Page 38 of Visions of You

Jaron shook his head. "No, of course not. I don't care about that."

Malkira hummed. "And your parents? Will it be a problem for them?"

A bitter laugh escaped Jaron's lips. "I couldn't care less what they think. In fact, I'd be delighted to see them angry about it." His smile faded. They probably would explode, once they heard. They didn't have high expectations for Jaron, not anymore—which was why he got away with doing things like joining the Mortal Rights Task Force—but him dating a vampire would be hard for them to ignore.

They might decide that he was a bad influence and keep him from seeing Fei and Casca. They'd threatened to take those actions more than once. So far they hadn't, but this might just be the thing to push them over that line.

Malkira studied him silently, as if she could tell a bit of what he was thinking. "Family often complicates things," she said.

Jaron swallowed hard. "I'm not going to let them complicate this," he decided, and in a lower voice, he added, "I think Keegan is my fated mate."

Her eyes widened a fraction. "Your fated mate? Are you sure?"

"Yes." It still felt preposterous to say, to think that a powerless dragon like him should have been blessed enough to find his fated mate when there were so few of them left in the world, and yet… Jaron knew what he'd felt last night, that insane urge to claim Keegan, to solidify their connection. It had nearly made him lose his mind.

If only Keegan hadn't fought him so hard…

Part of him had wanted to overpower the vampire.

He could have.

He knew better than to force himself on anyone, though. That wasn't the kind of person he wanted to be. Certainly not the kind of mate he wanted to be.

Hehadwrestled a kiss goodbye from the vampire before he'd left, even though Keegan had tried to feign sleep as if it wasn't totally obvious that he was awake and brooding over whatever.

Malkira smiled softly. "Congratulations, Jaron. Finding your fated mate is a rare and precious thing. I'm happy for you." She reached a hand across the table to rest on top of his. "But there's something else, isn't there? Something that's making you sad."

Jaron sighed again. She wasn't going to stop until she had the full truth, was she? "Keegan is a seer. He… he saw something bad happening in our future if we mate."

"A seer?"

Jaron nodded.

Malkira frowned, her brow furrowing. "What did he see that makes him so scared?"

Jaron shrugged helplessly. "He won't tell me exactly what he saw, just that it's bad. Really bad, I think." He'd been able to tell that much just from the way Keegan behaved.

Malkira looked as if she thought hard about this. Jaron appreciated that about her. Anyone else might have waved his worries off with platitudes. Not her. "Seers can be… difficult," she said carefully. "I've known some of them who spent so much time looking at the future they completely forgot what was happening in the present."

"I don't know if Keegan is like that." Jaron bit his lower lip. The vampire had seemed pretty 'in the moment' in bed last night when he'd worked Jaron open and made him desperate for his cock.

Hell, if he continued that line of thought, he was going to blush again.

"Sometimes they forget that the future isn't set in stone."

Jaron pounced on that. "Exactly! That's what I said! Just because he saw a scary thing doesn't mean the scary thing has to happen, right? But he won't listen." Jaron ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the strands in frustration. "It's like he's completely convinced himself it's inevitable."

"That sounds rough." Malkira looked down into her mug of tea as if it might reveal something about the future to her.

"I'm not giving up," Jaron said, determined. "I'm not going to be scared of something that might not even happen."

"Good for you." Malkira smiled at him, and then she slowly rose from the table. "Do you still have that scarf I gave you?"

"Of course I do." Jaron watched Malkira curiously, that was an odd change of topic.

"Could you get it for me, please?"

Jaron blinked but got up and went to his room to retrieve the scarf from his hoard. It was one of his most prized treasures, not because it held great monetary value but because of thesentiment with which Malkira had bestowed it on him. Up until that point in his life, no one else had shown him so much kindness.