Page 30 of Unforeseen Mate

“You failed to mention that bite thing,” she said as he kissed what she was sure would be a mark that would last forever.

“My bad,” he chuckled.

Fallon knew she’d been manipulated, but manipulated in a way that left her shivering with rapture in its aftermath. Hayden lifted her off his cock and laid her down in the bed, crawling under the covers to lie close to her, basking in warmth and contentment. He settled on his back and kissed the side of her forehead, drawing her close.

“Sleep now, beloved,” he said, drawing his hand over her eyes. “Do not fear, for I will be with you in this life and the next and no power in the universe will take you from me.”

CHAPTER 13

HAYDEN

As the light in the Hollow began to take hold, Hayden eased himself from the bed. Lying in his embrace, Fallon had fallen deeply asleep for the first time, he suspected, since her ordeal as Strode’s prisoner had begun. Once she was transitioned, Hayden would make the dragon-shifter pay for what he had done to her. But first, he would ensure that she had a peaceful transition and that her new physiology healed her completely.

He pulled down the covers and watched as her wound continued to slowly repair itself—knitting together before his eyes as her color improved. He rested his hand on her forehead and cheeks, leaning down to kiss her. The fever that had been as much a threat to her life as the wound was receding. Her skin was much cooler to the touch. The claiming bite was at work. She would recover and live.

There was a quiet knock on the door. It wasn’t unexpected; Hayden had just hoped to have more time with her. He drew the covers up to hide her nakedness and answered the door. As he’d thought it would be, it was Oslo.

“Alpha, I hate to disturb you…” Oslo started.

“But you’re going to do it, anyway.”

“The healer has let it be known that you have a half-dead human female with you.”

“The healer is an old gossip and rumormonger who should keep his opinions to himself. My mate is not half-dead, not even close, and she is human no longer,” said Hayden with derision.

“You claimed her?”

“As is my right as alpha. You, yourself, have been chiding me to take a mate—that as alpha it is my duty.”

“I expected you to pick from one of our female hellhounds.”

Hayden snorted. “Unfortunately, your expectations surrounding my mate were not something to which I gave much thought. Fallon is my fated mate. As such, I have returned to the Hollow and claimed her. As for being half-dead, take news to the healer that he was wrong. She is growing stronger by the minute as death’s clammy hands release their grip and give way to her strength.”

Oslo stepped closer, but not in an aggressive way. “Human females have always been forbidden.”

“Nonsense. Had Hades not taken Persephone…”

“Persephone was a Greek goddess—the daughter of Zeus and Demeter.”

“So some say,” admitted Hayden. “But then, that was a long time ago. Who is to say who was who? For all we really know, Hades created the whole myth about her origins to make her more palatable to the other Greek gods. Our own legends say Hades and Persephone were the parents of the original hellhounds who could shift from man to otherworldly beast.”

“This is not going to sit well with the other warriors or with those above. Think about it. If you can claim a human, why can’t they?”

“If the human involved consents to be claimed, I don’t know that I have much of an objection. You know as well as I do that our numbers are dwindling and we need new, fresh blood. Whatpossible difference can it make whether that new blood is human or some supernatural creature? Surely a human is better than, say, a vampire or a gargoyle.”

“I don’t think you are taking this seriously.”

“I take anyone seriously who wants to challenge me for my right as alpha or my right as a warrior to claim my fated mate. Before they do that, however, they might want to check with the reaper who tried to do so.”

Oslo groaned. “Please tell me you didn’t challenge a reaper over her soul.”

“No; he challenged me, and she was still using it. She may have been weak, but she wasn’t dead, and despite what the healer believed, my mate is strong and getting more so by the moment.”

“I am your beta, and I will have your back in any fight. You just need to be prepared for some backlash. The others may not want a human in their midst.”

“But she is no longer human. She is every bit as much a hellhound as you or I. Even if I was willing to let her go, which I’m not, she can’t be banished from the Underworld or the Hollow. If she cannot return to renew the part of her that is hellhound, she will die. This place is as much a part of her as it is for us.”

“Cayetana seems to do perfectly well above ground. Perhaps that is another myth our parents made us believe.”

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