Infected Blood

Chapter Seven

He quickly came over to me, admiring me almost as I was to him. Neither of us have seen another serpent in years- for me it's one outside of family. I know he will accept me.

"You are dying," he frowned, circling once more and stopping right in front of me- our faces were close and I felt secure with him... just like I did with the Alpha, "can I save you?"

His question struck me, placing his hand in mine and I looked him over. He was very attractive- just not as attractive as Tiago- but I surely wouldn't mind if he saved me.

To answer his question, I nodded and he squeezed my hand to reassure me. He placed his forehead on mine and my veins flushed, it was physically relieving to feel.

"You're going to be fine," he smiled, inching closer and our bodies were touching at this point, "I'm going to save you."

I nodded, "do whatever you have to," I said, leaning into him and allowing my tail to intertwine into his then knot together tightly so nothing separates us- if we were broken up during the act it could result in death to the one who intervened.

In our natural forms, the way we mate is so much different than human form. The process is much more meaningful so normally we wouldn't give it up so carelessly but in times of desperation when we are the only two that we know of in existence... it's a perfectly normal reaction to have.

I'm not sure how it's done, but I've heard it's a very strange, vulgar, process with little to no pain.

We gently started kissing, our tails tightened more- almost becoming numb- and he held my hand with one and used the other to shove inside my chest to grasp my heart.

It didn't hurt, but it made me uncomfortable knowing he could kill me if he made a single wrong move.

I trusted him, we are the same.

Throughout our species, trust is easy and strong. We all trust another like we knew each other our whole lives even if we just met them, it's just how we are- we aren't known for killing the same species... ever.

I squeezed his hand as his nails grazed my heart and he stopped our kiss but kept our noses touching- his gorgeous purple eyes staring into mine to calm me down.

Those eyes... they reminded me of my childhood.

"It's okay," he whispered, "I'm almost done," he added, I was too nervous to answer so I reconnected our mouths and not a few moments later he pulled his hand out of my chest and I healed instantly.

Then he wrapped his hand around my neck to get a deeper kiss, his fangs sunk into my bottom lip and he injected his venom into my system- the amount of pleasure I received left me in complete ecstasy.

I felt my body changing into my full form after so it must've been the finish and I was relieved to be finally mated.

It was so in the moment, we continued to make-out but soon we came to a stop.

He released his tail from mine and moved back, seeing my actual full appearance and was bewildered at what he saw.

"Oh my god... I know you," he was staring wide eyes at me, shock and amazement twinkling in his gorgeous eyes while he grabbed my jaw as if analyzing my features better, "Katerina?"

As soon as my name left his mouth, my body froze and the memory hit me like a truck.

"Kate! I finally finished the process after three years! I can't wait for you to find a boyfriend, you're going to love him. Draco is my entire world and I don't know what I'd do without him..." she sighed dreamily, they hugged each other and I gave them a poor smile.

"Of course, I'm so happy for you guys!" I faked a happy tone, she laughed and they kissed in love.

"Thank you! Besides, you're only fourteen! You have many years to find someone! Hell, I got lucky to get one at twelve," she smiled, snuggling into Draco.

I was always jealous of my best friend and her boyfriend...

"Draco?" I snapped back, the reality setting in around me and only then did I realize I just mated to my dead best friend's boyfriend. I never felt so guilty of something in my life.

"I swear I did not know who you were! You've changed so much- you also were on the verge of death so you looked even more different!" He defended, "I never would've- god, I was just trying to save you because you're like me. I've just been on a search for others to rebuild our species and create a pack, I swear I didn't know it was you or else I never would've said those things to you."

He scrambled through his words, awkward silence took over real quick after that and we both avoided each other's eyes.

"Anyway... looks like you never got a boyfriend," he broke the silence and I scowled at his words, looking up at him and he saw my expression- biting his cheeks as I whacked him in the face.

The slap sounded weird, we were quiet for a moment more but all the tension faded away when we burst into laughs and forgot about the horrible memories of the past.

We were still friends, regardless of our mating session a few minutes ago that meant nothing. Draco and I were always childhood friends, we were best friends before we met my other best friend- Liliana.

"Yeah! I've gotten worse than that," I said, "I'm destined to be with a furry friend!"

His eyes widened in pure shock and all our humor went away, "no f*****g way! That's never been heard of! They'll kill us both without thinking twice."

I shook my head at him, "oh, it's much worse than just any wolf. I'm fated to an Alpha- Alpha Tiago!"

The name made him squirm, "if that's true, how are you even alive? He killed all of us, does he know about you? If so, did you run away before he decided to kill you? Is that why you're on his land?"

A frown crossed my face, I fell back to the grass and stared up at the sky through the trees and he did the same next to me.

"His third command actually told him, so he does know," I admitted, "he hasn't hurt me- but he doesn't want me as his mate. He hates my guts- Joey's too- we snuck into his land and didn't follow a single order from him, of course he lost his patience with us. He refused to kill me so he must have got to Joey while I was fighting for my life at his feet- who is probably dead at his hands by now, he was barely alive and imprisoned last I knew."

Draco's head snapped over to look at mine, "Joey is alive? How the f**k did Tiago not kill you two just for being so secretive and disobedient to him? That's big, Kate... there's something there you aren't seeing."

"Like what?" I sighed, sitting up and he looked at me weirdly.

"He has a soft spot for you, do you not see? He would've killed you immediately if you were me- or anyone else for that matter," he said, following my actions and sitting up as well, "Tiago is horrible, for him to keep you alive after you told him says a lot. For him to allow Joey to live is just mind blowing on its own... Joey means nothing to him- not like you do. That man must damn near love you- it just perplexes me that he never hurt you. You're his childhood nightmares, the very thing he loathes as a grown man- the thing he won't stop hunting until there's not a trace left. Who would've known you could change such a cruel man- a girl that is everything he hates?"

I took in his words, thinking everything over. Does Tiago really care for me? Is he just too afraid to express it? Or is he just pulling my strings?

He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me in, "either way, we shouldn't be here much longer- they'll come for us."

Nodding, I slowly realized something.

"Wait... why are you so close to Tiago's pack anyway?" I asked, slithering away from him and he followed. We continued our journey to nowhere until we found water, where we knew we were safe before he answered my question.

"I was coming to do what should've been done in the first place, killing him," he replied, the both of us slipping into the water and no longer able to be spotted, "for killing everyone I loved and knew. His pain was so strong so I figured it would be easy to take him now, I could spot exactly where he was and that's when I ran into you."

"Woah- wait- he's in pain?" I questioned, Draco gave me a strange look.

"You don't sense it? His pain feels like it belongs to me, that's how strong it is," he said, swimming downstream as did I and his reply just worried me.

"Why can't I sense it?" I panicked, he slapped me with his tail and shook his head.

"You're more aware of his pain than you realize," he pointed out, our stomachs a hair above the sand on the bottom, "the pain you feel now, the pain you're expressing about him- it's not your pain. That's his. You're his mate which makes it worse so for me to feel like this about it must mean you firmly believe it's your pain- but it's simply not."

My mouth opened to respond but I saw something jump the river- a deer. It must mean we are out of wolf territory for deer to live around here so with that discovery, Draco and I emerged from the water and into a cave by the river side.

It seemed like we came out right around the border of the woods but neither of us cared, we just went a little deeper in and arrived at a place that seemed like where he was staying.

"Welcome to my home, I guess," he laughed and I noticed everything he ever owned was here, in a slim cave that nobody would ever think to go in because of fear of getting stuck. I guess being half snake has it's perks.

"It's warm and cozy, amazing too! How did you even find it? And why so close to Tiago's land?" I asked, he went behind a homemade shower curtain hanging on a stick, closing it with his tail- it was filthy but it works.

"Funny story: Tiago's Beta and third command almost killed me, I slipped in here and they must've overlooked it because they didn't even try to get in... they probably didn't even see me come in here," I heard him laugh, then bones shifting and I watched as a few moments later he emerged from behind the curtain- clothed in human form.

Wow.