CARNAL

Proudly did I sit upon my throne, a seat forged from blood and bone.My skin marred with evidence of war, I was scared and bruised. I was wounded and battered but it was a war I would never lose. The taste of blood on my lips, my fangs were sharpened by flesh. Eyes flashing with moonlight, a wolf howled inside my chest.They made me a ruler and a King, I made them suffer and bleed. Feared more than fear itself, I was born to lead.The moment I saw her, my eyes filled with fear. She scared me more than my demons, for them I learned to bear. Her eyes were wild with hope, although I knew it wouldn't be long until she knew me for the monster I was. Fate had finally done wrong.She could never know, I would hide it well. For how could she learn to love a monster that could never love himself?Ella's P.O.V."Your grandfather is dead."Those were words I never wanted to hear, but had been anticipating for too long.Those words were the reason that I sat on a plane flying above German farmla

"Come inside, I'm sure you're cold."I was freezing, but I wasn't sure I wanted to go inside the cabin. I didn't know whether I would come back out. There was a piece of me that wanted to trust him, oddly enough, and I couldn't shake it.I followed him around the house, staring at his back as he led me up the stairs to the side door. He was almost a foot taller than me and I guessed almost a hundred pounds heavier unless he had several layers under his coat.I turned to look at him as he did so. I gulped.He was a lot better looking in the light than I had expected him to be. As he took off his coat I came to the conclusion he hadn'tblayered and he was indeed built like a brick house. I could seebthe outline of his chest and arm muscles under the gray, form-fitting Henley he wore.He brushed the snow flurries from his short, chestnut-colored hair and I let out a long breath.We looked at each other and the world stopped for a moment. He had the oddest eyes I'd ever looked into. They w

"That's impossible."I reached forward and took the sheet of paper from Cain's hands and examined it. There was very little light in the train due to the drawn shades, but I squinted enough that I could read the contents of thepaper.I looked through the dates of his hospital visits and I shook my head in disbelief.Cain was right. My grandfather hadn't been seen at any hospital for the past seven years. He didn't have so much as a prescription filled. This didn't add up seeing as I'd been led to believe he'd had a serious, life-threatening heart condition for a number of years."I don't understand," I said, my eyebrows furrowing. I laid the paper down on my lap and looked up at Cain as he stared at me intently."Are there any other medical records there?" I asked him,nreferring to the folder in his hands. Maybe he had them out of order and read the wrong thing.Cain shook his head. "There isn't a medical examiner's report here or a certificate ofdeath," he said."He wouldn't have

Ella's P.O.V."Here's where you'll be staying."Jai opened the bedroom door and pulled my suitcase inside the room for me. I followed him inside and cringed The room was huge, just like the rest of the place. The ceiling was at least fifty feet tall. The dark paneling on the walls made the olive-colored curtains stand out, which hung beside a ginormous bay window that was in the center of the far wall.One of the biggest beds I'd ever laid eyes on sat against the wall to my left. It had a four post bed frame that was a dark oak just like the paneling on the walls and the flooring.The black duvet matched the pillows on the bed and the two black couches that were on the other side of the room.The Victorian-style couches sat across from each other in front of a fireplace that was big enough for three grown men to stand beside each other inside it."Over there is your bathroom," Jai said, pointing to a door that was on the same wall as the fireplace.We heard someone walk into the room

Narrative P.O.V.Cain sat at his desk, looking at nothing. The tower was dark. Moonlight invaded his senses almost as much as the sunlight did but the thick stone walls kept the majority of the noise out inaddition to the light so he could actually think.The only thing he didn't like about where he sat was the fact that he would've rather been somewhere else. He was restless that night knowing that Ella slept only a few floors beneath his feet.Cain still couldn't believe she existed.She certainly wasn't supposed to... that's what everyone had told him his entire life.Looking at her, he thought he was dreaming. But standing next to her, he was reminded she was real. Whenever he touched her, she was a reminder of the fact that he wasn't so different from everyone else and that he wasn't so unlovable.Selfishly, he liked being around Ella for that reason.Cain knew monsters didn't deserve mates. Maybe, just maybe, if he had one it meant that he wasn't themonster he'd been raised t