Page 31 of Worse Fates (Soulmates Suck #1)

“I have to find him, Luc.”

The cold breeze whirls between Rurik and I as we stand outside, though we don’t feel its touch.

Hoping fresh air would calm Rurik, I brought him outside and away from the hostility. Now, for the first time in long, tense minutes he speaks—with the single-mindedness of a man who’ll see his goal through, or die trying. He squints into the distance, searching for Apollo through brick and metal, years and distance.

Golden and Kai gave Rurik a distraction from his slow suicide, but that’s all it was. Just another escape, minus the drugs, alcohol, and faceless men. So while Rurik searches for ghosts, I focus on my flesh and blood brother. The wind may not send shivers down my spine but the thought of Rurik losing his second chance does.

I grip Rurik’s shoulder, hoping the pressure is one to bring comfort.

“Let me take Golden home, then we’ll begin our hunt.”

Rurik nods, gaze always locked to places I cannot follow, yet it’s clearer than it has been in years now he has found a finish line.

A dinging bell pulls my attention to the door as Ramy strolls out, the low murmuring inside inviting as a fire. But one I suspect we, or at least Rurik, aren’t welcome to.

“Kai asked to go home.”

Ramy stands aloof as the wind picks up his hair, seeming to try and tease his unyielding expression away.

Rurik doesn’t react, his thoughts elsewhere.

“Until we find Jace he’s in danger. Kai is safest at the mansion with Golden until then,”

I say, pulling away from Rurik.

Ramy lifts his chin.

“And I told them that.”

“Them?”

I don’t like the sound of that.

Ramy levels me with a look.

“Golden said he’ll follow Kai—”

“Out of the question.”

I snuff it out like a candle in a storm.

“They know. Kai’s just…”

Ramy’s hard gazes flick to Rurik’s then back to mine.

“He’s shaken.”

An impatient growl leaves Rurik.

“Who gives a fuck? I’ll kill that asshole Jace soon enough, then get Apollo back.”

Ramy scoffs. Tossing his long hair away from his face, unamused.

“Do you have something to say, Ramy?”

Rurik demands.

Ramy’s dark glare freezes worse than the glacial breeze.

“Why don’t you just leave? You're either disinterested or bare your fangs at anyone who doesn’t do exactly what you want. Like Kai, you hurt him!”

“I’ve apologised,”

Rurik bites out, yet his jaw clicks.

Ramy raises his chin. “Barely.”

“For fuck sakes, Ramy, what do you want from me?”

Rurik clenches his fists.

“I will make it up to the boy later, but saving Apollo is my priority. Don’t you want me to be happy again? You have no idea what living this half life has been like! Having nothing to live for.”

Ramy’s back goes rigid. In the silence that follows the wind picks up, its blunt chill chafing along the dark, barren streets.

“Nothing?”

he replies, too proud to show the hurt I hear ringing clearly as a bell.

Rurik curses, hand grabbing the ends of his hair.

“You know what I mean, brother.”

Ramy, though shorter than Rurik, looks down his nose at him.

“Since no one has ever loved me like you loved a mate, then apparently I do not.”

And with that he turns on his heel back into Kings.

“That went well,” I mutter.

Rurik’s fist slams into a brick wall.

“I fucking get it, Lucero,”

he growls.

“I’ve fucked up. I keep fucking up, everyone hates me! I’ll make amends later. I will get on my knees and crawl over broken glass if I have to. But first I have to find Apollo. Imagine this was Golden. Just imagine. What would you do for him? What would you become for him?”

His glare burns into mine, searing with desperation and begging me to understand. My brother doesn’t need to—I already do. How many times have I thought Golden is above all others?

“Damn the world. Damn you all. He. Is. Mine.”

He pounds a fist to his chest, solid as his resolve.

“You’ll get him back.”

I leave no question in my voice. Because if Rurik loses Apollo a second time, the weight of that pain will crush him to a point he’ll never recover.

I give Rurik a moment to compose himself, before we head back inside, the bell announcing our return. Immediately, I seek out Golden, but already he’s coming my way and slipping into my embrace like he never left.

“I wish I could go with you, and before you say it, I understand why I can’t. So stop looking all frowny.”

“I look frowny, do I?”

I chuckle, his curls tickling my nose.

“Yep.”

He pops the P.

“So frowny every time I wanna do something that could give me even a splinter.”

“When I was human I actually knew a few people who died from splinters.”

Golden’s head snaps back.

“How the fuck did people survive back in the day?”

I grin, showing off my fangs.

“They didn’t.”

Approaching footsteps pulls my attention up to Summer, the shadow mage.

“I’m coming with you.”

Summer crosses her arms, eyebrow raised as if waiting for a fight.

I shrug, disinterested. “Sure.”

Then return my attention to Golden, running my fingers through his silky curls. I wish I could count each strand.

“Sure?!”

Golden growls like a wet kitten.

“You’re just gonna say ‘sure’?”

“Mhm,”

I hum, kissing his forehead.

“Golden, I’m an eighty year old magical badass,”

Summer grins.

“You’re just a cute little button.”

Golden huffs.

“I’m not fucking helpless…”

“You are the strongest out of all of us,”

I coo genuinely, though it makes Golden’s eyes roll.

“Besides, I need you safe. Which is why you’ll be returning to the mansion. Not whatever disappointing little flat Kai lives in.”

“Disappointing?”

Kai squawks from another room.

Vulnerability shines in Golden’s lovely hazel eyes.

“You don’t think I need you safe and whole, too?”

“Of course, beautiful.”

‘However, to keep you safe I’d rip this world in two.’

But I keep that deranged little thought to myself.

“Normally, my life is very boring, Golden.”

“It’s me that came into yours and got you involved in all this shit.”

His face nuzzles into the crook of my neck, and my cock stirs in the knowledge he’s seeking my comfort.

“Jace is my problem.”

My hand cradles his crown, the arm around his middle tightening.

“You’ve only brought me joy, love.”

Summer gags.

“God, I forgot what being around soulmates is like.”

Golden squirms, muttering obscenities, trying to wiggle free to flip Summer off. I chuckle, keeping him firmly in place.

“Are they always this gross?”

“Pretty much,”

Kai answers Summer, sauntering over.

“I shoved Luuk into a taxi that’ll deliver him to his boyfriends. He doesn’t remember anything, just Rurik being a dick.”

At my back, Rurik’s impatience rolls off him like a heatwave.

“Kai, did you know that Summer’s an ancient mage?”

Golden asks, his small fists twisted in my shirt.

“Ancient?!”

Summer cries.

“I’m a very respectable age, you git.”

“You’re older than me.”

Ramy chimes in on the teasing.

Good, he should have friends that aren’t ancient, mentally ill vampires.

“First Apollo now Summer,”

Golden mutters.

“Dude, if you’re a magical being you better tell me.”

Kai huffs a laugh.

“Like if I’m a cop I gotta tell ya?”

We move fast after that—Kai grabbing what's needed while Golden writes a list of addresses Jace could be hiding in. Soon, we leave the inviting warmth of Kings, Rurik and Summer left behind in tense silence.

Rushed though I am, I obey Golden’s previous order and drive slowly for Kai’s sake. He clings to my mate and Ramy as if waiting for another crash. But the ride is uneventful, and we arrive back at the mansion without fuss.

I escort them inside, all of us ignoring the broken kitchen window. Instead, they head for the small living room. But before Golden can follow, I shut the door, and pull him to me, hungry for a taste.

When our mouths meet, there is none of Golden’s shy sweetness from our first kiss. Need pushes him, his lips gliding over mine, then opening for me. I delve in, my tongue coaxing and savouring.

My eager hands roam his tender body, slipping beneath his t-shirt to find miles of warm brown skin. I travel up, leaving a treasure trail of goosebumps in my wake, until I find his hardening nipples aching to be teased. When my fingers graze over his sensitive points, a gasping moan is pulled from his heaving chest, warming my heated blood to boiling point.

My other hand seeks its own treasure—dipping low to claim a handful of his plump ass. Then, with my hunger for his softness sated, I urge him forward to encourage his hips to rub against mine, needing a taste of just how hard he can get.

“When will you be back?”

he groans into my mouth, cheeks flushed. The tip of his tongue running across my lips, exploring at his own pace.

“Tomorrow morning.”

I pin Golden against the wall.

“Sooner, if possible.”

Driven by an aching need to be closer, Golden rises onto his tiptoes, and both my large hands palm his supple ass. He's always been turned on by my strength, so when I lift him with ease—our bodies now flush—a raspy whine of pure pleasure escapes him. As if in that one move, I’ve already filled him with my rock hard length.

I capture that noise and drink deeply, his fingers tangle in my hair.

“Sooner.”

Golden grinds his pulsing body into my equally painful erection.

“Sooner, Lucero,”

he half begs, half demands.

If possible I draw his hips closer, taking the control he’s oh-so-willing to hand over to only me, and slow our rhythm. My growl is deep, guttural, when we find the perfect pace. In my arms he’s light, yet his all-encompassing weight roots me to this moment.

Golden’s legs squeeze around me, head tossed back to expose the perfect column of his neck.

“One day…”

My fangs dip out—just the tip—to run along the hammering vein in his neck, his body shivering.

“I’m going to fuck you like this.”

“Lucero,”

he pleads, his honey-sweet desire thick in my lungs.

“That’s right, beautiful. I’m going to pin you against every wall in this fucking mansion.”

Golden’s hips falter, but I tighten my hold, dragging him back into our slow, aching pace as my fangs scrape along his neck—drawing a single drop of blood to the surface, to be licked away with a drag of my tongue.“And then I’ll feel just how tight you are.”

Golden whimpers, and I glory in the near-painful way his hands grip my hair.

“And you’ll beg me for it, won’t you, beautiful?”

Golden nods furiously, moaning so loud I’m sure the others can hear, not that I care. Let everyone know who he belongs to.

“I can’t hear you, love.”

I suck on his pulse.

“Y-yes, Lucero.”

I smirk, taking his mouth in another soul deep kiss before regretfully placing him on the ground. Groaning, he reaches for me again and somehow, I find the willpower to stay firm and tilt his blushing cheeks up.

“Stay in the mansion and close to Ramy. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

He takes hold of my forearm, turning his face into the heart of my palm and kissing it, my heart breaking at the sheer tenderness.

“I just met you, Lucero. So you gotta be safe, alright? I’ll be real pissed if not.”

I press my lips to his forehead for long moments, before slowly letting him go.

“A thousand lifetimes would not be enough. But I promise to keep this life safe, and soon you and I will truly live.”

When I leave Golden to hunt blood mages, it’s with such regret that the sharpness of it pieces my heart worse than any blood spear.

But Jace’s life is counted in hours, and my hand will be the one to snuff it out.

It is time to end this.