Chapter 7: LUCIEN

I made myself transparent in the split second before she picked her head up as if sensing me there but stood in the same spot watching her. The closer she came the greater the hunger grew and I could feel my need stir as the blood sang in my veins.

I clenched my fists and inhaled deep taking her essence into me until it danced along my blood. This is so fucked, my need was way too strong and all the horror stories of the past came rushing to the forefront of my mind.

Just when I thought I would explode I felt a calming presence surround me. "Mom...dad what the fuck!"

"Watch your mouth boy your mother can hear you." Yeah, like I had time to worry about that shit right now. And why the fuck is he so calm? Oh, he's doing that to keep me from popping my leash no doubt.

I gritted my teeth and tried to block out her scent and tried to concentrate on anything else but her and what she was already doing to me. A good screaming match with my parents is just the thing I need. "Did you know about this shit?"

"Yes!" Not now dad. No one word answers like I'm one of your fucking lackeys.

"And you didn't think to tell me?" I forced the words through gritted teeth. "Why? You would only have stressed over it all these years."

What the fuck is she? Her essence was eluding me even as she got closer. How many kinds of fae are they anyway? Fucking mutt!

"Where are you?" I panicked as she stepped into the shaded trees where I was still hidden from view and I had to strain to keep from pouncing on her. Whatever the fuck she is this was more than the usual lust I'm supposed to feel towards my mate.

"Nowhere near, why, do you need us to come?"

"I might!" My words were beginning to sound like feral growls as my control began to slip. "Dad!" I felt like the young boy I'd once been who needed the shelter of his parents to protect him, something I haven't felt since my early teens when I started coming into my own.

"You'll be fine son, I have every faith in you." He must've heard the panic in my voice, that's why he was speaking to me so calmly. The way you'd talk to a wild thing that was about to lose his shit any second now.

"But our history..." I swallowed hard as my eyes tracked her, not missing anything.

"Yes that, if the prophecy is true, then you two will be the ones to fix all that." I barely heard him now as he explained just why the elders had decided to fuck me up the ass. "Why the hell am I the one to fix their shit?"

"Because you are our leader. You're the only one with the power and the wherewithal to withstand that particular test. Your mother and I have every faith that you can do this son, just stay calm."

I wasn't too sure about that. Already I could feel the crazy need that would turn into true madness if this shit went wrong as I followed her through the woods to the water's edge. I'm not afraid of much, not anything to be honest, but the thought of what I could possibly do to her if she refused me left me cold.

"Dad, can't I have a second choi...whoa." She chose that moment to drop the gown she'd been wearing and I saw all of her for the first time.

"Go away dad, no looksees." I heard him grin as he faded away, but someone else took his place.

"What the fuck do you lot want?"

"Young master Star, that is no way to greet your elders."

"You meddling fucks did this didn't you? Wait, can you see her?" I moved as if to hide her body from view even though I knew that was impossible.

"No, we're just here for the first meeting between you two. To make sure all goes well." You mean to make sure I don't lose my shit and level the whole damn town. Why the fuck didn't y'all think of that before?

I turned my attention back to her now, holding the rising lust in check by sheer force of will. She was perfect. Her body was pale as the moonlight that had just disappeared, her hair dark as the deepest part of the forest away from any form of light.

The red of her lips was natural, like crushed berries in the warmth of spring. And when she turned around abruptly as if sensing me, the blue of her eyes were like an ice-cold fjord in the Norse country. They were like diamonds shining out of the most beautiful face I've ever seen.

Damn, I could see why they'd chosen her. Then again they wouldn't have known what she'd look like when they made the decision to pair us together, that's not how this works. But was her beauty a good thing or bad? If she denied me the shit could very well be her undoing.

Her body was ripe; her breasts would easily overflow my palms. Her waist was tiny, her stomach flat over the sweet flare of her hips. And that place between her thighs was a deep vee of hidden secrets beneath the silky bush of hair that grew there.

It was the way she moved that told me what she was before my senses finally interpreted for me. I actually took a step back in disbelief. Nymph and faerie mix, with a touch of human. "The fuck!" How can this be?

This felt like a set-up or someone in very high position was very upset with me. There can be no other explanation for the fuckery that is this. I don't have the temperament to be mated to a nymph and everyone knows this.

My possessive nature could not bear the strain of having a mate with her sensuality and her natural need to flirt seductively with every man within ten feet, even if she didn't mean to carry through with the promise of what she offered.

Her very nature could cause me to harm her. But the deeper fear for me now was what had happened to that other unlucky pair all those centuries ago. Another one of her kind that had been matched with one of mine.