Heart of Stone (Parts I & II)

II. Chapter 33 | Part 2 - Stone

"I couldn't," he struggled to spit out, "I wouldn't be able to. How could I, Aubree?"

When I can barely even keep myself from sinking my teeth into you...

"And that's how I feel about you guys killing Dan," she said.

Like that, his beast snapped.

Snarling, Stone thrust the car door open and stormed into the woods.

Images of the first time he saw her filled his head. Holding Dan's hand down the street to the café, laughing with him, scowling at him, smiling at him, her eyes gazing at him like he was her world and it would always be the two of them in it.

She would always love him, somehow, someway—even now as the enemy.

Even though Stone was bound to destroy him.

"Stone!" She slammed the car door and he could hear her feet running across the soft grass to catch up to him.

Fur pushed against his skin, breaking through the surface, as he yelled back at her. "Get in the house, Aubree!"

His voice already sounded rough and garbled as his body proceeded to shift into his beast. A sharp pain cut through his skull as his jaw and nasal cavity elongated, pulling back his lips, and pushing his eyes farther apart. His ligaments stretched apart as his bones shifted and snapped into place.

Tearing his clothes from his body, he quickly completed the transformation before taking off on four legs despite Aubree's shouts two dozen yards behind him.

Her hands on his chest, her lips on his, her tightness around his fingers...

The memories ripped through him as he tore himself away from her in the car because, at that moment, he wanted nothing more than to rip her clothes off, sink his canines into her soft flesh, and take her from behind until she howled in pleasure.

He was no better than Dan. The beast within wanted to claim Aubree, and while he had managed to hold back the primal urge thus far, how long could he maintain it?

As Aubree's soulmate, it was his right to mark her, to claim her, to unite their bodies and souls—but because Aubree was human, he could not.

He'd never be able to give her the life she deserved. The family she deserved. Why couldn't he stay away and let her be? Why did he have to pursue her? She gave up everything to be with him and protect Dan, and it was all for nothing.

About to push himself faster, deeper into the forest, farther away from Aubree, he picked up on Gavin's pounding paws as he raced toward him on his left. Gavin's presence pressed against his mental barrier, but he pushed him out. Turning to his right, he growled in warning to Gavin to back off and leave him alone.

Sprinting as fast as he could, Gavin charged at him and rammed his head into Stone's hip.

They collided against the trunk of a hundred-year-old tree. With the force of the impact, the truck cracked, as did a few of Stone's bones as his entire torso smacked hard against it. Collapsing to the earth, the wind knocked out of them, it took them both a second to recover from the blow and rise up on shaky paws.

Snarling, Stone opened his mind to allow Gavin entry. [Dammit, Gawain! Back off!]

Stepping back, Gavin bared his teeth and flattened his ears after shaking his head. [I'll back off when you get your shit straight and stop running away from her!]

Gritting his teeth, Stone straightened up on his hind legs and twisted, snapping the rapidly healing bones back into place. [Make sure she gets home safely.]

Gavin barked in protest.

Stone growled as he lowered himself back down on all fours and turned away from him. [I have vampires to kill.]

A sharp pain tore up his spine as Gavin's teeth sank into his tail. Whirling around, he snapped his jaws close to Gavin's ears—a warning to back off—as Gavin released him.

[You have a soulmate who needs you more than slaughtering a few fucking vampires!] Gavin fired back, his lips curling back to expose his teeth.

Fur bristling, Stone snarled as he rose back up on his hind legs. He'd always been larger than Gavin, and the instinctual motion to make oneself look bigger in a display of dominance took over at Gavin's refusal to submit.

[I am doing this for her! To end this fucking war so she can live with us without fear!]

[Really?] Gavin demanded. [Because the way I see it, you're running away, just like you've been running away from her since the moment we found her!]

Stone growled, but Gavin snarled right back. [Admit it! You're scared! You're so fucking scared and you can't face it—you won't face it!]

Gavin took two steps forward, lowering his head, and exposing his canines. [Open up your damn heart! She's ready and waiting for you to show yourself!]

Aubree's voice flitted through the forest, making the hairs on the back of Stone's neck stand on end. Her voice lured him like a siren's song, but he remained rooted to the earth, unable to move forward or back.

As her voice continued to call out to him, her footsteps drawing nearer, he hunched forward and leaned against the cracked tree trunk for support. His energy spent. Both his fight and flight instincts abandoned him, rendering him weak and incapable of arguing with Gavin about it anymore.

He knew Gavin was right, but what hope did he have that Aubree would accept him—all of him? He was more than a man; he was a beast. They all were. They slaughtered vampires for fun, treated it like a game, and only became more ruthless when those vampires managed to escape and kill someone they cared about—a soulmate, a pup, a friend.

Stone craved Carina's blood on his hands more than anyone else's, and knowing that Carina was after Aubree, only made him more desperate to kill her. Carina kept slipping through his clutches and now the soulless leech destroyed the one thing Aubree wanted to protect.

[I failed her. Don't you see that?] His heart constricted. [I ruined her life.]

"Dammit, Stone!" Aubree shouted, still a hundred yards away and marching through the undergrowth in determination, twigs snapping and cracking under her feet. "This isn't funny!"

[Her life is just beginning, and she chose to spend it with you!] Gavin snapped. [Stop fucking this up!]

Stone stared at his claw-like hand against the tree trunk before curling his fingers into a fist, his long nails piercing into his tough, leathery palm. [She'll never accept us for who we are and what we do.]

[You don't know that for sure.]

Gavin withdrew, leaving Stone alone with his thoughts consuming him, and the intensifying pull toward the one soul that had loved him for eternity.

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*Copyright Jo Lee Hunt (Joflower) 2016*