Page 6 of Seared Fates

I want to demand that this is a mistake, a lie. I’ve seen Rurik and Lucero with their soulmates, so I can’t deny there isn’t an inherent pull towards…him.Soulmates crave closeness, but my offspring were happy with their soulmates. I don’t want this, despite whatever this need is to chase the boy down and…and do what, exactly?

I scoff, frustrated.

Unafraid, Ramy gets in my space, his dark hair spilling wild around his pretty face.

“I don’t care!” he snaps. Despite my irritation, pride finds its way into my soul. My youngest isn’t backing down. Annoying for me, good for him. “Kai is your soulmate, Maker, and you rejected him based on how he looks? How could you!”

“And what should I have done?” Huffing out a breath, I push away from the punching bag for it to squeak as it swings back and forth. “When I think of a soulmate, he isn’t what comes to mind.”

A woman does, and I promised the only woman I’d ever turn into a vampire was my soulmate.

I never pictured my mate could be that slight boy with jade eyes and lips the shape of the finest bow. He’s no warrior. His light brown skin showed no sign of it, even with the marbling of scars on his left side, and despite my disappointment, I was glad. Someone so beautiful should be leagues away from battlefields.

Someone who smells of lavender and pencil shavings and…something else, should be in soft places. Eating marshmallows.

I crack my neck back and forth. If he’d been a woman, I would’ve celebrated. I wouldn’t even be arguing with Ramy, or, as he’s doing most of the talking, being shouted at by him. Not that I have much to say anyway.

“Maybe I’m being punished,” I grumble to myself.

Something flies through the air and bounces off my shoulder, tumbling to the ground with a softslap. A shoe.

“Fuck you, you bellend!” Golden storms into the lacklustre gym, Lucero at his heel. “Kai isn’t a punishment. You’re the punishment!”

“Must I be tormented by my offspring today?” I demand. Not that it helps, now both he and Ramy are yapping at me.

I look at Lucero, who stares back at me, eyebrow raised. “What do you expect, Maker? You called Kai unattractive.”

I ruffle Ramy’s head affectionately as I walk past him. “Don’t be ridiculous, of course I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did!” Golden tries to shove me, but with how frail he’s been since his transformation, I don't budge.

“This is why I told you to drink more blood, Golden,” I chide as he keeps pushing with all the strength of a wet kitten. There’s no need to push him away, I don’t need to prove my strength to someone weaker. Not any more anyway.

I’d been cocky to think I could carry the weight of immortality for over a thousand years, and due to that cockiness, I suffered the full crippling hollowing of apathy. For ten years, I became a thing so empty and bitter inside, I’m surprised I wasn’t blown away like ashes in the wind.

“This isn’t about me, you moron!” Golden snaps, face turning red with anger and aiming a weak punch at my arm. “You said you could never be with someone who looks like Kai!”

I take Golden’s hand and show him how to make a fist—thumb behind your fingers and arm a straight—so he can hit me with proper form.

“Yes, a man,” I reply. “Fight a man, drink with them, be friends. But love?” I cock my head to the side. “I can’t love a man.”

There's a moment of pause before Lucero’s low chuckle. “You're an idiot, Vidar.”

“Then why didn’t you say that!” Golden screams.

“Maker,” Ramy sighs, rubbing his temples. “You made it sound like it was his appearance that was the problem.”

I start to laugh, they’re joking, right? But when no one joins in, my laughter trails off. “I want a woman, not a man who smells like one.”

“What the fuck is he talking about?” Golden snaps.

“Kai smells like lavender,” Lucero tells his little mate, cupping the back of Golden’s head and gently strokes his dark curls.

“Why were you scenting Kai, Luc?” My back goes rigid, my muscles tight.

Lucero levels me with an unimpressed stare. “So you don’t want the boy, but no one else can have him?”

I step closer. “You want him?” I ask dangerously.