Darkest Temptation

by Rachel Van Dyken

  Just tore right in like a complete animal.

  It was the most terrified I’d ever been in my entire life.

  And then.

  Pleasure.

  So much pleasure.

  His. I felt his arousal through the blood; I felt the rightness of what he was doing even though he was doing it wrong. He was a messy savage with no restraint.

  And I loved it more than I should.

  My heart had soared for his, even as he’d drained my body.

  My only thought had been, “Take your fill.”

  Even if it meant my death.

  I’d been so disgusted with myself I could barely look at him before Timber took me from the room.

  The fact that he’d been able to even send me away after tasting for the first time, after experiencing the link between our minds, the crashing rightness I felt between our souls…

  Was a terrifying thought.

  If he pushed me away, if he left me, my future, that psychotic wolf with bad manners and chef-like tendencies, I wasn’t sure my heart would survive.

  It was already too fragile from my parents.

  I heard his heart speed up — mine matched it — and then his scent was everywhere, different from before, sweeter, as if he’d just rolled around in honey and forgotten to shower. Then the spice was back filling the air with more flavor as I tried to calm my breathing.

  The door opened.

  He’d changed into new clothes and wiped most of the blood from his body.

  His eyes were crystal blue.

  His feet bare.

  His low-slung jeans made a noise as they rode low on his hips and pressed against his tan skin while he crossed the room.

  I licked my lips and finally gained enough courage to speak. “So… you, uh… still hungry?”

  “It’s not funny.” He ran a hand through his shaggy hair and cursed.

  I lifted a shoulder, “It’s sort of funny. Who knew wolves could bite like that?”

  He exhaled and bit down on his lower lip so hard it turned white, and then his eyes were on my neck darting back and forth with uncertainty. “Let me heal you.”

  “It’s nothing.” I covered the place with my hand where he’d bitten me and came back with more blood staining my fingertips. “I’ve survived worse.”

  “I doubt it.” He leaned forward, his massive body hovering over me. “Please, Serenity, let me fix this.”

  His plea hung heavy between us.

  There would be no fixing what had been done.

  I leaned forward and pulled my hair over my left shoulder, bravely exposing my gaping wound to his lust-crazed eyes.

  Bad idea?

  Maybe.

  But I stupidly trusted him.

  Maybe it was the link between us; maybe I was just as sucker for deep brown eyes that flickered to blue and pierced the air with sensuality unmatched by anyone I’d ever met.

  Mason leaned forward, his face inches from mine.

  Maybe that was what had gotten me in this predicament in the first place, my inability to separate the fact that he was both beast and man — and I was easy prey.

  His tongue very tentatively reached out and slid across the skin near my collarbone and then higher and higher, and with a moan, he swept over the wound. I felt my skin knit together, fuse from his healing abilities, and when the pain finally subsided, he rested his head on my shoulder.

  I ran my fingers through his hair while he picked up my free hand and licked a cut I hadn’t realized I had.

  His tongue felt smooth against my skin. I immediately wanted it in my mouth, pressed against every inch of my body — even the parts that didn’t need healing.

  With a shudder, I pulled my hand away.

  He lifted his head, eyes so blue they reminded me of ice.

  I saw the truth in his eyes. I saw the sentence he didn’t want to utter. I wasn’t sure if I should be offended, hurt, both? I bit down on my lip, took a gulp of air into my lungs, and whispered, “We’re mates.”

  I figured if I said it aloud, it would sound less terrifying.

  It wasn’t.

  He was a council member.

  An immortal king.

  I was a part-time college student with no purpose and no friends outside of school and the small coffee shop I frequented where Mike, my barista, added extra espresso into my mochas with a side of blood.

  I kept people at arm’s length.

  Because I was afraid that if they got close, the truth would slap me in the face.

  I wouldn’t be enough to make them stay.

  “I had a mate,” Mason whispered, “before.”

  “What happened to her?” Jealousy flared to life over this nameless, faceless woman who’d shared his heart like mine — who’d kissed his lips and touched his skin. I wanted to rip her face off.

  Mason tensed next to me. “It would be easier to tell you the story if you stopped thinking of all the graphic ways you could dismember her.”

  I gasped. “Werewolves don’t read minds.”

  “Not typically…” He sighed. “…no.”

  “How?”

  “That’s not the story you asked for, and it’s not one I know how to tell.” He gave his head a shake. “She was frail. I always imagined I’d be mated to a warrior, someone who understood my needs, who allowed me to take care of them. And she did all those things — but I always felt fear from her. It made her love feel tainted. It made me feel like I wasn’t doing enough to keep her happy, to keep her safe.” His voice cracked. “We had just found out she was with child when I woke up to find her dead next to me, no explanation, no reasoning. We’d been together so long we’d wrongly assumed that we were safe, that she was safe.”

  I gasped and covered my mouth with a shaking hand. “I’m so sorry.”

  “So am I,” Mason whispered. “So am I.” He moved and stood in front of me, his blue eyes locking onto me with such intensity I was afraid to breathe. “When balance was restored, and Ethan married Genesis, a war broke out, a war we cannot fight unless we’re at our strongest.”

  I was afraid of where this was going. “My parents said something was coming. They just never said what. They didn’t involve themselves with immortal gossip. They thought they were above it.”

  “Gossip?” Mason ground out. “And why do you talk about them like they no longer—” His eyes searched, found the answer on my face, and then looked away. “I’m sorry too. It’s a hollow feeling, one that is never quite filled again.”

  I nodded. “So, what now?”

  He looked hesitant and then almost embarrassed.

  “Mason?”

  “I, uh…” He jerked away from me so fast the moment shattered. He ran a hand through his shaggy hair and then eyed the door as if it were a narrow escape route he may not make in time. “…I should.” He gave his head a shake, his eyes going from brown to blue then back again.

  “Mason?” When I said his name a second time his eyes stayed a blazing blue. I held my hand out to him. “Mason, are you okay?”

  He went completely still. “Don’t speak.”

  I gave him a small nod as he closed his eyes and looked like he tried to breathe with great effort. I didn’t want to be afraid, but if he attacked me again, there would be no way to fight it, no way to fight him off whatever.

  “Can’t.” He shuddered. “I can’t anymore.”

  I stood.

  He held out his hand to stop me; it shook as his fingers snapped and twisted, revealing a giant claw that could rip me in half if I breathed wrong.

  “Mason, listen to my voice.” I was basically worthless as a vampire. I was fast, but not fast enough to escape him, and not strong enough to overthrow him.

  Weak.

  Is that why they left?

  Why everyone leaves?

  “Ever since you came…” His chest heaved. “…I have no control.” His teeth snapped together as the muscles in his neck flexed like they were seconds from snapping. “Just stay the
hell away from me!” he roared.

  He jerked the door open, and it went flying behind him, slamming against the wall nearest the bathroom.

  I took cover as a piece of wood flung in my direction and hit me in the elbow.

  When I lowered my arms…

  Mason was gone.

  MASON

  I pulled at my hair over and over again as I walked around outside the house in mindless circles. The craving had lessened in her arms. Licking her had been…

  My everything.

  And just like that, when the hunger for her had died down enough for me to think, a small voice whispered, “Take.”

  I put up a mental block against that voice.

  And lost my shit all over the place when it pushed back; the hunger burned, my temper snapping.

  And I broke a freaking door.

  I lived by my control.

  I fed the regulator like a well-tended pet with a schedule. I’d always been in charge of my urges, sexual and otherwise.

  I kicked a boulder, sending it sailing into a tree, cracking the poor oak in half as it fell against the road.

  Well, shit.

  I stomped over and shoved the tree out of the way as if it was a feather. I was getting physically stronger, sharper, hearing things I had no business hearing.

  Like the music of her blood.

  Her heart calling to me.

  I fell to my knees.

  The desire to bite her was just as powerful as the desire to mate with her, to take her from behind. My hands shook as I dug my claws into the earth and braced my body in a hunting position.

  The more blood I was exposed to the worst it got.

  And I could feel her blood mating with mine, swirling around in a dance so ancient that even I didn’t know all of the movements. But my blood did — hers did. It recognized its mate and was rejoicing while simultaneously pumping to all the wrong areas in preparation for the final joining.

  I scowled as my heart thumped in my chest.

  If I never completed the mating, it wouldn’t matter. She was immortal; she would survive it.

  I, however, wasn’t sure I would.

  And that is the problem, isn’t it?

  What if she was weak like my last mate?

  What if she hated me? What if I killed her?

  So many what-ifs and so many scenarios I didn’t understand how to fix or control.

  I would not risk her.

  I would not.

  “You sure pout a lot for a male.” Cassius suddenly appeared next to me.

  “Didn’t hear you,” I grumbled, still in my protective positioning.

  He shrugged and looked back at the house. “I brought reinforcements.”

  “Everyone’s back?”

  “Alex thought it would be best for Hope to discuss war strategy with Timber. They’ll be back later this evening.”

  I groaned. “You didn’t have to cut your trip short. The fight between good and evil is more important than my… cravings.” I gulped.

  Cassius’ eyebrows shot up. “What makes you think your cravings aren’t a part of that war, Wolf?”

  Frowning, I looked down at the same earth I’d sworn to protect, its minerals swirling beneath the surface, kissing my fingertips. I belonged in the dirt, outside; I belonged with what I’d sworn to protect, and yet, I’d abandoned it. “This war is better off without me. I’m not that important, Cassius. It took one weak human to prove that I am nothing. I can’t fix what’s been broken.”

  “Maybe you can…” Cassius hesitated. “…maybe you can’t. But the point…” He tilted his head and then leaned down next to me, his feathers shaking as pieces of dirt flew up and touched them, changing their color from blue to brown and back again. “…is to try.”

  The dirt fell back to the ground in an array of colors and burst into a small field of wildflowers where my fingers were pressed. “Angels and their tricks.”

  He shot me a half grin. “You know I don’t control the wings. Sometimes I think it’s Sariel’s way of still speaking to us, always creating, always moving.” He locked eyes with me. “I do not control them. I’m a part of them, and they are a part of me. Control does not always equal good. Sometimes, control is evil.”

  “Control keeps things in line.”

  “No…” Cassius turned and started walking away. “…control is just another word for fear.”

  I watched his body disappear through the woods and glanced back down at the wildflowers, finally deciding on picking them as I wiped my dirt-covered hands on my jeans, and made my way slowly back to the house.

  Serenity was downstairs with Genesis, her smile genuine as the girls huddled over a magazine.

  Ethan’s green eyes narrowed in on me as he sniffed the air, and then his eyes widened a bit before he elbowed Cassius.

  Cassius just shrugged. “Let it go.”

  “This isn’t frozen,” Ethan said through clenched teeth. “This is going to be a clusterfu—”

  Genesis cleared her throat and held out one of the twins to Ethan. He sighed and took both of them out of the room, but not before giving Genesis a disgusting kiss on the lips and shooting me another threatening glare.

  “He slobbers all over you,” I pointed out. “You can’t enjoy that.”

  “Twins.” Stephanie swept into the room. “I’d say she enjoys it very much.”

  I made a face and lamely dropped the wildflowers in front of Serenity. “For you.”

  I inwardly rolled my eyes at myself. Is that the best I can do? I may as well have brought in my latest kill with my tongue hanging out and panted next to her like a new pup.

  Serenity held the flowers to her nose. “Thank you.”

  “Thank Cassius.” Why did I say that? Why am I speaking still? “His feathers created them with their creepy angel magic.”

  Serenity’s face fell. “Oh.” She laid the flowers back down on the table like the gift wasn’t really a gift anymore.

  “You’re the one who picked them.” Cassius brushed a kiss across Stephanie’s nose.

  Happy couples. Everywhere.

  Disgusting.

  Even an angel had a mate.

  I snapped my teeth in irritation and jerked open the fridge door in search of something to eat.

  “Alex, damn it!” I slammed the door closed. “Did he take all the food?” My berries were gone. Not a pinecone in sight. There was nothing in the damn fridge but ketchup and a glass jar of pickles.

  I opened the freezer. I knew I had stored some frozen berries in there a while back.

  Nothing but meat.

  And a frozen pouch of blood.

  I swallowed.

  The room fell silent.

  I slammed the fridge shut, opened it, and slammed it shut again, throwing an unbelievable tantrum that I couldn’t control even if I’d wanted.

  “Looks like you need to go to the store,” Cassius said calmly. “Take Serenity.”

  I held my laugh in.

  It wasn’t funny.

  He wanted me to take a vampire that I wanted to devour alone, in a car, to a store that had every single piece of meat my wolf would kill to buy, to eat, right in the damn aisle.

  “I love grocery shopping!” Serenity jumped out of her chair.

  I gave Cassis a middle finger and then did it again just for good measure.

  “When my parents were alive—” She stopped talking and looked down at the ground.

  Hell.

  I was screwed.

  Her heart raced.

  And then her jumbled thoughts pumped out. “Not enough for them to stay.”

  My heart cracked in my chest as the words tumbled out of my mouth. “I’ll take the Jeep.”

  “You can make a list while he drives.” Genesis winked at me.

  Stop being helpful.

  Genesis was one of my best friends. But she also had a gold medal in manipulating me into doing things I didn’t want to do, like during Christmas when Ethan wouldn’t watch Hallmark, an
d she’d said she’d comb my fur if I sat next to her.

  I was loath to admit the times I’d choked up watching those damn movies.

  Within minutes, I was driving Alex’s new shiny white Jeep Wrangler through the downtown traffic in search of Whole Foods while Serenity sat stock-still next to me.

  I’d been forced to put on a shirt and nice jeans with a pair of flip-flops that I reserved for outings. But when I’d come downstairs, Genesis had sent me back up to shower the dirt from my hands and face.

  I was a wolf. Wolves were meant to be dirty.

  The argument hadn’t stood.

  So, I’d pulled my hair back into a rubber band, put on the too-tight white t-shirt that made my chest itch, and managed to get in jeans that I assumed would split in two if I bent over one too many times.

  The minute Serenity had seen me, her heart raced a rhythm that made my blood soar.

  She wanted.

  I wanted back.

  And we were alone.

  Mating in the back of Alex’s Jeep actually cheered me more than I thought, but it was wrong.

  All wrong.

  Wolves and vampires did not mate.

  Someone got something wrong.

  And if I lost it all…

  Lost her…

  Lost anyone…

  Control, control! I ripped the wheel and cleared my throat as I turned into a parking spot near the front of the store. “So, you like grocery shopping?”

  I inwardly groaned. Was I always this bad at decent conversations with people I wanted to lick?

  Maybe that was the problem; I’d never wanted to lick anyone, claim anyone as badly as I did her. It made me stupid.

  Sex made everyone stupid.

  But at this point, I’d probably get first prize.

  Serenity grabbed a cart and smiled up at me. “Yeah, it was one-on-one time with my parents. We’d always grab a Starbucks and then run around and find all the best bargains on food. We never ate the same thing every week. My mom liked keeping things fresh and exciting. Some weeks we did pasta one day and a casserole the next, since we don’t really eat to survive.” She shrugged. “We eat more for pleasure than anything else.”

  I swayed when she said pleasure.

  My eyes swam with lust.

  She steadied me with her hand on my arm.

  “Sorry,” I croaked then looked down at her hand and took it in mine, helping her push the cart toward the produce section.