EthanThe pain was unbearable — because it was a reminder of why I hated my entire existence — why I had a reason to hate.Cassius.Didn't it always come back to him? After all, it had started with him. Or maybe it had just started with Ara.Another shudder wracked my body. Bones felt like they were twisting around one another before suddenly resetting themselves over and over again.I felt her pain.Because she was a part of me now.So her pain was my pain.Only for me, it was worse.Because it was the second time in my existence I'd experienced it — when it was only supposed to be experienced once. Immortals mated for life. That was, unless someone or something intervened.Hands shaking, I took another drink of blood. It did nothing, or maybe it did, and I was just too bitter to allow it to heal me.She'd been naked, inconsolable, and I'd left her.With Mason, of all creatures. My best friend, the only being o

EthanThe pain was unbearable — because it was a reminder of why I hated my entire existence — why I had a reason to hate.Cassius.Didn't it always come back to him? After all, it had started with him. Or maybe it had just started with Ara.Another shudder wracked my body. Bones felt like they were twisting around one another before suddenly resetting themselves over and over again.I felt her pain.Because she was a part of me now.So her pain was my pain.Only for me, it was worse.Because it was the second time in my existence I'd experienced it — when it was only supposed to be experienced once. Immortals mated for life. That was, unless someone or something intervened.Hands shaking, I took another drink of blood. It did nothing, or maybe it did, and I was just too bitter to allow it to heal me.She'd been naked, inconsolable, and I'd left her.With Mason, of all creatures. My best friend, the only being o

GenesisCool water touched my lips. Greedily, I reached out, my hands coming into contact with the glass and something else warm. I drank as much as I could and then slowly opened my eyes.Ethan.My heart clenched in my chest. Was he back to make fun of me? Watch me suffer only to leave again? I recoiled, the pain started to subside enough that I didn't want to actually kill myself.Apparently, I'd asked Mason to do just that a few times."Sorry…" Ethan mumbled, setting the glass down on the table. "If I stay, it will be… easier."It didn't feel easier.It felt hot.Not exactly painful, but hot to the point that my body kept telling me if I only scooted a little bit closer to him, I'd be okay. If only he'd tilt his head a fraction of an inch and kiss me — the pain would dissipate completely. I was at war with my own body, and I hated him for causing it — for bonding with me without even asking if it was okay first.Not that I'd h

Genesis  I felt Ethan next to me. I wanted to ask him what was happening next, why my body was suddenly cold — why everything felt numb — but I couldn't open my eyes.  I was trapped in darkness.  "So," a low whispery voice spoke into the darkness, "will you stay or will you go?"  "What?" I spoke into the darkness, unable to see anything around me. White smoke suddenly appeared in front of me, and then a hand reached out through the smoke.  "Will you come with me? Allow me to ease all your pain? Or will you stay?"  The hand looked so welcoming.  The closer it came to my body the more I wanted to take it.  But I could still feel Ethan, and leaving him… felt so wrong. My body shuddered at the thought.  "Choose," the voice commanded.  I didn't want to choose. I just wanted to go back to my normal existence, where I went to Starbucks in the mornings and did homework in the afternoons.  Those days were long gone.  "Choose," it sa

GenesisWords didn't have power, right? They were just words, strung together in sentences, big scary sentences that had me shaking. I wondered when or if the fear would ever leave.I stared at the fruit on the table, not in the least bit hungry."I can't just…" I found my voice and glanced up at Ethan. "I can't just sit around trapped in this house away from the world. It would be like prison.""A beautiful prison." Ethan smiled.I chose not to smile back. I didn't want to encourage him or encourage my body to lean any closer to his. His body was like a magnet, even if I fought against the pull — I still couldn't help it. I found myself inching my chair closer. When it scraped against the floor, everyone smirked but Ethan.He seemed angry.Angry, yet he'd been the one to do that to me."I don't care," I said, ignoring the thumping of my heart in my chest and the fact that the closer I got to him the more it raced. "I can't just sit ar