Abbadon’s POV:
Everything’s going exactly to plan. I know she misses her other mate, the one The Goddess sent to her. I’d be shocked by her cruelty of fating only one mate to Edric, but I hate the fucking son of a bitch, so my sympathy for him is a little on the low side.
I stand at the window, looking at Maya. My whole being cries out for her. She sits on the lawn with her legs pulled up, her head turned sideways, cheek resting on her knees, eyes closed. She looks so peaceful that it makes my heart ache.
I don’t know if she’s communicating with the wolf again. She thinks I don’t know that she’s mind-linking with him, but I can hear his voice in her head. Yesterday, she left me just so she could talk to him, but last night, she was all mine.
My hard cock strains against the fabric of my trousers. It’s been a while since I’ve been with anyone – almost twenty-two years in fact. From the night I made her u
Abbadon hits the target of the ball-throwing game with one try, breaking the steel target clean off its hinge. The carnie glares at him with a look of pure disbelief on his face. “How did you…here,” he rips a massive stuffed orange dinosaur off a hook and shoves it at Abbadon. “Why, thank you kindly, dear sir,” he mocks and hands me the toy. “Thank you,” I snort-laugh and fold my arms around the giant dinosaur. “Maybe it’s time we left,” I offer. “Yes,” he says and stares at the bathrooms in the distance. “I just want to wash my hands.” “Okay,” I start walking with him in the direction of the restrooms, but he stops me. “No. Wait here. I won’t be long. In fact--” he digs his car keys out of his pocket and hands them to me --“just go wait for me in the truck. It’s getting cold.” At first, I think nothing of it. I take the car keys without arguing, but then that nagging little voice that followed me around my whole life, tells me that so
Edric's POV: Standing outside on the lawn, I hand Deimos to Clarissa. Maya trusted her, so I trust her. My mate’s instincts are always spot on and have never led us astray. “Where are you going?” she asks, cradling the sleepy pup to her breasts. She knows. We started rehearsing this little deception after Millicent showed up here to tell us the truth. Always during the day when we knew that Gabriel wouldn’t overhear us. Clarissa’s pregnancy is nearing the end, and I know she’s tired, but I don’t trust anyone else to take care of my son. “Maya needs me. She’s in danger.” “You’re sure?” Darius asks. “Yes. I can feel it.” “You can feel your mate’s emotions?” Clarissa asks. “That must be…bothersome.” I shake my head. “Not always. The last time I felt it, Millicent had trapped her consciousness in the underworld. I think Maya…makes me feel her fear when she’s in mortal peril or something. I do
The only saving grace I have now is the fact that Abbadon used regular steel chains and not silver. He did a good job wrapping the chains around me, and even if I could shift, which I can’t, I won’t be able to break free. Everything hurts. Everything. Even my eyes hurt, and I have no idea why.He almost killed me, came so close that I saw the other side wink at me. I don’t know what happened, but when the world reappeared, Gabriel was kneeling next to me, dripping blood into my mouth. “What were you thinking?” he hollered at Abbadon. “Do you want her to die?”Abbadon said nothing. There was no remorse. I would have been able to deal with it better if he showed even an ounce of regret for the little girl he had murdered or got upset that he almost killed me and that another vampire had to save me. Edric would have gone batshit if Gabriel gave me his blood without his permission, but Abbadon didn’t seem to care at all. Does
Abbadon's POV: I wake up with a pounding headache and a raging thirst, a sure sign that I gave in to the bloodlust last night. Nothing will help for this hangover, not even blood. I’ll just have to tough it out. For some reason Maya is sleeping next to me, her left foot dangling off the bed. What bothers me more than anything is the pile of chains on the floor. I look up at the ceiling. The remnants of a chain still hang from the hook. Shit. Fuck. What did I do? I lean over Maya and look over the edge of the bed at her foot. Dammit. At least I had the foresight to put a barrier between her and the metal, but I tied it way too tight and the chain is eating into her skin. How the hell can she even be asleep right now? That must hurt like hell. I kneel next to her, breaking the chain off her ankle. What in the name of all that’s unholy did I do last night? “Maya?” I gently shake her awake. Her grey eyes fly open and I can see the fear sw
Edric's POV:It cannot be this easy. Killing him. He must be up to something. Must have some sort of plan to get out of this.It’s been a laughably easy infiltration. None of the vampires saw us coming, as Maya said they would, and with her help, we entered the compound within minutes, shielded by my mate’s powerful magic. “I thought you said Abbadon knows we’re coming?” I asked while she was in the shower.“I thought so,” she said. “But he has some kind of blood hangover. He can’t remember what he did last night.”I shuddered at the thought. “Vampires are disgusting.”She didn’t agree with me, but she didn’t disagree either, so I guess that was better than nothing. When Abbadon walked into the room looking for her, I almost lost my nerve. My wolf growled, just itching to rip the vampire’s throat out.We sat on the bed, Maya’s arm
Edric slips from the room. I’m hyper-aware of the pain I’m causing him, but I can’t stop it. I don’t want to hurt him, but I’m torn in two here, and I want to save them both, even though I know it’s impossible. And despite all the hurt and his desires to have me by his side, Edric’s still the better man, because he doesn’t want Abbadon to suffer needlessly, despite everything he’d done. Abbadon takes my hands in his, sending those beautiful mate sparks careening through me. It’s upsetting to see him cry – this powerful, nearly immortal, godlike creature. “I should never have done this to you.” I shift around uncomfortably. Remorse doesn’t sound right coming from him. “He’s a good man. A good wolf. He doesn’t deserve to die, even though I really, really want to kill him. If it can’t be me, I’m glad it’s him.” “He is a good man,” I agree. “But you are not awful. You are just--” “You saw what I did, Maya. You are making excuses for me. I am
Edric's POV: We’ve been back with Dark Moon for three days, and Maya barely moved in all that time. She just sits on the back porch looking out onto the lake that runs through Darius’s territory. On our first day back, Clarissa tried to give Deimos to her, but Maya didn’t want anything to do with him. Her milk has dried up, and I think it’s just one more bit of hurt she can’t deal with right now. “It should come back,” I tried to tell her. “When you hear him cry.” But she just turned her back on me and kept staring out at the lake. She’s damn-near catatonic, and it’s killing me. Another male’s death shouldn’t affect her this much…and I can’t even get angry at her, because she can’t help what she’s feeling. The only ones I can get angry at are the ones that did this to us and of those, one is already dead, the other is a Goddess, and the third will die today. I stand on the porch watching her, because it
It’s hard. I’m so empty inside. It’s the kind of hole nothing can fill, not even Deimos. What kills me is that Edric is trying his best to make it better, but he can’t. And I know he’s angry. I know he’s going through a difficult time too. He must hate me. I’d hate me if I were him. ~ Fake it, ~ my wolf says. ~Fake it ‘till you make it. ~ * I can’t even do that. * She is happy to be here with Dark Moon, happy to be with Edric. I’d rather be anywhere but here. I want to get away from the other wolves’ pitiful glances. Deimos gurgles on my lap and gives me a huge toothless grin. “It’s a good thing you don’t know what a mess your mom is,” I say, and tickle his chubby little neck. He just keeps cooing and makes a grab for my hair. “Maya?” Edric asks from the open backdoor. “Are you ready?” “Yes,” I cradle Deimos close to me, stand up, and look out over the lake. It’s the same one that flows into Mountain Fire’s territory. I’ll miss this place, I t