Taken Over (Book 2 The Ravening Series) (45 page)

   A
sob escaped me
,
and then a fiery rage surged through me. I straightened away from the tree, finding strength where moments ago there had been none. “My mother is dead, millions of people’s lives
- no
billions
of people’s lives-
have been ruined because they can’t control their hunger!?”

  
Was
I
going to
become like that too
?
The question didn’t leave my mouth though.

  
Cade watched me for a long moment, before nodding. “Yes.”

  
His flat answer momentarily spiked my
fury
. Why wasn’t he as indignant and infuriated by this as I was?
“Damn you!” I snarled.

   Hurt flickered in his gaze; he took a step toward me and then stopped. “Damn
me
? I didn’t
do

this! I kept you
alive
.”

   I shook my head, but I could feel everything within me crumbling again. My anger deflated lik
e a popped balloon. It was hard;
it was all so
freaking
hard
.
I felt like I was spinning out of control, as if
everything
was
spinning
out of control.

   “I’ve kept you alive for a very long time.”

   My head snapped up at his words.
I didn’t understand what the hell he meant by that.
“Excuse me?”

   He sighed softly. “Ever since the moment I saw you Bethany, I
knew
. I’d never had emotions before then, never
experienced
feelings
;
my kind doesn’t
have those things
.
It’s not supposed to happen to us.
Ever
.
I was
supposed to be
t
o
o young to
have
fel
t
the hunger,
T
he
C
alling
,
when we first met
. It wasn’t supposed to happen for another ten years. The Calling
is what we call the desire
we
acquire
to
touch and
taste a soul
.
When it happens, we feel
as if the soul
is calling
to
us, beckoning us
to feed from it,
to
savor it, and gain strength from what it has to offer.
”

   “Pardon our souls
,
damn things should just keep quiet,” I muttered bitterly.

   “Not helping,” he grated. “You have no idea what it is like to deny
The
C
alling,
hour after hour
,
day after day. No idea what it is like to suppress that hunge
r,
that desire
;
that
need
,
especially when I am around
you
.” I stared angrily at him, but I clenched my jaw and bit my tongue on
my
sharp
re
tort
. I had seen that hunger burning in his eyes
, I had felt his desire for
something more from
me
; I just hadn’t re
cognized it for what it was
.
Hadn’t recognized w
hat it was
that
he really wanted from me.
“
The Calling of y
our soul is so strong
,
and vibrant,
and I want you so badly. I would give anything for just…”

   He closed his eyes, his hands fist
ed
as he broke off.
For a brief moment ecstasy and then t
ension and pain twisted his features.
“A taste?” I whispered
unable to stop the thrill that tore through me at the thought.
He wanted me desperately, but he had never touched me in such a way.
I was certain of that, I had felt it with Ian, I would most certainly have felt it if Cade had ever done that to me.

   “Yes,” he hissed
.
H
is excitement and desire
were clearly
evident in that one simple word. “
But I can’t. Ever. At least not with you.
Never
you.”

   “Why not me?” It was a
strange
question to ask
. E
specially when I should be happy that he wasn’t going to drain me dry, instead of feeling oddly deflated and rejected by such a proposition.

   For a moment he remained unable to look at me, and then slowly his eyes opened and he focused sharply upon me. “Because I don’t think I could stop myself from taking
all
of you into me. I have never done that before, never drained a living creature
completely
of their essence. But yours, ah yours,” his voice was soft, almost seductive with yearning. “I want every bit of you inside of me. I want to taste you and feel you until I can’t take anymore, and then I
want to keep on taking
until I’m completely sated, and I don’t think I’ll ever be sated. Not with you
.”

   I stared at him in wide eyed
astonishment
. I thought I should be more horrified by what he was saying, what he was telling me, but
instead
I
was
oddly
titillated by it. Just what the hell did that say about me? I wondered. Though I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted the answer
,
I was fairly certain it didn’t say anything good.

   “The
moment
I saw you.” His eyes became distant, almost wistful
as he began to pace restlessly
.
He reminded me of a caged, wild panther.
I watched him in fascination, my eyes following every movement he made. “I felt it. I felt the hunger
,
t
he burning need
,
felt
The Calling
in my veins. I didn’t know what it was
.
I wasn’t supposed to experience it for another
ten
years, but it was suddenly there, alive and clawing at me
with an intensity that no five year old should have to experience
. I am thankful everyday that I didn
’
t destroy
you
,
then and there
,
to satisfy
my
craving for what was coursing through you.
What was pulsing through your veins
,
and beating against my body.
”

  
My mouth went dry; I hugged myself against his words, stunned by the intensity in them. The
yearning
.
“Why didn’t you?” I asked tremulously.

   “Because the minute I saw you standing there in that little blue dress, with those golden pigtails
,
it awakened something else in me.
Something more than just The Calling.
I’d never known emotion
s
, never known what it was like to care for someone
,
t
o want to be
with
someone
, and protect them
. And I wanted to be with you every
damn
day.
I never wanted to be apart from you. You were so beautiful to me, so bright and shining
and I relished in the newfound emotions you brought to me
. Your laugh was captivating
, it ensnared me
; your smile fascinating.

   “I didn’t
ha
ve
it in me to love someone
at all
before
then,
not my real parents, not even the Marshall’s.
N
ever mind to love someone as much as I loved
you
in that moment,
b
ut I did
and that love only grew with every minute we shared together. Minutes I cherished every day
.
I didn’t know what the emotion
of love
was, I was too shocked by its sudden burst into me to completely understand it, but I knew I would spend the rest of my life looking after you
, caring for you, and keeping you safe from the danger that I knew lurked outside of this world that you felt so secure in
.

   “
You
made me this way Bethany,
you
created me.
You turned me into something that I was never supposed to be. Y
our essence called to me so fiercely that it
awakened T
he
Calling in
me and awakened
it
long before it
was supposed to be awakened
.
You made me
feel
when I was never supposed to.
As far as I know
,
I am the only
one
that has
ever
happened to, but I’m sure
if it has happened to
anyone else
they have
also kept it a secret
. They would have
done everything
possible
to keep the person
they loved
s
afe.
”