All Chapters of His Human Mate, His Greatest Threat: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

“Stay right there.”I stared at Damien.My neck was still throbbing from the bite, my thighs hurt every time I shifted my weight, and there was an unpleasant ache between my legs that made me regret every single decision I had made after accepting his money.Stay right there?Seriously?I looked at the door, then at him, then back at the door, because perhaps the man had forgotten that I was not one of the expensive decorations in his ridiculous suite.“Are you actually hearing yourself?” I asked, dragging my bag higher onto my shoulder. “You paid for one night, Damien, not the rest of my morning, and unless the money came with a hidden clause saying I have to stand here until you finish having a nervous breakdown, I’m leaving.”His eyes moved briefly to my neck. That stupid mark was still burning.I had tried to ignore it while dressing, but every movement pulled at the bruised skin beneath my jaw. It was not unbearable, but it was irritating enough to keep reminding me that the man

DAMIEN I could feel the handle pressed against my side, the cheap metal trembling slightly with every breath I dragged into my lungs, and beneath it, beneath the torn flesh and the blood soaking through my shirt, something inside my body was fighting a battle it had never once lost.My healing had begun the moment the blade entered.It had failed before the pain even reached its worst.That was impossible.I had been cut open in war, bitten by creatures that no longer existed, burned beneath silver fire, and left bleeding in places where ordinary men would have died before anyone found them. My body had always repaired itself. Sometimes slowly, sometimes painfully, but it had repaired itself.Always.Yet this wound remained open beneath my hand, pulsing with a vicious heat that spread through my ribs and into my chest.Ava stood in front of me, staring at the blood.She looked like she wanted to run.Good. That was sensible. She should run. She should take her bag, find the nearest l

AVA The taxi smelled like somebody had smoked inside it too many times, and normally I would have complained about that because I hate when my clothes pick up other people's disgusting habits, but I sat in the back with my bag clutched against my stomach and barely noticed the smell. I kept looking at my hands. Then at the window. Then back at my hands. There was still blood underneath my fingernails. Damien's blood. I rubbed my fingers against each other and felt my stomach twist because no matter how many times I told myself I had only stabbed him because he would not let me leave, the image would not fucking disappear from my head. The knife had gone into him. He had bled a lot. Then I had touched the wound because I was scared and confused and apparently had completely lost my mind, and the damn thing had closed underneath my hand like it had never been there. I swallowed hard and looked out the window again. Maybe I had imagined it. That was the only explanati

Damien's reflection leaned closer to the glass.I couldn't move.I couldn't even blink properly because my whole body had gone stiff, and the only thing I could hear was my own breathing getting faster while his face remained behind mine in the mirror, calm and unreadable like he had every right to be standing there.His eyes stayed on mine. The mark on my neck burned harder.I grabbed it.The pain shot through me so suddenly that I stumbled backward and hit the bathroom counter, knocking my toothbrush onto the floor.When I looked back at the mirror, Damien was gone.I spun around so fast my shoulder hit the wall.Nothing.The bathroom was empty.I checked behind the door, then the shower curtain, then the tiny space beside the cabinet even though I knew perfectly well a grown man could not possibly squeeze himself into it.“Jesus Christ, Ava, what the fuck are you doing?”My voice sounded strange in the empty bathroom as I looked at the mirror again. Just me. Messy hair, wide eyes,

AVAI should have known the night was going too well.That was the thought sitting somewhere stupidly in the back of my head while the man in front of me pulled my dress higher and kissed the side of my neck, because apparently I had learned absolutely nothing from the previous night and was now standing in another expensive room with another rich man, half dressed and pretending that my life had not become completely fucking insane.His name was Richard, or maybe Robert.I had heard it earlier but I honestly couldn't remember. What I remembered was the watch on his wrist, the hotel key between his fingers, the expensive cologne covering the smell of alcohol on his breath, and the way he had looked at me across the bar like he already knew exactly what I was offering.That part was simple. It was always simple. I knew what men wanted.They wanted a pretty woman, a little attention, a little touching, something they could pay for and walk away from while pretending it meant something e