Taken Over

   Thoughts scrambled and screamed through my mind. I could barely make sense of anything as he gazed at me for a long moment. I wanted to run, wanted to flee screaming into the darkness, but I found myself unable to move. And then he was rising above me like a dark avenger coming to finish what his cohort had started.

   Terror drove me to my feet. I lurched awkwardly upward, desperate to get away as he came at me. I darted in between the tables, frantic for escape. My heart hammered in panic; I could barely breathe as I ran blindly forward. I had left the flashlight behind in my panic. I was never going to escape; I didn’t even know where the damn door was anymore!

   Not like this, I thought franticly. Not like this. Not at the hands of Cade. I could notbe killed by the only person I had ever loved.

   I hadn’t made it that far, not nearly as far as I would have liked anyway, before his arms wrapped around me. He lifted me easily off the ground as he clasped my back firmly against his chest. His hand snaked around, closing tightly over my mouth as I opened it to scream. He pressed me against his chest, holding me against him as I struggled within his grasp.

   “Shh Bethany, I’m not going to hurt you. Stop, just stop.”

   Tears slipped down my face, I couldn’t keep them in anymore. This was just too much to handle right now. It had been so hard for so long, but this thiswas going to be my snapping point. I could feel my mind unraveling rapidly; feel everything within me spi

   “Oh Bethy,” he breathed. “Please don’t cry.” His head fell against mine; he inhaled a shaky breath as he held me tight. He actually seemed genuinely distraught, but I knew he was not genuine about anything, he never had been. A sob lodged in my throat, my broken heart kept beating. “Let me explain love, let me…”

   Noise from the hallway cut him off. He stiffened, his hard muscles locking against me. Though I couldn’t see him, I could feel the blackness against my back as it crept over him, seeping through his eyeballs, bleeding through his veins. A primitive growl escaped him, his hold on me tightened as ru

   Cade slipped further into the shadows, carrying me easily with him as he moved. I started to struggle against him, wanting to be free, wanting to alert the people approaching to the danger that lurked within this room. That had alwayslurked amongst us. The danger I had so fervently and desperately wanted back. But Cade held me easily and with a rigid strength that was impossible to break free from. We reached the back corner of the room. I had a brief moment of hope as Cade let go with one hand to reach for something behind him. I lurched against him, but he grabbed me back, pi

CHAPTER 15

   Cade didn’t release me until he had carried me deep into the woods. I felt as if we had walked for miles, and going by the strength and speed that I now knew he possessed, we probably had. The moment he set me on my feet, I tried to run. He grabbed hold of my arm and pulled me back with surprisingly gentle ease. I was brought up sharp against his chest, my arms pressed against the hard flex of muscle beneath his blood spattered cotton shirt. His eyes were dark, fierce as he stared at me, but at least they were back to normal now. His eyebrows were drawn sharply together over his nose, his jaw clenched.

   I glared defiantly back at him as I struggled to break free of his tight hold. “I am notgoing to hurt you,” he snarled.

   “How do I know that?” I demanded breathlessly. “How can I believe anything that you say, anything that you do!?”

   He watched me for a moment longer before he released me suddenly. Holding up his hands, he walked a couple of steps away. “Because I have never hurt you before, and I neverwill.”

   I blinked at him in surprise, torn by what he was saying, and everything I had just witnessed. What I had just seen. He’d lied to me repeatedly, he’d pretended to be something he wasn’t. He’d pretended to be human. I was filled with the heartbreaking certainty that I didn’t know him at all. “You’ve lied to me repeatedly. I have no idea who or whatyou are.”

   Anger filtered over his features, though the black did not return to his face, I could sense it lurking just beneath the surface. “You know exactly who I am. I’m the person that’s kept you alive. I’m the person you claimedto love.”

   “But you’re not a person,” I breathed.

   He recoiled as if he’d been slapped. For a moment guilt and uncertainty flared hotly through me. I was ashamed of myself. I didn’t know who he was, I wasn’t entirely certain what he was, but he had saved my life. Many many times he had saved my life, and no matter how betrayed and deceived I felt I still loved him, I always would. Even if he tried to kill me. I didn’t want to cause him any hurt, I didn’t want him to feel like I felt right now, but I couldn’t stop myself from striking out at him.

   Couldn’t stop myself for inflicting some measure of hurt on him, because I was so unbelievably hurt by him.

   “No,” he agreed. “I’m not.”

   The blunt admission was like a cold blast of water against my heated skin. I had known it, I had seen it, but I hadn’t truly believed it until that moment. Hadn’t fully understoodit until he confirmed every horrible thought, emotion, and fear that tangled within me. “What did they do to you?” I breathed. Even as I asked the question I knew that I was wrong. This hadn’t been doneto him.

   He looked at me over his shoulder, his eyes narrowed as he scowled. There was so much anger in him, so much murderous rage still lingering beneath the surface that I found myself taking an instinctive step away from him. I didn’t know him, not anymore, but I was strangely certain that he still wouldn’t hurt me. “They didn’t doanything to me. I was bornthis way.”

   My mouth dropped, my legs began to shake as he confirmed what I had suspected. I thought I was going to fall, thought I was going to melt into a puddle of boneless goop right there on the forest floor. How could I have been so wrong about everything? “How… how is that possible? I’ve known you…”

   My voice trailed off, I leaned heavily against the tree behind me. Cade had been five when his family had moved to town. Cade’s family had been wealthy; his father a prominent lawyer whose own father had once been a congressman. Mr. Marshall had been intending to run for office himself when he was killed. Cade’s mother had been a teacher in our elementary school and had enrolled Cade there. She’d been a sweet woman who always smelled of raisin cookies and Play-Doh.

   Cade and Aiden had been in kindergarten together. A year behind them, I was not yet in school when Aiden brought Cade home for the first time. I remembered that day vividly, I always would. I could recall him standing there, ski

   Aiden had tried to shoo me away from them, a