HE COULDN’T IMAGINe how things could get any better. Their mate was actually living, and breathing. Granted, it took the better part of several millennium for her to finally exist, but she was there. She was theirs. His.
Ours. His beast purred with contentment. It stretched its back in a long pose. She’s ours, and I will not share her.
Caspius had to hold down his chuckle. Truth be told, his kind were quick to fall into the haze of their mates. However, the mythology around it was so distorted by outsiders.
Mates of shifters were important. They were loved, cherished and taken care of. The knowledge of their presence is always sensed. When they are found, a shifter’s beast knows. It’s undeniable, and when they’re finally able to mark their mates, the bond is permanent.
Shifter’s lent their powers to their mates, especially if they were mortal. Their healing capabilities became their mate’s. Their instincts were their mate’s.
Caspius couldn’t hold back his smile. There was so much pride in his chest, knowing that Lily was finally here. That he knew her scent, her warmth… The taste of her lips.
Just the thought of kissing her was enough to make him hard. To awaken the most carnal desires his beast held.
Caspius stabbed his fingers through his hair. He shifted his shirt over his head. “Fuck me,” he mumbled. He took in a deep breath, and caught wiffog her sultry ember and floral scent. “Fuck me,” he groaned.
Caspius pounded up the stairs with heavy steps. He clenched the railing, tight. He tried to settle himself, but it was so hard—he was so hard.
He finished up the last couple of steps before finally getting to the top. Caspius really had a pep in his step. The thought of his woman waiting for him in his room was enough to make his day, permanently.
“Move!” Donte yelled, zooming past him. Following him was Elias, an unconscious Lily. The perfumed scent of copper trailed after them.
Blood? Both him and his beast said in unison. It was hers. Lily’s. Caspius stormed after them. “What happened to her?” He growled at his friends.
“We don’t know,” Donte and Elias said. Donte looked back over his shoulder at Elias, exchanging a quick gaze.
“You’re lying.” Caspis could tell. They were too quick to answer, and even quicker to try and get away from him. “What happened to Lily!” He grabbed Elias by the shoulder, and spun him around.
“Nothing!” Elias snapped.
When he got a glimpse of her body. Her forehead was gashed open, and her nose was bleeding. Her ebony curls were soaked, dripping with her blood.
“That doesn’t look like nothing.” His nostrils flared. He grazed his fingers over the open wound. It felt like it was already starting to scab. That had to be good news. It just had to be. “What happened to her?”
“Cas, calm down,” Donte said. “We’re taking her to Isla.”
“She hasn’t even been here for a full day, and yet she’s already needing another trip to the infirmary.” He could feel his beast threatening to come to the surface. It shouldn’t have been like this.
Caspius had taken the time to let his beast take the ropes. He let the beast be wild, so he wouldn’t hurt Lily. Yet in his absence, she was hurt. He was fuming!
“She fell,” Elias meekly commented.
Caspius removed Lily from his friend’s arms. He held her close and firm. He stroked her temple. “You’ll be fine,” Caspius whispered to her. He frowned at her wound. “I want the truth, what happened.”
He could feel his beast scratching at him for release. It wanted to sink its teeth and claws into Elias and Donte. How dare they hurt what’s ours.
Elias and Donte exchanged a look, then shook their heads. It was a silent agreement not to tell.
“You two are children. If you won’t tell me, I’ll have the psychics let me know.” Granted the threat was a bit extreme. However, the few psychics they did have, were always on point. They never led astray from what was done and will be done. “Either way, I will know.” He growled at them. A warning.
“Then go,” Donte snarled. He folded his arms across his chest. His stature was imposing.
Caspius scowled, but gave a stiff nod. He pulled Lily closer to him, and started down the stairs. Just as he got to the bottom, she threw up. Shit!
Her head injury was worse than it appeared to be. The gash wasn’t deep, but she had to have hit her head hard. Caspius needed to know what happened to her. As bad as that need to know was, he knew the need for her to be helped was much greater!
“Wait!” Elias called out. His footsteps echoed down the stairs. “Wait.” He was panting.
Caspius looked back at him over his shoulder. “What?” He clenched his jaw, hard.
“Donte asked me to weaken her, so she wouldn’t be a hazard to the clan.” Somehow, Caspius knew Elias would crack. The man never did good with tension. It was written into his being, just as much as his need for sex was.
As much as Caspius wanted to choke the life out of both of them, he needed to get Lily to Isla. “He thought it was a good idea to send the soul sucking incubus to weaken a woman that was raped, and assaulted in less then 24-hours.”
“In hindsight, I shouldn’t have listened, but he did that control thing of his. I couldn’t say no,” he rushed out. He was dripping with guilt. “I wanted to say no,” Elias added on. He brushed his shoulder to Caspius’s. “I told her what Donte wanted. I’ve never seen a seer go into defensive mode. Hell, I’ve never seen a being hold that much power. She weakened herself, drastically. She fell.”
There was some relief knowing that as much of a novice as Lily was, she held the ability to tap into her abilities. Hell, she seemed to be learning pretty quickly. That only meant she was going to hurt herself more.
Especially if tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumb try to hurt her. His beast rolled its eyes.
“She shouldn’t have had to protect herself from you.” His eyes narrowed to two thin slits. Caspius rounded ar corner, stomping down the healer corridors. He wanted his presence known.
“I know.” Elias looked down at his feet. “If it’s any contribution, she did have a premonition of our downfall.”
Caspius stopped. “You saw it?”
“No. Donte did, and he looked shaken from it. He thinks the chimera from yesterday will play a part in it.” Elias frowned. “This is bad news.”
“We’ll need the psychics to confirm it. Until Lily is trained, her premonitions cannot be taken for total truth.” He sighed. “I don’t want our mate down here again. She should be spending more time being broken into this world, then being in the infirmary.”
Elias nodded. “Yes, Cas.”
He looked his friend up and down. “I never thought of you as the spineless type Elias. Now I do.”
CASPIUS REFUSED To leave her side. He barely gave Isla the space that she needed to properly work on Lily. He couldn’t help it though. He needed to be there. He wanted her to know that he would be there in her darkest of hours, even if he wasn’t there this time.I should’ve been there. He mentally scorned himself. I should’ve been there to protect her. She shouldn’t have to be here, once again.At this point, we might as well wrap her in bubble wrap, and keep her locked up. His beast shook its head. She’s so fragile.Given her circumstances, yes she was. How could he blame her though? Lily had been through more traumatizing shit—in such a short time frame—than most people deal with in their lifetime. Her fragility was probably going to be a long lasting effect. That was going to have to change if she was going to last in this world. Hell, if she was going to last at all.“She should be okay. Make sure she applies the antibiotic ointment to her wound every couple of hours. She should s
EVERYTHING WAS BEcoming a bit too much to handle. It was too much at once. Being a seer. Vampires, incubus, shifters, chimeras… Having a mate—let alone three of them. It was intense.If Lily was being honest to herself, everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours or so was enough to have her spiraling into a panic attack. Why hadn’t she had one yet? Perhaps it had something to do with the eye-candy male before her.Caspius had a sort of air around him. It comforted her, and chased away even the worst of her demon. Yet, every voice inside her head screamed at her to put as much distance as possible between them. They demanded separation, or all three men might be her ruin.Lily had it in her. There was no attachment. There was however carnal desire for Caspius and Elias both—despite the incubus’s manipulative seduction. She couldn’t say anything about Donte. The vampiric asshole both infuriated her, and frightened her. She pitied him over his past, but believed he should be
Lily did her best to breathe slowly. She thought a little liquid courage would have done her some good. After a glass of whiskey, she felt much worse.She kept to the outskirts of the party. Lily kept her head down, to avoid eye contact. If she didn’t look at people, hopefully they wouldn’t talk to her.“Oh, my gosh! Isn’t this party awesome?” Well, she could only hope.Lily looked up slightly. A petite, blonde stood in front of her. Her short shorts, and figure squeezing tank top made her delectable to the prying eyes of men. Of course, she was probably wanting the attention.“Hi! I’m Emma.” She winked at her, the thick frame of her lashes barely moving.Lily waved her hand. She rubbed her arm up and down.“Not much of a talker, are you?” Emma giggled. She was obviously just a little tipsy.Lily shook her head, trying to back away from the blonde girl. Unfortunately, Emma wasn’t going to let her if so easily. “Excuse me.” She tried to get away again.“Wait, where are you going?” Emma
SHE WAS STILL GATHering her wits. Too much happened all at once, and she didn’t know what to believe at this point. She knew one thing for sure, that bastard of a boss raped her. Even worse, she wasn’t strong enough to fight him off. She just submitted. Stood there and let it happen.As her stomach curdled, and her skin crawled at the thought of the incident. She wanted to puke again. She needed to puke again. There was nowhere for her to, though.Things were moving too fast. Perhaps it wasn’t the memory but the motioned sickness. Lily didn’t think she could move so quickly, yet...“Forgive me. I know you’re probably sick, but this is the quickest method of travel I can give. Your wounds are pretty severe.” God, how his voice was smoother than silk. It could soothe even the most rowdy of beasts. He pulled her close to his chest.His scent enveloped her, and she could barely contain a moan. He smelled like campfires and winter nights. Oh, it was lovely.“We have a healer who should be
LILY COULDN’T PIECe this shit together. Things were still happening too fast. That man.. That beautiful man brought her to a glass clad room. She assumed it was a doctor’s office. She was right.After snooping around, she found all sorts of tools that belonged to a surgeon. At least that was what she thought. Inside the cabinets were sterile needles, and a small vial of clear medicine. Tongue depressors, cotton balls and band aids were lined up in containers on the counter tops. There was a lone operating table in the middle of the room, with a tray of surgery tools beside it.“Where the hell am I?” She continued to look around. The bright lights of the room stung her eyes, and made her dizzy. It was a reminder of how much she hated hospitals.There was too much space. There was too much quiet. Too much loneliness. If it weren’t for the heavy medications her psychiatrist had prescribed her, she’d be hearing voices. She’d be having a nervous breakdown. Hell, she might even bang her hea
LILY JUST WANTED a break. She just wanted to sleep. She needed to sleep. Lily hadn’t slept in almost a week, and the events of tonight would keep her up even longer.How was she supposed to believe something as ridiculous as the existence of supernatural creatures? It was wild, and fantastical! It was the type of thing that almost put her in the nuthouse. She knew better than to admit the existence of supernatural beings, yet that doctor was so opened about it.Isla answered all of Lily’s questions. She didn’t show any signs of deterring from such beliefs. Lily did everything in her power to shake her. Then Isla did the unthinkable.She grew a pair of delicate wings. They sprouted out of her back. Oh, how they were so beautiful. Lily wanted to trace the swirling patterns engraved in their transparent forms. Light caused rainbows glimmer in those beautiful wings.“Do you believe now?” Isla cocked her brow at her. She gave a toothy smile, and Lily caught a glimpse of small little fangs.
THEY STOOD THERE observing her. After Isla administered the cocktail to Lily, a wave of massive psychic energy flushed through the fortress, shaking its foundations. There was truly a lot of power to this beauty of a woman.Upon her first sip of the cocktail, her powers had appeared to activate. Traces of light flushed through her veins, dancing up and down her arms. Then the screaming began.From behind the one-way glass, the Triad could observe peacefully. They could watch her without risk of being exposed to her powers. They knew the abilities of seers. They had met a couple of them in their lifetimes.She was different though. She was weak in stature, meager in room appearance. She carried herself small, as if she were always trying to shrink and disappear in a room. Yet, somehow her abilities were overwhelmingly powerful.“What do we do with her?” Donte asked. He looked over at his companions, watching their expressions change with every movement of Lily’s.Elias was practically
THERE WAS SOMETHIng about her. There was something about how this woman fit perfectly against him. Oh, how her curves enticed his every desire.Caspius found himself memorizing her every feature. He took note of every delicate imperfection that made her appear more and more angelic. He ran a finger over the plumpness of her lips. They were so soft. So luscious.Ours. His beast growled. It stalked back and forth, yearning to reach out and touch her. If Caspius let him out, she’d be marked against her will. An unwilling mate was not a mate at all.Let her be. He snapped. She’s fragile.“Fragile indeed,” Donte grumbled. “Can’t even withstand the strength of her abilities.” He rolled his eyes. “Stick her with the witches, and leave her there.”“With power like that, wouldn’t it be best to put her with the psychics? They’ll train her offensive abilities. She’d be more useful to us,” Elias chimed in.“We have plenty of psychics. Honing her arcane abilities would better suit us. There’s no o