The Betrayal

Chapter Fourteen

Shock.

That's all I was feeling.

Not only was I wondering why he marked me, but why he hadn't taken his teeth out of my flesh yet. After placing my hands on his chest, I stepped forward and pushed him away. My hand instantly went to my neck to see if I was bleeding.

No blood was left on my hand, yet the mark was sore already. I could feel the indents of his canines on my skin. It was the first scar I have gotten since ascending and all I could think about was if it was going to go away.

"What the fuck?!" I screamed, glaring into his brown eyes.

His shoulders slouched as if biting me relieved the stress and tension inside of him and then he sighed. A smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

After a few moments of silence, the front door slammed open and Valerio stood with a knot between his eyebrows. His eyes flickered from him to me and when he noticed the mark on my neck, his eyes widened. "Luca, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

Valerio quickly grabbed my wrist and pulled me next to him.

Once Luca came down from the daze he was in, a full-on grin spread across his face. He took a step towards me, but Valerio stepped forward, jerked on Luca's collar, and pushed him up against the house.

"Oh, come on Valerio. Don't act like this. All I was doing was marking her," Luca spoke.

Valerio glanced between us, the tension in his jaw loosening just a bit. "Did she say you could mark her?"

I stepped forward. "No." I crossed my arms over my chest. Sure, I still liked Luca, but that didn't mean I wanted him marking me, especially now after I promised Damon I wouldn't hurt him again by doing anything with Luca.

He mumbled to himself, shaking his head. "Mae... I don't understand you. You say one thing and then you act a whole other way. Before the ascension, you told me you wanted me. You told me you loved me, but now you're acting like this?"

"Acting like what? You're the one who won't tell me what's going on with you and expect me to still love you when you're constantly going behind my back and then you go on and mark me!"

"Can you just let that go? I told you I am trying to work on myself, so I could be better for you. What don't you understand about that?"

"I don't understand why you have to keep it a secret. I have a much greater responsibility now. As much as I love you, I can't constantly be worrying about what you're doing when you start acting suspicious. I have bigger problems than this. I understand that you need privacy, but I just can't fathom why you can't tell me something that seems to be taking up all of your time."

He rolled his eyes. "Do you remember how much shit I've been through? Mae, you can't just fuck up my emotions all the time," he said, basically just ignoring everything I just said.

"Stop," Valerio demanded. "Stop using your mate's rejection of you as an excuse to do anything you want. We've all been through shit. Damon's been through a lot worse and he hasn't marked Mae yet and they're mates. You and Mae are not mates. Yes, I understand that you love her, but she's not your property. She's not anyone's property. Understand that Luca."

"Does Damon know that? You really think Damon doesn't think Mae is his?"

"Yes," Valerio answered.

"That's a load of bullshit."

My eyebrows furrowed together. Why was he acting like this all of the sudden? "He doesn't think of me as an object," I spoke up. "He used to. I know he did, but he's changing. I was going to let him mark me the other night but he stopped himself because he knew I still had feelings for you, but... I don't know how to feel about our situation right now..." I stated.