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"How?"
"From the blood of my fated mate."
Feeling light-headed, the room spins. "I… think I need to lie down."
"Let me help you. You've hurt yourself enough tonight as it is." He gestures toward my bleeding legs, his brows furrowing.
"No." I lift my hands in the air, struggling to hold myself up. "Don't come any closer."
"Albert, if you truly didn't want me here, I wouldn't be." He looks around. "Everything has changed so much. Have I been sleeping for years?"
My body grows heavy. "For the last time, I'm not Albert."
"Who are you then?" His forehead wrinkles.
"I'm not sure anymore." The room grows smaller and everything flashes until the world completely fades to black.
Three
Rorian
Lying on his back and a little too silent for my liking, Albert's eyes are closed. His rising chest is the only thing bringing me comfort. Frowning, I lean down, running my fingers over his injuries. The blood is still fresh and has me on edge. My stomach rumbles, my hunger not satisfied enough from the little drops I got beneath the floorboard. I need more. Digging my nails into my thighs, I focus on the pain so my thoughts can be somewhere other than on his enticing scent.
He needs to be cleaned up. That's all I'll be doing. If I don't eat a little, I could lose control of my actions, and if he stays this way, he may get an infection. My brother can set shit on fire with his mind and I have the gift of healing through my saliva. I'll be taking care of us both at the same time. What can it hurt?
Leaning closer to his bloody skin, I flick my tongue in and out, lightly licking off the sticky, addicting substance. He stirs a little the more I lap at his leg and I moan in between each lick, not stopping until there's no more left of him for me to taste on the outside. All this did was make me want more. There has to be another way around it. The blood of an animal could be enough. I can't imagine anything smelling as good as him. I savor what's left on my lips while watching him wiggle in his sleep.
What if he's telling the truth and he really isn't Albert? It's hard to believe his words when him being someone else doesn't make sense. How else was he able to bring me back here? My father's words were very clear.Only the blood of your fated mate can wake you.When my eyes opened and a metallic taste hit my tongue, I smiled and my heart was dancing in my chest. The harsh words Albert said before didn't matter to me anymore. He came back for me. Or I thought he did.
Aside from being a little taller than I remember, as well as more muscular with a thicker body frame and different colored eyes, his hair is also light. He's more beautiful than ever and it's hard to not reach out and touch him. Did he not age at all while I slept? Or has he been reincarnated? This has to be my father's doing. Some kind of magic trick.
"I'm not Albert."His words continue to ring in my ears.
If he's not Albert then who the hell is he and why does he smell similar? Dark hair covers half of his face and he's so burly. He's perfect. Soon he'll remember he's mine. Kneeling down, I lift him in my arms and carry him through the strange looking house.
Walls that were once blue are now white and pictures of random people cover the ones in the living room. Albert's bedroom has changed too. It has two twin beds sitting in front of a large window covered in tacky floral curtains. Turning up my nose at the equally hideous rug and vases, I step back into the hallway until I enter a room with bags sitting at the end of a queen-sized bed. This seems more right than the first one.
The decor is more subtle and the room carries the same scent as the man in my arms. I keep looking at him and questioning everything I thought I knew. My heart races in my chest when he buries his face in my neck. He doesn't feel like Albert but it doesn't stop something deep down inside me from claiming him.
Maybe we can make more sense of things when he's awake again. Calm inside, my body temperature remains neutral, the fire within staying beneath my skin and not seeping from the cracks like it sometimes does without notice. For once I feel in control of it. Last time I was here, it owned me and not the other way around.
Walking closer to the bed, I lay him on top of the white comforter. He stirs a little as I start to pull away, and letting him go doesn't feel right. It's like there's a rope in my chest tying itself to him, yanking us back together when I try to leave. Instead of fighting it, I give in and crawl in beside him.
Lying pressed up against him with my arm holding his waist, I kick the bags off the bed and my gaze drifts around the room. More pictures of people. Families, couples, and school portraits. They are everywhere. What happened to this place and what happened to the man I love? My father had to be responsible for the change in his appearance and his lack of memory of me. Anything is possible with that man. He'll do anything to keep Albert and me apart—to put strain on our relationship.
Nothing is easy with my father. There’s hurdle after fucking hurdle. He won't admit it out loud but he wants us to be as miserable as him. My mother was different, and that's why he had her banished into a deeper part of hell where she became unreachable to us. He didn't love her. He doesn't know how to love anyone but himself. I truly believe that now.
He says it's because she went behind his back more than once and couldn't be trusted. She was a fallen angel who left her world for him and he cast her aside so easily. Just like Albert did to me. It doesn't matter where the past led us. We are where we should be now—together again—and all I want is to get back what we had before it was taken away from us. He's the one for me and I'm the one for him. The feeling is stronger than ever—a strong energy zapping between us, causing my heart to smile. "Mine," my body says.Always mine.
When I was younger, my mother took us to a demon of wishes, and while my brother asked for a second power, I wanted something else. I wanted to grow up and find a love worth fighting for. Someone who is made perfect for me. When my eyes first landed on Albert, I thought I finally got what I was promised. I ignored the feeling that something was off that I sometimes got when we were intimate or spending all day together. Maybe we weren't ready for each other yet.
Albert snuggles into me and everything feels right in the world. A heavy weight in my chest lifts and when his fingers touch my hip, my skin buzzes, sparks flickering between us. The time wasn't right then. That's all. It must be now.
It doesn't matter who he thinks he is or who he thinks I am. Sleep never sounded so good and I haven't felt this at ease in a long time. Closing my eyes, I press my nose into his hair, breathing him in. He's so big compared to me. His warmth pulls me closer and the weight of his hand keeps me grounded when I normally feel like I'm going everywhere at once. Maybe everything changing while I was gone isn't a bad thing after all.
Light from the window forces my eyes apart. I woke up again. It will take a while to get used to this, to not feel like I'll be sleeping forever. I wasn't fully resting underground though. It's why I'm so exhausted now. The recurring nightmares kept my mind awake. Albert was living a life without me. Getting married to a woman and having children. His smiles and sounds of pleasures belonged to someone else. It all seemed so real.
A warm body wiggles against me and I stare down at him, smiling. Only in bed with him scooted down and curled up does he appear shorter than me. My stomach grumbles and I'm not only craving blood. I had the ability to make myself human before but never actually was one. It was nothing more than a skin change. A costume. Eating, sleeping, and using the restroom were irrelevant to me and things I faked around people. Food was more of a pleasure than a need.
