I gasped as his lips touched mine, and suddenly I knew that we had done this several times before. I could see us embracing in every life that I'd lived before. I pulled back gasping for breath, my head spinning. "Are you alright?" Mason asked, worry covering his face.
"We've done this all before, haven't we?" I asked faintly.
"We have love," Mason gently stroked my face looking pleased. He pulled me closer to him, and I realized that everyone in the room was looking at us. "Ignore them," Mason whispered in my ear. I put my hands on his chest to steady myself. It was as if I was only partly here, and I was still somewhat in the past. It was as if I could feel every embrace we'd shared throughout the centuries. I pushed away from Mason's rage filling my whole being. I was not going to do this again. I wasn't going to let myself get sucked in like I had before with Bastien and Greyson, and I refused to do it again. I was stronger than whatever stupid trick Mason was trying to pull.
I pushed away from Mason, smiling sheepishly feigning shyness. "I can't," I whispered, letting all the hurt I'd felt over the past couple months flash across my face. I knew if I tried an outright lie to Mason, he would see right through it, but perhaps I could just let him think that I just needed more time and that he could eventually win me over. All I needed was to keep him away until morning, and then I could make my escape.
"Of course," Mason smiled. "I knew you'd need time to adjust."
"Thank you," I smiled, gently squeezing his arm before heading for the stairs. I caught Camille's eye and nodded, praying that she would notice and live up to her promise to help me get back home.
I paced upstairs, praying that Camille understood the look that I had given her, but the longer I waited, the less likely it seemed that she had understood. I mean I'd given her a brief look, how could I honestly expect anyone to interpret a singular meaning from that.
It was almost dawn when Camille woke me up. "Get up if you really want to leave; we have to go now" She snapped, startling me awake.
"I'm sorry," I replied groggily, "I didn't think that you were coming."
"Oh please," she rolled her eyes. "Even if you hadn't given me that pathetic puppy dog look as you were leaving, everyone saw how you recoiled from him."
"Oh, I thought I was able to play it cool," I grumbled,, pulling on a sweater and jeans.
"Seriously? If Mason was a fool and actually had believed you, he wouldn't have had asked someone to tail your movements. This is why was have to leave now, and you can't take anything with you except your passport and whatever will fit in your purse so that if we get caught, I can just say we're going shopping or something" Camille shoved my purse at me.
"You really think that would work?" I asked, grabbing Antoinette's diary.
"No, but I'd like to avoid leaving a trail of bodies behind us," Camille said wickedly.
"So, do you have a plan?" I asked, following Camille out.
"Of course. As powerful as Mason is, the only place he might not try to take you back from is with your people, so that's exactly where I'm going to take you." Camille said, leading me downstairs.
We hadn't even gotten out the door before we were stopped by a man at the front door. "Where are you two going?" he asked, smiling mischievously at Camille.
"You know typical girl stuff. Brittney needs some more normal clothes, and I miss doing the human girly things," Camille smiled vapidly.
"Of course, would you like me to call you a car?" he asked, still looking at Camille.
"Thanks, that's so sweet of you," Camille said lightly touching his arm.
When we were safely inside the car, I turned to Camille, "What the hell was that all about?". Camille had turned into a completely different person when we were confronted by Mason's guard.
"Men will always underestimate us," Camille said bitterly. "If you give them what they expect most of the time, they don't bother to look any deeper." I nodded, understanding what she meant. "Sometimes, I think that men haven't really changed that much from when I was human. Sure, women tend to have more freedom, and our basic human rights are protected by law, but the male mentality hasn't really changed that much".
The car dropped us off in town, and we ducked into one of the stores ducking out the back into a different vehicle Camille had clearly arranged for us. I was surprised to see that the driver wasn't a vampire. He looked like he might have been a Were, but I couldn't be sure.
Camille handed me a water bottle and took one for herself as we settled in. I took a long drink from it, leaning back in the seat. "Who is that?" I mouthed at Camille.
"He's a friend. I couldn't rely on any vampires to help us out, given that they might turn us into Mason. Nothing too bad will happen to you if we get caught, but anyone else involved will be killed or worse," Camille said.
"Then why did you help me?" I asked, still not understanding why a stranger would risk that for me.
"I've been waiting a long time to get my revenge on Mason. He's already done the worst that he can do to me," she said cryptically "You should get some sleep. We have a long drive ahead of us".
As Camille spoke, my eyelids began to feel heavy, and I lumped against the seat. "Did you put something in the water?" I asked groggily.
Camille just hushed me with a wicked smile. I guess I'd jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.
When I woke up, we were driving down a long dirt road. "I'm glad you're awake," Camille smiled "I was beginning to think that I'd given you too large of a dose. Mr. Dufort would be quite displeased if I'd accidentally killed the guest of honor".
"I thought you said you were taking me home," I spat sitting up, reaching for the door handle.
"I wouldn't bother trying to jump out of the car. You'd just get yourself hurt, and then Alston here would have to go get you" Camille smiled. "Besides, I never said I was taking you home. I said I was taking you to your people, and that is exactly what I'm doing".
"God, I'm so sick of this," I growled. I tried tapping into my elemental powers, but I was still too out of it from the drug Camille had given me. "Why didn't you just kill me if you weren't going to help me get home."
"Stop being dramatic," Camille rolled her eyes. "Besides, this will be far worse for Mason."
We pulled up to a sizeable french chateau where both Camille and the driver who Camille had called Alston got out of the car. When I didn't move, Camille opened my door "Are you going to get out or is Alston going to have to carry you."
Rolling my eyes I stood up not wanting to have to bear the indignity of being carried like a child throwing a tantrum. I stood up straight forcing my shoulders back as I walked trying to make myself as tall as possible.
"That's my girl," Camille muttered under her breath and I shot her a glare.
The ornate wooden doors of the house opened and a large, chiseled, blonde man swept out smiling. "You must be the infamous Britney," he beamed "I've waited a long time to meet you." I examined him closely realizing that while he had seemed like a man at first he could only have been a couple of years older than I was at most. There was also something incredibly familiar about him.
"Do I know you?" I asked feeling disoriented.
"Not yet, but you will." he bent down kissing me on the cheek "My name is Fitzgerald, but you can call me Fitz". He turned to Camille then "Thank you, Camille, for making sure our guest arrived safely."
"Of course. I would stay, but frankly, I've never enjoyed the smell of wet dog and I would like to be out of the country before mason comes for me," she said the sound of her voice snapping me back to reality.
"Are you not going to explain who the hell you are or why you had me kidnapped," I snapped at Fitz.
"I'm the alpha of the European Were's" he smiled evenly "And just as you are the reincarnation of Antoinette I am the reincarnation of her betrothed. I am your soul mate."
"Seriously dude" I rolled my eyes "If every guy who claimed to be my soul mate was I would have about a dozen. I think you really need to get a new line."
He took a step forward so I had to crane my neck back to maintain eye contact. "It's funny how you think I'm like those other pups. If they really were your soul mates then they would be here right now ripping me limb from limb for daring to touch you" he said gently cupping my chin. "And yet no one is here. You don't know what a true soul mate is, but I plan on showing you exactly what it means."
Authors Note: Hey guys thanks so much for reading!!!! A big shoutout to @FireOpal56, @Queen_Lyah, and @1234cowgirl1234!!! Thank you guys so much for your continued support and readership you guys are really the best :) Please comment and tell me what you think and if you have anything you want to see going forward and I will do my best to make it happen