Page 17 of Fated to Her

“A little after nine.”

“Shit, I have to get back home. I have Taylor’s car,” I tell him, sitting up.

“Cyrus already dropped it off for her, and we aren’t going to work today. Neither are you,” Eli says.

I lie back down against him. His fingertips trail up my side.

“If you mate me, I won’t die, right?”

“It may not work. You have been in heat too long, and it is already affecting your body,” he answers. “But yes, it could stop it. But there are no records of anyone surviving heat this long.”

“So either way, I might die,” I tell him, making me wonder what will happen to my family. How would my mother deal with that?

“We can change you.”

I shake my head.

He sighs. “We might not have a choice. But if you aren’t willing, Addie, your body can reject the change, and even if it doesn’t, Cyrus will spend fifty years locked up. It’s against our laws to change someone against their will.”

“I’m not becoming a vampire, Eli.”

“And I won’t let you die,” says Cyrus coming back into the room.

He hands me a cup of tea, and I sit up, taking it from him.

“I put honey in it. The herbs don’t taste very nice,” Cyrus says.

I take a sip and nearly spit it out. I recognize the taste instantly. It is the same stuff Sam forced me to drink.

“I’m not drinking that,” I tell him, my heart pounding as my mind goes back to the cabin in the woods, Sam forcing pills down my throat and making me eat them in a paste.

“Addie, it mutes the bond. It will help the effects,” Cyrus says, refusing to take the cup.

“It’s also the same shit Sam shoved down my throat, no!” I tell him, and Cyrus looks at Eli.

“What did you say?” he asks.

“Sam. That’s what he used to give me. I know it is. I will never forget the taste of that stuff. He used to crush it when I wouldn’t swallow the pills, make it into a paste and force it down my throat,” I tell them.

“How the hell did he get his hands on monkshood?” Cyrus asks, looking at Eli, who also seems perplexed.

“He’s a hunter. He said someone gave it to him from work.”

Cyrus shakes his head. “No, the council had it eradicated, Addie. You can only get this from the supernatural council. Hunters don’t have access to it because it can affect the mate bonds. Mate bonds are sacred. That’s why it is a controlled substance.”

“Well, he had no problem getting it. He used to leave me tied to the bed while he went to get more.”

“You need to drink it, Addie,” Cyrus says, but I shake my head.

“Addie, if you don’t, your heat will get worse. This mutes the bond for a bit,” Eli says.

“No, I hate the feeling of it. It makes you feel hollow.”

Cyrus sighs but takes the cup, walking out of the room with it.

I hop up, heading for the shower. The moment I leave Eli’s chest, my temperature skyrockets, making me gasp.

Goosebumps rise on my arms, and the room spins. Eli stands, grabbing my arm. The heat dies off almost instantly. I look at his hand on my arm before looking at him.