ONYX MOON

T W E N T Y - S I X

XENOS 

As soon as Alessia's breathing even out, my eyes popped open and I shifted on my back. 

I winced as one of the wounds, the one closest to my heart, pulled at my barely knitted together skin as I turned. 

Cursing out those dumbasses that shot at me, I gritted my teeth as the pain radiated down my abdomen and making all the other open wounds sting like a bitch. 

I froze completely as Alessia shifted in bed, inching closer to me. 

A breath stuttered completely from my chest when one of Alessia's slender arms wound around my waist, curling her small hand underneath my back and leaving it there, stilling as she fell back asleep. 

I turned my head to the side and stared at her, gazing at her delicate and serene features, features that were familiar yet so foreign to me at this time. 

She's never been this peaceful around me, never truly let her guard down around any of us. 

This was such a foreign feeling for me, especially considering that I've been alive for a long time, and done virtually everything under the sun. 

The tightness in my chest, which had everything to do with the woman sleeping right next to me and not from those fucktards attack, was a feeling that equally comforted and frightened me. 

This Mate Bond was something I should have never underestimated because it was surprisingly very powerful for two people whose conversations always ended up in an argument. 

Also, considering with how much Alessia loathed me with a passion (her words, not mine) I was surprised with how hard this Bond was affecting not only me but her too. 

Because the Alessia from a day ago would have rather chopped both arms off and feed them to sharks before she laid a single pinky on me...or share the same bed as I did. 

"You're no good for her" my inner voice sneered "You're going to destroy her just like you've destroyed the other ones..." 

I tore my gaze from Alessia's beautiful face, ashamed at my thoughts for the future. 

I quickly squashed that emotion down, having no right to that minuscule glimpse of hope my heart was holding on, knowing that no matter what I did or how hard I tried, I would eventually end up destroying the goodness that was Alessia Jane. 

And I couldn't do that to her...

She didn't deserve the type of baggage that I carried. 

She deserved someone who could provide her with unconditional love, someone who lived, breathed, and only thought of her. Someone who was safe and stable and could give her the world. Not someone who would only bring havoc and pain to her life.