Page 91 of Fated to Her

“Wait, you can still hear me?” I ask.

He nods.

“Can you hear Eli?”

He shakes his head. “I have no idea why I can hear you, but my guess is when you fell pregnant, it opened a link to you, and because you died, you never closed it, leaving it open. But I like hearing from you. It doesn’t bother me like it does humans. Here everyone has blocked themselves off to you being new so as not to overwhelm you. They know you can’t control it. That is why I need you to calm down, Addie. Because if you freak out, they will, and your head will be flooded with everyone,” Cyrus tells me.

I nod, trying to will myself to calm down but that’s easier said than done. Everything is becoming harder to process. The longer I’m like this, the worse I’m becoming, consumed by everything. Cyrus glances at Eli before he moves behind me.

I’m frozen; I feel pulled in every direction, and I can’t pick which way to go. I want to go home, but I want to go to my sister, want to hold my son. But I also want to confront Pete; I need to feed but also don’t. But most of all, I want silence. Silence from the overwhelming noise clogging my head.

“Please, please, make it stop,” I cry, everything crashing down on me at once. I knew it would be different, but I never imagined it would be like this. So overwhelming; even their scents have me craving them in every way, in hunger and in lust.

“I can make it stop, Addie, but you can’t be mad when you wake up. We can put you to sleep,” Eli says behind me. I trust them. They will never hurt me unless they have to.

“Our son… What about Taylor?” I ask, panicking about going to sleep, too.

“Taylor is in the woods with Maverick and Porter. She shifted. That was her you heard howling. As for our son, we would die before we let anything happen to him, Addie,” Cyrus says.

I nod, his thumbs stroking under my eyes. I take a deep breath.

“How will you put me to sleep?”

“By marking you and draining you,” Eli says.

I shake my head; that sounds incredibly painful.

“Shh, shh… It won’t hurt, I promise. We will mark you, which will knock you out, but to keep you asleep, I have to drain you, Addie. You won’t feel it, but when you wake, you will be ravenous,” Cyrus tells me.

I panic, my breathing becoming erratic, and I step back only to bump into Eli.

“Calm down, love. You can trust us. We would never hurt you, right?” Eli says, his hands running up my arms gently.

I swallow, regaining my bearings. “Okay…” I breathe, trying to will myself to calm down.

Eli kisses my neck before running his tongue over it while Cyrus steps closer and presses his lips to mine softly.

“I’ll see you when you wake up,” he says, his eyes holding mine.

I nod quickly Eli’s breath on my neck.

His canines press to my mark before he sinks his teeth into me, sliding them into my skin and muscle. My eyes grow wide when they hit bone, making me scream before it cuts off. It was so much different from when I was human, like a rush. My heart rate picks up, and I relax, like endorphins are rushing through me; like I’m high.

He pulls his teeth from me, and Cyrus kisses my jaw before sinking his teeth into me. I feel heavy. My legs tremble, like I might collapse. As the room spins, my body goes limp.

“That’s it, love. You’re okay,” Eli says. I feel Cyrus start draining me, his tongue lapping at my neck.

I moan at the feeling, my eyelids growing heavier and heavier until I can no longer hold myself up. Cyrus clutches me tighter, taking my weight as the room fades into black.

Chapter 25

• Eli •

I stare down at my limp mate in my hands. Cyrus pulls his face from her neck, her blood running down his chin; he wipes it away with his thumb. His eyes take on a slightly crazed look. Vampires shouldn’t feed on other vampires; it can be addictive. And he’s drained her, making me slightly worried by the savage look in his eyes.

“Don’t doubt my ability to stay in control, Eli. It was necessary.”

I nod. It was necessary. She has been a whirlwind of emotions, and soon the tether to what little control she has will snap. She’s a ticking time bomb; all newborn vampires are. Though she has held herself together so far, I know the shock will wear off, and when it does, she will be a force I’m not sure we’ll be able to control. Once she properly feeds, her strength will be hard to contain, even for someone as old as Cyrus.