Undying Hate~ Book Three

“It’s all my fault.”

Rowan stood silently, letting Sylvie work the words out in her head. He thought it was his fault? After all the self-loathing and blame Sylvie put on herself, she never thought anyone else would feel the same way. She realised, to her shame, she hadn’t even asked how he was.

“How could you think that?”

He seemed like he wanted to be anywhere but there, his body turning away, the angle like he was poised to dart into the underbrush.

“I’m their Alpha, and I let them down. I should never have let them go. The Vampire realm is no place for shifters.” He said the last part as if he was disgusted by his actions. Sylvie shook her head, lightly placing her fingers on his chest and leaning against him.

It wasn’t his fault just as much as it wasn’t hers.

“They are- were their own people. They chose to come, and you had to honour that.” She dropped her head against his hard chest. His heart was beating so fast she could feel it hammering on her forehead.

“It’s not on you, baby.” She sighed. “Just like it’s not on me. It fucking sucks, and Hayes will get what’s coming to him, but it’s just one of those things.”

A pressure landed on her head, and she looked up to see Rowan’s face and closed eyes. He just looked so fucking sad. She rubbed his chest with her hand and tilted her head to press her lips to his, the act more of an acknowledgement than anything.

He melted into her touch, his lips parting and a soft sigh escaping as he buried his fingers in her hair. She didn’t know how long they had been kissing before the tears started.

Along with the warm stream from her eyes, a hot drip on her cheek showed Rowan’s tears had mingled with her own. His emotions stirred her heart, and her hands moved slow, on autopilot, lifting his shirt overhead, taking off hers, unbuckling his pants, and sliding down her own.

They were in the middle of nowhere, surrounded from all angles by a pack of superhearing shifters, but she didn’t care. Instead, their caresses and mutual grief drew them together like magnets.

He lay her on soft dirt and lowered into her, his movements slow and rhythmic with the beating of her heart. Their lips barely left one another’s as their breaths became one and their movements synchronised.

Light moans and sighs past their lips as the climax approached, the repetitive motion of their bodies connecting forcing Sylvie’s body to tense more and more until she snapped in two, her sigh swallowed by Rowan.

He finished as she rode her high, their bodies trembling and slowing to a natural stop. He pulled out and fetched his shirt, sliding it over her head as she smiled and wiped her damp cheeks.

He tugged on his pants before climbing over her again, enveloping her against his chest, their soft laughs freezing as a loud snap echoed around them.

Rowan rose instantly, his gaze shooting to the origin of the sound, his arms staying protectively over her when a voice spoke.

“Oh, don’t mind me,” Claudine said, leaning against a tree. “I’m just reminiscing.”

The thought should have annoyed Sylvie, but it didn’t. In fact, an unexpected laugh shot from her lips, and she kept laughing until she had to bury her head into Rowan’s shoulder.

He patted her back awkwardly as the giggles turned to hiccups, then to soft sobs, and he must have realised her change in emotions because the growl from Rowan had the other woman raising her hands in surrender.

“No, it’s fine,” Sylvie sniffled, squeezing his bicep. “It just reminded me of her-”

Natalie’s sexual innuendoes were always the bane of her life, but now she’d do anything to hear one more.

“What do you need, Claudine?” Rowan grumbled, a thinly veiled threat in his voice.

She sighed and shrugged, flicking her eyes over Sylvie’s face. “Rosie wanted to go shopping at Sagehill tomorrow. She wanted to know if Sylvie would go. Something about needing new clothes?”

“With who?”

“Me.”

“And you think you’re trustworthy to look after them?”

“I’m one of the best fighters you’ve got. Yes.”

Sylvie frowned, nudging Rowan back as she addressed Claudine. “I want to go.”

Rowan sighed and stood, pulling her to her feet.

“You heard it from the Alpha’s mouth-”

“Cut it out, Claude. Look after my fucking mate.”

“With my life,” she promised.

Sylvie had to admit the solitude of the drive to Sagehill was refreshing. Despite the absence of her mates, she enjoyed the idle conversations between Claudine and Rosie and piped up on occasion. It was mostly about what they would buy and if they wanted to grab a bite, but the mundaneness felt good. It reminded her of her life before. While she’d never choose to return to it, she occasionally missed it.

“So-” Claudine’s sharp word drew Sylvie from her musing, and she hummed, lifting her brows at the narrowed eyes in the rearview. “Are we gonna talk about what happened in Argyncia?”

Rosie sighed and stared out the window. “Do we have to?”

“Which part?” Sylvie replied, frowning.

“You know which part,” Claudine edged. She tapped her nails on the steering wheel while Rosie turned back to stare at her.

“What are you talking about.”

“Sylvie knows.”

“I was there too, and I’m confused.”

“You had a fucking spear through your stomach. I’m not surprised you missed it.”

Sylvie’s realisation clicked, and she swallowed as the other two continued to bicker.

“What the hell are you talking about? Spit it out, would you?”

“The shift!” Claudine grated, her eyes flitting between Sylvie in the rearview mirror and a confused Rosie at her side.

“She fucking shifted, Rose. But not a proper one. It was like she was frozen between shifting.”

Sylvie buried her burning cheeks beneath her palms as she rubbed her temples. Of course, Claudine had ulterior motives for the ride.

Rosie shifted in her chair and peeked beneath the headrest gap. “What is she talking about?”

Sylvie groaned and shrugged. “I don’t know, okay. It was weird.”

“Please. I missed it!”

Clicking her tongue, Sylvie leaned forward and pushed the headrest down, blocking Rosie’s eye line.

“Hey!”

“I’ll tell you, just stop staring into my soul.”

“Fine.”

“I don’t know how it happened, but when I saw you and Nat, I just got so angry that my body just... changed.”

“So that must’ve been your trigger.”

Rosie’s voice was full of wonder as Sylvie shrugged and made unsure noises. “That’s it. And I can mind-link.”

Really?

“Yes, and I’m not doing it now. It gives me a headache.”

“Woah.” Rosie hummed and wiggled in her chair as if a question danced on her lips.

“What is it now?” Sylvie groaned.

“I think I know what you are.”

Claudine pulled the car to the side of the road and turned off the ignition. “What? Don’t give me that look. I don’t want to miss her explanation. She’s like a walking atlas.”

Rosie lifted the headrest again so they could see each other, and a smile tugged her lips.

“You’re a Lycan.”

“What? No, she isn’t-”

“She is!”

“Lycans are extinct.”

“Well, obviously not, ’cause there’s one in your back seat.”

Sylvie just threw her head back and groaned to the roof as they argued again, the noise making a headache blossom behind her eyes.

“Rosie?” she asked with a sigh.

“Okay, so Lycans were like predecessors to shifters. The Fates were said to curse— although in your case, it’s totally a gift— humans who were... Uh... bad.”

“Great-”

“I said it was a gift! Lycans predate the shifters by centuries, and some lore suggests we evolved from them. At least, that’s what Amira told me. The transformation is usually tied to negative emotion, which adds up with your experience.” She trailed off at the end and rubbed her arms. “I wish I saw it.”

“Maybe next time,” Claudine suggested despite Syvlie’s chagrin. It would be nice if there was no next time, but wishful thinking never got her anywhere in the past.

“Can we go now? I’m hungry.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Claudine restarted the car and drove the last ten minutes in relative silence. The town bustled and buzzed just like the last time Sylvie had gone, bringing back memories. Bad at the time, but good now.

“Last time I was here, I had nightmares because of the bond with Rowan. It’s crazy how much things have changed.”

Rosie chuckled. “Yeah, you really messed him up.”

Claudine scoffed. “He turned into a menace. I knew he and I would never actually be together, but when you appeared, he blanked me at every opportunity.”

Sylvie exhaled a short laugh as she climbed from the car, pulling a woven tote over her shoulder. “He hated me back then.”

“Are you kidding? The sounds he was making-” Rosie broke into uncontrollable laughter. “I mean to the untrained ear, it might’ve sounded like hate, but I know he had it bad.”

Sylvie laughed and shook her head, marching to the nearest shop, a charity op-shop, and Rosie followed. Claudine fluffed around near the car for a few minutes before jogging over to join them. The worker at the till smiled and waved at the three as they filed in and searched for the clothing racks.

“Hi! Need any help today?”

“No, thank you,” Rosie said with a beaming smile, but Sylvie noticed the sadness behind her eyes.

“Alright. Just holler if you need me!”

They fingered through the musty rack pulling a few items that may or may not fit, some pants, shirts, even a slinky dress for who knew what and headed for the changing rooms. At least half of the items fit, and Sylvie headed for the till, eyes bugging at the cost or lack thereof.

“Why do you look so surprised?” Rosie asked as they left the shop. “It’s not a boutique.”

“I know, but it was so cheap!”

Claudine rolled her eyes and pushed some items into her tote. “Well, let’s go find somewhere a little more your scene then.”

They headed inside the mall and bought a new wardrobe with Elias’ credit card. A pang on her mate marks made her giggle, and she rubbed it soothingly. Hopefully, he wouldn’t mind, at least not after he saw the new lingerie his money bought her.

Loading the car with their haul, she sat in the back seat with the muffin she got from the fairy cafe. She picked at it with her freshly manicured fingers and smiled as Rosie slumped in the front seat. “Well, that was eventful.”

“Mhmm,” she hummed.

“We done?” Claudine asked.

Sylvie buckled herself in and nodded. “Yeah, let’s go home.”

“Missing your mates, are you?”

“Shut up.”

By the time they got home, Rosie and Sylvie were almost asleep, the day’s exertion taking its toll.

A sharp inhalation from Claudine and tightening her fists around the steering wheel woke Sylvie up completely, her head swivelling between the windows.

“What is it?”

“Somethings wrong.”