Page 76 of Vameer

I am a warrior.

I remind myself.

I have discipline.

My exhale clouds in the cool night air, mixing with the steam that slowly rises from my body.

I’m on my back, lying on the roof. As close as I could get to being directly over my mate.

My mate.

It’s surreal to have a mate.

I’ve dreamed. Imagined. Hoped. But until that bond wrapped itself through my ribs, I hadn’t understood the magnitude of the meaning.

Vampires grow up knowing they’ll eventually meet their mate. But our lives are long. And when you’re young… It feels impossibly far away.

Guilt claws at my insides when I think of my past.

I wish I could go back and tell my younger self to keep it in his fucking pants. That he’ll regret ever experiencing another woman when he finally meets His Heart.

But I can’t go back.

And I can’t get mad over whoever she’s been with before me.

I’ll kill them. That’s only fair. But I won’t hold my mate’s curiosity against her. She wasn’t expecting a mate. And even though I was…

I sigh.

My personal list isn’t long. And I’ve been asleep, not touching anyone, for one hundred and three years. So I do not know if any of my former partners are alive, but if they are, I will immobilize them so she can take their lives.

It’s only fair.

A voice in the back of my brain warns me that she’s human. She may not have the same feelings as I do about violence. But I trust the fates. And the fates combined our souls.

She will be my perfect match.

My perfect mate.

And my other half will be okay with violence.

That ugly guilt inside me shifts to fear.

I’ve seen firsthand what happens when one mate is murdered.

I blink, banishing the image of my mother collapsing to the ground beside me. Death stealing her from my life.

I need to talk to Volik. Need to find out how to keep my mate safe. How to make her stronger than a human. It’s the only way to protect her.

Turning my head, I listen through the roof, ensuring Mon Coeur still sleeps.

Then, careful that my chain and sword don’t make noise, I stand.

I know where to find Volik.

She’ll sleep, and I’ll be back before my mate leaves the house in the morning.

Confident in my choice, I jump.