“Tell Him That.......”

ETHAN's POV

The pain was unbearable because it was a reminder of why I hated my entire existence and why I had a reason to hate Cassius.

Didn't it always come back to him? After all, it had started with him. Or maybe it had just started with Ara.

Another shudder wracked my body. Bones felt like they were twisting around one another before suddenly re

setting themselves over and over again I felt her pain because she was a part of me now, so her pain was my pain, only for me, it was worse.

Because it was the second time in my existence I'd experienced it when it was only supposed to be experienced once. Immortals mated for life. That was unless someone or something intervened.

Hands shaking, I took another drink of blood. It did nothing, or maybe it did, and I was just too bitter to allow it to heal me she'd been naked, inconsolable, and I'd left her, with Mason, of all creatures. My best friend, the only being other than Alex that I trusted.

My body convulsed. Falling to my knees in front of the fireplace in my room, I lifted my head to the ceiling and listened to her cries.

It was going to be a long evening, made longer because I'd refused to give her what she needed to make it better. I'd thought I could do it when I walked out of that room, smug as shit. I had thought I could do it.

But the pain had been too much, the reminder, and then the visions I'd shared with her too personal. She'd seen Ara. She knew the shame that consumed me or would soon know. There would be no secrets between us, and for the mating to continue, I had to make sure that I completely marked her, possessed her, and made her mine.

It was the last thing I'd expected this morning when the number had been called, it had been a normal day.

As normal as my life had been for the past century, and then Cassius had breathed her name… Genesis. And my world stopped.

His eyes had gone completely white, and then the bastard had smirked at me like he knew the future before the present had even happened.

It was impossible to describe the need I'd felt when I walked into that throne room. I'd heard her heartbeat on the other side of the door and had given a shaky nod to Alex, who'd seemed more amused than upset at our new circumstances.

Let Cassius have another one and fail, or steal her, fifty years ago, I had given up my request for a breeder, as had Mason. The bond hadn't lasted like it was supposed to, and even though the bliss we'd felt at the hands of the humans we bonded with was incomparable, they'd always died.

Every single time and we'd been the ones left to bury them, I could bite her and hope that she'd be the one human to finally change things.

The last one had lived past one hundred and fifty Mason's mate. We'd thought it had worked and had thanked God, until he'd awoken with a corpse, I'd already lived through enough death and betrayal, and now it seemed my existence was on repeat.

"Damn it, Ethan!" Alex stomped into the room. "Could you at least hold her hand?"

"And what? Squeeze it so hard I break every fragile bone in her pathetic body?" I hissed. "Is that what you want?"

He hung his head. "She's stronger than that."

"Is she?" I snorted out a laugh. "That's what we said about the last one."

"Who lived longer than the rest," Alex pointed out. "Look, all I'm saying is there's something very wrong about having Mason up there consoling the human when she's not even his mate, when… he may have to kill her before it's complete. I can't watch him go through loss again. He's known her for less than a day, and already he's like a kicked puppy."

"Tell him that…" I stared into the fire. "…and you'll get your throat ripped out — again."

"Once. He did that once." Alex elbowed me and took a position in front of the fire. "You did what you had to do."

"Right." My voice sounded hollow, funny, because I felt hollow, like an empty shell. "And now I'm bonded to someone I don't love. Tell me, how does that work out in all those romance novels Stephanie likes to read?"

Alex ignored me as another one of Genesis's screams rocked the mansion. She was transitioning, meaning, for a human, she would be going into an absolute frenzy to be with me, I should be pleased, but I wasn't.

I wasn't that type of vampire, one who feasted on the lust of others.

It was a trick like magic. The mating caused her physical body to want me in indescribable ways, but she still had full control over her mind. And wasn't that the horrible part? I could own her body, I had to earn her heart.

"You're the only being alive who's pissed about having meaningless sex," Alex said in a low voice.

"Siren," I hissed, "you base your life on meaningless sex."

"And my blood pressure's way lower," he joked.

"Not laughing."

"It was kind of funny," he mumbled. "Look, just… hold her again. Maybe it will help things along. You'll sure as hell feel better. I'll sleep better. Mason won't have to kill her because she doesn't make it through, and Cassius won't end up finding her. We win."

"But do we?" I spoke the question we'd been asking ourselves for years upon years. "How long do we repeat the process? How long does the madness continue?"

Alex was silent, another scream, I winced and braced myself against the mantel, nearly prying it from its place on the wall.

Alex shook his head. "If it's this bad for you imagine how bad it is for her. She's human, Ethan. She could die. Or is that what you want? To take it all back? Would you… let her die? Just because you're afraid of what happens if she lives?"

"Take it back!" I roared; my hand crumpled the wood and tossed it into the fire.

"Fear isn't welcome here," he mocked.

I punched him in the jaw, he went flying across the room, slamming into the wall, before chuckling and regaining his balance. "That all you got?"

"Don't tempt me to end you."

"Like you could," he spat. "Now do your job, Ethan. Go to her."

A piercing scream had me catching my breath, holding my hand to my chest.

Alex looked heavenward and swore.

"Fine," I barked. "I'll hold her again. But you know what you ask, if that much physical contact is made? I'll be lost to her."

Alex's smile fell from his face. "You've been lost to her from the minute Cassius uttered her name. Don't for one second think otherwise. Now go to her, before you give her to Cassius like before."

"Leave," I barked. "And never speak of that again."

Alex held up his hands and stomped out of the room, while my heart decided to ram against my ribs so hard I had to fight to catch a breath again.

Slowly, I made my way up to her room. The screams were getting louder and louder, but the closer my body was the less the pain.

Finally, when I entered the room, it was to see Mason pacing a hole through the damn floor and pulling at his overly long hair.

"Leave us," I whispered in a hoarse voice.

Mason paused, tilted his head, and smirked, "Careful, humans do break."

"I can be gentle."

He barked out a laugh. "You drove your fist into a granite countertop when we ran out of wine last week."

I rolled my eyes and pointed to the door.