Page 112 of Seared Fates

“He’s my youngest,” I reply automatically, my head spinning from another sharp turn.

“So you treated the others that way when they first turned?”

“Of course not,” I scoff. “They’re all rough men. Ramy is different.”

He grins, one of the magazines cradled on his lap. “How so?”

I let out a confused breath. “Well, he’s kind. Soft…”

“And…?” Kai asks, tone encouraging. Eyes twinkling.

“Well, beautiful, of course,” I add, chuckling lightly. Isn’t it obvious?

“Ramy really is, isn’t he?” Kai leans in, as if we’re sharing a naughty secret. “And Sen, Lucero, too.”

He purposely doesn’t mention Rurik, and I’m glad for it. While it might be stupid to be angry that they slept together, it doesn’t stop me from wanting to bare my teeth anytime they're close.

“I suppose they are,” I reply, disinterested. “I didn’t make them into vampires for whatever looks they apparently have.”

“So…” Kai runs a distracting finger around my shirt collar. “Has Lucero always gone for pretty boys like Golden? And Rurik with Apollo? And Sen really has a thing for Ramy.”

I sigh, laughter trailing after it. “Where is this going?”

“I just wanna know! Couples gossip, right? Let's gossip.” His eyes twinkle mischievously.

“Very well, I’ll indulge you,” I reply, tilting my head with a faint smile, remembering the leagues of men my offspring bedded. “I suppose most were beautiful in their own way.”

“Did you ever look at them?” Kai grins playfully, and I can’t help but return it. “At all those pretty, slender boys they’d bring home?”

My eyebrows knit. “How’d you know they were slender?”

“Just guessing,” Kai asks, palm running over the sleek magazine covers.

“I…sometimes, yes. I suppose,” I tell him, unsure why my shoulders have suddenly stiffened. “I doubt anyone could resist looking.”

Kai brushes his lips against my temple.

“Resist men like…” Kai glances at the magazines, and my gaze follows, “All the male figure skaters on these covers?”

Confused, I reach for the box and sift through the magazines, the paper cool under my too-warm skin. “I guess I never noticed…”

How, I have no idea.

I’d taken great pains to hunt down each edition, only calming the insistent need to collect when I held a new copy in my hand. But why, as I tenderly shift through my collection, does it feel like I’m seeing all these lithe male bodies, wrapped in skin-tight leotards, for the first time?

“Golden caught your interest. Ramy, too. Maybe some other men in the past?”

Memories flash by. I’d be balls deep inside a stunning curvy woman, but I can’t deny my focus wouldn’t sometimes drift to the men my offspring fucked in the same room, sometimes bed, as me. My need would grow as I watched those alluring men.

So fucking tempting.

But when all was said and done, I’d brush those odd feelings aside, convinced it meant nothing.

“I’ve always liked women,” I tell Kai a little too defensively.

“I know,” Kai replies softly.

Kai tucks his head under my chin, and I bury my nose into his hair to breathe him in. Calming racing thoughts going in directions I have no control over. But also protecting him from the cold outside, because that’s who I am—a shield for the ones I love.