The Dark Ones (The Dark Ones Saga 1)

"You promised."

He reached for my hand.

When I didn't take it, he straddled me and pinned my arms to the mattress. "Ten minutes. You promised. In ten minutes, I'll release you. Not a second sooner."

"Get. Off."

"He can still take you from me — like he took her."

"She chose herself, not him."

Ethan nodded sadly. "Yes."

I struggled against him, but he was too strong.

"Ten minutes, Genesis."

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Ethan

HER EYES WERE GREEN.

Just like mine.

I felt her emotions like they were my own — relived the entire thing as if I was killing Ara all over again.

She'd done the unthinkable. She'd not only lied to her mate but cheated on him and produced a child with that lie. I knew Genesis wouldn't understand. But I also knew trying to get her to understand while she was still trembling from shock wouldn't do any good.

"You didn't have to kill her." Genesis's voice was hollow, her eyes still blazing green.

"I did." I touched my forehead to hers. "Because if I didn't, Cassius would have."

"She slept with Cassius?"

"He never said." I sighed. "He never admitted it. The child was — not normal."

"Not normal?"

"She wasn't a vampire."

"What was she?"

"I don't know," I whispered. "Perhaps I'll never know — maybe that was Cassius's way of protecting me, of protecting my bloodline, my reputation, though it hardly mattered once everyone discovered my mate was suddenly dead."

"But…" The green of her eyes started to fade. "Is that what would happen to me if I left you?"

"No." My hands shook holding her down; from showing her the memory, my strength had been depleted. If I didn't feed, I was going to sleep for the next fifteen hours. "Humans are turned immortal after they produce a child, a gift we bestow upon them."

"So she should have lived."

"I killed her before she could accept the gift because Cassius was right. She was going mad with a lust for power. Had I given her immortality, I would have created a monster."

"You still killed her."

"I loved her too much to let Cassius do it — loved her too much to turn her into a monster. She wasn't made for it. She was one of the first humans to start… showing effects of the imbalance. A part of me believes it's my fault that the humans keep dying."

"What are you saying?"