Mate (Bride, #2)

by Ali Hazelwood

She tore him apart and remade him. It took her less than a second.

Screaming already

“Can you really, buddy?” The Vampyre’s frame stiffens. Before he can leash his instinctive reaction, I smell utter, abject, acrid fear. I close my eyes. Force my burning lungs to inhale slowly. Let my prospect of the next ten minutes readjust, mold to a shape that is…still unfortunate, yes, but a touch less. Koen. Koen’s here.

Omg obsessed

Any ideas, Serena?” I clear my throat. “I like Bob.” “Bob the Vampyre. Love it.” “That’s not my na—” “It is if the lady says so, shartstain.

Help i love them

“Is this the way you talk to your beloved mate?” A single eyebrow lifts. “I said you were my mate. Not that I loved you.”

A mix of anger and outrage simmers in the pit of Koen’s stomach. “No Were will harm her, because I’ll be there to fucking kill them.”

“Is this a, um…terminal diagnosis?” His lips twitch. “No cure, I’m afraid.” “I see.” I clear my throat. “Well, this relationship sure escalated quickly.”

“You’re the most beautiful woman that I’ve ever seen,” he says simply.

I LOVE HIM

“You’re my closest friend’s husb—mate’s closest friend. And I’d love to get along with you. So maybe we could be, you know, friends.” “What about polite acquaintances?” he counters. I cannot tell whether he’s serious, so I nod. “Deal. And you may quietly pine after me, if you must.”

Banteris off the charts

“You wouldn’t want me anyway,

Awe :(

And then Koen is standing, heading for the door, and there’s once again a weight in my stomach, one that seems to get heavier just because he’s leaving, and heavier still because I’d like him to stay for a second longer.

“I will take care of you,” he says roughly.

“I think you owe me an apology.” “For what?” “The way you stared at my tits.” Silence. Then, instead of the I’m sorry or Go to fucking sleep I expect, he says, “I think you owe me an apology.” “For what?” “How spectacular your tits are.”

I fall asleep with a small smile on my face. And for a few hours, I don’t think about how little time I have left to live.

EXCUSE ME

“You did good in there, killer.” The shrieks, the interview, the man bleeding in the lobby—it all becomes background noise. I look up at him. Don’t bother hiding my smile. “High praise.” “Didn’t say you did great,” he mutters, closing the door after me. We do have sandwiches for dinner, but Koen’s the one who ends up making them, with a little help from Ana.

His seconds like her, they have from the very start. Traitors.

Every time Saul comes up in conversation, someone feels the need to mention how incredibly handsome he is, but I don’t see it. Maybe it’s because I know that he’s Amanda’s ex. Maybe he just doesn’t do it for me. I guess I’m more into… “She’s fine,” Koen orders,

His leadership philosophy seems to be if inconvenient, why not dead?

Lmaooo

“I’m simply going to lock you up, killer. If I have to chain you to my fucking bed to keep you alive, I will not hesitate.”

I have seen Koen’s wolf form. The glossy black fur that reminds me of his hair. The large paws. That white tuft right on his chest, above the spot where his heart beats. The size of him. He is very much Koen at a level I cannot put in words. He could be standing next to a dozen identical animals, and I’d still be able to single him out. God, am I about to use the word aura?

HAaahah

“I don’t know. I…Maybe I just didn’t want you looking down on me.” “I will never not look down on you, chiefly because of our height difference.

Brohas such dry humor omg hahah

“Will you take me in, then? It’ll ease the pressure off the Southwest. And…I feel safer when I’m with you.”

Aweeee

I cannot help myself. I lift my hand, and with the backs of my fingers I stroke the skin of his cheek. It’s the lightest touch, barely anything. But it sends currents trembling down my arm, clamoring for more.

“I have a cousin. Looking at her does not feel like looking at you.” I glance down, hot all of a sudden. Hang on. Am I flattered? None of what he just said could be construed as nice.

Cute, how she thinks he’d ever let her out of his sight.

I’m resigned to staying here, and I must admit it: he smells nice. His touch feels nice. Being here is nice. Nice, nice, nice.

“Squirrels have it coming. Smug little shits,”

Real

Koen frowns. “I want a kiss on the cheek.”

FERAL

And the kiss wasn’t even an option for you.” “Bullshit. I want both options.”

Look at her. Just—look at her.

When Koen catches me craning my neck backward to study a sea stack, the car slows down for me to admire the view.

HES DOWN BADD

Because every single thing I glanced at, grazed, examined, eyed, or even considered when we were at the grocery store, every single thing I decided to walk past, every single thing I told myself I didn’t need—every single thing has somehow made it here, inside Koen’s house.

Oh my god im literally GIGGLING

Her laughter adjusts the spin of his atoms.

Shut the fuck up rn

When I look over, Koen’s a couple of feet away. Looking bored. “Mouthy, isn’t she, Boden?” He sighs. “Never thought I’d be into that, and yet. Bane of my fucking existence.”

“Since you’re so sure that everyone here despises her, including me, let this be known: fuck with my mate, and I’m going to kill you so slowly, draw it out so long, tectonic plates will move and create whole new mountain ranges. And when the rest of your family comes to avenge you, I’ll do the same to them. And if your friends come, I’m not going to fucking stop. Not even if all that’s left of the pack is me and her. I will paint this entire territory green before I let anyone in the pack spill a single drop of red. Okay?”

Iwish i could insert memes

“Yeah. Unfortunately, I am mean.” He says it like he couldn’t care less but feels like he should. Kind of endearing. “And no one’s touching you on my watch.”

Before I can go in search of one, he tugs at my wrist and pulls me between his knees. My ass hits the hard muscles of his quads none too gently, and his left arm loops around my hips, the back of his hand resting on the upper part of my left thigh. He angles me so that my legs occupy the slice of space between his.

Down bad and barking at the gym

“Look at you,” he says. At least, I think so. I could have imagined it, because it’s little more than a whispered growl, quickly followed by a much lighter question.

MY MANNNN

“Serena, the Alpha of Northwest pack is traditionally asked to honor a celibacy covenant. He’s forbidden by law to engage in any kind of intimate relationships—emotional or physical.”

Omg TEA

Then she arrived, assumed total control of him, and left no room for anything but her.

I must have lost my object permanence skills, because I need constant reassurance that he exists, he’s here with me. He gives me a small nod, and I feel marginally less like used kitty litter.

Koen’s hand wraps around my hip, completely engulfing it.

AHHHH

Koen’s hand shifts to my cheek. “Look at me.” I do. His eyes are dark and steady. Make me forget what led us here, and what’s to come. “Your name doesn’t fucking matter. You are my killer. Okay?”

Aweee

“Do you want to come with me?” Yes, with every single cell of my body. “Why would I come with you?” “Because the idea of having you out of my sight makes me want to flip those cars one by one.”

There is a false start. Like the words are too foreign to flow out with ease. But then he says, “Before I leave, I think I need to hold you for a minute.”

OH MY GOD

He bends down to scoop me up, and my forehead fits so perfectly into the valley of his already-prickly throat, this cannot be anything but fated.

AHHHHH

He bends further, and there isn’t a single trace of doubt on his face. He’s an immovable object and an unstoppable force. And he says, slowly, “If you think I’m going to let you die, Serena, you know fuck all.”

Why am i crying

“Anything that’s going to happen to you,” he promises, voice honest and pitched low in the swish of the breeze, “is going to be over my dead body.”

He easily resigned himself to a lifetime without her, but… Simply put, he is unwilling to contemplate a universe in which she no longer exists.

“If you knew the things I think about every time your neck is bare, you’d walk around in a fucking cape.”

“How perfect you are. I spent the last twenty years hoping that if there was a mate for me out there, I’d never come across them. And then I found you, and, Serena…there isn’t one thing I would change about you. Or one single thing I regret about knowing you.”