Chapter 1

Chapter One Thaddeus POV Sitting on the balcony of my penthouse apartment, I looked over the city, my eyes scanning as I watched the crowds of people below, unaware of the monster watching them. I hear movement behind me, and my eyes snap to the glass sliding doors. She hands me a smoke, and I light it breathing in deeply. Enjoying the burn in my throat from its harshness. "When are you going to go home, haven t you punished them enough? They did it to protect you. It is time you stop this, whatever it is you are doing." "And what is that?" I ask her, looking back toward the city. "The destruction. What are you trying to prove? Who are you looking for?" she asks, and I sigh. Only she would get away with questioning me like this. I always had a soft spot for her. She listened and didn t judge, no matter how much I fucked things up. "I am not trying to prove anything. I don t need to." "Then why Thaddeus, why all this?" she asks "Because I can, that is why," I tell her. She shakes her head. "Your mother said there was still good in you. We just had to find it. That we could pull you back from the darkness. Now I am not so sure anymore. I can t watch you destroy yourself, destroy everything you put your hands on. I am sorry, Thaddeus, but I can t do it anymore. I am going home, come and see me when you see sense," she says. "You re leaving already? You just got here," I tell her, growling at her. She steps back, frightened. "I m sorry Thaddeus, but please just go home, they will forgive you" she says before turning away. "Tell mum, I am not coming back," I tell her. She smiles sadly before nodding. She slips inside, closing the door behind her. A few minutes later the glass door opens again, and Orion comes out before plucking my smoke from my fingers and drawing on it. He leans against the railing. "What did you say to your Aunty Bianca that upset her?" he asks before passing my smoke back. "I told her I am not going back." Orion sighs loudly before looking over the railing. I move behind him, pressing myself against him and reaching around him and grabbing his cock through his pants. His dick twitches in my hand at my touch. I groan into his ear before I pull at his belt. "Not tonight, Thaddeus," he says, smacking my hand away. I growl loudly before shoving him away. "Fine," I snap, going inside. Bianca was gone and only her faint lingering scent remained. "Ryland?" I yell."Hurry up, we are going out." Ryland walked out, a mischievous grin dancing on his lips. He grabbed his jacket and followed me to lift. "Where are we going?" he asks. "I just want out of this house and I need blood," I tell him. He nods. I won t risk feeding on him. My hunger is insatiable and as intoxicating as his scent is, I know I won t stop once I start. Marking him was a nightmare. I nearly killed him, nearly killed my mate. Orion was different. He was vampire, so I didn t struggle with him. Walking outside the breeze made Ryland shiver slightly. The snow crunched under our feet as we made our way down the street, looking for my next victim. Only when the breeze shifted, I picked up the most mouth-watering, intoxicating scent I had ever smelled before. I followed it before I heard a feminine scream. Something twitched inside me. Something I hadn t felt in a long time. Fear. The sound of the woman s voice sent fear racing through my cold veins. Ryland, feeling it too, looked at me and we walked around the corner which was an alleyway. I could see a man standing over someone. The person thrashing violently as the man tried to pull her pants down. Her scream sent rage through me, but before I could even move, Ryland was ripping him to pieces with his bare hands. The figure moved, and I couldn t take my eyes from them. As I stepped into the alleyway, Ryland was pummelling the man, his face completely unrecognisable as human, his blood seeping into the snow. The figure I realised was actually a woman. She tried pulling her pants up, looking between both Ryland and me, and I could smell her fear. She thought we were here to harm her too. Ryland stops and looks at her fear-stricken face and places his hands out toward her. She slaps his hands away. Her entire body shaking with fear and adrenaline. The cold biting at her skin. She was in a waitress outfit, not properly dressed for this sort of weather. ?The closer I got, the stronger the scent was. She was the addictive, mouth-watering scent I got a whiff of. She made my heart race faster. I didn t think I needed anyone beside my mates. I wanted her, need her with every cell in my body. Wanting to taste her. Wanting to see if her skin was as soft as it looked. She cowered back as I knelt in front of her, her hazel eyes filled with fear. I could tell she knew what we were. I place my hand out for her to take, but she slapped it away. "Please, I won t tell, just let me go. I saw nothing I promise," she sobs. Her voice was like music to my ears. I could have listened to her talk all day. Sweeping her light brown hair out of the way so I could see her face. She averted her gaze from my onyx eyes. "Ours," I gasp. She shook her head, and I felt Ryland touch my shoulder, making me look at him. "We are scaring her," he says, and for the first time I could tell he didn t enjoy the scent of fear, at least not from her. The mate pull was strong. Looking back at her, I get up and step back. "Go," I tell her, and she gets up before running off. Bending down, I pick up her wallet that she left in her haste. Pulling out her ID, I read it. Evelyn Harper. I have never wanted someone as much as I wanted her, never craved another person more than I did her. She was ours and yet we couldn t have her. She was light while we were dark. Monsters of the night to her. I had to fight with myself to stop from chasing her down and claiming her.