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Elena Mom runs me a bath and helps me step in, my limbs still shaking from the images flooding my mind. She sits on the edge of the tub, stroking my hair and humming a soothing tune. I focus on the familiar melody and try not to think of the dead girl’s bloated, purple face or the horrified look in her eyes. “Did you know her, sweetheart?” Mom asks gently. “No,” I whisper, my throat swollen with emotion. “I didn’t recognize her and she didn’t smell like pack. But she was so young. She was around my age, mom. She must have been so terrified.” My whisper turns to racking sobs as my heart cracks, broken for a life with so much future left to discover just . . . gone. Questions without answers race through my head and it’s the unknown that scares me the most. I've always felt safe in Glass Lake. Now, I don’t feel safe anywhere. That’s not technically true. The minute Mason wrapped me in his arms the fear drained away. I felt protected, safe. Like nothing bad could ever happen t
Mason Starting the day with Ellie in my arms is a dream come true. My arm is draped over her waist and our legs are twined together. My face is buried in her silky hair where I’m drowning in her delicious scent and my morning wood is nestled perfectly against her round ass. Nothing has ever felt better. She’s so soft and pliant like this, so different from the hostile girl who hates my guts. I want it to last forever but I know it’s too much to ask. I already feel her stirring and I know my chance to hold her is coming to an end. But that’s okay, because she’s my responsibility now and I’m going to use every minute of our time together to make her fall in love with me and accept our bond. She just doesn’t know it yet. But she will. A few minutes later, she wiggles out of my arms and off the bed. I let her, pretending to sleep so she doesn’t try to talk to me. Knowing her, it would only turn into a shouting match. She creeps into her bathroom, tiptoeing across the room like she
Elena He’s kissing me. Mason Cross is kissing me. One minute I’m scared shitless when Aspen appears out of nowhere and the next, Mason is on top of me. His weight feels so good pinning me down and his scent is so powerful, my head is floating in the clouds. And this kiss is nothing like I imagined kissing Mason would be. He was always so soft and sweet, so kind and gentle with me. But his lips are firm and his tongue demanding. He nips my lower lip, insisting I open for him. His rich whiskey flavor bursts across my tongue as he licks into my mouth. Before I even know it’s happening, I’ve locked my legs around his waist and threaded my fingers through his hair, tugging at the strands. Our tongues slide together frantically, like we can’t get enough. Mason grinds his hips into mine, his rock solid cock hitting my clit perfectly and making it throb with need. Every lash of his tongue, every thrust of his hips is ruining me. “Seriously? You two are going to make out and leave me tra
Asher “Why the fuck do you smell like him?” I demand as soon as Mason goes inside, leaving us alone. “And don’t tell me it’s from him carrying you because I can smell him all over you. Did he touch you without your permission?” My voice is low but there is no mistaking the menace in it. If he touched her in a way she didn’t ask for or pressured her in any way, I’ll fucking murder him. If she did ask for it, I don’t know what I’ll do. “No!” She rushes to reassure me, but she’s not looking me in the eye and she doesn’t offer more. “Tell me what happened, gorgeous.” I cup her cheek in my hand and force her eyes back to mine. “It’s my fault!” Aspen butts in before she can answer. “I scared her and he thought I was a threat so he knocked her out of the way. Ended up on top of her.” “Why the fuck would you do that?” I snarl at him. ”She could have been hurt!” “Hey! I’m fine.” She rubs her hands up and down my arms, calming me. “And I appreciate Aspen explaining but he’s not
Elena I never wanted to feel weak. It took Mason leaving for me to realize how coddled I’d been. But I never wanted attention either. Not from anyone but him. No one knows what I can do with my arrows. I practiced until my fingers bled and my body ached so much I could barely move but I never let anyone see. Because I don’t need to impress anyone. I just want to feel strong. And I do feel strong. Because I did the work. I never asked for the easy way out. I never wanted my mother’s gifts and I don’t want them now. I don’t need them to protect myself and I sure as fuck don’t want the responsibility of protecting other people. But then again, no one ever asks me what I want. Especially not the Goddess herself. She never showed up all those nights I cried out to her to bring Mason back to me. Finally, all my tears dried up and I realized I was the only one I could count on. How Ironic that she’s never given me a single thing I asked her for but now she drops the one thing I nev
Mason The second Ellie slips out from between us, Aspen swings around behind me and traps me in his arms, grinding his hard-on into my ass. I’m not sure if he’s expressing genuine interest or if it’s just his way of keeping me from going after my girl. It’s also not something I have space for in my brain right now. I pull away but he holds on tight, his hot breath in my ear. “Come on, stay and dance with me. She’s safe with Asher and you’re not going to win any points by smothering her.” “Fine. One dance and then I need eyes on her.” I compromise. “She’ll be back before the next song is over, anyway.” He says confidently. The twins may be hot as fuck, but their personalities are night and day. Maybe that’s why I find Aspen attractive but can’t stand his brother. If things were different, I might even be interested in him. But right now, the only one I care about, the only one I can’t live without, is Ellie. So although I’ll admit it feels good to have aspen pressed up a
Asher I recognize the girl hanging from the tree right away. Even with her long raven hair covering her face, I know it’s her. Gemma Tresoire. Unlike Aspen, I never dated anyone. I had plenty of one night stands, both of us using each other to get what we needed then walking away.. Until Gemma. She wasn’t my mate but something about her had me coming back for more unlike anyone ever had before. Then she met her fated mate and we parted friends. Seeing her lifeless body hanging from that tree now, I wish I’d never looked at her twice. I foolishly thought that if whoever murdered Courtney did it to get to us, anyone I knew would be safe, because I’d never gotten close to anyone. Except Gemma. I should have known better, I should have warned her somehow. But what would I have said? Aspen’s former girlfriend ended up dead and I’m worried you might too? She’d think I was a fucking lunatic! “What do we do here, Ash?” Aspen whispers so no one else can hear. He knows exactly wh
Elena Exhaustion, so deep I feel it in my bones. That’s the only way to describe how I feel after the events of the evening. Well that and a sense of disbelief. It’s all too horrendous to be real. As I shower off the sweat and stench of death that is probably only imagined, I force my mind to focus on the lesser of two evils. Mason. He broke me in ways I can’t even explain to myself. So why should I care about his feelings? I’m blaming it on the mate bond. Still, the look on his face when he caught me with Asher tonight split my heart in two. I never want to see his beautiful features marred with so much pain ever again. I certainly don’t want to be the one to put it there. You would think that makes me soft, caring about his feelings that way. But the fact I never considered what my betrayal of our bond could do to him probably means I’m really the heartless bitch I’ve tried so hard to become. Yay me. That’s a moral dilemma that requires way more of my brain capacity tha