Afraid it would make them come true.
But it was Hope. My best friend since having run into her on the streets of London in the 1800s.
“What if it unleashes something I can’t control?” I whispered. “What if I really am a monster? An other?”
“Look at me.” Hope gripped my face with her hands. “It won’t happen. Your heart is good, Mason. You’re good. This thing, you feel, this beast — maybe once you stop fighting it, you’ll be able to control it by joining it.”
I gasped.
“Stop fighting, Mason.” She stood. “You’ve been fighting yourself so damn long, from joining your place with your pack to enjoying a freaking steak — stop punishing yourself for mistakes others made on your behalf.”
“Mistakes?” I repeated, “What do you mean mistakes?”
“You’re not too hairy. Or strong. Or any of those things. The biggest mistake your dead mate made was taking your love for granted. This is your second chance to be with someone who gets you.”
I looked down at the ground. “I’ll break her.”
“She’s a vampire. She can lift a car off a tree. I think she’ll be okay.” Hope winked then patted me on the back and walked off.
I lay back against the bed and sighed.
Little did Hope know I was way heavier than a car.
I smiled.
SERENITY
There was no reason for my hands to be shaking, but they were. The warm cookies were barely staying stacked with on the plate. It was dark. And I’d just seen Genesis get in a car with the twins and Ethan and just leave; they had bags as if they were moving, but this was Ethan’s house. My confusion only mounted when Cassius had whispered something to Alex that had him grabbing Hope by the arm the minute she’d reached the bottom of the stairs and pulling her toward the garage.
“Everything okay?” I’d asked Stephanie.
She’d only shrugged and had given me a funny look.
Cassius swept back into the room. “Remember what I said.”
And that was it.
The house was dark.
And I was holding a stupid plate of cookies as if that was going to calm the beast in the upstairs bedroom — as if that was going to make him want me.
If your own parents don’t love you enough to stay…
What makes you think that a plate of cookies is going to help an immortal king want to mate you?
That was the question I asked after every step.
After each breath.
What makes you so different?
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
Insecurity had a way of seeping into every crevice of my brain, making it impossible for me to come up with a scenario that had Mason choosing me, choosing us.
He barely knew me.