take out a grown man, don’t test me.” I didn’t wait for a response. I rolled over, giving the animal my back.
I bit the inside of my cheek as I lay there, annoyed with myself. I had that all-consuming desire to get close to Quint, to lie with him and have him comfort me—to comfort each other—but I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t get too close to them. This bond between us, that we were all trying to ignore, was getting harder and harder to escape. With every minute that passed, it was getting stronger.
As I lay there, it began to truly sink in.
I drank blood. I had wings and fangs. Quint was a fucking Demon. It was all true.
I had so many questions.
I was just about to drift off when I began to feel sick, like something was wrong. Quint was here with me, but I knew I could feel the other two if I pushed out my senses. I could feel Cabe somewhere downstairs walking around, but something was missing. I reached inside myself to find the third person. He was there, a string tethered to my soul, but he wasn’t in the house.
I couldn’t feel Lanier.
My heart sank in my chest as it hit me. He didn’t come up to check on me, didn’t wait for me to wake up, or come in demanding that we talk.
He’d left instead.
A pit formed in my stomach as I thought of all the places he could have gone.
One thing was for sure, he was getting into trouble, and it wouldn’t turn out well for any of us.
It was early evening by the time I couldn’t take any more. I didn’t give a fuck what Quint said, I was going in. I opened the door to Lanier’s room, my eyes immediately landing on Annalise. She slept facing the door with a frown on her face, a delicate wrinkle forming between her dark eyebrows.
I looked further into the room before I noticed Quint—naked as the day he was born—sprawled out next to Annalise. His body was completely uncovered as he lay atop the sheets, dick out and everything, an arm thrown across his tattooed chest, another covering his eyes. He rested next to her casually, not touching her or invading her space.
It didn’t matter that he wasn’t touching her. I felt that storm again as it began to brew inside of me, hot and fast. Vicious winds blew across my mind, ice scattering in my veins.
He was fucking naked next to her!
“Get up,” I commanded, kicking the side of the bed.
Annalise opened one eye and looked at me. She snorted and rolled to her back, throwing an arm over her eyes like Quint. He hadn’t moved.
“Go away, Blue,” she grumbled sleepily, her chest still rising and falling slowly, as if sleep still had her in its clutches. She turned the rest of the way over and face planted into Quint’s chest, her entire body going still on impact.
She shot up, throwing the hood off her head. “Why the fuck are you naked, Quint?”
“Ishiftedbackandmyclothesdidn’tfollowme,” he replied with one massive incoherent sentence, not removing his arm.
It annoyed the fuck out of me that Annalise—somehow—understood it perfectly as she replied, “Your clothes didn’t follow? I thought I told you not to shift back, you asshole.”
“I was comfortable, you wench, I shifted in my sleep.” Fast as lighting, he wrapped two massive arms around her and pulled her down his body until she was draped all over him. “Mmmm, much better.”
I was about to bark an order when Annalise put the palm of her hands on Quint’s chest and pushed up quickly, forcing his arms to fly off of her. She brought her knee up between his legs, and I stood there, with sparks in my eyes, as it slid right into Quint’s balls and landed with a soft connection. I would have thought this was the start of their foreplay if a harsh growl didn’t rip from Anna’s throat at the same time. “I didn’t want you to shift back, I asked you specifically not to. Now your limp dick is burned into my brain. I’ll remind you one more time—don’t push me, Q. You won’t like the consequences.”
He moved just as quick as last time, pinning her beneath him—her body pressed into the mattress, her face shocked as hell. “I get it, you don’t want to push this connection any further because you don’t understand it, but remember this next time: I see your strength; I’m not confused about who would win in a fight, but I say you should take what you want, when you want it, or you’ll never survive this world. You just said yesterday that I was following my instincts. Now you don’t like that my instincts led me to you? You’re not mad that I’m naked, you’re too confident for that, you’re mad that I got comfortable enough next to you to shift in my sleep. Get over yourself and buck up, buttercup, you’re in a different world now.”
He stood from the bed and pulled her up with him. She looked furious but said nothing, turning to walk away in my direction. He slapped her ass, causing her to yelp and whip her head around.
He shrugged. “Take what you want.”
Despite myself, I fought a smile. She was turned on as fuck, anyone could tell. Flushed cheeks, sharp breaths, barely contained lust dripping off of her. It was hot as hell, even if it wasn’t directed toward me.
“Annalise, I need to talk to you,” I said, trying to stop her from moving past me.
“Not now, Cabe. I’m not in the mood for any emotional shit.” She paused briefly, looking around the room before finding what she was looking for. She made a beeline into Lanier’s closet and looked around for a light switch. It was about six in the afternoon, the sun still bright outside, but the blackout shades covering the view kept the room dark.
“Emotional shit?” I questioned, my stomach sinking.
She took one of Lanier’s T-shirts off the hanger, throwing it over her shoulder, and turned to look through the neat stacks of joggers that lined one wall of his walk-in closet. It was a modern set up with white cabinets, black carpet, and a whole wardrobe full of outfits that any man would envy.
She found a pair of joggers she liked and threw them on top of the shirt, “Yes, the emotional shit. I can feel you, even though I don’t fucking want to, and I know that you’re the deep, heart-felt one. You’re going to hit me where it hurts and want to talk about shit that I refuse to dig up. So save it. At least for a little while. I’m losing my mind over here, I have so many questions and no real answers.”
She moved to the back of the closet, opening one of the four drawers that sat below a wall full of shoes. She picked out a pair of boxers and socks, turning back to look at me. “I’m going to take a shower, and then we’re having a family fucking meeting. I want to know what you guys know for sure and what you still question. We’re going to figure this shit out because, if I heard you all correctly, I can turn this bond down. I can become Fallen—whatever that means—and then I can walk away from this. I would very much like to do that. So get your brothers and come up with a plan, because we aren’t leaving this house until we have one. I want this to be over.”
“Annalise, it’s not that easy.” I sighed, giving up on the idea of ever getting through to her. She was so fucking stubborn. “You can’t just expect to go out and find a solution to this. We don’t even really know what the problem is.”
She snorted and then rolled her eyes. “Not with that attitude you can’t.”
“Annalise!” I was ready to strangle her little ass. She was treating our bond like it was some sort of light switch—if we could find out where it was and turn it off, everything would go back to normal. “That isn’t how this works. We are bonded, somehow, in a new way that no one has seen before. You fed from Lanier—that is not a normal mating bond. That is something else entirely.”
“Yes, I’m aware. Which means we need to figure out what that something else is, then maybe we will understand why it’s happening and find out if we can stop it.” She took a deep breath, closing her eyes. “I don’t want this, Cabe.”
I wanted to soothe her, but I wasn’t even sure what she needed soothing for. She was talking so fast, saying the same thing over and over, but she didn’t even understand what any of it
meant. She didn’t know our world, and we were expecting her to just get it.
“Don’t want what, Annalise?”
She opened her eyes and looked up at me, standing completely still for the first time since she woke up. “This bond. This life. Any of it.”
I sighed and stepped closer to her. “It’s too late.”
“Why?” she argued, shaking her head. “Why is it too late? How is it too late? If magic exists, why can’t we use magic to change everything back the way it was?”
I felt for her, I really did, but something in me snapped when she made it sound like she had a brilliant life to go back to. “What was so great about your life before this? I saw you, Annalise. I fucking know you. What are you missing so badly?”
She smiled sadly. “Freedom, Cabe.”
Finally, I understood.
I didn’t have a response because I couldn’t argue with her logic.
She stepped away from me and walked across the carpet to the bathroom on the other side of the room. She flipped the light on and set the clothes she picked on the closed toilet seat. She turned around and paused again, scanning the room. She looked across to where two sinks sat like huge bowls on top of a black marble countertop. Bending down, she opened each of the black cabinets that sat underneath it.
“They’re in the closet behind the door, Anna.” I knew she was looking for a towel, but it was fascinating to watch her be so confident in her decisions. She moved around Lanier’s room like she owned the place. Not embarrassed about the fact that she simply didn’t know the layout of the house, she opened doors and cabinets until she found what she was looking for. No filter, no second guessing, no timid behavior or meek questions. She simply took what she wanted.
“What did Quint mean earlier?” I asked, risking her wrath and following her into the bathroom. “He told you to take what you want, but I see you doing that even now, so what did he mean?”
I didn’t like that Quint knew something I didn’t; I wanted to understand.
She moved to the standing shower, opened the glass door and turned on the massive showerhead. Steam immediately started floating in the room, the water blazing hot.