Covet Me (Immortal Vices and Virtues: Her Monstrous Mates, #1)

by Kel Carpenter

My hands clenched into fists, and I fought my own baser instincts that urged me to go to her. To calm her. To fix what made her so angry. So hurt. Except I was the cause, and I didn’t know how to fix it.

“Too late,” she choked out. “I take it back,” I said quickly. Fear gripped me. Fear of the rejection I deserved. “I don’t reject you.”

I never wanted to leave you. It was always my plan to return. Always.”

I’d made an even bigger mistake than I realized. I should have never let her go. Consequences be damned.

“You’re right. I’m not your friend. I’m your best friend, and your mate.” Nikki shook her head, like she was in denial. Or maybe she was trying to convince herself of it. I knew she hadn’t rejected the bond. She didn’t then, and even if she did now, it wouldn’t snap. Not after I took back my own rejection.

“Friends don’t leave. Mates don’t reject you and then disappear for years. You . . . I don’t know what you are, but I know that you’re not mine.”

I was struggling to keep my hands to myself. It wasn’t time yet. I knew that. She wasn’t ready, that was obvious.

My craving. Now I was standing in a pool of obsession; bathing in it. It was why I’d stayed away. Why I hadn’t returned to visit. Why I’d never even checked in.

I couldn’t do anything half measure, especially not when it came to loving Nikki.

If she knew about the deal, it stood to reason she knew everything. ...

After seeing Subway-Mate in the crowd, I’d successfully dodged his line of sight just to end up locked in a restroom with my former best friend and unrejected mate? Fate—the bitch—was on a roll tonight. Two for two, she was.

“I don’t know, but that’s what he did. I know jack-all about mates, but I apparently have two now, so I should probably find a book or something.” “A book?” “Yeah, so I can learn how to get rid of them,”

All words jumbled together in my head when I came face-to-face with the stranger and looked into the depths of his eyes. I tried to speak, but my lips were as numb as the rest of me as I stood there unmoving.

The faint hint of smoke tickled my nostrils. A hazy memory pressed on the edge of my psyche, but it was more like a lost daydream. Or a nightmare. A smudged and unclear picture flashed in my mind, but all the images were distorted the way impressionist art is up close.

He didn't speak for a moment, but his features held me captive all the same. Dark, but not traditionally beautiful. Striking. Compelling. He radiated savagery. There was no question in my mind that people ...

I stepped back from him, rubbing my arms where he’d touched them in an attempt to break the chill . . . and maybe because I was a little weirded out.

“It’s good to see you again, Nikki,” he added, not at all creepily.

Taking another step back, I tried to put distance between me and the stranger. “You must have mistaken me for someone else. We’ve never met.”

A whisper of uncertainty teased my memories, but I quickly brushed it off. My heart had been racing for too long while I tried to suppress the anxiety that was consuming me. Adrenaline and fear coupled with anger were playing mind tricks on me.

Apparently that wasn’t the response he’d expected. Niall’s hands clenched into fists at his side. Pressing his lips into a hard, thin line, a frown formed between his brows. His body language was intense, and it made me want to get the hell out of here.

“Nope. I’d remember you,” I said, instantly cutting him off. “Niall, like the river in Africa. I’m good with names and I never forget a face.” Certainly not one like his. A dark shadow covered his features, making it clear he didn’t like my dismissal of his advances.

Glancing over my shoulder as we walked away, I saw Niall standing where I'd left him. He watched me through a narrowed gaze, and it sent a chill down my spine.

“The way he looked at you . . . It was intense.”

“No, I mean the way he looked at you like you belonged to him,” she said quietly.

“I’ve seen him before,” she said in a whisper so low, no one could possibly hear.

Awareness buzzed along my skin. A prickling sensation that was now familiar. Heat that was a little too hot to be comfortable raced through my veins. She was here. My mate was near.

“It’s not danger,” Danni said calmly. “He senses his mate.” My head whipped to the side as I regarded her.

Niall’s back profile became center point the closer I got. I paused when he turned, revealing the beautiful petite woman in front of him. Electricity struck me. My blood fizzled and burned. It was her.

Before I could do just that, Niall spotted me. In quick, restrained strides he closed the distance between us. “She doesn’t recognize me.” His words conflicted with my thoughts. “What?” “Nikki doesn’t recognize me. At least she claims not to.” My mouth opened, then closed. Niall couldn’t tell I was having my own internal crisis about the situation we had found ourselves in, because he didn’t know.

There was no way to prepare him for that shock. While I knew that he was my best friend and wouldn’t kill me, I couldn’t guarantee that his animal might not start posturing and lose its shit at the perceived threat.

When it came to pretty much anything, Niall was a stone-cold bastard that operated on logic. Except when it came to Nikki. She was his kryptonite, and she just became mine.

Hard to feel loved when you’ve been reduced to nothing more than a commodity.

A twenty-four-year-old woman, being told what to do by her father and her brothers. It was humiliating.

When Niall glanced at me as he finished, I looked away. Why did he keep doing that?

My mate was Adrian Rose. Adrian Rose who’d made a deal with my father. Adrian Rose was the mystery man meeting with my brother. Fate was a backstabbing bitch.

She didn’t have a choice in which path she took. And neither did I. My future was her past.

Malachi, Niall, and Adrian stared in my direction with varying degrees of surprise. A small smirk appeared on Malachi’s face. Niall just looked infuriated. And Adrian seemed conflicted. Me too, Subway-Mate. Me too.

I suspected what we went through had changed her.

If I weren't so schooled in keeping my emotions under lock and key, I might have snapped at Phaon’s audacity. He was supposed to have Alexander enter the race. Not her, not Typhaon, not Gavriel—only Alexander.

Or did she simply despise the possibility of marrying me that much? Was she willing to risk her life to avoid it? Bitterness coated my tongue.

standing closer to my mate than I would have preferred as he took up a protective stance. Yeah, he was her brother. But I didn't really care. I wasn't a fan of anyone, male or female, being that close to her. It reminded me that my own presence wasn't welcome. She didn't remember me.

Bitter resentments clung to me, whispering lies that if I had only claimed her four years ago as my instincts told me to, we wouldn't be here now.

Adrian was right. I hadn't claimed her. But like it or not, I would now.

Four years had taught me a lot. And this time, I wasn't letting her go.

“Adrian is the Subway-Mate, Sam. Niall thinks he knows me. And Malachi ripped my heart out once and I’m terrified to give him a part of it back.

After the events of the evening, it didn't take much to guess that he was in a very dark place.

My mate will be there, and she doesn't even know who I am. I'm not sure she even recognizes that we're mates. She certainly didn’t act like it.”

The truth was, he wasn't ready to take a mate when he’d first escaped.

No one could blame him for that. He’d been imprisoned and kept as an experiment for half a century.

Before I learned she was my mate, I probably would have let him just go at it this way. He was like a bull. When he decided to charge, nothing would stop him. Including me. The only difference this time was the red flag waving in his face was my mate—and his approach would alienate her. I’d be collateral damage, and that wasn’t acceptable.