He slips in behind me, arms coming around my waist. I try not to tremble when he drags his thumb over my stomach, lifting my shirt so he can touch skin.
Why is he so touchy? Emit’s not really all that touchy, usually. At least not in such a soft, intimate way. That’s more Damien’s style.
“The borders will be bound by gypsy magic. I can reinforce them, since I’m the best at it. It’ll be strongest on the full moon, but it’ll wane with the moon’s cycle. Keep that in mind and try to make most of the moon-regulated boundaries.”
My eyes flit over the small waterfall that is trickling down. The month of May in Shadow Hills has had just a little snow on the ground from time to time. But mostly, Bobo has taught me to control myself so I can stop influencing Mother Nature so often.
I can picture them coming for a swim here when they trust the outdoors won’t bring about their demise.
Emit’s arms lift me abruptly, startling me a little, as he carries me toward the edge of the small waterfall.
“Vance, Arion, and Damien have all requested this plot of land from me. Numerous times they’ve offered me things I struggled to refuse,” he tells me.
He puts me down and walks over to the pool at the bottom of the falls.
“That means it’s too valuable for me to take then. I don’t want to be in debt for something you can hold over—”
His eyes level mine, and my breath catches in my throat. Something’s off about him. The wilder colors in his gaze are swirling, and there’s a hint of menace there that’s not usually present.
“Emit, are you okay?” I ask as he slowly begins stripping out of his shirt.
“I need you to very slowly walk out of here. Then take off in a sprint when you’re out of sight. Don’t stop running until you’ve reached your Sanctuary,” he says through a slightly growly tone.
“What? Why?” I ask, darting a worried look around at our surroundings.
So much for this place being safe.
“Because I’m just starting to realize how very much in control my wolf is, and if you continue to linger, I’m going to pin you down, fuck you, and leave you with my mark.”
I can’t help but blink a few times. I mean…what the actual hell?
“What?” I ask slowly.
“Do you want me to explain? Because the longer you stand there, the more my control starts to slip. When I get in the water, you go. And go quickly. Don’t turn around, and keep your distance from me for the next few days, no matter what I say to try to get you to come to me,” he adds.
I notice his claws have extended, and his canines have started to peek out over the plump edges of his lower lip.
“Now!” he roars.
Even though it’s abrupt and sudden, I waste no time turning and walking away, ignoring the vicious growl that rips from his throat the second my back is turned. Water splashes, but I don’t turn around to see if he’s randomly taking a swim.
This is all too weird. Even for me.
I have no idea what’s even—
A hand clamps over my mouth seconds before I feel the world tilt.
A roar rattles the air behind me, as Arion silently moves us so fast that the world seems to whip by me in a dizzying motion.
I burrow my face against his chest, still really confused about what’s going on right now.
“All clear, love,” Arion says as his lips brush my forehead. “The big bad wolf won’t come this far into town while on the fritz. His wolf has sharper instincts than that,” he adds with some amusement in his tone.
My head is still spinning when we’re abruptly standing in front of Sanctuary, and I peer up to see the vampire staring down at me with a smirk on his lips.
“What the hell is going on with Emit?” I ask him very seriously.
“Give me a formal, written invitation, and I’ll tell you all about it,” he states, as his arms tighten around me, still holding me bridal style.
“I already gave Shera an invitation for you,” I say on a sigh, but my breath seizes in the next instant, because we go from the front steps to inside my room so fast that my already dizzy head tries to spin.
Arion continues carrying me around the mirrored room that has…pretty much gone to waste.
“Idun was once Emit’s mate. His wolf chose her because she helped to bring it into existence,” Arion states as he gingerly puts me on the bed. “The omegas somehow knew you’d be her replacement the day they met you, hence the reason they moved themselves in with you and made themselves yours. Emit’s apparently been subconsciously fighting the urge, because making you his mate will come at a huge price for him.”
I groan as I drop back to the bed, putting my arm over my head.
“Emit hasn’t even tried to date me. Why does mating sound more like marriage than dating?” I ask on a long sigh.
“Because it’s a bond that forges between two souls. Idun worked really hard to remove that mark from her body, and even she struggled to do so. It gives him a certain…authority on nights of the new moon.”
I sit up, since for once, we’re not discussing the full moon.
“Authority?”
Arion smirks again. “You’d have to ask the wolf for the details, and he’s going to need some space, clearly. He tied up your ex and left him in Damien’s car. It’s only going to—”
“What?!” I shriek, bolting off the bed.
He snatches my wrist and jerks me back down to the bed, while draping a leg across me to hold me in place. My heartbeat speeds up with the intimate contact.
He smells so good, and feels just as good against me. My body has missed his way too much, and all the wrong thoughts play in my head. It’s hell to resist the urge to run my fingers through his hair, especially when his dark eyes sweep over me with a clear sense of hunger.
“Don’t worry. I’ve handled it already, and I took first watch to see if you’re ready to be claimed or not,” he goes on, still dragging his gaze over my body. “Vampires do something very similar.”
Just when I think I finally have a handle on the world around me, the most unromantic monsters in the world rip the rug right out from under me.
“I’m still stuck on the part where Jerome was tied up, and you handled it. What did you do, Arion?” I ask very seriously.
“I made him forget it happened. He’s downstairs waiting for you to get back from your meeting so he can take you out for coffee. Sorry. I made him forget that happened as well. Do us all a favor and turn him down this time,” the asshole tells me with a sadistic grin flirting with his devious lips.
“How is it you’re just now noticing—”
“Violet, I want you to be my bride,” he inserts very randomly.
I forget what I was even saying as my eyes go wide and round in my head. This day started out so much more ordinary—well, sort of.
“I’m sorry, but did I somehow step into the Twilight Zone. Emit wants to mate me and mark me for werewolf marriage, and you suddenly want me as your bride—after both of you spent five months watching your ex! Do monster men not understand anything at all about women?”
Running a hand through my hair in frustration, I turn my back on him and try to get my breathing under control, but he keeps me pinned to his body.
“We’re your monsters, Violet. We understand better how to showcase that now. My apologies for taking this long to figure it out,” he goes on like this is a normal conversation.
“What’s that look?” he asks when I just turn to stare at him in stupefied horror.
“I broke up with you,” I state in as simple of words as possible. “And now you’re talking about making me your bride.”
He’s pins me to the bed and comes down on top of me so fast that my breath hisses between my lips in surprise.
Everything on me tries to catch fire from his cold touch, and my hips tilt forward like the traitorous body I’m attached to can’t seem to get the memo either.
Arion smirks, as his gaze stays fixed to mi
ne, and he drags his pale index finger along my cheek. His eyes look even darker, and his skin looks flawlessly smooth with just a hint of shine.
His jaw looks to have been etched between masculine and feminine, giving him an edge of sexuality most men can’t pull off. He’s incredibly sexy when he reminds me how powerful he also is.
“Tell me you want me to walk away forever, and I will,” he whispers, brushing his lips along mine in a way that evokes a shudder throughout my body.
“Tell me you really want me to stop chasing, and I’ll leave you be,” he goes on, eyes searching mine as if he expects an answer.
Swallowing thickly, I start to shake my head, but stop. It’s the first time anyone has made that sort of statement.
“I don’t want to lose you as individual friends, but as a quad set of boyfriends…you all sort of suck. If I’m being honest,” I tell him quietly, swallowing the lump in my throat and pretending to be unfazed.
“I know we messed up, love, but you’re being too sensitive and very trigger happy on ending things,” he murmurs across my lips, his hand slipping under my shirt to rest on my side.
Steeling myself, I narrow my eyes, refusing to be belittled about this.
“The truth is…no woman could handle being mostly ignored by four distracted men, who were obsessed with watching every single thing their ex did, regardless of the circumstances. I don’t feel bad for being pissed about it. I told you I’d never compete.”
My voice gets a little wobbly, emotion slipping through, as some suppressed anger stirs my tears.
His lips are on mine in the next instant, and I stupidly let my fingers tangle in his hair, feeling so starved for affection that I allow myself a moment of weakness.
Arion’s hand moves toward the front of my skirt, but I stop it.
“Friends,” I blurt out as I cut my face away from his.
He groans as he slaps the bed beside my head and hangs his own head, the black wisps of his hair hiding his face from me, as he makes a frustrated sound.
After a long beat of silence, his head finally comes up, and solid black eyes stare into mine. The fear factor has ebbed these past five months, because I’m inappropriately unintimidated by him.
“I’ll be your friend. For now,” he says in a way that sounds more like a warning. “But unless you cut ties to me, you will become my bride. You’ve not seen me chase yet, love. You just think you have.”
He’s gone in the next instant, his presence so abruptly ejected from my room that I almost swear I made it all up.
My head thumps against the bed, and I shove the heels of my palms against my eye sockets.
My body protests his departure, and I barely stop myself from begging him to come back.
“I certainly didn’t struggle like this when I broke up with Jerome,” I grumble aloud. “And I thought he was the man I’d marry back then.”
Anna pops her head over mine, making a tsking sound. “Comparing them to Jerome is like comparing Confucius to Curly the Stooge. They’re both bald, but one has a lot more going on inside the bald head,” she says as if it makes all the sense in the world.
“Not now, Anna. Not. Now,” I bite out. “I need to—”
The wall explodes across from us, glass shattering from the mirrors and raining down all around me. Anna screams, as a stunned breath gets painfully sucked into my lungs, taking some of the plaster dust in with the gust.
Hands roughly grab my ankles, and I’m slung like a rag doll into the next wall, sending a spray of glass up into the air again. The hands don’t release me, as I cry out in surprise, pain shooting up my side as my whole body is jarred by the unrelenting, steel wall behind the mirrors.
Another cry is ripped out of me when I’m slammed into the bed, crashing with it to the ground from the powerful hit. The mattress bursts from the explosive impact, and I hear the crack of the ground beneath us as an angry scream shouts in the air.
“You’re stupid!” a woman’s raspy voice shouts. “It hurts when you’re stupid!”
The world spins around me before I realize I’ve been thrown, and I once again slam into the unrelenting, thick steel that layers the wall to the outside. A crunch accompanies the pain searing in my jaw, the bones breaking so badly that I don’t get the chance to even speak.
“They want you! You too stubborn! This will be nothing compared to what she’ll do to you if you don’t take them!” the angry woman shouts again, just as a powerful foot collides with my middle.
The pain is so staggering that dots speckle my vision, and two fierce fists pound into my skull against the steel portion of the floor. Copper tinges my mouth, as the voice shouts something else, but my hearing dissipates with each new hit and shouted demand.
“You have everything! Don’t throw it away! Take them! You stupid girl! Take them!”
The voice sounds so far away, as the steady thrumming of my rapidly descending heartbeat hammers in my ears like a dreaded warning.
No. No. No—
I come to, my eyes blinking, pain screaming through every muscle and bone in my body, as I stare eye to eye with a familiar woman I have pinned under me on the ground.
She’s sobbing, as she shakes uncontrollably under me, and a long string of blood drips from my mouth, landing beside her face.
My hand is around her throat, and bruises are forming under my fingers. I’m straddling her waist, and my other hand is on the steel. It’s a fist. A fist that has bent the steel Taylor swore couldn’t be bent, even if Emit’s wolf had a tantrum.
I swallow thickly as my hands begin to shake. Caroline. This is Caroline I’m pinning down. It’s Caroline who attacked me.
She’s the one who always whispers to me through the walls…
I’d speak, but my jaw is still hanging precariously disjointed, hurting so much that fresh tears spill from my eyes.
“I’m sorry!” she wails, sobbing harder as her eyes screw shut. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry!”
She starts slapping the side of her head, as I stumble off her, falling to the ground on my ass, as I struggle to catch a breath of air that doesn’t hurt, wincing as I thank good fortune she wasn’t just ripped apart by my monster.
I lost control of my monster that miraculously didn’t stay in control long. But that doesn’t matter. Only one thing matters.
I. Lost. Control. In my own House.
Caroline hurriedly scrambles into the walls, rushing through the one she put a hole in.
“I told you not to build the wall tunnels around your room. That’s just weird,” Anna says with her shit timing.
At my glare, she whistles awkwardly and disappears from sight.
My tears fall harder, and I cry out in pain as I slip up on the wall, fumbling with my broken bedside table for a healing potion, but the vials have all been shattered.
Fortunately, I stopped keeping explosive potions in my room for fear of something like this eventually happening.
I’m stuck in a House full of PTSD monsters who freak out and go on ballistic rampages. Shit was expected to happen. Just not on this scale without provocation of any sort.
My mind almost blanks into a numb state of delirium when I snap my shoulder back into place, only to have it fall to the side again.
She damn near ripped my arm clean off, I realize.
It’s barely hanging on. That’s why my fist was beside her head. We fought.
Our monsters fought.
I swallow the bile in my throat.
Our monsters fought because I lost control. And she’s probably only alive because she can’t die.
We’re just starting out, and I’ve already fucked up.
CHAPTER 15
VANCE
“I’m simply saying you should investigate the guy a little farther if he’s clearly using you to get to Violet,” I explain to Damien.
“Violet likes him. She likes your favorite beta. She likes Arion’s favorite beta. She likes Emit’s favorite omegas,” he drawls, se
emingly lost in his own head, as he steeples his hands together.
“She trusts them because we trust them,” I dutifully inform the idiot, who hasn’t been right in the head. “What the hell is going on right now? First Emit goes into some damn mating heat that is driving him—”
A howl rattles the walls and echoes down all the long hallways, just as chains rattle and Emit runs into the silver bars of the cage I’ve put him in. The Van Helsing cage and cement room will hold him.
Damien shoots a dubious look toward me.
“He told me to cage him. Don’t look at me like I’m an asshole right now,” I remind him, bristling when the long howl turns desperate and…pathetically sad.
“We’ve spent too much time together. I actually feel sorry for him, damn it,” Damien grinds out, as he crosses his arms over his chest and slinks down in his seat.
Anna pops in very abruptly, and Damien exhales harshly, as he pinches the bridge of his nose and mutters a curse.
“How are you alive?” I ask her very seriously.
She blinks at me. “Go help Violet out of her van,” she says instead, confusing the shit out of me.
Damien stands and goes to the window, brow furrowing.
One whiff of nearly muted Portocale blood, and we both launch ourselves through the open set of bay windows. I land a fraction of a second before him, and I spring forward, practically ripping Violet’s door off.
Her head is leaned over on the steering wheel, arms dangling out to the sides, as blood drips down her twitching fingers. My eyes work quickly, moving over her, assessing the damage.
Fresh stitches line both arms, though one looks to have gotten nearly pulled off her, judging by the stitching. Her shirt is ripped and soaked in her own blood…as well as another’s.
I immediately recognize the second scent.
“Caroline did this?” I ask her with a false modicum of calm, aching to go shred the poor fucking girl just because she’s too broken to know better.
Violet makes a pained, muffled noise when her jaw…fucking hell. How didn’t I notice her mangled jaw before?
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