Chapter 4

                                                                Rhazian

I stood over my bed in the dark, glowering. Taylor had made herself comfortable and was passed out faced down, her head turned toward the wall on my pillow. I watched the slight rise and fall of her body with her breathing, angry that Nyx had not only sent me another mate, but one that had no concept of boundaries. She reminded me of my last mate, Eliza.

            I plopped down in the sole chair in my apartment, my breath leaving me in a slight hiss, as I closed my eyes trying to shut out the image of my lost love. Memories taunted me, playing across the back of my eyelids. I found myself suddenly immersed in a moment I had tried to bury deep in the recesses of my mind.

            I had been starving, half feral from hunger when I caught her scent. I crept to the tree line to find a woman, laughing in the warm sun as she dipped her toes in a stream, her fiery red hair billowing in the breeze. There was no room for any thought but satiating my hunger as I moved towards her on instinct alone. She hadn’t been afraid when I grabbed her roughly. Instead, her eyes held something akin to pity. She had swept her hair back with her hand and offered her neck to me, urging me to feed. I had fallen on her like a madman, drinking deeply until we had collapsed to the ground, her wrapped in my arms.

            My senses began to return as I slaked my hunger, and my nose began to recognize the scent of a mate. I tore my mouth from her neck, guilt racing through me as I felt her pulse slow. She looked at me, her eyes searching my face, as her hand caressed my cheek. I laid her on the soft ground as I pierced my finger with my fang, rubbing it across the puncture wounds in her neck to close them. My chest filled with panic at the thought that I had harmed my mate. I tried to reason it away. The villagers had become increasingly superstitious over the ages, while their totems didn’t actually keep my kind away, the way they closed in upon themselves had made it harder and harder to feed.

            Her breathing was shallow, but her eyes still burned with curious determination. I knew I needed to get fluids into her, and food, though there was nothing to feed her nearby. I hoisted her weakened body into my arms and carried her to the streams edge, whispering crazed apologies as I moved. She seemed to understand what I was doing and drank eagerly once I had lowered her down within reach. Her thirst sated, she stood shakily. There was no fear written across her face as she shifted herself closer to me. I had never questioned why she had so readily accepted me, our life together revealed that she was fearless and accepting.

            I clutched my hand against my chest as the memories began to shift. It was always like this. I would remember the moment I met Eliza, revel in the joy of it, only to have the memory of her loss crash down upon me. My breathing came in short gasps as my body prepared for the next wave of memories to play across my eyelids. My mind screamed out, cursing Nyx yet again for torturing me with love I could only lose before I was transported once again.

            Eliza and I had built a life in her village, the other villager’s suspicions of me had turned to admiration over time. I hadn’t aged since I couldn’t remember when and I knew that meant that we would need to find a new home soon. Eliza had been thrilled with the prospect of seeing new places. It helped that I had amassed a substantial wealth in my many years and could take her anywhere she wished to see, provide her anything her heart desired. We had only stayed in her village after she learned of my riches because she wasn’t ready to give up her home.

            I kissed her as she left our small hut, making her rounds with foodstuffs for a family whose home had burned down. I had been to caught up in my mate to notice the young ones that had begun encroaching on our small territory. Even in her absence, she was the only thing I could focus on. I should have paid closer attention to things happening around us, I might have been able to save her life. Instead, the young ones had been left to attack people on the outskirts of the village unchecked. They had made a fatal mistake, keeping one of the men alive for feeding, rather than attempt to move further into the village. He had lain in wait for an opportune moment to slay them, but not before one of them had named me as their sire.

            I had felt a sudden fear and pain through my mate bond with Eliza. Following her scent through the village, I saw her, tied to a pyre in the middle of the square. One of the men we had called friend was yelling charges of witchcraft and consorting with a demon to the crowd. I felt a hand clutch my arm, thrusting my forward to the chants of ‘Demon’. While they may not have known the true nature of my species, I knew they had uncovered me as something their superstitions told them to fear. I tore myself free of their grasp and, to my shame, ran. Nowhere was far enough to escape the sounds of my sweet Eliza’s screams as she burned, her only sin being mated to me.

            I opened my eyes, slamming my fists into the arms of the chair in anger. I had sworn after Eliza that I would never take another mate. If Nyx had tried to send me another, I had successfully avoided them all, until now. Casting a quick glance at Taylor’s sleeping form, I slipped out of the apartment into the early dawn hours. I needed air to clear my head, the memories of Eliza clinging to me, time having done nothing to quell the pain they brought. I wandered through town, no clear destination in mind, when I was hit by an overpowering scent. Wolves. There were wolves in the town.