Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Cyrus
Revolting things, humans. I hate this part of our job, hate that I have to tolerate these disgusting beings.
Annoying, with their heads always on their phones and taking selfies.
Things were different when I was still human, simpler, but now I couldn’t tolerate them.
So self-absorbed in perfection, money, and gaining power.
Selfish is what they are. I hate coming here.
If my mate Eli weren’t with me, I wouldn’t have bothered, but this was a necessary part of owning a successful business.
Necessary to keep things going and up to date.
It would only be for a short time, I remind myself.
I only have to tolerate them for a few meetings.
I usually send Eli; he is better at dealing with humans than me, and he doesn’t crave their blood, have a hunger for their deaths, and the urges I have.
That changed when I met Adeline Paisley.
She doesn’t know it yet, but she will be ours.
She is the exception to the hate I have for humans.
She is different, not self-absorbed. I still don’t understand how she could willingly put herself in danger to save a child, claiming he had more right to live than her.
Ever since I laid eyes on her that first day, I haven’t been able to stay away from her. Eli is the same. This is the most we have ever spent at work, voluntarily wanting to go just to spend time with her.
Eli is a Lycan. Before meeting me, he had his own pack, but I couldn’t handle being around them.
It was too much for my bloodlust, an insatiable hunger enough to send one mad.
Yet here I am, about to get out of the car and entertain a bunch of morons.
The things you do for your mate. Though he did sacrifice his entire pack to remain with me so I could do this for him.
I’ve had over 700 years to get to where my life is now, and these simple-minded humans think they can attain perfection in their short lives.
Nothing is perfect, and once you stop striving for perfection, everything that doesn’t matter will melt away.
Yet they keep trying. Such obnoxious selfish beings.
And yet they call us monsters. They have done nothing but ruin the planet with their disgusting filth, turning species extinct, all to gain knowledge and a feeling of self-worth.
Little do they know, the world isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. If only they knew what was really lurking among them. Predators far worse than anything they could imagine, more dangerous than anything they could conjure up in their nightmares.
“Will you stop fidgeting and working yourself up?” Eli says to me as we get ready to leave work.
It is nearly 9PM. I growl at him. I wanted to leave hours ago when Addie did.
I hate being here. She is the only reason I bother coming in, the noise and the people here sending me nuts.
Eli doesn’t have to put up with their blood calling to him.
Doesn’t have to put up with hearing the chatter in their heads as I do.
We are being audited, and the place is bustling with people still as we go down in the elevator to the foyer floor.
“Seriously, stop, Cyrus. You can’t go in there in a bad mood. The last thing I need right now is trying to cover up that you killed an employee again. Remember the drama last time?”
He is right. I need to stop overthinking.
My hate for them is becoming a problem. Their childlike minds and distasteful thoughts irritate me, but I suppose they aren’t to be blamed.
They all have this idea of what they need to strive for and what they need to accomplish, when in reality, very few actually accomplish anything in their lifetimes. Time is never on their side.
One of the reasons I love Eli so much. He has been with me for 300 years now, and I love the silence of being with him.
Never having to hear the chatter in his head because he is my mate, and this makes him immune to my powers.
I wasn’t even shocked when I discovered he was male.
On the other hand, Eli was furious; he never had any desire to be with a man, but eventually, I won him over.
Getting out of the elevator, Eli is by my side as I step outside, fixing his gray suit jacket. I can smell the leftover scents of people’s perfumes and their sweat. When I notice Addie’s car across the road, I nudge Eli, and he looks up.
“Wait, today is Friday. You don’t think?” Eli says as I look in the windows of the diner across the street.
I growl. My mate fooling around with another man—this isn’t acceptable. I get that she doesn’t understand the mate bond, doesn’t know what she is to us, but I won’t put up with this. She is ours, not anyone else’s.
“Cyrus, wait,” Eli calls as I stalk across the road.
Eli grabs my arm, pulling me back. “I will deal with her. Just don’t kill anybody.”
We step into the diner, her scent hitting me before my eyes land on her in a booth in the back.
A man sits with her as they talk happily.
My gums tingle with the urge to rip the bastard apart when I see him lean over the table and put his filthy lips on what is mine.
Eli growls low, luckily low enough that no one hears it over the music.
I watch as Eli walks over to them, sitting in the booth next to Adeline, her shock and embarrassment making me smirk at the fact that she has been caught out. Tension fills the trio as her boy toy stares at my mates, confused.
“Hi, can I help you?” this Sam asks, looking between them.
“Adeline!” he exclaims, Addie’s face turning a shade darker as embarrassment and anger consume her.
“Hi, I am Eli. Addie’s boss,” Eli says politely, yet I know he wants nothing more than to rip him to pieces and punish our mate for her behavior.
The other day, we made it clear that we wanted her, yet she still sought him out.
“Okay, Adeline, what’s going on?” he asks.
“I am so sorry about this. We will just go,” Addie tells him.
Oh, sweetheart, you won’t be going anywhere with this man, I think to myself as Eli pulls her back down in her seat. Her eyes go to me, and I can’t help the glare directed at her. I am pissed off; she is ours, and she is fooling around with this tool.
“Sit down, Addie,” Eli warns her.
“Okay, I don’t know what’s going on here, but, Adeline, call me when you figure it out,” Sam says, hopping up and stepping past me awkwardly, looking warily at me before sending me one last glance and rushing out the door.
“I can’t believe you just did that. What the fuck is wrong with you?” she yells, her anger making her scent stronger.
God, I wish I could read her mind, figure out how she thinks. “Tone, we are in a public setting,” I tell her as she starts to draw attention to us.
“Fuck this! Move, Eli,” she screams at him.
“Sit down, Adeline. Now,” Eli tells her.
“No, you just humiliated me. All because you have it stuck in your head that I am in some sort of weird fucking relationship with you. You had no right to do that. Now move, or I will scream and cause a fucking scene.”
Eli lets her get up, and she tosses cash on the table, and we follow her out. Eli snatches the keys from her hand, locking her car before he grabs her arm, pulling her away and toward ours across the street.
“Give me my fucking keys and let go,” she yells as I follow them.
Eli tugs her along when she starts fighting against him; she is silly to think she can escape us.
“Adeline!” I snap.
When she suddenly slaps him, Eli growls, and I watch his body tense as he fights the urge to shift in the middle of the street.
A group of teenagers is loitering out front of the building watching in horror, along with the waitress.
Eli shoves her into the car while I climb into the driver’s seat.
She continues fighting, kicking, and trying to shove him off as he climbs in with her.
“What are you doing?” she screams as I start the car.
“What I should have done from the fucking start,” Eli growls.
I try to reach for him, but it is too late as his beast takes over, and he sinks his canines into her neck. She screams as pain rips through her neck before she passes out cold. I keep driving, watching Eli in the mirror as he wipes her blood from his lips.
“Now you’ve done it,” I tell him when he sits up.
“She needs to learn. At least now she won’t be able to fight the mate bond.”
“You’re right. Now she is going to be petrified of us when she wakes. I thought we would do this the human way to make her like us before revealing ourselves,” I tell him.
“You can just erase this memory and give her a new one,” Eli says, having it all figured out.
We just need to tell her to come clean, but I know that will be a disaster as well. Nothing is going to plan.