17. Rosalie

17

ROSALIE

I pace in the cell. I've eaten most of the food from the mini fridge, and now I'm just waiting for my fate. It's fifty-eight minutes until sunset. I've barely slept, and every second that ticks down, my fear climbs higher. Marcus is going to feed from me, and there won't be any bad-tasting drugs left in my blood to stop him.

What if he loses control and kills me?

What if he doesn't?

I've run the fantasy through my mind a thousand times that Cooper somehow finds and rescues me. But Marcus said he won't be able to, and even if he could, he wouldn't want me now that a vampire has tainted me.

It's so medieval. Like I'm some despoiled virgin—unwanted because I'm not pure. Some other supernatural creature's fangs have pierced my throat first, and now… what? He wouldn't want me anymore? So much for fated mates, I guess.

This fills me with so much shame. I can't even blame Cooper. I spent so much time railing against my fate that I didn't stop to consider that he's someone I would have chosen if the choice had been free. And now… this new fate turns out to be too bitter a pill.

Fifty-five minutes. I think I'm going to vomit. There's no way out of this cell. It's just a solid concrete room with a locked door and a guard on the other side. Before the sun came up, the vampire guard was switched out for a human. I heard them talking just outside the door, but I only heard enough to understand it was just a shift change.

Even if I could get out, I couldn't get away. I've tried so hard to keep it together, not to cry. Because if I start, I won't be able to stop.

I'm startled out of my fear and regret by the sound of something banging hard against the door. I take several steps back as if there's anywhere for me to run to in this cell. A second later the door swings inward. Blood drips down the metal surface. My gaze follows the blood trail down to the unconscious—or dead—human guard on the ground.

I look back up.

"Rosalie."

"Cooper." I can't even be mad that he didn't warn me about the vampires. I know I should be, but I'm just so happy to see him, and I hope with everything inside me that I'm not just dreaming all this—some last desperate fantasy before the hell really begins.

Please let this be real.

He walks into the cell and shuts the door behind him. His mating scent fills the cell, overwhelming me with a white hot blast of need. Before I can say anything, he's got me pressed against the stone wall, his mouth covering mine. I gasp against his invading tongue as his hands roam down my body. Is it really possible this is our first ever kiss?

I've had so many vivid dreams, so many sensations, and yet, this is the first time his lips have caressed over mine, the first time he's devoured me like this—like I am his only sustenance.

He pushes away from me to pull his shirt over his head. I'm hypnotized briefly by the black tribal tattoos on his chest and arms and the way his sleek muscles flex and contract as though putting on a show explicitly for my hungry gaze.

I glance at the red digital numbers counting down—fifty-two minutes—as he starts to kiss and suck on my neck. He runs his tongue over my collarbone. Wetness floods my panties in response to his increasingly possessive touch. I want to straddle his leg and ride it… I just need anything touching me where I need it right now. But I have to think.

I push him away, breathless. "Cooper… we need to get out of here."

He shakes his head. The look in his eyes is harder and more resolute than I've ever seen it.

"No. I don't want to be a monster with you, Rosalie, but I should have claimed you the second I had you alone in my human form. You will not be safe until this is done. And as your mate I refuse to put you in any more danger. Hate me if you must, but this is happening."

"But… does it have to be here?"

My gaze drops to his hands as he unbuttons his jeans and shoves them down. He's not wearing underwear, and I gasp as his stiff thick erection springs free from his pants.

"Yes, Rosalie." A growl escapes his chest. And I feel the bear near the surface, straining to break free with the coming moon. "We don't have time to go anywhere else. We need to get this done now , and get you safe."

Just the romantic words a girl longs to hear.

"But… Marcus…" I say, trying one last time to bring him back to reason.

Cooper's eyes glow golden as his mouth possessively claims mine again—an animal sound rumbling out of his chest. "He's dead until the sun sets. It's not just that he can't be in the sun. He's not even ambulatory right now. We're safe until then."

I don't ask if he killed the rest of the vampire's human servants. I know he did.

Fifty minutes.

I look back to Cooper and find pleading in his amber gaze.

"I have to do this before I shift again. The bear is crazed, and… I just need you to be safe. Please don't make me a monster. Don't fight me anymore."

My hands shake as I remove my t-shirt. I see the animal staring out at me from behind Cooper's eyes—greedily drinking me in. More and more of his humanity seems to ebb away by the moment.

He nods with approval. "Good girl."

I catch the glint of fangs in his mouth when he speaks.

I work on my jeans while he unhooks my bra. I arch up against his groping hands as he strokes and kneads my breasts. His tongue swirls over each nipple, causing them to pebble into hard points, and I can't hold back the whimper.

"Get on the mattress," he says. His voice has gone down a register, his wildness nearly overtaking him.

"Cooper…"

" Now , Rosalie."

I'm completely exposed as I lie on the mattress under the harsh lighting of the cell, but I don't have time to be self-conscious.

Forty-three minutes.

I expect him to just thrust into me, but he takes his time, licking and nibbling and sucking his way down my body. His fangs graze my flesh, creating a blurry line between what hurts and what feels good.

Goosebumps rise up behind his trailing tongue, and then I arch up off the mattress, a soft cry escaping my throat as he drags his wet tongue slowly over my sex.

My hands find their way into his hair as I ride his mouth. Fuck why weren't we doing this before? Only a vampire's thrall could make rappelling down a thirty story building sound like a better idea than Cooper's tongue on my pussy.

"Come for me," he growls against my sex, his low gravel voice rumbling against my flesh.

"Please, Cooper…"

"Come," he growls. "Now."

He pushes a finger inside me as his tongue works my clit, and I obey his command, babbling nonsensically, saying words that probably don't even exist as he chuckles against my mound.

"Good girl, now beg me to fuck you."

"Please… Please…" I whine.

I can't remember any other words. But this is good enough for him.

He flips me to my hands and knees, and I get a quick mental flash of my fantasies from back on the dance floor.

"I'm sorry we can't have an audience for this," he says, and I know… he put those images in my head that night.

I gasp when he fully seats himself inside me. I clutch at the bare mattress, trying to find purchase, anything to grab onto as he rides me without mercy.

His cock stretches me to my limit, and I know I won't be able to go on without his dick after today. He grabs a fistful of my hair, dragging me up to him. I cry out when his fangs pierce my throat.

"Mine," he growls in my ear as he pulls away. He's still fucking me, still driving me over the edge. "Say it," he demands.

"Yours. I'm yours," the words come out a soft whimper, but he hears them.

And then he's soothing the sting away with his tongue, petting my hair as he spills inside me. I suddenly feel the energetic connection between us, like a glowing cord, and the rightness of Cooper and me seems completely inevitable—written in the stars. It seems impossible that I could have ever questioned it. I just… know . And I realize this is what he's felt this entire time—the absolute certainty that no other person will ever be enough.

He finally releases me and lies down. He pulls me against his body, and I let out a long sigh and stare up at the ceiling of the cell.

That was… well, okay, then. That was shifter sex. I need a moment to process all this.

We lay together panting, my heartbeat slowly returning to a normal, steady rhythm. I press my hand against the side of my throat where he bit me and sealed the wound. My fingertips trail over the puckered mark from his fangs. The vampire's bite didn't leave a mark like this.

"There will always be a scar. I marked you hard. I dare any otherworld creature to fuck around and find out again." Cooper says, a little too proudly. He gets up and gets dressed. "We've got to get to the forest."

I glance up at the timer. Thirty-two minutes until sunset. I get up and get dressed and we run together to Cooper's waiting Jeep.

The sun dips lower in the sky as we drive toward the forest breaking all reasonable speed limits.

"Will he come after us?" I ask, wondering if we're fleeing to the forest just so Cooper can shift or if there's some additional safety from the vampire there.

Cooper shakes his head. "He'll be able to smell what happened in the cell. You aren't fully human anymore, and vampires only feed from humans. He won't chase us. There's no point. And vampires hate nature."

I clench and unclench my hands in my lap. Now that the immediate threat of Marcus is gone, I have bigger fears.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

I swallow around the lump in my throat. "Nothing, just drive."

But my anxiety climbs with each passing mile.

"Goddammit Rosalie, what's wrong?"

"I'm scared. I don't know if I can handle it."

"Handle what?"

"Turning into a bear," I say softly.

"What??" He takes his eyes off the road to look at me.

"Cooper, the road!"

He swerves to get us back on course. After another minute he says, "You won't turn into a bear."

"But you bit me and said I'm not fully human."

"You aren't. You're a bear shifter's mate. There are all sorts of physiological changes going on within you, but becoming a shifter isn't one of them. Shifters are born, not made."

"But… you said when you bit me I would stop aging."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I can turn you into a bear ." He says this like I was completely absurd for even thinking it. "The mating bond ties you to me in a way that shares some of my life force and power with you. The effects are strongest for a human mate. So you'd still be a human... but with upgrades."

"What kind of upgrades?" The tension starts to drain out of me, but I'm still wary.

"Much longer lifespan, slower aging, robust health, quicker healing time, a lot more physical strength, more than a human male."

"But less than you?"

"Well only because I'm a shifter, and you're not."

"Oh. So, no pain every month? I mean… shifting pain, obviously as a woman I…"

"You won't have that either."

"I won't have a period?" Maybe I should have signed on to the bear shifter life mate plan earlier.

He chuckles. "No, I mean it won't hurt. All the little health problems that cause painful periods won't exist for you anymore."

I'm speechless as I let this sink in.

"See? There are benefits to being a shifter's mate." He winks at me.

"So… I could walk alone at night?" I've never been able to walk alone at night my whole life.

Cooper shrugs. "I mean, yeah. With the bond, I'd know if you were in trouble. I would still advise not going places even grown men won't go alone at night. It's not total invincibility. But it's a huge upgrade. Is that why you didn't want to be mated? Because you thought you'd have to shift?"

"One of the reasons."

"You know I'm going to mock you mercilessly for the rest of our lives about this, right?"

I punch him in the arm.

"Careful, now. You don't know your own strength anymore." But I know he's just teasing me.

We're still a few miles away from the forest when Cooper pulls to the side of the road.

"Why are we stopping?"

"I'm about to shift. I'm not going to make it. You're going to have to drive the rest of the way."

He gets out and opens the hatchback, pushing the seats down flat.

"Cooper, I can't drive with a bear in the car!"

"You'll have to. It'll be dark. I can lie down and you can cover me with those blankets." He points to some flannel blankets on the floor and doubles over in pain.

"But, bears are heavy and huge!"

"I've been in the Jeep in my bear form before. It's more space than you think, and it can handle twelve hundred pounds of cargo. I'm way less than that."

The sun disappears as the full darkness emerges, and Cooper runs into the wooded area a few yards away. I hear the horrible crunching and sounds of pain as his body breaks apart and reforms into the bear.

A wolf howls in the distance and I shiver, wondering if it's a shifter or just a regular wolf. A few minutes later Cooper emerges and climbs into the back of the Jeep. He barely fits. I cover him with the blankets and shut the door.

We've been driving a few minutes when I say, "Cooper, can you fully understand me as a bear?" I mean I think he can. I don't know why I ask, it's not as though he can answer.

Yes, Rosalie.

I feel his thoughts push into my mind.

"Okay, I'm kind of starving," I say.

He makes a chuffing sound from the backseat that sounds suspiciously like laughter. I'll steal us some stuff from the gas station.

I think back, remembering the deli sandwiches he brought the first night when I ran from him. "Is that safe? What if they shoot you?"

I wouldn't die. But they won't shoot me. They made a whole Youtube channel about me. I'll show it to you when we get back home.

I'm not sure if he's serious about the Youtube channel or not.

"Cooper?"

Yeah?

"Thank you for coming for me."

It wasn't even a question. You're my mate.

His paw is stretched out on the arm rest next to me, and I put my hand on top of his paw.

Ten minutes later, we reach our destination, and I help him out of the Jeep. The night is beautiful and serene, the full moon lighting the parking lot. An owl hoots in the distance, and a small creature scampers through the leaves. The crickets begin their nightly symphony, and I hear the water flowing in a creek nearby.

I turn to Cooper and have the sudden urge to stroke his furry head. He closes his eyes and lets out a chuff as my fingers trail through his fur. It seems like a lifetime ago instead of only a month since I was lost in the woods thinking about the question of man or bear.

It's really not even a question. The answer is obvious. It was always obvious.

We share a brief psychic moment, and then I walk back into the forest with the bear.