Ah, it's been so long! I'm terribly sorry for the wait! I have no excuse!

Thank you Joa for the amazing (and freaking fast) beta job! THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!

... I took a bit of a different approach in this chapter... I hope you all like it! I guess I got sick of playing with Elizabeth's head...

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Chapter 8

Alik sat hunched over on the bed that Elizabeth had slept in over the weekend. His large hands gently cradled his head while his thoughts raced at an unnatural speed. Doubts plagued him, and guilt over the unintentional trauma he had put the woman through made his once unfeeling heart seem as though it was ripping itself in two.

He was an absolutely terrible mate.

Elizabeth was supposed to be showered with love and affection. She was his lifeline, she was keeping him from completely losing his mind. Even the two years away from her didn't compare to the agony he felt when he thought of how he had caused her pain.

Perhaps he was thinking too deeply about it. She didn't seem that upset when he had taken her out earlier that day. She acted as though... nothing had really happened. Maybe that was one of the reasons she was chosen as his mate – her understanding nature counterbalanced his tendency for messing things up. Back when Alik had yet to accept the fact that he was to be connected with a human, Doc had explained how mates are always compatible and as such, always able to get along in the end.

That thought was extremely comforting, because Alik knew he wouldn't be able to go back living as he was before he saw Elizabeth.

Two years ago, after seeing her for the first time, it was as though he had just woken up. While looking at her frail, innocent face, it was as if he had just realized his purpose in life.

Shaking his head, Alik couldn't help but oppose that thought. He felt as if he had only gained a purpose after seeing Elizabeth... no, that wasn't all true.

But then how could he explain the clearer future? How could he explain the unnatural desire to have what was rightfully his at his side all the time?

Well, he couldn't explain it, he just knew that was what he wanted, what he needed. Especially now, the thought of Liz talking with other males made his stomach churn and his blood start pumping a little faster. He needed her by his side because that was where she belonged. She was his, whether she wanted to admit that fact or not.

"Ah, so the mature one finally decides to join the family," Doc taunted the moment Alik stepped through the kitchen door. The younger demon gave Doc his best glare, having no desire to put up with the crazy 'doctor'.

Alik stood up a little straighter and walked right up to the frail man, his nose only a few inches away. "There are times, Doc, when you need to keep your mouth shut." Alik knew that Doc was easily frightened when he himself was placed in dangerous situations, contradicting his usual superior attitude.

"Of course," Doc mumbled as he shrank back from the irate demon. Alik said nothing more, instead he turned and walked to the refrigerator, opening the stainless steel doors casually.

"You know, Alik, I think I should hang around you more often," Derek said cheerfully from his seated place at the island counter.

Alik looked over his shoulder, having not even noticed the young boy was there when he first walked in. "If that's what you want to do, I can't stop you." The simple statement still brought a smile to Derek's face.

"Too bad young pups can't play with the big dogs," Doc said with a sneer. Alik shut the refrigerator door harder than necessary before turning his glare onto the doctor once again.

"I'm so close to kicking your pathetic ass out of here," he threatened.

Doc's lips pulled into a smile at the reaction his words caused. "I'm merely stating a fact, Alik. There is no need to get defensive." He lifted a hand and tapped his index finger against his chin. "Although it does seem as though the pup has taken an unnatural liking to you, wouldn't you agree?"

"What the fuck does that mean?" Derek shouted, getting fed up with Doc's twisted mind games.

"He's a mature demon and has a mate to deal with, Derek," Doc explained with a roll of his eyes. "You are far too young for him to be concerning himself over."

Alik glanced at the young man sitting with drooped shoulders, knowing very well that Derek was taking every word from Doc as the absolute truth. "You're fine, Derek, you don't normally bother me that much."

Normally... seeing as how I did try to kill you a few days ago, Alik thought.

"Yeah, Doc, you don't know everything," Derek yelled, curling his hands into fists as if he was about to punch Doc to make sure he really understood.

"How old are you, boy?" Doc asked seriously, all previous signs of malicious amusement gone from his face.

Derek slouched back in his chair. He had never really liked talking about his age to these two demons. "I'm seventy-eight."

"Ah, see, you are far too young." Doc moved to stand next to Derek's chair, his smile slowly coming back as he looked down at the 'innocent' boy. "Your age doesn't even compare to ours and as such, you do not belong here."

"Fuck off, Doc," Alik interrupted. "There is nothing wrong with being so young." Derek threw him an appreciative look while Doc backed away.

"I wouldn't get too cocky, even if you are mature," Doc growled at Alik. "Sometimes it takes more than brute strength to win a fight and I assure you, I'd win a battle of wits." Giving the other two demons one more glare, Doc turned and walked out of the kitchen.

"Why do you keep him around here?" Derek asked after he was certain Doc couldn't overhear them.

Alik leaned his back against the cool refrigerator and shrugged. "He may be an ass, but he has yet to actually try to hurt me... that's hard to come by now."

"It is?" Derek asked curiously.

"Yeah, us demons tend to be power hungry and distrusting, that's why there are not many groups of us living together."

Derek's brow wrinkled as he took in this information. "How big are the groups usually? I always thought us four living here was a small group."

"I've only met a couple other groups larger than ours," Alik replied honestly. Derek hummed in acknowledgment, not really knowing what to say aloud. "I think I'm going to get out of here for a bit," Alik went on, pushing himself away from the refrigerator and walking towards the kitchen door.

"Where you going to go? It's so late that everything is going to be closed."

Alik continued walking, not sparing the younger demon a glance. "I just want to take a walk."

When Alik had left his apartment it had already been close to three in the morning. Yet, by the time he actually came out of his thoughts to take notice of were he was, the sun was already over the trees and his feet were planted in a very familiar driveway.

It felt like forever since he had last been at Elizabeth's house, when it had in fact only been a few days. So much had happened since that day that the days seemed so much longer than they really were.

First, he was convinced to come back and claim his mate. Second, he found and met the frail human. Third, he bit her... without her consent (which he was bound to feel guilty over for many years to come). He watched her writhe in pain for hours on end. He protected her from a demon that had every intention of destroying her. They fought and she forgave him. They kissed.

He could still remember that kiss as if it was happening right at that moment.

He craved her so much, not just her mind, but her body as well. He wanted it all. With such thoughts rolling around in his head, he didn't even care when his feet started to move towards her front door. He didn't care when his knock was answered and his hand instead opened the already unlocked door itself.

Her room was easy to find even with his cloudy state of mind.

The demon sucked in a deep breath, loving how the smell of her practically surrounded him. His beautiful mate's room was small, but absolutely packed with photos, books, movies, and many random objects. He walked over to her desk, raising an eyebrow at the scattered papers and empty pop cans littered all over the surface. He looked away with a quiet chuckle, finding her lack of organizational habits rather cute. He was so used to complete order that seeing her cluttered room was rather refreshing.

He took notice of the alarm clock placed on the nightstand by the head of her small bed. It's red numbered glowed 'nine, forty-four'. Elizabeth was at work and her little sister was at school, so he was safe for a few hours to wander around their house. Not that he had any real desire to do that. He was actually more tempted by the idea of lying down on Liz's unmade bed and just... sleep. Since he doubted he'd be able to sleep with her curled up to him anytime soon, he figured he might as well go for second best.

To keep himself from going mad, Alik told himself over and over that someday in the near future his fragile mate may somehow find comfort in his arms.

For now, the demon walked out of Elizabeth's room with dreams floating in his mind of the female human running towards him, rather than hesitating and hiding in the shadows from him.

Alik had planned on staying away for at least a day. He had thought visiting her house would be enough to satisfy the need to be near Liz. It seemed, however, that his desire was much stronger than his will, for he found himself in the Skagway parking lot for the second day in a row.

He strolled slowly towards the front doors, knowing that any second Elizabeth was going to be all but sprinting out of them. They hadn't spoken since their kiss the previous day and he couldn't help but wonder how she was going to react after seeing him. He could picture her blushing and stuttering out an unbelievable excuse to get away.

A family walked by the demon, the young kids eying him curiously. For the first time in his long, long life, he felt a stab of sadness when their father nudged their shoulders while giving Alik a dirty look. These people didn't even know what he was and yet they still knew to stay away. It used to not bother him since he was so focused on hating humans that he didn't care what they felt when near him. Now, however, the way they were obviously frightened of him was starting to wear on his already shredded spirit.

He could remember the way his heart had skipped a beat when he had realized his mate was a fragile human. At that time, he had hated the notion of having to always be there to protect her, yet now that thought was extremely appealing.

Will she always act frightened of me as the rest of her race does?

"Alik, what are you doing here?" Elizabeth's sweet voice broke through Alik's thoughts. He looked at her immediately, raking his eyes up and down her supple body. With a scowl, Alik shoved his hands into the pockets on his jacket and moved the fabric in front of his groin, praying that his mate wouldn't notice his embarrassing state.

"I have nothing else going on for a few hours," he replied. "I thought I'd stop by."

She nodded in acceptance, but her eyes gave away the small spark of fear still in her. "Is there something you wanted to do?"

"Nothing in particular, just wanted to see you," he said, hoping a bit of flirting that the human's seemed so fond of would help to calm her.

"Yeah, sure."

Then again, his mate wasn't like all the other females of her kind.

"Um, look, I'm going out to eat with my sister tonight," Liz said. Alik assumed the apologetic look on her face was for what she was about to tell him. "I'm going to tell her what's happened, I cannot keep such a huge secret away from her."

Alik's wide eyes were the only things that gave away his surprise. "You mean to tell her what I am?" A nod. "You also want to tell her what I did to you?" Another nod. "There is no chance she'll believe such things."

"I've been telling her things of this nature since I was nine," Liz paused and wrung her hands together nervously. Alik took notice of her hesitation quickly and he reached out for her arm, pulling her closer towards him as he turned and walked to her car.

"Why?" Alik slowly slid his arm around Elizabeth's lower back. It almost scared him how hard it was to keep his hand in a decent place. He wanted her so badly.

"I saw somethings when I was younger that couldn't be explained other than they were... out of this world, for lack of better words." Her sweet blue eyes flicked over his face and Alik felt his blood start to flow a little faster. He'd have to remember to ask Doc if it was normal for a demon to desire their mate so much that a single look could almost undo their restraint.

"What do you mean by out of this world?" he asked after a few moments. "What did you see?"

"I don't really want to talk about it." She turned her head away, but Alik didn't miss the extra shine her eyes had taken on.

He didn't want to see her cry anymore.

"Perhaps you could tell me once you trust me a bit more?" The demon placed his unoccupied hand under his mate's chin and turned her face towards his own. He gave her a small smile, cupping his hand against her cheek.

She was so beautiful.

"Maybe -" He interrupted her with a chaste kiss, unable to resist any longer. Alik's blood rushed faster through his veins, wherever his body touched his mate's felt as though it was on fire.

He wanted her, he wanted her so much.

Elizabeth broke the kiss, pulling only an inch away from his lips to take in deep breaths. Alik smirked, taking pride in the fact that he had taken her breath away with that single kiss.

"I need to go." Elizabeth took a step back, flinching when her backside came in contact with her car door. Alik followed her, placing his arms against the car top on either side of her. His smile widened as her cheeks turned crimson.

"Stay just a little longer," he urged before dipping his head down to steel another kiss. He would kiss those sweet lips of hers for hours if he could, but alas, he knew she wanted to get to her sister and he was very keen on staying in her good graces. He clenched his eyes shut and moved his body closer, pressing her back against her car. A pleasurable shiver traced up and down his spine when he felt his mates hands grab onto his jacket and hold him close.

"Alik wa-" Elizabeth tried to pull away, but the demon followed her movements.

"I don't want you to go yet," Alik mumbled against her lips. He opened his eyes and pulled back a bit, wanting to see her face. Liz's blue eyes fluttered open slowly and they were breathtakingly beautiful – glazed over in pure desire. His own eyes glanced down to her mouth when she parted it to talk, although the only thing that came out was some heavy breathing. "Can I see you later?" He would never admit it, but Alik was scared shitless that his mate might tell him no.

"Uh, I don't know," Liz said. Alik sighed sadly when she noticed where her hands were before letting go of his jacket. "I mean, well, my sister might not be very good company after we have our talk."

"That's okay," he argued, still not ready to let her off the hook quite yet. "I just want to see you." 'To hold you' he wanted to say, but knew that it would only scare the woman off.

Elizabeth sighed, clearly giving into his request. "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt if you came over for a little bit."

Alik gave her a small smile before sweeping down for another quick kiss.

"Where the hell have you been? You left me here with Doc and Randi! Do you have any idea what hell it is to have to put up with those two?" Derek yelled the moment Alik walked into the apartment.

"It couldn't have been that bad," Alik argued even though he did know how terrible it was to be alone with those two demons. "Where are they at, anyways?"

"Doc tried to do an experiment on her and she flipped a big one, left like a couple hours ago." Derek followed the older demon as he walked up the stairs towards his room. "Right before she left, she yelled that she wasn't going to be coming back anytime soon. I don't know how serious she was being but it still kinda worries me, ya know? You could tell she was totally pissed."

Alik froze in front of his door, his hand hanging limply in the air above the door knob. "Could you just tell she was pissed, or could you just feel it?"

"Uh, both... why?" Derek asked confused.

"She's always outwardly mad, she wouldn't just randomly leave." He looked over his shoulder at the young man. "Doc must have done something really bad."

"I don't know, Alik, I mean... I'm still not very good at feeling people's emotions, I could have misinterpreted."

Alik shook his head, turning around to face Derek. "All demons have trouble learning their trait and you aren't any different."

"Doc said that your mentor taught you how to use yours perfectly in thirty years!" Derek yelled.

Again, Alik found himself frozen on the spot. "Who the hell told you that?"

"Doc, who else?" Derek crossed his arms, looking incredibly irritated.

Alik glared right back. "What else did he tell you?"

Derek lost his angry posture at once, looking at the mature demon with an expression that Alik couldn't explain. "Did something happen?"

"Depends on what Doc told you," Alik said.

"He just said you learned things really quickly because of your friend, and that the demon actually treated you more like a student than a 'friend'." Derek watched him closely, studying the emotions coming from Alik that only he could see.

"Just forget everything he told you, he's just trying to stir up trouble." Alik turned and opened his door, not wanting to talk about his past anymore. His history with his long lost friend was something he hadn't thought about in years and he planned on keeping it that way.

He walked into his room and slammed the door shut in Derek's stunned face.

Alik stepped up to Elizabeth's front door, taking a couple deep breaths to calm his nerves. Before he could chicken out, the demon knocked on the door and... waited. He wasn't sure how long he stood there, but after a good amount of time he realized that no one was going to answer. He sighed and stepped back, his foot landing on a folded piece of paper. He picked up the paper and unfolded it swiftly.

Alik,

Aubrey decided she wanted to see a movie with her boyfriend after our supper and I decided I'd join them. If you get this before nine then come to the movie theater.

Liz

He smiled as he flipped out his phone to check the time. It was nine fifteen, but maybe the movie didn't start until nine thirty. He hoped so.

The old demon couldn't even remember the last time he had gone to the movies, but after another person bumped roughly into his shoulder, he was ready to leave. He pulled out his phone and sent a short message to Elizabeth asking where she was before flipping the phone shut and slipping it back into his pocket.

"Hey cutie, you're going to the movies alone?" a young teenage girl asked as she swaggered up to Alik's side. He gave her a brief glance before shaking his head. The girl couldn't have been older than fifteen and she was clearly drunk. Honestly, he doubted he'd ever be able to understand the human species. "Come on, handsome, how 'bout you hang out with me and my friends for a bit?"

"Because he's with me."

The demon's blood warmed pleasantly and quickly rerouted south. "Elizabeth," he whispered breathlessly while turning around. He found himself in a position that was becoming quite a regular occurrence, fighting down arousal the moment his mate stepped into his senses.

"Uh, shit, all the good lookin' ones are always taken," the stranger complained before stumbling off towards a group of giggling blondes.

"Uh, Alik," Liz said with a shove to his chest. Alik smiled flirtatiously when her hand wasn't removed. "Uh... this is Aubrey, I think you two have already met."

Alik looked over Elizabeth's shoulder and gave the younger girl there a polite nod before looking back down at his mate. "Yeah, we've met, but who's the boy?" he asked, having to put all his attention into talking because he doubted Liz realized she was caressing his chest and abs.

"Uh, he's her boyfriend, Tim."

Time came to a complete stop when Liz turned to look at the couple standing behind her. The shirt she was wearing had a wide enough neck that after she had turned her head, the healed mating mark that Alik had left on her became visible. He didn't know what he was thinking, but the one thing he knew was that he wanted her and he wanted her now.

Doc had never mentioned anything about having to sleep with a claimed mate, but Alik couldn't explain the intense desire he felt any other way besides the bond he had with her. Slowly, the distracted demon took a step towards the unsuspecting woman, slipping his arm low around her waist he pulled her flush against him. She looked back at him with shocked eyes, her hands pushing against his shoulders halfheartedly.

"What the hell, Alik!" she shouted as loud as she could without drawing too much attention.

She's so beautiful.

"Alik!"

"Hey, psycho!"

The second another set of hands were placed on his arms, Alik seemed to snap out of his daze. His arms relaxed around Liz at the same time and he gave her younger sister a confused look. "What?"

"Oh my god," the young girl whispered, staring disbelievingly at him. "You're the guy obsessing over my sister?"

He didn't think obsessing was the right word to use. "Excuse me?" He looked at his mate sadly when she put a good amount of space between them, effectively keeping him from touching her anymore.

"She told me that an Alik guy, that would be you, had 'claimed' her or something... as his something. Now he's always around and is really flirty blah, blah, blah, and she's confused because he's scary as hell but she can't help but like him." Aubrey sucked in a much needed breath before plowing on. "But she said you weren't human, which I find rather ridiculous... especially since you look like a normal guy to me. Did you really bite her? I mean, I don't think she's into kinky... well, I actually think she's still a virgin, so I guess she could be into that and just hasn't really figured it out yet."

The young girl continued with her rambling, but Alik was no longer paying attention. He sniffed the air, focusing solely on the woman now blushing like a strawberry, she smelled so beautifully pure. Shit, another wave of arousal to fight off.

Tim seemed to be the only one to notice and the moment Alik heard the young kid's chuckle, he sent him a glare that had made some people piss their pants. The young boy just smiled widely, showing his canines completely.

Canines that were much, much longer than the average human's. It didn't take too long for the old demon to understand what was going on, and he had a feeling his precious mate was going to be very angry when he told her what nice Timmy was.

"You alright, man?" Tim asked after wiping the smile off of his face.

"You and me need to talk before tonight is over."

If he was with Jesse, he'd have killed them both by now, Alik told himself to keep from interrogating the kid in the middle of the mall, and he's weak.

…

No, I have to know...

"Do you know a Jesse?" Alik asked, praying to whoever mattered that the boy said no or had a really good explanation.

Tim smiled, nodding his head with absolute confidence. "Yeah, he's my older brother."

That presented a major problem.