(Author's Note)

Merry Christmas everyone! Sorry this chapter is late...again, but work has been rough lately. my mind has been on so many other things lately including this story.

Thank you soo much for all of your kind reviews! I truly love them all.

Enjoy!

Ashley

Chapter 10

Cat closed the door to her bedroom and eased herself on her queen size bed. Her heart was beating about a mile a minute and her thoughts wandered as she licked the remaining blood off her lips. The sweetness, on her tongue, was a constant reminder of the fierce passion she had felt, but she knew it was only his passion she was feeling…or was it?

All she could think about was going back into that kitchen and taste his supple lips once more, to make sure. Even running her fingers along the sharp planes of his body seemed irresistible at that exact moment. She didn't know what changed about him, but he was rawer and more male than she had ever known or remembered. It was how he held her, and how he smelled. God he smelled like the wind itself.

Licking her lips again, she closed her eyes and tried to imaging what his body would feel like moving over top of hers. Her eyes shot open quickly and she sat up panting and breathing heavy. Oh god what was I thinking…I think this time I have finally lost my mind.

You are only feeling what your heart demands of you, pet.

Rolling her eyes to herself, she picked up a pillow and hurled it at her closed door. What part of "this is a private conversation" don't you seem to understand! The silence followed her statement and the guilt soon took its place. Why did she always have to speak before thinking? It always made her sound like such a bitch.

Picking her leaded body off the bed, she strode over to the door and opened it slowly. "Addrick…I'm sorry for snapping at you. I'm just…" She stopped in her tracks. Cat's throat was closed off and her body was being lifted off the ground. Her head split into what felt like 200 pieces, and she could feel something foreign and unreal start to take over her body.

Addrick was at her side the moment he heard her gasp. "Catharine! What's wrong! Speak to me!" Addrick no sooner spoke the words when her head rolled to one side. Eyes snapping open, Cat stared at him. Her feet touched the ground and a strange force blew her long hair and clothes like waves carry seaweed on its back.

She looked unearthly. An angel of darkness stood before him and his knees almost buckled at the sight. She looked around the room as if she were searching for something. Floating towards the kitchen, Cat raised her arms to the window and started drawing symbols across the glass. It wasn't a safe guard he had ever seen…but looked more like a spell of some sorts.

Addrick couldn't move, nor could he speak. Walking slowly to her side he placed a hand on her shoulder. Something happened that he couldn't explained and that scared him to death. She turned to him and opened her eyes. A glazed look took the place of her warm spirit and her light was replaced by a darkness he had never known.

"Please…release my Catharine. Let her speak to me." He wasn't sure where she was. He deviled deep into her mind and tried to find her but she was gone. What replaced her was an evil so different from what he had ever seen.

"She is no longer in this body. It is a mere shell that will carry me to what was taken so many years ago." The voice was husky and raw. It sounded like her…but not her at all. Rage filled his heart and mind because she was so close yet so far away.

Closing his eyes, he searched past the barrier in her mind and found a hint of her light calling to him. Small feminine hands wrapped themselves around his throat and lifted him off the ground. She hissed in his ear as she lifted him. "Stay out of my way or you shall meet your end hunter."

Addrick was thrown against the wall of the living room. A dent was left where his body was and his head split and crack from the pain. Sitting up he stared at her as she started rummaging through closets and drawers for something.

That's it. Catharine?! I want you to answer me right now! I will not stand by and watch you be taken over! Nothing. He received no answer from her nor could he sense her anywhere in her own body.

Picking himself off of the floor, he paced over to Catharine and apologized for what he was about to do next. Swiftly picking her up by her throat, he slammed her body against the wall and drew himself real close to her ear. "Whoever the hell you are…you better let Catharine speak before I find you and destroy you myself."

Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she went limp in his arms. Addrick cradled her close to his body and took her to her room. Slowly he set her to the bed and wrapped a blanket around her cold body. "Come on Cat sweetie…talk to me."

She never moved or stirred to his touch until he whispered to her in her mind. Catharine, love, wake up for me. I want to see your beautiful eyes.

Cat opened her eyes and winced in pain. Her head felt like broken pieces of glass and her throat was swollen and sore. "Addrick? What happened?" He almost crushed her with his embrace. He was so pleased she was ok, that he almost wept from the joy.

"Addrick? Are you ok? What's going on…what happened to me?" She looked around the room and gasped at the mess. All of her documents and books were splayed all around the room. Drawers were turned upside down and all of her life seemed to be violated. "Dear God, Addrick, what happened?"

He just looked at her unable to tell her the truth. He shared the memories of what happened to her with his mind and watched as she realized what she had just done.

Oh God Addrick. Not again…why is this happening to me? Why? Tears threatened to build up as she bowed her head away from his wandering eyes. "Who keeps doing this to me?" She looked up to him…searching for answers that she couldn't find.

"Cat…I don't know who keeps doing this to you, but we will find out. In the mean time I need to heal you and set up a barrier of my own to protect your mind from another intrusion." He held her close to him and prepared himself to travel into her body.

Addrick closed his eyes and traveled outside his body. The light and energy he became, entered into her body and began to warm her from the inside out. He searched her mind and found nothing out of place until he made a second sweep. Very carefully he looked into the deepest regions of her subconscious and found a hint of a blank void. Not entirely sure what it was, he decided to build up the strongest barrier he could. It would hopefully hold until he got her home to his father to take a look.

Catharine relaxed under his gently touch. The ancient words were chanted into her mind and a sense of calm spread through her body like a warm breeze in summer. She felt him return to his body and almost immediately his hand found the bruises around her neck. He cursed himself for hurting her. It pained him in the worst possible way.

His hands crept up her shirt and started to unbutton the delegate fabric. She gasped when she realized what he was doing. "Hush now pet. I made these bruises and I will heal them."

He continued to remove her blouse when he felt himself grow thicker at the sight of her. God she was beautiful. Her skin was the color of white peaches, and she smelled of heather and rain. He had never seen her bare breasted before, and he never wanted to forget the look in her eyes at this very moment.

She studied him hard, trying to understand what he saw in her. Why was he so all of a sudden interested in her? They couldn't be life mates, but she had to admit that lately there was something different with her feelings towards him.

Addrick bent his head down low to her rib cage. An ugly bruise met his lips and very slowly he began to heal her. A soft moan escaped her throat that sounded all together too husky and raw. The need in her slammed so hard that she thought she might not be able to breath.

His breath trailed a path of fire up to the bruises on her breasts. He slowly and lazily licked a particularly nasty bruise on her nipple and felt her stiffen in pain beneath him. I know…I know. I'm Sorry for doing this to you Cat. Can you ever forgive me?

She didn't know what to say to him. He was driving her so completely crazy with pleasure that she thought she might die.

Addrick please…just stop talking. That was his Cat. Always to the point and direct. The more time he spent with her, the more she started to relax and slip back into her old self.

No more pretending to not understand Cat. You know we are life mates. You have known for a long time. He flicked his tongue across her nipple raising it to his hungry gaze. You tried to erase the taste of our first kiss with other men, but failed. Slowly he made his way up her throat and repeated the healing process. There will never be another for me Cat…Never. I love you.

Her heart leapt with every word he said. It brought her to life and made her soar as high as she ever had. He was weaving a spell over her that she couldn't think properly. Pure pleasure rippled through her body and all she could think about was wanting more.

Addrick kissed his way up to her jaw bone and found her warm lips with his own. She was sweet to the touch and the smell of her skin was purely intoxicating, but it would have to wait until tomorrow. She was weak from her ordeal and needed rest before they began on their way back home. Preparations still needed to be made and a riddle still needed to be solved.

"Cat we need to find a place to rest. The sun is already starting to rise." She gave a stiff hearted laugh and tried to sit up. Dizzy from weakness she walked over to the window and slid open a thin hidden compartment at the base by the windows ledge. A thick sheet of metal slid over the window and locked itself into place.

"This whole apartment has a reinforced lead running over every source of entry, floor, and ceiling." She eased herself onto an overstuffed chair and searched through the mess on the floor to find some old sweats to sleep in. Remembering that she had no shirt on, she quickly covered herself from his hungry gaze and blushed.

"If you wouldn't mind…could you please secure the windows and safeguard the entry ways?" He smiled wide at her and turned to do as she asked. He went to every window and door, and safeguarded with the strongest spells he knew. Nothing would get to them this night; he would make sure of it. Walking over to the wall in the living room, he stopped and peeled away a piece of dry wall that had cracked when she threw him up against it. The lead, beneath it, was thick and heavy. That's my girl Cat. You always were a smart one.

Padding back into the bedroom he found Cat fast asleep in his old chair. She looked tired, like she hadn't slept in ages. Picking up her resting body, he carried her to the bed and placed the blankets around her and himself. He held her close to him and wove the last of his safeguards around their bed. They would sleep this night and he would fight the beast in him another day.

Her scent was dragged into his lungs, and he stilled both their hearts. For the first time in his life, he felt completely whole. Nothing would take her away from him. Not his family, or this strange new enemy, But how do you fight an enemy when you can't see him?