My pulse pounded like war drums, every instinct braced for the fight, but, to my surprise, the beast didn’t move. It just stared. Watched.
I wanted to scream at him. To yank out this thing inside of me and tell it to do its job. I just didn't understand. Wasn’t this supposed to be sacred? Wasn’t a mate worth fighting to the death for?
Instead, he fed me something worse.Jealousy.
Pure, gnawing, white-hot jealousy. It slid under my skin and lit me up from the inside. With every touch that vampire laid on her skin, another spark lit.
The second his teeth sank into her flesh, the beast jerked, paw lifting as if he might finally spring into action. My heart thundered with relief, ready for the bloodbath, but then he stilled again, leaving me wrecked with wanting.
The jealousy twisted—not just in anger that someone else was touching her but in hunger. A deep craving to touch her that way myself. To feel her nails carve into my skin. To hear her gasp my name instead of his. The beast concocted mental visions and shoved them in my face. Me driving into her, tasting every inch of her body, marking her so thoroughly she wouldn’t rememberthe green-eyed bastard existed… and my stomach churned, becoming sour, after I realized I liked it.
Fuck, I liked it too much. Even in this beastly, fur-covered body, I could feel my cock ache. It was hard and insistent, as though my body had already made the decision my mind refused to admit. I couldn't take it anymore.
I told him to charge, to tear them apart, to take what was ours. If I was going to have this thing inside of me, he had to be useful for something!
Instead, it answered back in broken words.Mate. Not accept us. Not yet.
I didn’t know what the fuck that meant, but the human side of me hated how they moved together, hated that I couldn’t look away, hated that I burned for her when I should’ve been recoiling instead. She screamed her pleasure into the wind, and the sound ricocheted through me, wild, unchained.
Absently, my paws moved. Leaves rustled underneath me, and her head snapped in my direction. I stayed as still as possible, hoping her trained wolfish eyes didn't find mine. I was grateful when the vampire’s pleas caught her attention, giving me the chance to slowly back away. This was getting dangerous.
I dragged us back to the facility, even though the beast whined in my head that he wanted to stay, but I couldn't. I was raw. My soul felt like it was put through the ringer, and I just needed a second to breathe. To come back to myself.
Almost mechanically, I shifted back, put some clothes on, and made my way back home in a daze. Plopping down on my bed, I promised myself that I’d be able to let it go once I got a good night's rest. This fixation was just because everything was soshocking and new. I could push through this after I got some sleep… but sleep kept mocking me.
Every time my eyes closed, my mind was filled with imaginings of her body writhing under mine instead of his, the way she would tremble in my arms, her cries sharpened by the marksIleft on her skin.
It was why I went to the training facility so early. Why I’d already broken a sweat by the time the rest of the group got here. I couldn’t get her out of my head. Rubbing both hands over my face now, I bitterly muttered to myself, “Why the hell did it have to be her?”
“Okay.” Kevin smiled, breaking the spell she had over me. A new bag floated behind him. “I got this one. Instead of the laces being magicked, the whole bag’s under protection. I think they gave us that old version because… well, you know.”
Kevin tried to shrug it off, but I had no idea what he meant. “What do you mean?”
He eyed me up and down, raising a brow at me like I was an idiot. Instinctively, I went into cop mode, scrambling for an excuse or a distraction to divert him. Then he asked, “Wait… how long ago were you turned?”
I shrugged, not wanting to give away too much. “Not long. A few months.”
His eyes nearly popped out of his skull, and his voice shot high. “Holy shit! And you’re already that strong?!”
I looked down at my fists, not knowing what to say. It wasn’t like I’d been trying all that hard. In fact, I’d been lost in thememory of last night, getting angrier with every punch instead of controlling my strength. A rookie mistake.
Kevin glanced around before leaning closer. “I’m guessing you haven’t spent much time around other supes yet, huh?”
I shook my head, relieved it wasn’t too obvious.
“Well,” he said, lowering his voice, “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there’s an unspoken hierarchy in the supe world. Whoever’s strongest is the top dog, no matter the species.” His pity-laced eyes met mine. “Turned vampires and werewolves are naturally weaker than born ones. And since the demons, fae, and mages are all born with their magic, that makes the turned ones… well…” he looked around before mumbling, “looked down on.”
Great. Just fucking great. Fire churned in my belly. Since I’d been turned, I’d been ostracized by my friends, dumped by my girlfriend, and cut off from my job. Now, I was hearing that the very community I was now supposed to belong to saw me as the lowest of the low. A bottom feeder.
It hadn’t even been my fucking choice! My mind raced as my body shook. I hadn’t begged some werewolf to turn me. It was an accident. I’d been trying to help someone. Protect someone. Be the fucking good guy!
Why did my life have to turn out like this? Why did I have to be cursed with this thing inside me? What did I do to deserve it?
The beast growled in the back of my mind, and I snapped, “Shut up, you! You’re the problem here!”
“Woah, hey,” Kevin exclaimed, hands flying up. “I don’t think that way! Don’t bite my head off!”
I realized too late that people were staring. A few heads had turned, eyes glaring. Shit. “Sorry,” I muttered, turning my back to them. “I wasn’t talking to you.”
