AllFreeNovel
Share Us
1
REMI
“Come on, man. Don’t be a fuckin’ pussy. If you wait any longer, you’re never going to hook up.”
Remi dragged both hands through his hair, then glanced over his shoulder. There was the smallest niggle of worry in his gut, but he was getting better at ignoring it. It was just years of training—for the media, for perceived threats against his family, for whatever bullshit excuse his parents used to try and keep him in a bubble.
It had taken him a long time to wear them down about university, and he had spent the last two years proving to both them and the naysayers in his personal guard that nothing was going to happen. Because he didn’t live in a damn movie.
Yeah, he was the crown prince, and yeah, there was some… controversy about his parents being fated mates in spite of the fact that they were mixed species. And sure, people yelled horrible things at him sometimes because he was only half Siren.
But he wasn’t going to let those assholes stop him from living his life.
Hell, he was two years into his membership with the Kappa Alpha Chi fraternity, which was almost entirely human, and none of his fraternity brothers gave a shit that he was half Siren. His mom had thrown an epic fit about it when he said he was pledging, saying that a house full of frat boys would only exploit his powers, but none of them had ever even hinted about wanting him to take off his ring and use his Voice.
Sometimes, they liked putting him front and center at events and fundraisers, and that made him uncomfortable, but he understood. But for the most part, he was just another one of the guys, and while he was with them, he didn’t need to think about his future. He didn’t need to feel the weight of being the heir to the Kingdom of Midlona or the pressures of needing to marry well and produce children and all the other responsibilities that made him want to pull his own face off.
A hand dropped on his shoulder, jostling him out of his thoughts, and he looked over at the frat VP and his best friend, who was smiling at him with too-straight teeth. Thaddeus McCornal was the son of some politician that Remi should probably know, but he’d spent a lot of his life deliberately not paying attention to human politics.
It was always war and anger and random laws being passed to try and suppress Supes. And okay, he might be going to school in a human country, but he wasn’t going to stay there after graduation. The moment he’d been accepted to Hillsland University, Thad had taken Remi under his wing and promised to show him the ropes.
And he had.
Remi’s face stretched into a genuine smile as he met his friend’s blue eyes, and he let Thad drag him past the bouncers and into the fray.
The bass was heavy, rumbling through his bones, and he felt a pang in his chest because it had been so long since he’d been able to sing. At home, he could take off his ring and let his power flow as freely as it wanted. Plenty of spells protected Midlona from anyone who might be affected by Siren Song. He was safe there.
Music was part of him, just like breathing, and though he couldn’t participate, he could still feel it. He closed his eyes and swayed along to the beat as he hung on to Thad’s shirt while they made their way up to the bar, and he shook himself out of his self-imposed trance as Thad started ordering a round of shots for everyone.
“Double for this fucker right here,” Thad said, shaking Remi’s shoulder. “He finally nutted up and got rid of his freak ex-boyfriend.”
Remi winced. “He’s not a freak.”
And he wasn’t. Remi had thought maybe Oz was actually the one—not a fated mate because he was pretty sure he was too human for that—which was all well and good because he didn’t even want a mate. But his humanity, in the end, was the problem, and he’d been dumped.
“Dude. He’s a fucking Nephilim. I can’t believe they even let him near our school. Do you know what those freaks are capable of?” Thad said.
Jori—the president—leaned in and nodded. “Yeah. Relax, man. We know you’re not one of them, okay? You’re, like, one of the good ones.”
Remi took the shot handed to him and let the alcohol burn through his veins. He was more sensitive to it than humans were, so it only took the single drink to have him swaying in his seat and laughing along at nothing. The crowd seemed to get thicker and the air hotter, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to cry or vomit or dance—or maybe all three.
“I gotta get up,” he said, pushing off the stool.
Jori whooped loudly and grabbed his arm. “Fuck yeah, baby. Let’s dance!”
Remi found himself pulled into the crowd, and in spite of the fact that the world was spinning and he was surrounded by humans, he let himself go. He moved his body the way it wanted to move, and he could feel people staring, but he didn’t care. There were hands on his hips, and someone was in front of him, keeping him moving to the beat.
Then there were more hands, dragging him… somewhere. His head was still spinning hard, and he felt a sudden rush of panic because he wasn’t on the dance floor anymore, and the person was holding him too tightly.
He tried to pull his hand away, but his limbs felt heavy and weak.
“Stop,” he said, slurring the consonants.
He pulled harder, but the shadowed figure in front of him just laughed. “Shut the fuck up.”
The stranger kicked out, and Remi realized it was a fire exit, but no alarm was going off. He stumbled over the lip of the doorway and fell to his knees. His thin jeans did nothing to protect his skin, and pain radiated up his thighs, the gravel cutting into his palms as he tried to brace himself.
“Where’s the fucking car? We need to get him—”
