Mateo Santiago Book 3

“Roman.”

His name came easy.

Tasted sweet on the tongue.

It felt like freedom.

Like I had finally seized the life I had been deprived.

Marissa had finally arrived.

Amid all of this chaos—the screams of terror, falling debris, flying dust, and blood—there came a moment when all time seemed to stop.

There was no sound. It was as if everything were frozen.

All I could see were their faces: expressions of surprise, confusion...anger.

How could I have known that I would fall for Roman, the Demon King of the Underworld?

I denied it at first, mostly because I didn’t want to complicate my bond and trust with Juniper and Starlet, but it became undeniable:

I wanted to stay in the Underworld. I wanted to be with Roman.

Now I had to hurt some of the only people who cared for me.

But my existence had become a slave to their will.

My life’s meaning inseparable from theirs.

At last, for the first time in memory, I had found joy of my own.

And I couldn’t let anyone or anything keep it from me.

I looked around at all the faces that were eyeing me like I was mad. I hadn’t mentioned this growing attraction to Roman to anyone.

The worst was Mateo’s. It wore some epic mix of hurt and rage. He looked like he wanted to cry and kill me at the same time.

I could feel Juniper in similar pain inside our shared body. She was fighting to regain control.

To scream out to her mate.

But then I looked over at Roman, and all the guilt I might have felt dissolved.

Even in all this chaos and confusion, I felt myself attracted to him, longing to be with him.

Our eyes met.

He mouthed to me, “Are you sure?”

I nodded back.

His gaze sent an electric tingle through my veins that helped me know I had made the right choice.

Even in that tense moment, a giddy smile lit up my face.

My heart had never responded to another person in this way.

It was so innocent. So pure.

Roman had scared me the first time I’d met him. But I could tell that behind his immediately imposing attitude was gentleness and strength.

And his strength gave me strength.

To speak out my truth.

To follow my heart.

To put myself first for the very first time.

After opening the Book of Originals and seeing all of the countless futures laid out in front of me, I couldn’t go back to being a passive participant.

It imbued me with a new sense of purpose.

And that purpose was surprisingly simple.

I wanted to be with Roman.

Nothing else mattered.

I snapped myself out of this trance and looked around me.

Everyone seemed frozen in their positions, scared to move lest they set off some sort of fiery explosion.

I knew that all eyes were on me, so I took a deep breath and sprinted over to my mate.

Roman’s face was battered—covered in nicks and minor lacerations that somehow made him look even sexier to me.

I wiped the blood from his face and then took his hand in mine and smiled at him.

But that grin quickly faded when I turned to see Mateo rushing toward Roman and me, his eyes red with ire.

He was shifting.

Zeus bolted toward the Demon King with murderous zeal.

Unmitigated agony racked me as it embodied its wolf form.

The snap of every bone and tendon was amplified beyond normal.

Every part of me felt torment.

It consumed me and usurped control over everything Zeus and I did.

As I felt my wolf’s claws sink into the dirt, that turmoil transfigured into malice.

Nothing made sense.

First, I’d thought my beloved mate Juniper was dead.

Then I find out she’s actually alive, sharing a body with two other beings: Starlet and Marissa. Hidden away from the world to protect me.

The news had brought me to tears of relief.

I had immediately found my way to Juniper in this strange place, only to be thrown into more confusion.

There was no love for me in the gaze of the jet-black haired, dark-red and macabrely clothed woman standing before me.

And who the hell was this Roman?

From the looks of it, my mate and this Demon King had gotten cozy.

It.

Fucking.

Incensed.

Me.

All reason dissolved.

After all that I had been through, all that I had fought past, this impostor makes the final blow and commits her heart and body to another love.

It was over.

If Juniper’s heart no longer wanted me, Marissa and her satanic suitor would pay recompense.

Roman’s blood would drench my sorrows.

He was dead.

It was not the one I loved.

It had been so full of hope…of nobility.

This was a wolf whose soul had been shattered.

It was evident in his burning stare as he charged toward Roman and Marissa.

All I wanted was to seize control of the body and let Mateo know I wasn’t completely lost.

But her grip was too strong.

And it was this obstinate determination to be with Roman that gave her this power.

Now, it seemed her selfishness had destroyed us all.

Star also struggled to say something, but it became clear that we were trapped inside our body, and Marissa’s fate would be ours.

But it looked like she wasn’t surrendering without a fight.

She tensed her arms, ready to cast a spell.

I heard Star shriek from inside.

Suddenly, I felt our body falling to the ground, landing on its hands and knees.

She had taken control of the body and was preparing to shift into our werewolf form.

It seems she had caught Marissa in a moment of weakness.

I couldn’t stop running.

I needed to get as far away from here as fast as possible.

The wind blew through my fur as I bolted deeper into the woods. How good it felt to be shifted.

Free.

I couldn’t just stand back and watch Marissa ruin all of our lives for a demon king.

If Marissa stayed down here with Roman, that would be the end of me and Zeus, Juniper, and Mateo.

That was an unacceptable face.

After all we had been through, I couldn’t let her throw our lives away for passing infatuation.

I just wish Juniper and Marissa would stop arguing in my head so I could concentrate.

It was becoming difficult to run at top speed while also dodging hundreds of trees in the thickest, darkest forest I have ever encountered.

And it was getting thicker…

I could feel my energy draining as Marissa and Juniper struggled inside of our body.

My head grew dizzy.

My breath… ever more strained…

I couldn’t hold out much longer…

I caught up with Starlet, who was thrashing in a clearing in the woods.

She was panting, disheveled, crazed-looking.

“Make the screaming stop!” she said to me, shifting back and forth between Juniper, Star, and the imposter as I rushed to her side.

But it wasn’t long before my adversary soared into view.

Two long, black wings extended from Roman’s shirtless torso as he swooped down on us, causing a gust of wind to pin my hair back.

They looked heavy and cracked, almost like the magma wastelands of his Underworld home.

“Get the hell out of here!” I yelled.

But Roman didn’t wince.

The entire forest floor seemed to tremor when his heavy, charcoal leather boots hit the ground.

“We all heard her call out for me. You can’t interfere with her wishes!”

Starlet howled in my arms, shifting between her different forms, her hair changing colors, her skin glowing.

I leapt at him all over again.

He was more formidable this time, and we exchanged even-powered blows. My fist connected with his ribs. He knocked the wind out of me with a well-timed kick.

I surprised him by crouching down low and grabbing his ankle in my jaws. I clamped down and didn’t let go. He screamed out in pain, tumbling to the ground.

I quickly got on top of him and pinned him down.

Roman was coughing, choking, barely able to breathe.

No one was going to stop me from ending him this time. Then Juniper would have no choice but to get him and come back to the pack with me.

I took a deep breath, ready to make my killing blow.

“NO!!!”

I was pushed back by a forceful impact unlike anything I had felt before—I was knocked on my back, breathless.

I tried to get back up, but my body was spent. Not another muscle would move.

My bones were ready to crack.

“Keep your hands off my mate,” the demon king said, standing over me.

I looked to Juniper, whose hair was jet black again. She had reverted, and Marissa was back in control.

Still, I wasn’t giving up.

I made one last ditch effort and pounced at Roman, aiming straight for his throat.

But I was no match for Marissa.

She blasted me with another jolt of her magic, sending me flying backward.

I arched through the air like a silly rag doll, hitting my back against the trunk of a tree, which knocked the wind out of me. My body crumpled to the forest floor.

I heard some muffled talking and strained to lift up my head to hear.

Tears of agony dimmed my bleary eyes as Marissa came over to Roman and lifted him up into her arms.

“NOOOOO!” I coughed.

Every fiber of my body was screaming in pain. I couldn’t move.

She was supposed to come home with me.

The sight of Roman’s two, demonic wings gliding skyward—my mate in his arms—filled me with even greater woe.

I struggled to get to my feet and trail Marissa’s scent. I followed it for as long as I could.

But after hours of searching, I lost track of her and gave out one last forlorn howl.

She was gone.

Juniper was gone.