Chapter 7
Risa
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Toned, defined musclenow on display, Stryker tosses his shirt onto the chair before unbuttoning his jeans, stripping down to his boxers. Mason and Bane are sitting on either side of me on the couch, turning Stryker into our personal stripper for the night. He’s pointedly not making eye contact with me, and after what Mason explained, I’m not sure if I feel more worried, or flattered. While I’m uneasy about how much control they actually have in their other form from how they were talking, there’s a stupid part of me that gets off on the fact that they’re so nervous about getting carried away, not used to anyone being interested in me like that.
Blake only wanted someone to control so he could feel powerful, someone on hand to fuck and get off on their misery. But never once has he looked at me like these three do; like there’s nothing else in the room worth noticing. And now, standing there in his boxers, Stryker is taking every precaution that he can to ensure he doesn’t get carried away by his instincts and risk making me uncomfortable.
“You ready?” he asks, and I tuck my hands beneath my thighs, nodding.
With a slow exhale, he closes his eyes, tilting his head towards the ceiling. I’m afraid to blink and miss anything, but nothing dramatic happens; no bright flash of magical light or whatever I was expecting. Instead, it’s a more fluid transition, a layer of violet scales spreading over his skin. Where the sunlight streams in from the window, it casts them in an almost pinkish glow. As he starts to shrink, sending the light dancing over his scales, the color continues to morph like an opal stone, appearing different based on the angle you look.
Slithering out from the underwear now laying on the floor, the viper is a little over three feet long, stretching his head up to look at me as I struggle to remember how to breathe. I remain transfixed, but as I meet a familiar emerald gaze, what little air remains in my lungs rushes out, the reality of my situation hitting me hard.
“You’re not crazy,” I whisper, not daring to look away and risk breaking the spell that feels like the only thing holding me together.
Mason’s voice fills with sad understanding. “Blessing and a curse. If we were, you’d be stuck in the middle of the forest with some lunatics. But we’re not, and your reward is still being stuck in the woods with us, just knowing we aren’t crazy.”
I don’t tear my gaze away from Stryker as I lean down. “Really selling me on the idea that any life choice besides you guys is stupid; stellar work there, Mason.”
“What can I say, I’m a realist,” he replies with a shrug. “This realist just so happens to turn into a snake, but knows how hard that idea is to process without some dark humor to wash it down.”
As if compelled, I slowly extend a hand above the floor, unfurling my fingers in invitation. Stryker never once breaks eye contact as he slowly closes the distance between us. His scales are cool to the touch as he snakes across my palm, and I’m finally freed from the stare off as he coils around my wrist and up my arm.
“Risa?” Bane worries, turning in his seat beside me for a better view as I sit up.
“I’m okay,” I murmur, following his path over my skin, something inside of me shuddering in response.
Slowly, Stryker makes his way up to my shoulder, the tip of his tail flicking across my fingertips as he crosses my shoulder. A shiver runs down my spine as he brushes the back of my neck, crossing to my other shoulder. My breathing levels out, eyes fluttering shut as something integral shifts.This.This feels right. It feels like finally making it home, a sense of comfort and security that defies logic.
Like a bucket of cold water is dumped on me, Bane darts out a hand faster than lightning and grabs Stryker at the base of his head, ignoring his hiss of protest to peel him off of me and tosses him across the room without remorse. “Get your head on straight.”
Stryker shifts back butt ass naked with a curse, pushing himself off the floor and gathering his clothes. “Fuck, Risa, I’m so sorry,” he hastily apologizes.
“For what?”
Stepping into his jeans, he fastens them while looking at me, riddled with guilt. “I almost bit you.”
My brow furrows, because I didn’t sense any aggression from him at all. “Did I do something wrong? I tried not to move so I wouldn’t startle or accidently hurt you.”
You’d think I’d struck him with the pained look that crosses his face. “Gods no, beautiful. You didn’t do a damn thing except look good enough to sink my teeth into.”
Canting my head to the side, I watch him as he finishes getting dressed. “So you’re vampire snakes?”
Three chuckles surround me, but it’s Bane that answers, “That’s one way to look at it. But that’s a conversation best tabled for another day.”
Groaning, I brace my head between my hands, elbows resting on my thighs. Every answer leads to more questions, and I can’t even argue with them that spacing out the revelations is for the best. While there are moments of clarity and acceptance, they don’t seem to last long before the overwhelming implications of it all crashes down on me. I may have wanted to escape my old life, but to know that people like this have been living beside me my entire life without me knowing? What else do I believe that’s just a lie?
Do I even know anything about the world that I live in? Starting over doesn’t sound nearly as daunting of a task as learning everything from scratch does. Expectations, rules of their society; is there a shifter jail, or can you kill someone you get into a fight with? Do you keep what you kill and get their land and wealth, or are you put down for going rogue without so much as a trial? What if you’re framed, who decides your fate then?
My mind starts spiraling as I shut my eyes tightly, sucking in small, shallow gasps. Every puff of air brings their intermingled scents with it, the sound of my thundering heartbeat drowning out theirs. I can accept that they aren’t lying. I can believe that they had the best of intentions bringing me here, and I canfeelin every fiber of my being that they’ll help me figure this all out. But I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that they’re willing to go through all of this for some stranger.
They haven’t said a peep about if the fated mates thing that’s so popular in mainstream media right now is garbage or not, but honestly, I think I’d be able to understand their motives better if they started making such a ludicrous claim. At least that concept I’m familiar with, even if it’s an overly romanticized one. But if it’s the sire bond driving their actions, wouldn’t that mean they’d be feeling like I do towards the people that changed them?
