Chapter 319. A Wretched Heartache II

Chapter 319: 319. A Wretched Heartache II

Maisie

He opened his eyes and they were green again. Tired. Exhausted. "My bargain was with the Queen, not Tessa. I must hold up my end of it as she has held up hers. Or this nightmare will begin again. A different dead body. Someone else you care about buried six feet under. More blood on your hands. Your life in danger and jeopardy. This is how it ends."

"We could fight back," I pushed. "We could push back! We could fight her and win!"

He laughed hoarsely. "There is no winning against her and you know it."

"You aren’t even willing to try!" I snarled. "You’re a fucking coward. A stupid mama’s boy. I hate you."

I was crashing out. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t think I was equipped to handle this. I needed to break something. Everything.

But Mercer only peered down at me with understanding green eyes. He knew that I knew he was right. "I won’t risk it," he whispered, lifting his fingers to my chin, wiping my tears. "I won’t risk you. Not anymore."

My chest shuddered as ugly hiccups escaped me. "You can’t do this. Don’t do this to me. Don’t make me..." Hiccup. "... live without you."

His hand fell away and he took a measured step back.

He was leaving me.

The though snapped something inside me and I lost my grip on sanity. Tired of losing. Tired of being afraid. Tired of giving up everything. Tired of the darned sacrifices.

An angry snarl ripped out of me and I lunged for him. I was done talking. I would mark him and we’d all deal with the consequences later. He was mine. I was his. I loved him. He loved me. We would be fine.

Catching the look in my eyes, he backpedaled, but he wasn’t fast enough, and I careened into him. We fell, crashing into the hardwood floor, the coffee table splintering under our combined weight in a deafening crack.

I was out of my mind, operating entirely on panic and savage instinct.

Mercer cursed, his hands slamming into my shoulders as we rolled across the floorboards. He twisted violently, using his size to flip us over, landing heavily on top of me and pinning my wrists firmly above my head against the wood.

"Maisie, stop it!" he yelled, his chest heaving against mine, his jaw set in a hard, rigid line. "Stop!"

The spicy, rich scent of his blood tickled my nostrils, and the rational part of me realized he must have cut himself on the glass when he fell.

But that part of me was muted and subdued, and all that was left of me was an animal. And by the Goddess, the smell of his blood was my holy grail.

A dark, guttural snarl tore through my throat as my Lycan seized control of my muscles. "Mine," she hissed, driving out the last whispers of logic from my mind. "He belongs to us. No one else. Mark him. Claim him. He was made for us."

Before he could secure his weight over me, I bucked my hips and drove my knee up between his legs ruthlessly.

Mercer let out a strangled, breathless grunt, his grip slackening for a second, but that was all I needed.

I kicked him off, scrambling over his chest like a feral animal, reversing our positions until I was straddling his waist. My hands shot down, driving my fingers violently into his dark hair, and I yanked his head back to expose the long stretch of his throat.

Unmarked.

I salivated, my fangs extending, pricking the inside of my lip, the hot metallic taste of my own blood making my Lycan reel in a bloodthirsty frenzy.

I was going to mark him. So deeply, he would feel it in his soul. There would never again be question of who he belonged to. We should’ve done this a long time ago.

I lurched forward, dipping my face to bury my teeth into his neck.

Mercer reacted, his hand snapping up to clamp around the front of my throat, stopping my descent inches from his skin.

He twisted his weight, flinging me off to the side, but a frustrated, high-pitched scream ripped from my chest as I refused to lose ground.

I hooked my leg over his thigh, twisting us back around with unnatural strength, slamming him back against the floor and burying my face directly into the crook of his shoulder.

I inhaled deeply, taking in a breath of his scent, letting out a possessive snarl of satisfaction against his skin.

His scent. Only his. He hadn’t lain with her. He hadn’t betrayed us.

At the sound of that fierce, territorial growl, Mercer went completely pliant beneath me.

The tension drained from his body. Instead of shoving me off or fighting for control, his arms came around my waist, pulling me down tight against his chest, holding me close.

He was... hugging us?

The sudden lack of resistance stilled me. My fangs hovered less than an inch away from the racing pulse in his neck, my whole body trembling with adrenaline.

Mercer tilted his chin back, arching his neck fully to give me access to his throat.

"Take it," he rasped, his voice raw with surrender. "Ruin us both, wild cat. Take every piece of me. I’m already yours."

The words hit me like a bucket of ice water.

The bloodlust evaporated, leaving behind a cold, hollow ache that caved my chest in. My fangs retracted, and the manic strength drained out of my limbs all at once.

I broke, sobbing as my forehead dropped heavily against his collarbone.

"You told me she meant nothing," I wept, my body shaking as hot tears spilled over his skin. "You said... you said it was always going to be me..."

Mercer’s breath hitched. He lifted one heavy hand, his long fingers trembling slightly as he reached up and gently tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear, his thumb brushing over my temple with tenderness.

"I didn’t lie," he whispered, his voice thick with a certainty that devastated me. "You’re the only woman I’ll ever love."

And then he pulled my face down and kissed me.