Page 12 of Marcello
I looked down at Abel. I knew what my world was like. He didn’t have a clue. “I have no doubt that you would make me happy and that I would do the same for you for a time. The newness of being mated would wear off quickly though. What would you feel for me when I come home covered in blood?” I asked. “I go through more clothing than most people, simply because they are ruined.”
“You said Master Nikolai used to not be as honest as he is. Maybe?—”
I shook my head, stopping his words. “I will never leave my family, Abel. I cannot. Not even for you.” I wasn’t true in the least. I would. In a heartbeat, I would leave and go somewhere with my adorable, precious angel. But unfortunately for us, my past would follow, and I was but one person. I could not protect my beloved forever. Not alone.
“All right. I won’t ask again,” Abel said quietly.
Those words broke my heart. Never had I expected that discovering my beloved would mean so much heartbreak.
“Abel!” someone shouted from outside in the hallway. I glanced down at my beloved and saw that his eyes were wide.
“The voice is familiar,” I said.
“It’s Master Edison.”
“Vincenzo!Ti ammazzerò!”
I grabbed Abel and pulled him behind me just as the door pushed open. My claws grew, and my eyes tinted as the createdwarlock and created vampire came rushing into my room. I hissed, which was probably not the smartest thing, but at the moment, there was an immediate threat to my beloved, and I was going to protect him with my life.
“Dov’è Vincenzo?” Master Ambrosius asked. His eyes were also tinted, and his claws were out.
A dragon came rushing into the room with a tiger shifter not far behind.
“Edison, my love, are ya forgettin’ something?”
“Wallace, tell him it’s not Marcello’s fault,” Abel said. He squirmed behind me, but there was no way I was going to let him go.
“What do ya mean, Abel? You are here and not at home in Montana, where you belong.”
I heard Abel scream seconds before he was simply gone from behind me. Without thinking, I charged at the others but found myself with a pair of claws wrapped around my throat, staring into red-tinted eyes.
“Do it,” I said without thought. “He’ll be better off without me.”
Master Ambrosius’s brow furrowed.
“Enough!”
“Marcello!” Abel came running back to me, and I was suddenly freed. I grabbed my neck, feeling the wetness there. “You hurt him!” Abel shouted before he balled his fists and whacked Master Ambrosius, who hissed, and a dragon roared.
“I said enough!”
The room froze and turned to look at the tall, slender man with dark hair and piercing blue eyes. “Abel, go to your mate,” he said.
Abel came rushing toward me, and when he plowed into me again, I wrapped my arms tightly around his lean body.
“Mate?” Master Edison asked. “Why would you match Abel with him?”
“Do you not believe that Marcello deserves a beloved?”
Abel’s body was shaking, and when I looked down at him, he was crying. I wrapped my hands around his face, tuning out everyone else in the room but my distressed beloved. This simply wouldn’t do. I gently lifted his face again and leaned down to kiss his forehead. “Shh,mio angelo.I am fine, see?” I said, hoping to calm him. In these moments, my fate had been chosen for me. I could not let Abel go. It was wrong and completely selfish of me, but I would give up everything so I could have him. I would be leaving with him to a new life elsewhere. One as far away from the only family I had ever known.
“You were bleeding. He was going to kill you,” Abel said. “I saw his claws go into your neck.”
I pulled him in and kissed his forehead again. “I’m fine,” I whispered. “It might be a bit messy, but it’s already healed.”
There was shouting from the others, and I pulled Abel to my side, hoping to not only explain certain things but also get an explanation.
“I can’t believe you matched Abel, of all people, with a corrupt vampire, Thomas,” Master Edison said. I met Mater Ambrosius’s cold eyes. He was wrapped up in his beloved’s arms, and I was certain it was only the dragon shifter’s hold on him that was keeping him across the room.
