BELLE
After leaving Liamâs apartment, he gave me a ride back to my place so I could take a shower and change out of my bloody clothes.
He wasnât happy when I came out of my bathroom dressed in my waitress uniform.
âYou are not working today,â he stated. âYou need rest.â
âWhat I ~need~ is to make money so I can afford my apartment instead of being forced to live under a bridge like some sort of troll. My shift is about to start.â
I walked past him, grabbing my heels by the front door and sliding them onto my feet.
Liam looked huge in my tiny apartment. Although I suppose that wasnât necessarily a hard thing to do. Anyone would look big in here. Hell, I looked big in here.
The entire space consisted of a single room with a sink, a few cupboards, a dresser, a tiny round table, and three chairs, and just enough room for the twin-sized mattress that was lying on the floor in the corner.
There was a communal bathroom just a few doors down.
So, yeah, the apartment wasnât much, but it was mine. I was just happy to be living on my own instead of depending on someone else.
âBelle, you opened ~and~ closed the diner last night.â Liam continued to argue. âThey cannot expect you to keep going on like this. Itâs not healthy. Or legal. Youâre overworking yourself.â
I rolled my eyes. He was so dramatic. âI think I can handle it.â
He glared back at me, clearly not about to let the subject go. âIâll be fine, Liam. I feel greatâthe best I have in months. Iâm still a little freaked out over everything that happened last night.
âBut Iâm not in any pain, and I feel well-rested for the first time in forever. That vampire blood you gave me really is magic. Even my mark doesnât hurt as much.â
It was a miracle, really. Graysonâs mark on my neck still looked horribleâI think it may have been infected at this pointâbut it didnât hurt nearly as much as it usually did.
The deep, under-the-skin throbbing had lessened significantly, and it didnât burn anymore. It made me want to cry in relief.
Was it possible that I might be able to actually enjoy my day rather than being incapacitated by horrible pain?
Or maybe, just maybeâ¦it meant that Grayson had finally decided to leave me alone after feeling what I had gone through last night. Maybe he thought I was dead.
But that was probably just wishful thinking.
âI donât care,â Liam continued badgering me. âYou hardly slept last night. You need rest. Especially after everything youâve been through.â
I laughed humorlessly. âYeah, no thanks.â Sleep meant nightmares, and nightmares were the last thing I needed right now. I wanted Grayson out of my head, thank you very much.
Liam continued to argue with me for another ten minutes. He finally relented when I walked out the door without him, threatening to walk to the diner by myself, which I knew he would hate.
He begrudgingly followed behind me, leading me to his car and muttering under his breath about how I was going to work myself to death one day.
***
The diner was busy today. I was grateful for the distraction. Saturdays always brought in a huge crowd, making the time go faster.
When we got to Pom Pomâs, Liam reluctantly followed me in, still grumbling under his breath about how I hadnât gotten any sleep last night and needed more time to heal.
When I ignored him, he found a booth in the corner and sat down to order breakfast.
âWhatâs up with you?â another waitress, Candice, asked me about twenty minutes into the breakfast rush.
âWhat do you mean?â
We both grabbed food from the cookâs window to put on trays and bring to our customers.
It was still early morning, and the general chatter of the cafeâs breakfast rush added to the pleasant atmosphere around us.
The sun shone in through the windows, painting the walls with a warm glow.
Candice grinned at me. âYouâre smiling.â
I gave her a weird look. âAre you insinuating that I donât normally smile?â
Candice shrugged, grabbing her last plate of food. âYouâre just happy, thatâs all.â She lifted the tray filled with meals over her shoulder. âItâs a good look on you.â
I watched her walk away, a warm, fuzzy feeling spreading through me. I ~was~ happy. Every second that passed, I felt better and better.
I sighed in contentment, picking up my own tray of food and carrying it around the counter, making my way to a table of high schoolers.
Before I got there, though, the front door to the diner suddenly slammed open. The glass door smashed into the wall, shattering, covering the floor in glass.
Everyone in the diner jumped, some letting out surprised exclamations, before turning to look at the man standing in the doorway.
My gaze clashed with the red eyes of my former mate.
Grayson.
But, no, this wasnât Grayson, was it? It couldnât be. Everything about the man standing in front of me was larger, more refined, and far, far more terrifying.
His huge muscles strained against his black shirt and casual jeans, bigger than I ever remembered them being. He was at least a foot taller, barely even fitting in the doorway.
His eyes stared at me from across the room, dark red and swirling with black, as his chest heaved up and down with breaths that were laced with low, malicious growls.
His arms were sprouting with dark hair, and his entire form was shaking intensely, making it clear he was close to shifting.
No, this wasnât the Grayson I remembered. If his red eyes and ginormous form were any indicators⦠this was the Grayson of my nightmares.
âBelle,â he said. His voice was deep and rich but somehow strained at the same time. âMy Belle.â
I couldnât think or speak or react. I was frozen in petrified fear. Sweat pooled on my forehead and the palms of my hands. My heart was beating rapidly in my chest.
A loud clattering noise sounded at my feet, and I realized that I had dropped the tray of food I was holding. The dishes shattered the moment they hit the floor.
Voices murmured around me, but my eyes stayed glued to the monster in front of me.
This wasnât happening, right? I was in one of my nightmares.
He started to move. He took several long strides toward me, his steps only faltering when I stumbled backward in terror.
I couldnât let him get to me.
His expression hardened, and he immediately began approaching me with even more determination. I didnât have any time to react or come up with a plan.
All of a sudden, all the pain I had been feeling over the last few months came crashing back into me, only now it was somehow ten times worse than it had ever been before.
I doubled over, letting out a horrified scream.
I knew this intense pain was my bodyâs way of pushing me to go to my mate. My subconscious recognized him and knew he was near.
The bond was pushing me toward him, promising relief if I made contact with him. And, oh God, did I want to go to him.
I wanted to run to him and wrap my arms around his large form until I was sure there wasnât an inch between us, and then never let him go.
However, even as my body demanded that I give in to the bond, my mindâthe more logical part of meâwas going into complete panic mode.
I could feel terror settle in as I watched him, almost as if he were in slow motion, get closer and closer to me. I knew I should move, run away, do something, but all I seemed capable of was standing there.
My chest tightened. I couldnât breathe. Oh God, I couldnât breathe. My lungs were refusing to take in air.
Memories of the last time I saw him came crashing to the surface of my conscience. I was suddenly back at the pack house with him on top of me as he tried to force himself on me.
I was standing in his room, watching his massive fist swing toward my face. I was opening his bedroom door to find him and some other girl about to have sex in his bed.
What was he doing here? What more could he possibly want from me? Hadnât he already taken it all?
A terrifying thought entered my mind. Was he here to play with me some more? Take me back to his pack house and cause more turmoil to my already broken heart?
I didnât think I would survive if that were the case, especially now that he was so much bigger, so much scarier than he used to be.
My heart was beating too fast, drowning out every other sound around me until all I could hear was the sound of my own raging pulse and gasping breaths in my ears.
The edge of my vision started to darken as I began hyperventilating. Oh no, oh no, oh no.
I was barely aware of someone stepping in front of me, blocking my view of Grayson and his path to me. I registered the personâs dark hair through my blurry, whirling vision.
Liam. Liam was standing in front of me. Why? I could barely make out what he was saying, but I knew he was yelling something at Grayson.
He was holding his arms out, trying to protect me. I nearly laughed. He wouldnât be able to do anything to save me. The monster had found me.
And if he wanted me, no one could stop him from taking me.
Their voices faded away. I braced myself on the counter behind me, my legs suddenly too shaky to hold myself up.
I grasped at my throat, willing it to open up and let the air in that I so desperately needed, but it didnât help.
My legs suddenly collapsed beneath me, and I slid down until I was on the ground between two bar stools, my back against the wall.
Just as I was sure I was about to pass out, I registered two massive arms wrapping themselves around me.
I was pulled into a lap, legs on either side of him, my body being set against someoneâs huge, hard chest. Delicious, familiar, explosive sparks danced across my skin everywhere I touched him.
It was Grayson.