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Copyright 2014
Shelly Crane

All rights reserved

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Author and publisher do not have control of and do not assume responsibility for third party websites and their content.

Cover design by MaeIDesign

Editing s
ervices provided by Todd Barselow

Printed in the USA

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Paperback available, also in eBook formats through Amazon, CreateSpace, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, and wherever books are sold.

More information can be found at the author's website:

http://shellycrane.blogspot.com

ISBN-13:   978-1499602395 
ISBN-10:   1499602391

For Axel.

These past two years have been anything but easy. When we said ‘til death do us part’ you never imagined that this was what you were signing up for, did you? But these past couple years have been such a blessing, too
. I never have to wonder if dinner will be taken care of, or if the kids have brushed their teeth, or just if…everything will be okay.

Thank you for that.

We don’t know what will happen in the years to come, I know that, but I know that you’ll be there, and nothing is more amazing than knowing that the one person I love most in the world is the one person who loves me back. Thank you for being you, for getting me, for being sarcastic, for being willing to do what needs to be done. When it’s your turn, I’ll be there.

I love you more
.
 

             
I stood there and watched as he married Clara, as he turned away from everything that we stood for and became human in every way possible. And somehow he was dragging me down with him. I was changing, I could feel it. Ever since that human had gotten her claws in my brother and bonded to him, I had begun to change, too—though I’d never admit that to anyone.

             
I stood there and watched as she looked up at him and I knew she loved him. I wanted to be happy for him—I came back for his wedding for God’s sakes—but that was the problem wasn’t it? I wasn’t supposed to be happy for him. I wasn’t supposed to want to see him get married or anything else. This whole thing was making me soft. I
hated
that I cared. Though the bond wasn’t there anymore, there was still a lingering in the back of my mind that made me wonder how they were doing.

And it pissed
me right off.

As soon as they said I do and he took her in his human arms, holding her and kissing her, I stormed down the aisle. I’d done my brotherly duty, hadn’t I? I was done with this
charade of human bullcrap. So done. I got into the car that I’d hotwired and went back into town. I went into the first bar I saw and dared anyone to look at me except the one person I was after.

The brunette
in the corner would work just fine. She favored Clara a bit and I smiled at the satisfaction that was going to give me. She was standing by the jukebox looking through the songs with a beer in her hand. I stalked up behind her slowly and let my eyes roam the selection as I let my thighs press against the back of hers. Her breath swept from her lips in a hiss. She turned to put me in my place, but immediately lost her train of thought when our gazes collided. Her lips fell open, but it wasn’t to reprimand me for my behavior. Her eyes moved to my lips and back up again. I felt them form into a grin. Ah, so good to be bad again.

“Hi.”

“Hi,” she returned, no voice, just breath.

“Find anything good?” Her eyes widen
ed a little. “On the jukebox.”

“Oh,” she said and turned back, snapping out of the trance finally. She cleared her throat and clutched her beer bottle to her chest like a security blanket. “Not yet.
Nice accent.”

“
Thanks. Mind if I…?” I pointed and leaned in to see the song titles.

“Find something to dance to,” she ordered.

I looked over and knew this was in the bag. I didn’t need to feed the meter on this deal any longer. She was practically salivating as her hips swayed before I’d even put the quarter in the jukebox. I took her arm in my hand and leaned in. “I’d rather go somewhere, if I’m being honest. Just you and me.”

“Ok,” she couldn’t say quickly enough. “My place is—”

“Too far.” My hands gripping those hips tightly, I pushed her out the back door to the dark spot I knew would be there. I let the door slam behind me and turned her to face me, pressing her back to the wall. Her dazed eyes tried to focus on mine. I smiled inside—and I hadn’t even started yet. This was too easy. “Right here is just fine.”

“But, someone might come back here.”

“No one will come,” I assured her, pushing my persuasion into every word. “And if they do, I’ll bloody well take care of them. But what I really want is to take care of you.”

I opened my senses up, wide open, and let my nose coast across her cheek to her ear. Her fingers gripped my shirt and her breath caught. I could taste her lust all over my tongue and all I wanted was to drown in it. I smiled and let my lips touch her skin. “What’s your name?”

“Isabella.”

I rolled my eyes. “Isabella. What a sweet name. Do you taste as sweet as you sound?”

She smiled, almost shyly. “You are awfully good at that.”

“What?”

“Making me feel like you actually want me for more than just a good time.”

I paused and looked at her eyes. Green. Like Clara’s. My God…I was ruined, wasn’t I? She smiled again and rubbed my chest.

“Don’t worry, slick. I’m not about to go all
Wicker Park
on you. I was just saying that it’s obvious you’ve had some practice at this.” Her smile was genuine. It wasn’t a sloppy, come-hither look they usually are when women in places like this try to get with a man. It was so completely genuine. It enraged me in my soul that I noticed this, let alone cared.

I didn’t say anything else, I just moved in, letting my lips touch hers. The harder I pressed, the more she fed me. My e
yes rolled back into my head at having my first good meal in days. The more clothes disappeared, the more I felt like my true self was coming back, the more
evil
I felt.

W
hen it was all over and we dressed, I started to walk away without a word, but she asked me for my name. I let it build slowly. I wanted to feel like the Devourer I knew I was so I unleashed the terror on her, seeing her eyes search around and the way she skittered into the back wall and covered her face with nowhere else to go.

And I fed.

I fed on her terror and fright and it tasted like heaven in my mouth. But as I looked down at that woman who had just given herself to me, and I hadn’t even had to persuade her to, it washed over me all at once how I didn’t really want to hurt her. That I wanted to hurt
people
, but not her. Not really. I had gotten everything I needed from her without doing that, hadn’t I? I was full and sated. Now I was just letting my true nature take over, letting the devourer in me come out and play.

But wasn’t that what I was supposed to do? I looked down at that woman and was so confused. I cursed Clara and Eli and all their love and human bullcrap for turning me into the thing that I was now.

No. I realized then that this was my turning point. That if I let this girl go, that I would be just like my brother one day and that wasn’t what I wanted. I was not going to be some human. I was a devourer. My chin ached from clenching it so tightly. I turned my glare fully on her and knew that honestly it wasn’t her fault, but she was about to pay the price for my brother’s mistake.

“I’m sorry, love.” I lifted her by her arms and then leaned into her, pressing her to the wall.

“For what?” her small voice asked, falsely reassured by my about-face. “What are you doing to me?”

“I’m sorry that our night is just beginning.”

She seemed to understand and her face crumpled. “Please. I’m sorry for whatever I said to—”

“It’s not you,” I
told her and grinned as evilly as I could muster, “it’s me.”