LILITH
I learned at a young age that there was a difference between living and surviving. Living meant your life had a purpose. You found all types of emotions in it; happy, sad, love, loss, friendship, heartbreak, anger. Living meant you allowed yourself to push boundaries and limits. You went out into the world and faced it as if it were a new adventure. You enjoyed what life gave you, embraced the downs, and celebrated the ups.
Surviving was very different. I would know. I wasn't living, I was surviving.
Surviving meant going out there and seeing the world for what it really was; a cold place where people with soft skin and warm hearts had no place. I toughened out every day as if it were my last. Because living the life I was born into wasn't all sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns and I was okay with that. I made peace with it. Life wasn't easy, it wasn't meant to be but as long as I survived through the twenty-four-hour day then I knew someday things would be better.
I held onto that faith.
After all, I was a rogue werewolf living a human life. The alternative, on the other hand, was something I despised. I would rather live as a human than as something feral living off the lands. Why rogue wolves turned to that lifestyle was beyond me. I thought I had everything figured out and I thought the last thing someone like me would have was a destined half that I wanted to call mine. That I wanted to lay claim on.
How was I supposed to handle a possessive mate with the job I did?
But the Goddess didn't only bless me with a mate. No. She blessed me with someone I could never possibly be with. My other half was someone I could barely stand the smell off and yet I always wanted to wear his sweet scent as if it were my own personal brand of perfume, made only for me.
He was cold, hard, and dead. I was warm, soft, but we shared the last thing in common and maybe that was what made us perfect for one another. He could live for eternity whereas I came with an expiration date.
It didn't help that he was good-looking. Tall with the most unique eyes I had ever had the pleasure of meeting. He had a good build and he was strong, obviously. He was quiet, intimidating, and my new boss. If that wasn't enough to deal with, I quickly realized that he was part of the supernatural council — the King of Vampires.
How could I be the Queen when I wasn't even a vampire, to begin with?
There were so many reasons I wanted him to reject me but there were just as many for me wanting him to accept me. I wanted to know what it felt like to be loved by your other half. I wanted to know what it felt like to be complete. All the years that I had lived I never once realized there was a part of me missing. Not until I met him and realized that there was a gaping hole inside of me that only seemed to get bigger the more time we spent apart. But every time we were together that hole gradually filled.
Of all the species in the world, the Goddess decided to bless me with a mate that was my complete opposite and someone that was meant to be my enemy. However, I soon realized that there wasn't anything I wouldn't do for him.
Because, a vampire and werewolf pairing, what could possibly go wrong.
JULIANI inhaled slowly, feeling the acid-like burn hit the back of my throat, consume my lungs, burn my stomach. In my mind, I contemplated leaving but that would have been perceived as rude. It took trivial happenings to initiate a war between two species. Everyone may have associated well around the round table but some things were still amiss.I hated this. What an utter bore and a waste of my time. Ha! Time? These people should have appreciated the concept more than me considering they had a limited amount of it. I, on the other hand, had been doomed to a lifetime of purgatory. Heaven nor Hell wanted my damned soul; leaving a predator such as I to roam the earth.But I had my limitations. Even I, as strong as I could be, could not do certain things. Nocturnal. That was the type of preditor I became. From a fleshy, warm-blooded human to a stone, cold-blooded predator. My heart remained still in my ches
LILITH I fluffed my loose curls to add volume to them and then pushed the girls together making them look extra perky. My routine needed to be flawless because Goddess knew I needed the cash. Plus, it may or may not have inflated my ego a little knowing I was the highest-earning and most popular stripper in this club. Men always pined for what they couldn't get their hands on. I was that rare beauty they could look at, they could touch just enough to give me their money but once I was off stage they wouldn't get to see me again. It left them coming back for more and more each and every time. My lips split into the brightest grin I could possibly muster, white teeth glinting against the lights framing the mirror I sat in front of. The lingerie I wore consisted of a lacy bra and thong with my signature color — purple. Silver platform heels adorned my feet and violet lenses blocked my yellowish hazel eyes. I hated the color
JULIANBefore Dimitri and Ambrosia had found me due to my severe lack of self-preservation, I was a tyrant who let the most primal parts of my being guide my every decision. My human emotions were kept locked away by the extreme need for blood that I desperately needed to sate on a near-constant basis. I used my tracking abilities to find myself the sweetest smelling blood because I knew it would be heaven once it slid down the back of my throat.And that was the closest I'd ever get to heaven. Submerging myself, drowning in the blood lust would be the only satisfying feeling I'd ever feel. I was cursed to live a pointless endless life with only one joy and nothing more. Sometimes I would think back on the day I had been turned. It was a foggy memory but I remembered the pain of being nearly sucked dry. It was a late night and instead of being home, I was roaming the streets just like tonight.Only, that n
LILITHI gritted my teeth against the pain, clenching my hands into white fists while resting them on the cold tiles that lined the wall. The sweltering heat of the shower couldn't even lull the pain inside of me. No matter how long I stood under the hot spray, it's was no use. A growl threatened to spill from my lips but I swallowed it, tampering it down.I had my good days and I had my bad days. Tonight was part of one of those bad days. Luckily, I didn't have the main performance tonight. Maybe I could get out of dancing to wait on tables. That would be more bearable. I nodded to myself, I would switch shifts with someone for the night. No one would say no because dancing always offered more money anyway. We were lucky enough to have girls willing to rotate and do whatever needed to be done.I stepped out of the shower with a wince, my arms, and legs a jittery mess. My head felt heavy from the constant
LILITH The bed was so soft I couldn't help but curl under the covers and let sleep pull me under. He did say that I could make myself at home. It didn't seem like anyone had been doing much of that around here lately. The bedroom had themes of red. Not just any red — crimson. The color reminded me of blood which had me cringing. I figured that this was another one of Dimitri's places that were left to Julian, but I didn't understand why. What was so special about Julian? I stirred from my sleep as the thought nagged me awake. Then stilled when something sweet and earthy tickled my senses. Julian did say he would be back by dawn. That must have meant he let me sleep through the night. The tang of blood assaulted my nose which had my muscles locking. "I know you're awake," he called in a monotonous voice. Why was he even in here? Couldn't he wait in the living room like
JULIAN I waited impatiently for dusk, where the shadows were long and I could conceal myself within them without the sun searing my skin. Sleep was a rarity for someone like me. We barely ever slept, once in every few days and it wasn't a blissful sleep either. This was my purgatory and I was beginning to adjust to it. Until she pulled the rug out from under my feet. What she said made sense. I couldn't deny the sensations that danced across my skin each time we touched. When I heard her scream last night it sent electricity straight to my heart, almost allowing it to beat in my chest again. Panic claimed my body in a vice grip and I couldn't get to the little she-wolf fast enough. Then the sight of her bones squirming beneath her skin caught my attention and I instantly knew what was happening. It was instinct. In the same way, I knew I needed blood for survival, I knew I had to get her out of there an
LILITHI expected to see him later that night. At least, I left Julian's apartment with the hope that he would pitch up and tell me that he wasn't about to sever the bond between us. But then nightfall hit and he never showed. The next night was the same. And the next after that. Seven days. A whole week. That was how long it took for my hope to break. He left without a single word. Maybe he thought that we could still live our lives if he didn't sever the bond. Maybe he thought all he had to do was avoid me at all costs.It hurt. I never had a problem with abandonment. Then again, you only get one mate — one chance — and if you fucked it up it meant game over. So, it hurt but like everything else that hurt me in life, I brushed it aside and wore a smile on my face. The smile was false. Every smile I wore was artificial — at least back then they were easier to fake.'Do you want me as a m
LILITHIt surprised me how much pull the mate bond had even though we hadn't sealed it. I guess all we had left was the actual mating since we couldn't mark one another. That made following the pull of the bond all that more easier. Where it led me, though, had my nostrils flaring in fury.I glared up at the apartment complex I knew housed Julian. He was in the building, I knew it. I could feel it in the pit of my stomach. Julian didn't run from me like I originally suspected. No. He did something more cowardly than that.He hid from me.It left me wondering whether he wanted me as a mate. If I could get past him being a vampire, could he get past me being a werewolf? Right now it didn't seem like it and — if I were being completely honest — my self-esteem and ego may have taken a blow. Visually, I was appealing to most men. I knew this. I earned money off this. Relationships w