The Dark Ones (The Dark Ones Saga 1)

He was pointing at my cheeks. I was sure they matched my dress. I'd just yelled at an immortal, threatened bodily harm, and he was laughing.

Mason removed Alex's hand from mine and took my arm. "Let's go, beautiful."

The attention, the compliments, the nicknames — they were too much. It was the opposite of what I'd expected, meaning, it was like being made fun of. Like I was naked for the class picture. It was embarrassing, being told I was beautiful when I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that I paled in comparison to the ugliest of immortals.

"Did I say something wrong?" Mason asked once we were in his truck driving toward downtown. "You seem… upset."

My fingers slowly caressed the rich leather seats. I don't know what I expected him to drive, but a brand new GMC truck didn't really fit the image I'd had of werewolves.

"Um, no…" I lied. "It's nothing."

"You seem sad."

"Just… in shock, still."

"It will fade," Mason said in a calm voice. "It always does. My own mate, well, she…" His voice cracked. "She had a hard time at first."

"Was her number called?"

His eyes were black; it was hard to see where his pupils started and ended as he gazed at me then back at the road. "Yes."

"And you loved her?"

"Of course." He said it so quickly I didn't doubt him for one second. "With my entire life, my soul, my existence, I loved her."

"Loved."

"She simply…" His voice was hoarse. "She simply didn't wake up one morning. The evening before we'd been talking about children. The next morning she was cold."

"Mason…" I reached across the seat and grabbed his hand. "I'm so sorry."

He clenched my hand in his and brought it to his lips; his rough kiss across my knuckles warmed me from the inside out.

"It's not your fault."

"But…" My mind whirled. "I could change that? I could make it so that doesn't happen anymore?"

He was quiet for a while. "Possibly, but there's no way to know."

"So I live past a certain year, and what? We're home free?"

The truck pulled up to one of the hotels in downtown Seattle. It was newer, a boutique hotel right on the water. "Ethan wouldn't like me discussing such things with you. I'll allow him to explain."

"But—"

"That's all I'll say," he growled. "Now, let's go show you off to your mate."

The mate who hadn't even driven me to the Gathering?

The mate who hadn't spoken to me all day?

The same mate who'd looked like he wanted to shake me to death earlier that morning?

Great.

I choked back the fear at being in a room with possibly hundreds of immortals —in a room with Cassius himself — and followed Mason out of the truck.

He grabbed my hand again. I ducked against him, allowing his body to shield me.