A Kiss For You

by Rachel Van Dyken

His fluid movement from the door to the fireplace was quick. I blinked, and he was standing next to me, holding his hands out.

  I knew he could feel the heat, so I wasn't going to insult him by asking, even though it seemed like some of my studies had been clearly lacking. After all, I'd always thought vampires bit, but I had no bite marks, no recollection, nothing except blackness and the idea that his touch had been so painful I'd wanted to die.

  "You are safe," he whispered in a hoarse voice. "Cassius won't be coming for you. He'd have to track you first."

  "Am I untraceable now?" Now that I was his. Now that I didn't belong to myself anymore.

  Ethan pulled his hand back from the air, clenching his fingertips into a tight fist. "To everyone but your mate."

  "You." I closed my eyes and willed the tears to stay in. What was happening?

  "Me," he confirmed.

  My heart continued to race. I tried to glance at him out of the corner of my eye, but when I did, those eyes — once green — were black and still trained on me. I didn't know vampires had black eyes, didn't know any part of their physiology — outside of their fangs — changed.

  "The cold will pass," he said, still staring at me.

  Finally, I turned to give him my full attention, hoping it wouldn't be the last thing I did. "Why am I so cold?" My teeth chattered as if to prove a point. I hugged my arms closer to my body and got closer to the fire.

  "You'll be cold until he leaves you completely," Ethan said slowly. "I marked over him… took away what I could." His hand reached out cupping my face. "Soon you'll be warm again."

  "B-because you're warm?"

  He dropped his hand and smirked. "Scorching."

  I was swaying toward him, not even realizing it, but his hands came out and steadied me then stayed. When he touched me, I could feel his heartbeat through his fingertips; it was addicting, fascinating. I moved closer. He didn't release me. His black eyes changed to more of a gray and then finally changed back to a flashing green as I moved into his arms. It was like I had no control over my body — I just wanted to be close.

  And he was so warm.

  And alive.

  Very much alive.

  His eyes hooded.

  Inches apart — our lips were almost touching. My mind screamed at me to back away, but my body told me it was exactly where I needed to be.

  "You're hungry." He twirled a piece of my hair with his fingertip then sniffed it. "I'll bring you food. Under no circumstances are you to leave this room until the marking is complete."

  He released my hair. His other hand fell from my arm.

  And the loss was heartbreaking.

  "How will I know when it's complete?" I croaked out, like any terrified prisoner would.

  His face cracked into a seductive smile before he looked away and his jaw clenched. "You'll know… because you'll be so on fire for me, you'll think of nothing else. Not food, water, safety — not anything. Your only need will be me."

  I gulped. "Then what happens?"

  He turned and walked to the door at a normal pace, pausing only to call over his shoulder, "I give you exactly what you need."

  That's what I was afraid of.

  Genesis

  It was an hour later before any food was brought to me. I'd foolishly assumed it would be Ethan bringing food; instead, it was Alex.

  I breathed a sigh of relief when he came into the room, tray of food in hand, and offered a shy smile — without the noticeable waves of seduction. Apparently, he could turn it off and on.

  "Actually…" He sat the tray down on the bed and took a seat in the nearby chair. "…now that you're his mate, I could try my damnedest to seduce you, and you wouldn't feel a thing."

  "Great," I croaked, reaching for a piece of toast.

  "Mason cooked." Alex offered an apologetic yet radiant smile. "Word of warning, the man's been surviving on tree branches for the past twenty years, so if he's a little rusty in the kitchen, I apologize."

  "Tree branches?" The toast was a bit dry, but it satisfied the hunger. I kept chewing, waiting for Alex to elaborate. Maybe he'd give me the answers I needed.

  Alex propped his feet up on the bed. "His way of punishing himself, I suppose — ridiculous if you ask me. Then again, he's a werewolf, more beast than man. Who am I to judge?" His blue eyes twinkled briefly before he reached for the teakettle on my tray and poured some into one of the mugs. "Ethan didn't specify what to make for you. Sorry if we made a terrible mess out of things, but we mostly eat out every day, so there wasn't much food in the house — not to mention a vampire lives here so…"

  I leaned forward, my eyes narrowing. "So he doesn't eat?"

  Alex burst out laughing. "Just adorable. I may love you."

  I scowled.

  "Humans are funny," he said to himself more than to me. "I'd keep you if you weren't already being fought over and owned."

  "I'm not a pet."

  "Believe me when I say I treat my pets very well," he said in a low voice. "No complaints. Ever."

  "Good for you." Arrogant much?

  "Feeling the effects yet?" he asked, once I finished the toast and had moved on to the small slices of cheese and fruit. Crackers were on one side of the plate. Alex leaned forward, folding his massive hands in front of him. "A vampire's mark isn't something to be taken lightly."

  "Well," I sighed, "I don't even know what the mark is, let alone what it should feel like. Apparently, I've been wrong about what I've been studying my entire life so, really, I don't know what to expect." I snorted. "You know, other than certain death if I disrespect any of you."

  "That's still true," he said quickly. "With us four? Not so much. With the rest of them… keep your head down and try to say please and thank you."

  "Noted."

  "Fast learner."

  "Survivor," I fired back.

  He sighed, his smile slowly fading as did the light behind his blue eyes. "It's fifty-fifty."

  "What?" I was just popping a piece of cheese into my mouth. Why did the food taste so bland? I was hungry — ravenous — so I didn't care, but it was like eating sandpaper.

  "The survival rate, of course." Alex examined his fingernails then clicked his tongue. "Most humans are able to survive it, the strong ones."

  "Survive what?" I clenched my teeth together as another chill wracked my body.

  "The marking." His eyes narrowed. "It's made easier when your mate actually holds your damn hand through the process." I could have sworn he said ass under his breath, but it was too low to hear.

  "He didn't…" I licked my lips and reached for a cracker. "He didn't want to do it though."

  "Tough shit," Alex said in a louder voice, repositioning himself on the chair, dangling his legs off the side. "We've all had to make sacrifices for the greater good — this is his."

  "Okay…" Feeling full and a bit sick, I put the cracker back on the plate. "And when this marking is all over… when I survive it — and believe me I will—"

  Alex grinned, making me all the more irritated that he'd doubted my strength — that any of them would.

  "What happens then? I'm Ethan's mate? I live to serve him, then I die? Only if Cassius doesn't ever find me?"

  Alex went deathly still. "It's sad… tragic, actually… how little they tell you these days. About us. About the world and about your place in it."

  "So tell me!" I pounded my fist into the pillow next to me, scaring the crap out of myself. I'd always been controlled — it had been bred into me from birth. And I'd just yelled at an immortal like he was a petulant child.

  Alex grinned. "I think you'll do just fine, Genesis. Just fine." He chuckled warmly. "Try not to be too hard on us. We've been waiting for a chance to change things for a very long time… and you just may be exactly what we've been waiting for."

  "I can't do anything if you don't tell me what I'm supposed to be doing!" Tears threatened, the confusion and fear back full force. "I don't know what to do. Just tell me what I'm supposed t
o do."

  "And that's the problem right there." Alex leaned forward, sadness etched in his every feature. "Your whole life, choices have been taken from you, rather than given to you." He hung his head. "I'll do this once and only once… I'll throw you a bone, isn't that what it's called? Do you a solid? A favor? And give you one goal this evening, one thing to set your small misinformed mind toward."

  I waited in anticipation.

  "Survive," he said softly. "Just survive. And when the flames threaten to take you higher and higher, give in. When the heat scorches you from the inside out, when tears no longer come, when the need is all you can contemplate… you survive."

  He stood and shrugged, as if he hadn't just scared the crap out of me.

  "Oh, and also? It would probably be good to call for your mate…" He offered a haphazard shrug. "When it's time."

  "When I'm dying?"

  "Only when your need is so great for him that you've forgotten yourself completely. That's when you whisper his name. Pray to God he answers — because he still has a choice in this, and if he doesn't choose you, survival will be pointless. You. Will. Die."

  A lone tear fell down my cheek before I could wipe it away

  Alex reached out and captured it with his thumb. "It's been years since I've seen real tears. I hope you keep yours. I hope the gift of feeling such strong emotions remains — then again — for your sake, at the same time, I hope they don't."

  He left me.

  Just like that.

  With shaky hands, I put the tray on the nearby table and went back to lie on the bed, freaking out, wondering when the heat was going to come, when the pain would arrive, and when I would be out of my mind for a mate who clearly didn't want me.

  A mate.

  Like a husband.

  Rejection washed over me.

  I would never get normal.

  Never have a family.

  And most likely never have the type of love I'd always secretly wanted — it had all been stripped away from me the day I'd walked into that room. And a part of me hated my family for not telling me the truth about what I was about to do.

  My mom had smiled.

  And she'd probably known it was a death sentence.

  I tried not to dwell on it — tried to stay positive — so I focused on what Alex said.

  Survival.

  I counted the seconds, the minutes as they turned into hours, and when the clock struck midnight out in the hall, I thought that maybe I would be different, maybe whatever was happening to me wasn't going to be as bad as both Alex and Ethan had warned.

  Then the heat started in my toes.

  I welcomed it because I'd been so cold all day.

  It spread from my toes up my legs, warming me up like a blanket; by the time it reached my thighs, it was uncomfortable. I started throwing covers off me, but it didn't help.

  Fire reached my chest, making it hard to breathe.

  And when it touched my lips, it was like someone had placed coal in my mouth.

  I cried out.

  But no sound came.

  I pounded my chest; the motion made the heat worse. I didn't think it could get more painful.

  But it did. I glanced at the clock again.

  It was two minutes past midnight.

  And I already wanted to die.

  The pain skyrocketed; I reared back, hitting my head on the headboard. Another surge of scorching heat flared.

  The door opened, but my vision was blurred. It was hard to see who had come in.

  It wasn't until he lay down on the bed next to me and grabbed my hand that I could focus on the form.

  Mason.

  As a werewolf.

  Or a very large dog.

  His eyes were sad.

  And when I cried out again, he pulled me into his arms and squeezed while my body convulsed.

  Genesis

  He was beautiful. Long brown hair cascaded past his shoulders — part of it was braided. Pieces fell by his perfectly sculpted face.

  He smiled. His green eyes illuminated my whole world.

  I reached for him, but each time my hands lifted, the burning was worse, so I learned to keep them behind me.

  A sword was clasped in his right hand. He slid the blade across his left hand and held it in the air as blood dripped in slow motion onto the ground.

  It was red until it touched the ground, turning into the same green I saw in his eyes. The green liquid seeped into the ground, nourishing it, causing grass and flowers to take root.

  I gasped, reaching again.

  The pain was too much.

  He closed his eyes and cut again.

  No! I tried yelling, but my voice simply didn't exist.

  He continued, letting his blood spill around his feet. Hours went by, or maybe it was minutes. Soon an entire forest grew around us. I sighed in relief as the shield of the trees shaded me from the sun. The heat dissipated.

  Only to return when Ethan looked at me again.

  He turned and, in an instant, was in front of me, his black shirt open midway to his muscled chest.

  We were in our own forest.

  It started to rain.

  I turned my face up, welcoming the cold.

  But the raindrops weren't cold.

  They were hot — searing hot.

  The trees weren't protecting me anymore. I reached for Ethan, but he moved back. My need for shelter outweighed my need for him.

  The scene changed. And suddenly I was standing near a river; he was on the other side.

  I wanted him — I wanted the water more.

  I tried jumping in, but each time I made a movement toward the water instead of him, the pain was unbearable.

  With a silent sob, I fell to my knees.

  When I looked up, Ethan was standing over me; he'd somehow made it past the river.

  "When it's me you cry for — the pain ends."

  I shook my head, fighting his words.

  Because they meant the end of me. I knew it in my soul. If I gave in to the heat, if I gave in to him, if I ignored my basic human needs — I wouldn't be human anymore.

  I would be fully reliant on a strange being who didn't want me to begin with.

  "Stop fighting it!" he roared.

  I shook my head as heat consumed my body.

  We were back in the throne room.

  Cassius stood over me, his cold stare haunting. "And you still choose him? When I could give you relief?"

  "Genesis, NO!" Ethan roared, but I couldn't see him.

  All I could see, all I could feel was relief in Cassius's presence.

  My body shook.

  Cassius grinned, moving closer and closer to me.

  The lesser of two evils.

  Ethan.

  I reared back; the heat got worse. I continued stepping backward until I was falling.

  I landed in his arms.

  His body was warm, not too hot, just warm enough to make me feel more comfortable.

  "Genesis," Ethan whispered, his mouth near my ear. "Don't fight it."

  "Don't…" I fought to get the words out. "Want. Me."

  His eyes flashed green, and then his mouth was on mine.

  It was like ice.

  And all I saw was him.

  All I wanted was him.

  All I could think about was him.

  As our heartbeats and breathing synced in perfect cadence with one another. I tugged his head harder toward mine — greedy for his lips, needing so desperately to taste him I thought I'd die.

  With a cry I jolted awake from the dream.

  To find myself not in Mason's arms — but Ethan's.

  Completely.

  Naked.

  Genesis

  I immediately tried to recoil, ashamed, embarrassed, and horrified that I was in his arms without any clothes on. As if sensing my thoughts, Ethan looked away, jaw clenched. "You were taking them off."

  "I was hot!" I yelled, happy that my voice was back but still shaking fro
m the pain. It was still there — the searing heat — but it was bearable.

  "I had it under control," a voice said from the corner.

  I pulled the blankets and covered myself as Mason stepped out of the shadows, now looking like his normal self.

  "You didn't need to interfere, Ethan."

  "She's. Not. Yours." Ethan hissed.

  "Now you claim me," I mumbled.

  His jaw popped, as if he'd been trying to clench his teeth but had overdone it and nearly dislocated his entire face. "If you would have given in right away, your clothing wouldn't have been an issue!"

  "So it's my fault." My lower lip trembled. "Is that what you're saying?"

  "Damn it, Ethan." Mason made his way to the bed and threw another blanket over my body. I'd completely forgotten I was still naked — and arguing — probably because I was still so hot. "Just leave."

  "She's my mate." Ethan released me but didn't leave his position next to me on the bed.

  Mason hung his head. Dark circles framed his eyes. "Then do what's best for her. Just leave her be."

  "If I leave, the marking won't be complete."

  "She's been through enough this evening. Let her rest before the final stage. I think it's the least you can do… considering."

  Ethan hung his head and whispered, "For my sacrifice… I'm the bad one in this scenario?"

  "You became the bad one in this scenario the minute you heard your mate's screams and didn't come running. Now get out." Mason growled the last part so loud my ears started to ring.

  Ethan cursed and stomped toward the door, leaving me.

  I learned something in that instant.

  He was a jerk.

  No, he was a selfish ass.

  But I missed him.

  And I hated both him and myself because he'd turned away, and I needed him to be close.

  My body yearned for him.

  And the heat returned full force; I threw off the blanket then panicked and grabbed it again.

  "I'm not going to seduce another immortal's mate." Mason rolled his eyes, "Just… try to stay still."

  "If I close my eyes," I whispered. "Will I keep dreaming… things?"

  Mason nodded slowly. "It's part of the process. The pain will come and go three times in the next twelve hours. You survived the first. Now you have two more."