Page 9

Chapter

Nine

Ezio smiled at me from the driver’s seat as I climbed into the back of the SUV. “Good afternoon. How are you feeling?”

“Good. How are you today?” I asked as I buckled.

Mason sat beside me, buckling his belt as well.

“Good. You ready?”

“Yes,” Mason replied.

Ezio nodded and put the vehicle into gear, driving through the gate.

We drove in silence, Mason looking out his window the entire time. I opened my mouth a couple of times to try to start a conversation, but decided to stay silent instead. He was supposed to be courting me and if he didn’t have anything to say, then I’d just stay quiet.

He had often been quiet when we were kids, too, so it wasn’t completely abnormal. Mason was definitely someone who proved his feelings by actions instead of flowery words or speeches.

Glancing at him, I took in the worn jeans, tight black t-shirt, and noticed a bit of black on his collarbone peeking out from the shirt. Did he have a tattoo? He hadn’t had any last time I saw him.

Ezio parked in the garage at the mall and said, “I’ll stay as far back as I can while also being close enough should danger show up.”

“She’ll be safe with me,” Mason said with certainty and held open the door for me to climb out.

We walked through the automatic doors and I tried to let Mason lead, but he stayed at my side.

“So, what are we here to buy?” I asked and looked over at him.

He had his hands in his pockets and glanced away with pink on his cheeks. “Your birthday present.”

My eyes widened. “My birthday present?”

He nodded and said, “I’m not the best present buyer in general and I have no idea what things you have or don’t have already. Plus, it’s been a while since we talked, so I don’t know if your tastes have changed.” He turned to me. “Is this okay?”

It was incredibly sweet of him to have thought of this and to be willing to go with me knowing I could shop for hours. His gift wasn’t going to be just what he bought me, but the time he spent with me. He really had grown a lot the last few years.

I nodded and smiled at him. “Yeah. This is okay.”

The first store we came to was a dress store. I walked inside and headed towards the clearance rack.

“I have money,” he said. “You don’t need to buy from the clearance side.”

“I like looking at the dresses here first,” I explained. “Sometimes you can find really cute things and save money at the same time.” Pulling two dresses off the rack, I headed over to another display to look at a pretty off-white dress I’d seen.

“This one would look really good on you,” he said and held up a black mermaid cut, velvet dress.

I checked the size and took it from him. “That’s a really pretty one.”

His lip twitched in a smile and he moved to another rack to look for more dresses to offer me. By the time I made it to the dressing room, I had ten dresses to try on.

The two women who had been at the dressing room hurried away when Mason got close, his alpha presence and scowl enough to scare them away.

“How have you been, Mas?” I asked as I closed the curtain between us and stripped out of my clothes, slipping the first clearance dress I’d found on.

“Fine,” he replied gruffly.

“Come on, give me more than that,” I said with a soft laugh. “It’s been years. Tell me something.”

“I’ve been fine. The demon hunting keeps us busy enough that I don’t have too much free time. What free time I do have, I usually spend training and occasionally doing fun things the others force me to do. I did a few jobs for King Deryn and King Nico.”

“Do you enjoy demon hunting?” I asked as I struggled with the zipper. Finally getting it zipped up, I pushed the curtain aside so I could step out.

“I do,” Mason answered. “It’s simple and an outlet for my anger.” He had been looking at the ceiling, his arms spread across the back of the couch, but he lowered his head when I stepped out. “The color doesn’t look as complimentary as I thought, but the style suits you,” he commented.

I nodded. “That was my thought as well.” Mason was one person who would give me a one hundred percent honest reaction.

Going back inside the dressing room, I tried on one of the other dresses, but didn’t like how it looked, so I switched to another one.

When I stepped out Mason said, “That’s nice, but not as nice as the first one.”

“I’ll put it in the maybe pile,” I said as I stepped back and closed the curtain to try on another dress.

Two more both with meh reactions.

Looking at the next options, I decided to try on the mermaid style dress he had chosen and threw open the curtain again.

His eyes widened, his arms fell from the back of the couch, and he leaned forward, licking his lips. “That looks even better than I imagined.”

Doing a small spin I asked, “So, you think I should get it?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

“Let me check the price first,” I said.

“Doesn’t matter. Get it,” he said immediately.

When I turned to head back in, I looked back out of the corner of my eye and caught him taking a picture of me with his phone.

Smirking, I closed the curtain, then waited a moment and said, “Mas?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you help me with the zipper? I can’t get it.”

With zero hesitation, he stepped inside, closed the curtain behind him, and started to unzip it. His fingers stroked my bare skin, making goosebumps rise and causing me to suck in a sharp breath. My hair began to glow a bit, lighting up the room, and stirring the darkness within me.

Mason’s aura changed slightly, the darkness bleeding into a red and black smoke around him. He looked down at me, his eyes darting to my lips before going back to my eyes. “Good?”

Turning to face him fully, I asked, “Did you really miss me or just the familiarity of home?”

Leaning forward, he drew in a deep, loud breath, and his body shuddered. “You.” Zero hint of lie.

Tilting my head back, I moved so our mouths were closer and asked, “What would you do if I kissed you right now, Mason?”

“Why don’t you find out?” he asked and leaned down closer, caging me in with his body. Most would have been terrified to have him caging them in like this, but it only made my hair glow brighter and my lower body tighten as need coursed through me.

I had kissed Mason twice when we were teenagers and both were kisses I would never forget. A hungry, all-consuming kiss that had branded my soul. Would it feel like that again?

Closing the distance, I pressed my lips to his.

He walked in more, forcing me to back up until my back pressed against the cold glass, and put his hand on the glass next to my face as he kissed me back, his tongue flicking out along the seam of my lips.

I opened my mouth and he made a chirp of satisfaction in his throat before sliding a hand along the back of my neck, pulling me close, and devoured my mouth, his tongue sweeping inside and stroking along mine.

A whimper escaped me and he jerked back like I’d electrocuted him. “Sorry,” he panted and started to leave, but I grabbed his hand, stopping him.

“Where are you going?” I asked, panting heavily.

“You whimpered,” he whispered, pain edging his words.

“That wasn’t a scared or hurt whimper,” I explained. “Come back.”

He looked down at me with a frown. “It wasn’t?”

I shook my head. “It wasn’t.” I pulled his head down and kissed him again.

He melted against me, picked me up by the butt, and pressed me against the wall of the dressing room, his mouth moved down to kiss and licked at my neck.

“I missed you so much, Lily,” he whispered against my neck as he kissed and nibbled. “I dreamed of kissing you again so many times. I wanted to kiss you so many times before we left to start hunting demons, but I was too afraid. I won’t let that fear rule me when it comes to you ever again.”

Words failed me, so I kissed him again.

“Do you need help with a dress?” an employee asked outside the dressing room.

Jerking away from Mason, my face flushing in embarrassment, I said, “No, I’m good, thanks.”

Mason set me down, smiled wide, and waited until she walked away before he said, “I think they wanted to make sure we didn’t have sex in here.”

I nodded and looked down, too embarrassed to look at him more. “Seems that way.”

He chuckled. “Lucky for them, I refuse to let our first time be in a dressing room.”

“You have our first time planned already?” I asked and smoothed my hair down. “That’s a bit cocky, don’t you think?”

His warm lips pressed against my ear as he said, “The only thing cocky here is you thinking I won’t absolutely destroy anyone who gets between you and I. I’ll follow along with your courting request, Lily, but you are mine, have been since I was six years old, and it’s only a matter of you accepting that. Once you do, I’m going to show you exactly what my plan is for this sexy, delicious body of yours.” He inhaled deeply and said, “Though, perhaps a little taste won’t be bad.”

My brows furrowed, unsure what he meant.

Dropping to his knees, he pushed the dress up to my waist, pushed my knee to spread my legs, and leaned forward, licking me through my underwear.

I gasped and leaned my upper back against the glass, finding the coldness soothing as the rest of my body was burning hot. It wasn’t enough though, so I pulled the dress off completely, uncaring that he was going to see me in my thong and bra.

Slipping his finger beneath my thong, he pulled the cloth to the side, exposing my drenched core.

“Seems I’m not the only one who wanted a taste today,” he said, leaned forward, and licked between my folds. He groaned softly and licked me again.

Leaning my head back against the glass, I panted softly, trying to ensure I didn’t make enough noise the employees would hear me.

Mason sucked on my clit, making me gasp, and swirled his tongue around it, sending electric zings through me.

Looking down at him, I caught him looking up at me while he began doing something with his tongue that sent me right over the edge. The darkness in his aura swirled around him, mingling with mine, connected.

I bit my lip to keep from crying out as my body shuddered, my legs shook, and stars danced across my vision. I tried to move away, but he pressed a hand to my stomach, holding me in place as he continued to lick me, making me ride out the orgasm fully.

Standing, a satisfied smile on his face, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and said, “I’ll take these and pay while you get dressed.” He grabbed the dress I’d had on and one other, stepped out of the dressing room, and closed the curtain between us.

I slid to the ground, panting, and satisfied for the first time in a long time.

Kissing him like that had not been in the plan and being eaten by him had definitely not been in the plan, but there was something about Mason that had always called to me. That dark smokey aura that felt like it was a piece of me.

After getting dressed, I walked out to see him sitting with the bags, still smiling happily. As we went on to the next stores, he walked closer to me, our hands brushing together on occasion.

Tension had eased between us and I felt happy and relaxed, safe with him at my side.

A little girl ran over, a book and pen in her hand. “Princess! Princess!” she shouted.

Mason tensed, but I set a hand on his arm, smiled wide, and dropped down into a squat so I was at her eye level. “Hello.”

She moved from foot to foot in excitement. “Can you sign this, please?”

“Certainly,” I said with a nod, took the pen and book, and opened it. My eyes widened when I saw Mom’s and my dads’ signatures all inside. I went to an empty page and signed my name, then drew a cute snake curled around a lily, the same drawing I always did when I gave people autographs. Mom always put a bunny head wearing a crown with her autographs.

The little girl squealed, threw her arms around my neck, and took the book and pen back. “Thank you!” she yelled as she ran back across the walkway, waving to me.

A man bumped into her, knocking her down, and sending her book sliding across the ground.

“Watch where you’re going, kid!” the man snapped.

Mason set the bags down and growled as he stalked towards the man with his fists clenched at his sides. He stepped right up into the man’s face. “You’re the one who should watch where you’re going. What kind of man is rude to a child like that?”

Hurrying over, I helped the little girl up and got her book for her. “You okay?” I asked as I dusted her off.

She sniffled as she wiped her face and dusted off her hands. “Yes, I’m sorry.”

“Who the fuck are you? Captain-Save-a-Hoe?” the man scoffed at Mason, but I watched his throat bobbed as he swallowed hard.

Shooting up to my feet, I stepped in front of Mason and glared at the man. “Apologize to her right now.”

He leered at me. “Well, hello, beautiful. I didn’t see you there.”

Mason growled and the man took a step back.

Drawing in a breath, I checked his scent … a dragon shifter.

“I know for a fact that my grandfather would have no qualms with me forcing you to your knees to apologize to that little girl and beg for my forgiveness. In fact, I bet if I called him right now, he’d tell Mason here to teach you some respect.”

“Say the word,” Mason growled and took a step forward, making the man take another step back.

“Your grandfather?” he asked with a scowl. His eyes darted to my hair, glowing with my anger, and widened. “P-Princess L-Liliana. I didn’t know you were back.”

“Apologize to her right now!” I snapped. My fury boiled over and my magic snapped out to strike his cheek, raising a welt.

People around us stopped to stare, shocked at my anger and order. A few had their phones out, but I didn’t care. Let them share the video of me teaching this male to respect those around him.

He stepped around us and stooped down to look at the girl. “I’m sorry, little one. I apologize for knocking you over.” Once he’d apologized, he ran away down the walkway.

“Coward,” Mason hissed.

The little girl smiled up at me. “Your hair is pretty.”

Taking a deep breath, closing my eyes, and focusing on Mason’s nearby scent, I calmed down and resealed my rage. When I opened my eyes again, my hair was only slightly glowing. “Thank you.”

Her parents stepped forward tentatively, both bowing to me and averting their eyes.

“Have a nice day, Princess!” the little girl called as her parents ushered her away with fear in their eyes.

The necklace around my neck hummed and the next moment a black portal opened beside us.

“Get back!” Mason ordered me and shoved me in the chest, away from the portal as a giant boar-like creature charged out of it.

My feet slid along the tile from his push and I screamed his name as the boar slammed into him, the boar’s head level with his chest.

Ezio ran forward, grabbed me, and pushed me behind him, his cell phone up to his ear as he called for backup.

People screamed and fled in multiple directions away from the portal and the fight, but there wasn’t much escape except for them since the hallway was narrow, so most ran into a nearby store.

Mason’s muscles bulged in his legs as he pushed against the tile and the boar-demon’s head, trying to stop it. His jeans ripped around his quads as he took a warrior shift. His booted feet broke down through the tile at the force he was pushing with, and he finally stopped the boar-demon. The boar-demon turned, looked directly at me, and tried to charge away from Mason and towards me.

“No, you don’t!” Mason snarled.

Ezio shifted into his warrior form and growled at the demon-boar as he pushed against its head next to Mason.

Mason drew a sword from his back from a scabbard I hadn’t seen – how did he keep it hidden from me? – and sliced the boar-demon’s head off.

I exhaled in relief, but the relief was short-lived as two hellhounds jumped out of the portal and both immediately headed towards me. They were the size of a standard dog and covered in thick black quills that hurt to touch.

Shifting into my warrior form, including a tail, I used the tail to whip the two hellhounds away from me and back through the portal. I cringed at the pain from touching their porcupine-like quills with my tail.

Three more creatures, these ones large beasts with bull heads and humanoid bodies, stepped through. Their eyes fixated on me as soon as they stepped out.

“Why are they after me?” I gasped as one reached a large hand to try to grab me.

Mason sliced the distracted creature’s head off while Ezio fought the other one. “You’re clearly enticing to them just like me.”

“Flirting while you’re fighting? Quite the talent,” I teased as a familiar werewolf ran towards us.

“Oh, I have better talents than this, but you aren’t ready for that yet,” he said and winked at me, but immediately had to duck as a bat-like demon flew out of the portal and towards his face.

“Get back,” Kayden ordered me as he joined Ezio and Mason in fighting the demons that came out of the portal.

“They’re after Lily,” Mason informed him.

Kayden’s eyes darkened as he glanced at me and back at the creatures. “Why?”

“We don’t know,” I answered as I backed up farther to give them more room.

One of the bull-headed demon creatures charged into Kayden, pushing him back until he was next to me, then flung his head, sending Kayden flying through the air. The creature tried to grab me, but I ducked under his reach and ran around behind him. Jumping up, I leapt onto his back and wrapped my arm around his throat, shifted, and turned into my snake form to wrap around his entire body, and started to squeeze.

He let out a pained bellow as he fell onto his side. I constricted tighter and tighter, hoping the guys would keep any other creatures away from me.

The creature struggled against me, trying to push against my coils, but I was stronger and after several tense moments, finally killed him.

Uncoiling from around him, I surveyed the scene, finding all of the creatures dead and the portal closed.

Shifting into my human form, I asked, “Is anyone injured?”

Ezio sat on the ground, panting. “No, just not as young as I used to be.”

Kayden chuckled and patted his shoulder. “You did pretty good, old man.”

Mason walked over to me and put his hands on either side of my face. “Are you injured?”

I smiled. “Nope, I’m perfect.”

“Now who’s being cocky?” he teased and released me.

I sat down beside Ezio and patted his shoulder. “Looks like you got out of shape while I was gone.”

He growled then said, “Maybe a little.”

“Thanks for the backup,” Mason said to Kayden.

“Any day I get a chance to kill a demon is a good day,” he said and bumped his fist against Mason’s.

Mason retrieved my bags and held his hand out to me. “Ready?”

I looked at the demon bodies.

“Kayden will handle them,” he said, glanced at Kayden who scowled at him, and wiggled his fingers at me. “Come on, our date isn’t over yet.”

Letting him take my hand and pull me to my feet, I followed him farther into the mall, looking back once over my shoulder at Kayden, who was smiling when I looked back.

Why was he smiling like that?