AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Natalie
Outside the café, I watched a couple walk side by side. They were satyrs, half-goat, half-human supernatural creatures. The man was holding a green pastry in his hand, and he gave the woman a bite, then they continued on their way. I smiled inwardly at how perfect they seemed together, and longing began to bloom in my chest.
Beyond them was the exalted City of Souls, with its golden sidewalks and skyscrapers. Holograms floated through the sky and across building windows while small robots collected trash. I felt as if I'd time-travelled to the future instead of dying from a vampire bite.
Lucian's dark eyes appeared in my mind, and I looked down at my untouched smoothie. Across from me, Rehema slowly sipped hers, her long black hair curtaining her face.
I had been a brand-new soul, lost and confused when we’d first met. I was still trying to find my footing, but I’d had a lot of help from Rehema, the first friend I’d made in this real. She was also the first demigoddess I’d ever met—the daughter of Eir, the Norse Goddess of healing, and a human man from Japan. I’d noticed however that she never spoke of her mother, but only her father.
“This is so good,” she gushed as she sat back in her chair. “Were you burning the midnight oil last night?” she asked, leaning forward and resting her elbows on the table. “You look tired.”
“I didn’t sleep well,” I answered, finally taking a sip of the sweet-smelling beverage.
The burst of fruitiness was refreshing, but I was still too preoccupied to truly enjoy how good it was. I hadn’t told her about Lucian—or what had happened last night—mainly because I had no idea where to start.
My chat with him had been interesting. I hadn’t had the impression he was taken, even though he hadn’t answered me about the ring. And I’d even given him the option of rejecting me. But instead of doing that, he'd told me he'd see me soon.
I supposed that was a good thing.
After he'd left, I hadn't slept at all. I tossed and turned, my emotions churning, excitement and anxiety warring within me.
Last night he’d explained why he’d been angry—because I could have been killed—but his attitude toward me at first had thrown me off. Now, after our brief chat, I could see that he was a decent man. But still, I wasn't sure how to feel.
I sure as hell wasn't going to throw myself at the man, even if he was my mate. But I wasn't sure I could act as nonchalant about it as he was, as if this was normal for him. Nothing I was feeling felt normal.
“Are you still worried about what happened at the temple?” Rehema's words cut through my thoughts. “If you really did smell your mate, he'll turn up. At least you know he's here in this realm."
Oh, if only you knew.
“Yeah, he’s here for sure. I met him last night.”
She'd been about to take another sip of her drink, and she froze, her open mouth hovering above the straw. "Say what? You met him last night?" Her voice rose with excitement with each word. "You're kidding! How about you lead with something that important next time? What happened?"
I took a deep breath and then released it. Her excitement was adorable. I shared it a little, though not as much as I should have. And that bothered me.
“Why the hell do you look like—that?” she added. “You should be beaming right now, right?”
“I was attacked by a gorgalian,” I admitted. Her jaw dropped when I named the creature I’d been unlucky enough to run into. “He killed it just as I was about to be trampled. I'm okay—he saw to that—but meeting him, face-to-face, wasn’t exactly what I expected. He wasn’t happy to see me. Not at all. Then he walked away from me, as if I was some random girl."
She looked as confused as I'd felt last night. "He walked away? Just like that? I'm not a werewolf, but I have a feeling that's not how it usually goes, right?"
“Yup. Long story short, I told him to stop, that I wasn’t going to let him just leave. I told him that we needed to talk and that afterward, I’d give him the option of rejecting me.” I took a deep breath. “His actions confused me. It sure looked as if he wasn’t interested, and yet, he was around to save my life. I needed to know where I stood. And I wasn’t going to let him walk away and leave me to be haunted by it until we met again.”
Rehema looked like she was holding her breath, her eyes wide. I was surprised to see them change from brown to green for a second. I blinked once and took a peek at her aura. What I found didn’t surprise me. My best friend’s usually off-white aura had streaks of green as her anger flared.
“That bastard rejected you?”
Her mother was the Goddess of healing, and from the moment we'd met, I'd known she was someone I could trust. She'd approached me without hesitation, and because of her, I've felt a little less alone here. Her flash of anger on my behalf made me smile.
“No, we talked,” I told her quickly. “We had a nice chat, actually. If he'd rejected me, I wouldn't be sitting here right now. Of course, if he was going to do it, it would have been better to get it over with. But if he had, I'd be in agony right now. Still, he showed up when I was seconds away from being killed, and he saved me. He said that was the reason he’d grown so angry, but . . .”
“It’s like your first time being with a man. You expect it to be all fireworks and soft music. But it's more like awkward kisses and pain. And while it could have been worse, you can't help being disappointed, right?”
We stared at each other in silence for a second, my head tilted to the side. “That was oddly specific.”
She chuckled. "I'm just saying I know what you mean, and it's fine to feel that way. At least you both ended up talking things through. And you’re giving him the benefit of the doubt. Think about it—the first time he meets his mate, she’s seconds away from dying. Can you imagine how you’d feel if he died right after you met him?"
She had a point. That wasn't something I wanted to imagine. I'd somewhat forgiven him for the way he'd reacted to me once he'd explained himself. But like Rehema said, it was hard to not be disappointed.
