Taken Over (Book 2 The Ravening Series) (49 page)

   “Bethany you will not become a monster.”
   “You can’t know that!” I cried
. All of those
strange little differences I had noticed in m
e
.
So many of them, but the damn
hunger
… That was the worst. And it was only getting stronger.
What was I? What had he done?
“You can’t know what you created! You can’t know what I may do tomorrow or the next or the…”

   He grabbed hold of my shoulders, grasping me tight. “I know
you
!” he said fiercely. “And no matter what changes this may bring in you, it will
never
change your essence. It will
never
change who
you
are.”

   I wanted to believe him, but there was no way to know for sure. No way to know what I’d become. Tears filled my eyes; I bit hard on my bottom lip to keep from crying. What if I became emotionless, cold? What if I hurt someone? I couldn’t imagine drinking blood, or having someone’s soul call out to me
. I couldn’t begin to fathom
devour
ing
someone’s blood and soul
.

   “I don’t want to hurt anyone,” I moaned.

   “You won’t Bethany!” he said fervently. “You won’t. You don’t have that in you
,
and if it ever comes to the day where you might, I
’
ll take you away,” he rushed o
ut
when I opened my mouth to protest. “I will keep you safe no matter what it takes.
I will take care of you no matter the consequence as long as you’ll allow me to.
”

  I looked sadly at him;
I wanted to tell him
everything I was experiencing
. I found that I couldn’t. Not now.
I was terrified by what was happening to me,
but
he didn’t need to know
about
it. Not yet.
Maybe not ever. He felt bad enough for everything that had happened, he didn’t need this on top of it. I told myself this, but I knew the real reason was that I was too cowardly to say it out loud. If I did, it would be true, if I uttered the words allowed there would be no more denying what was going on inside of me.

  
“Abby and Aiden…”
   “I will keep them safe also. With my life I will keep you
,
and everyone that you love
,
safe. I will not allow you to be destroyed. What I did was selfish, so incredibly selfish and I’m sorry
for it,
but I simply couldn’t bear the thought of living without you. Of having you die in such a way.
I didn’t know what else to do to keep you safe.
”

   “What if I’d been one of the ones that died?” I was not angry that he had taken this chance with my life without my permission; I would have been dead if he hadn’t, or I would have been trapped, frozen in preparation of those hideous things hunting me down. That was a fate worse than death in my opinion.

   Blackness momentarily filtered through his eyes again. “I don’t know what I would have done; I wouldn’t have survived being the one that destroyed you. I didn’t allow myself to think about that consequence. All I thought of, all I wanted was to save you.
Please Bethany.” His hands were desperate,
crushing as he pulled me against him. “Please forgive me.”

   I burst into tears. I was terrified, confused, but the aching torment I heard in his voice was ripping at my insides.
How could I tell him that there was something wrong with me
, that he may very well have inadvertently destroyed me,
when all he had wanted was to keep me alive
and safe
?
He had sacrificed everything,
everything
for me. He had gone behind my back, and turned
me i
nto something different, but he had done it because he loved me. And I would have done the same. I knew that with fierce certainty as I clung to him, pulling at him with a
n
intensity
that shocked even me. I needed him. I wanted him. I would forever belong to him
and be a part of him
.
I had been unaware of the fact that h
e was
a part of me, engrained in my cells
,
b
onded with me right down to
my DNA.

  
I thought I should be mad, I wasn’t. He’d risked his life to save mine, he was willing to do anything to ensure my happiness, even step aside if I wanted him to.
“
There’s nothing to forgive,” I breathed against his warm neck.
   “I betrayed you, I…”

   “I would have done the same. To you.
For
you.”

   “Bethany.”

   The way he groaned my name caused shivers of desire to race up and down my spine. My muscles turned
to J
ell-O. I was putty in his hands. “That’s what Ian meant.” I said pulling slightly back as realization dawned.

   Cade frowned at me;
the mention of Ian caused fury to flit briefly over his features.
“What he meant when?”
he grated.

   “When he said
to me
,
‘
He’s inside of you. You sme
ll and taste like him you know.’
I hadn’t understood it at the time, but he must have somehow sensed your blood
inside of me
. Perhaps when he drank it, or when he tried to get inside of me with that
…
”

   “What!?” Cade snarled. I recoiled slightly, my eyes wide as black fury filled his eyes. I didn’t know if it was the fact that he was so enraged, or the fact that I now
knew the truth, but
for the first time
his control slipped
completely
as lines of black zigzagged rapidly across his face and down his neck
.

  
“It came out of him, it oozed…
” I stuttered out.
“
It hurt like th
at
thing
did
, but not…
” Cade swore violently as he released me. He rose with grace and deadly speed, launching to his feet as he stormed around the forest.
His hands were fisted; his arms shook with barely controlled
ra
ge.
I drew my legs against my chest, suddenly frightened as the blackness began to seep
down his neck
. It was not him that I was afraid of, he would never hurt me, but his reaction to what Ian had done terrified me.
“Cade
, you’re scaring me.”

   I barely recognized him as he spun toward me. It seemed as if the devil himself was seeping throughout Cade’s body,
highlighting every vein as even his arms began to
turn b
lack. I imagined it ran all the way
down
his chest
as well
.
P
erhaps it even started at his heart
and
puls
ed
out with every fierce beat
i
nstead of
originating
at his eyes
,
like
I’d
first
thought.

   He t
ook a step toward me
and suddenly
I understood where so many horror legends had been born. Vampires, succubae, demons,
of course evil aliens, and
probably a host of other monsters
. They all had gotten their start here, in Cade’s face, in his eyes, in his
heritage
. Th
ose myths had been created
by people who had
been terrified to
see this same exact visage
.
W
ho had witnessed one of the
se
creatures drinking from
a human, who had seen
the black cloud that Ian had
emitted
, and the blackness that engulfed Cade
. The stories had been twisted
;
there were no
vampire
teeth. Succubae were not all women, and demons did not come from the depths of hell. Or at least I didn’t think they did,
because
I was fairly certain
now that
they
had origina
ted
from the sky.

   Cade’s face slowly returned to normal, but his eyes remained a solid black. He came back
t
o
k
ne
e
l
slowly
before me
. T
he white’s of hi
s eyes became apparent again
as he clasped hold of me
.
His hands were on my face once more,
stroking, demanding as
he tilted my face to his. “How
long
was
he
inside of you Bethany?”

   I shook my head, biting on my bottom lip. “It seemed like forever
, it hurt…” I broke off as his face flooded once more.
“I don’t think it was very long,
”
I blurted quickly in the hopes that it would ease some of the fury radiating from him.

   I didn’t dare tell him I had nearly passed out from it
;
he seemed on the verge of snapping once more.
His eyes searched mine intently, he leaned closer to me. “I don’t think he took much.”

  
I shuddered, not at all liking that statement.
I didn’t want to think about Ian taking
anything
from me.
Something passed over
Cade’s
features, his hands tightened on me. “What if he did, how would I know? What would it do to me?”

   He shook his head. “Less of a soul, perhaps a little less human.”

   My eyes widened, my hands fisted as terror tore through me. “I’m
already
less human
,” I blurted.
“
I can’t be any less
than that
Cade, I simply can’t!”