Page 61 of Seared Fates
“You should go feed, Maker,” Lucero says from where he stands against the bar beside me, voice loud but not shouting.
“And you need to buy your club something other than this watered-down piss,” I complain, voice gruff but with no real heat.
I glance at my offspring, find him watching Golden with an intensity I’ve never seen in him before, not even with his other soulmates. I wonder if that's how I look at Kai, like I’d destroy anyone who made him cry actual tears instead of glitter.
Like I’d crawl over molten glass to have him…
I zero back in on Kai, inhale deeply, and try to calm the burn. But even at this distance, when his presence is like a second pulse under my too-tight skin, nothing touches the purple fire burning between my ribs.
“And I don’t see you going off to feed, offspring. Or Golden, for that matter,” I comment.
“We’ve fed already,” he tells me, voice wicked.
“I told you to stop letting him feed on you,” I snap, my disapproval clear.
“He has,” Lucero replies, then smirks. “Well, not entirely.”
“The boy won’t get stronger if you keep this up, Luc.”
“Golden’s improving every day. Only a week ago he’d be too exhausted for this.” He gestures to Golden dancing like a plucked chicken with Ramy. “And as much as I want to rip out everyone's eyes for daring to look at him, I once promised that while the world doesn’t deserve him, Golden does deservethe world. So, for his happiness, I’ll tolerate sharing him with others.”
His words echo my earlier thoughts, and it makes an uncomfortable knot form in the pit of my stomach. Already, I’m barely holding back from touching Kai, and even if it’s to protect him, can I keep this up?
How many times do I need to insist that I’m straight for it to ring hollow, even to my ears?
“Go feed, Vidar.”
The light catches the glitter across Kai’s cheeks, and the beauty of him is somehow painful in its total truth, like staring into the sun. Or…like leaving a mansion after eight years hiding inside.
‘You're straight, and I’m gay,’ Kai said. The distinctions should matter, but every time I catch myself smiling at him, I wonder if they ever really did.
I shoot back my drink, wishing it would scorch away these feelings. Or at the very least, confirm I can treat Kai with the love he deserves, and not just a warm body for me to sate this confusing lust, then slam my empty glass down and stalk away.
I used to enjoy the hunt; find a beautiful woman, tease her until we’re desperate, drink her blood, then fuck until morning—simple.
Now I find myself in the middle of a horde of desirable women in tiny dresses, all looking for a good time, and I can’t even muster a flicker of interest for pushed-up tits and a plump ass. Well, unless that plump ass belonged to a boy with ash blonde braids and warm brown skin, then I’ve got an abundance of interest.
My first half-hearted attempt to get a woman’s attention doesn’t go well. She scurries back to her friends, who all glare at me like a pack of angry meerkats. Not that I blame them, I approached her like it was a chore.
I fist my hair, frustration growing with my hunger.
The last time I struggled like this my balls were hairless, and my ridiculous teenage posturing at least won me giggles from the pretty girls in my village. They might’ve been laughing at me, but back then, even a little of their attention made my stupid antics worth it.
A curvy woman with red hair and pale skin brushes past me, fluttering her eyelashes and smiling an invitation. I freeze in place, and she falters, ready to sweep back into the mass of bodies on an assumed rejection. So I push down my doubts. She’s lovely, full-figured. Why wouldn’t I want her?
Quickly, I return her grin. I hope I do, anyway. My lips feel uncomfortably stretched over my teeth. But the dark is my friend, and she doesn’t notice, so when I take her hand and lead her into a shadowed corner, she follows willingly.
Even though each step lands like I’m wading through quicksand, and when I press her against a wall, I remind myself I should be enjoying this. Who wouldn’t feel like the luckiest bastard to have caught her attention? She’s stunning.
Yet as I sink my fangs into her neck, a gasp of pleasure expelling from her chest, all my attention pulls towards the dance floor at my back.
Tasteless blood soon flows into my mouth, and while it fills my stomach, it brings me no relief.
I don’t take much blood, but my hunger is sated enough. When I pull away, she’s breathless, and I compel a memory of a kiss instead of a bite, then guide her into a chair before fading back into the crowd.
I find my way back to Lucero through the tangle of bodies to see Golden sitting on a chair, looking tired and a little defeated. The matching cat headband he got with Ramy sits lopsided in his dark curls.
“You’re getting stronger, Golden.” I reach out to pet his hair as I would Ramy, but a glare from Lucero has me chuckling anddropping a hand on his shoulder, lightly squeezing. “Lucero said you’re drinking more blood; it shows.”