More than anything, he wanted to kill the male who dared touch his mate. More than that, he wanted to wrap his arms around his fated and take her away, far away where he could admire the angles of her face for days on end and run his fingers through her dark, silky hair.
“Hey, Liv,” the male said. “Get any shopping done?
Subconsciously, he recognized the voice but too enraptured with her he didn’t bother to attempt to place it.
“Yeah,” she spoke, so softly.
The sweetest voice he’d ever heard soothing the anger coursing through him. In that moment, he knew he could never kill the male if his mate cared for him.
“Landon, can we go to the movies? I haven’t been in ages,” she asked, so sweetly.
Landon?
He blinked, forcing his thoughts to focus. His mind swirled. The tattoo along the length of the male’s arm, the voice, the name, it was all familiar, so familiar he was intrigued, so he summoned the will to peel his gaze away from his mate and shifted it to the male.
His jaw dropped. The male wasn’t a stranger. He was the arrogant alpha werewolf who’d recently joined the Guardian League, the league of various immortal breeds Lucas, his king, created to combat Malum Inmortalis, rogue immortals. It was the alpha, Landon, who’d helped them rescue Jocelyn when she’d been abducted three months ago.
Fuck
. It was just his rotten luck.
Landon shrugged. “Sure, we should go today though. Tomorrow, I want you to come with me to the Guardian meeting.”
“Really?” she asked. Her eyes had gone round and wide, her excitement clear. “So I’m going to meet immortals from other breeds?”
“Yeah,” Landon replied, chuckling.
Her face brightened as a smile tugged at her lips, enough to render him immobile and breathless. His heart, he was sure, stopped beating.
“I can’t wait! Thank you so much for letting me. You’re the best brother ever!” she exclaimed.
Brother? What do you know? He wouldn’t have to kill the werewolf after all, breaking his vow to his king and the Guardians.
Cain started toward her then hesitated, pondering his next course of action. Run after her? Tell her she’s his?
No
, his conscience advised. He couldn’t.
She was a werewolf, and werewolves were reclusive by nature, had always been. In fact, he’d never heard of a werewolf mating an immortal from another breed. To top it off, she was the alpha’s sister, a princess within her pack while he was a demon warrior. Not only were they worlds apart in class and breed, Cain knew the hot-tempered Landon, her brother and alpha, wouldn’t be pleased a demon had found a mate in his sister.
She was now his most important duty, protecting her, his top priority. If he wanted to win her, he had to play his cards right.
She’d never met immortals from other breeds. That alone was enough to advise caution. He couldn’t confess she was his mate—not yet. There was no way to know how she’d react. Perhaps with time if he befriended her, she would accept him.
But what if she didn’t? What if she ran?
His chest ached with the thought. He couldn’t fathom it, and he wouldn’t think of it now.
Of one thing he was certain: his mate needed time.
Landon and Liv took a step away from him.
His heart tightened in his chest and involuntarily his muscles twitched, his heart and body battling his mind.
I’ll see her tomorrow
, he chanted silently attempting to soothe his desire, his need, his worries along with his heart and body.
He watched her until she was out of sight, sadness too powerful to describe overwhelming him.
Letting her go was the hardest thing he’d ever had to do.
Chapter 1
Present day
The sun had begun to set, glimmering off the large skyscrapers in New York City. As the sun’s rays turned a lovely shade of orange and pink in the sky, Cain breathed deeply enjoying the sight and sounds of cars flying past.
This had been his home for more than a century now. Although quite different from his home in the demonic plane, Treconomia, where five moons shined in the night sky instead of one, he’d grown to love New York and the human plane where it was housed.
His job as second in command to Demon King Lucas Thaler had granted him access to this plane, its people and its life. He, along with the Guardians of various immortal breeds, protected humans and immortals from Malum Inmortalis, rogue immortals, whose purpose was to rule immortals and mortals alike. Lucas started the Guardian League to combat Malums centuries ago and asked him to join. Cain agreed because he owed Lucas his life, and because Lucas was his brother, if not by blood then by conviction.
He’d never regretted his decision. He loved his king like a brother, believed in their purpose—a safe place for immortals and mortals without wars, battles and death. He took pride in his duty to his king, their people and the Guardian league, and above all, it soothed him to know he was, in some small way, avenging the family he’d lost more than four hundred years ago.
But his life had changed months ago when he’d laid eyes on his fated mate, the woman destined for him,
Olivia
.
Over the course of five months, he’d befriended her, grown to know and admire her. Despite his need to mark her and claim her as his, that grew more pressing as the days passed, he’d waited—for her, because she needed time. He’d waited and waited, but he was done waiting.
Today, he would tell her she was his.
With just the thought, excitement surged through him. He materialized outside the alpha werewolf’s estate, a large colonial, three-story mansion in northern New York, where Olivia lived with her brother, the alpha of their pack, Landon and his fated female, Jocelyn, Cain’s good friend. Jocelyn was an Elemental, a new breed of immortals who possessed the ability to control the classic elements: earth, wind, water and fire. Elementals, like other immortals, possessed super-human strength, agility and heightened senses, but they weren’t able to control the elements until they met their mates. Before Jocelyn mated Landon and gained her power over the elements, Cain had been her personal bodyguard. Naturally, a friendship evolved. Landon and Jocelyn had mated a few months ago and were now expecting twins.
The doors to the estate parted before he had the chance to knock. Ethan, head of security at the estate, greeted him.
“Cain, welcome.”
“I came to see Olivia,” he said, unable to hide his smile.
“Cain,” Jocelyn called.
He glanced up and spotted her on the second floor landing, beside the large winding staircase. Her golden brown hair parted in the middle and styled in soft curls. He smiled her way, but she didn’t return the smile. Her brows were drawn, her eyes beseeching. It wasn’t the fun-loving, hardheaded Jocelyn who usually greeted him. Immediately, he reached out with his senses and read her emotions, a gift demons possessed; concern and worry coursed through her.
“Come up,” she said simply.
Worry beginning to override his excitement, he materialized next to her then asked, “Joce, what’s wrong? Are the babies okay?”
She patted her belly and nodded, avoiding his stare. “Yes, they’re fine. Let’s go talk.”
Her solemn demeanor unnerving him, he prodded, “Is Landon okay?”
Nodding again, she avoided his gaze and led him into an office decorated with wood panels and dark blue tones. She took a seat. Too worried to sit, he remained on his booted feet. When her eyes finally met his, the sorrow in them had dread crawling up his spine.
“She’s gone,” Jocelyn whispered.
His heart clenched painfully in his chest. He knew, his body had told him so and still he needed to hear it, so he croaked, “Who?”
“Liv.”
And just like that, his plans were shot to hell. The light in his life went out. As the color drained from his face, he parted his mouth wanting to speak, but no words resonated.
His Olivia was gone.
Gone.
He looked away from Jocelyn, feeling numb inside and out. He knew it to be true. Jocelyn had said it, his body and heart responded to it, and still his mind couldn’t fully grasp the concept: his mate, his werewolf, his Olivia had left, leaving him behind.
Shaking his head in denial, he whispered under his breath, “No.” He said it aloud because it
couldn’t
be.
Olivia cared for him.
He knew.
He felt it.
She wouldn’t leave without telling him. They were friends, good friends.
Jocelyn stood and neared then whispered, “Cain…”
His head shot up to meet her gaze realizing her face was solemn, and her eyes were misted with unshed tears. That look alone proved it. Taking everything in stride, Jocelyn wasn’t much for tears or sorrow.
It’s true.
He was sure he still stood, unmoving, but the room spun and swirled around him. No, not the room, it was his whole world spinning out of control. Without Olivia, his life was nothing.
“She left late last night. Left a note for Landon,” she continued.
He barely heard her words.
She’s gone. She left, left you. She doesn’t want you,
his conscience sniped. “But…” He grumbled as dread churned through him muddling his shock.
Jocelyn shook her head. “I’m sorry, Cain. I really am. She didn’t leave anything else.”
Pain too deep, too profound, pain he’d never thought possible, filled him, agony searing him alive from the inside out.
He shut his eyes, angling his head toward the heavens and clenched his teeth, praying for the strength he needed to keep the ache at bay.
He had to go to her. Letting the pain consume him wouldn’t do any good because when he saw her again, he’d tell her the truth and he needed his wits to do that.
Gaze shooting to Jocelyn, he wondered aloud, “Your overprotective mate let his sister go,
alone
?”
“It’s not like she asked for permission. She left late last night, left her cell phone and you know Landon. He’s upset, trying to run off his frustration.”
Fuck.
She left late, left her phone. Was she in trouble? Was she safe? Worry for her now gnawing him, he snapped, “Where did she go?”
Shocked at his abrasiveness with a woman he considered his dear friend, he flinched. Still, he held her gaze waiting for the response he so desperately needed.
“She didn’t say.”
Panic seized him, leaving him without words, without a conscience, without life.
It just kept getting worse. Not only had she left without telling him, he didn’t even know where to start looking. “How could she…Why would she…” His thoughts tumbled frantically through his fragmented mind.
The months since he’d found her he lived in torment. He’d found his fated, the one woman destined for him, but she’d still been out of his reach, and yet she’d been near. Now, he couldn’t see her or feel the warmth of her presence or watch her face light up when she smiled.
He had to find her, couldn’t live without her, didn’t want to bear a life she wasn’t in.
“I don’t know why she left. All the note said was she needed a vacation.”
Because stringing words together was now beyond him, he parroted, “A vacation?”
“I’m sorry, Cain. I know she’s yours, and I have a feeling she cares about you, but—”
Jocelyn didn’t need to tell him that. As a demon, he was an empath. He’d felt her feelings for him intensify over the last several months, but still he’d been extra cautious. Perhaps, he’d been too cautious because he hadn’t thought she knew him well enough, and especially because a part of him had been terrified of how she’d react knowing the truth. He was a demon, after all, and she grew up isolated from the other immortals, thinking she’d find her male, the man destined for her, in a werewolf. Only recently had the pack begun to acknowledge mates from other immortal breeds. Besides that, he was a demon, an orphan, a warrior, so different from her, a princess within her pack. He hadn’t wanted to ruin their budding friendship or cause her to run if he admitted the truth, so he’d waited but she
had
to know how much he cared for her. He’d done everything in his power to show her.
Had she figured out she was his and run from him?
God, no!
“But what?” he asked impatiently, fisting his palms painfully.
“Have you told her?” Jocelyn asked.
He shook his head, his cheeks flushing in shame. “No,” he admitted, reluctantly. “I was waiting for the right time. I wanted everything to go smoothly, so I waited…”
“You’ve waited five months,” she pointed out as if he hadn’t realized it, as if he hadn’t been counting the days himself.
He glared in her direction, then instantly regretted it. He had no right to take out his frustrations on her. It wasn’t Jocelyn’s fault. No one was to blame but him.
“Yes. I waited because you and Landon got together. Olivia’s new to this whole world. Landon kept her away from other immortals, from everything. She’s…”
Closing his eyes tightly, he took a deep breath hoping it would soothe him. It didn’t. His chest throbbed and ached. He couldn’t ignore it, so he met Jocelyn’s stare again and said, “I thought she needed time to adjust. I thought if I told her right away, she would freak and bolt. I wanted to give her time to get to know me. I just thought it—”
“Okay. I get it. You were doing it for her,” she interrupted.
Eyes hardening, he said, “
You
know I’ve waited for her far more than just
five
months. I’ve waited centuries for her then she was right there and I held back because I thought she needed time…Do you have any idea how hard holding back my need has been? I…” His words trailed off, and he ran his hand over his face.
“You have to tell Lucas to give you some time off—”
“I know. I can’t…” He shook his head. “…go on like this. I’ve been a wreck for months. Lucas…he knows, but…
Fuck
! I was coming over to ask her out on a proper date. I figured I had given her enough time to get used to everything and get to know me. I was going to tell her, and now…
Fuck
!”
Jocelyn strode toward him and placed her hand on his shoulder. “It’s going to be okay,” she assured.