He loved them.
However, the longer he thought about it, the less he smiled and the more he frowned.
The mirror did not hold a reflection he liked, certainly not one he thought the person he loved deserved.
Dig stuck on his sunglasses so that no one could see his eyes.
Whoever this person was, this person he loved… they did not deserve the chain of him.
He fucked everyone.
Night after night he sampled people, trying to rid the thumping in his heart, trying to discard whatever chain had been wrapped around some innocent person’s heart that would cage them to him forever.
An unfortunate result of the connection was arousal. His cock wouldn’t tame itself until it had found the Soulmate to his heart.
He tried to fuck the connection away, but when he came, he felt nothing. A glorious emptiness. Sex was an act, no longer a feeling. No blissful ending. People to him were meaningless. Bags of flesh and bone. All he could think about was his Soulmate.
The thumping in his heart grew heavier and heavier until soon his feet started to twist and walk without him, guiding him to claim his Soulmate.
When finally, one night, he considered slitting his wrists to end the numbness of his life and the chain around the one he loved, he decided to see them.
Just once.
His organ led him to an estate.
Two guard booths patrolled a huge wrought iron fence. Shrubs were trimmed into perfect spheres, the mailbox glistened with gold numbers. Under the slumbering moonlight, ‘De Astor,’ scrawled upon the entrance gate.
Weary, with his heart weeping, and his feet snaking toward the entrance, he knocked on the guard booth.
The security guard pointed his torch into Dig’s face, but did not have to ask him what the newcomer needed after seeing Dig’s hand crushed against his chest. The security guard laughed and congratulated him and phoned into the manor hidden among the trees.
Since Dig was not permitted to enter, the others came out to greet him. In all the staff that worked at the De Astor manor, there were two who did not yet have a Soulmate. They stood in front of Dig without thumping hearts. He walked around them and frowned, his feet guiding him back to the estate.
“Whoever they are,” he said to the guard and pointed to his destination. “They’re still inside there.”
The guard frowned. “They can’t be. Everyone else has a Soulmate.”
“They’re in there.”
“No, there’s no other staff. There’s only the family—” the guard paused. He looked over Dig’s creased leather jacket, his dust padded jeans, his boots with mismatching laces. “Oh no.”
“What?” Dig asked.
“I, uh… I need to call the head of the family.”
A man strolled out in a set of matching aubergine silk pyjamas. Itching with irritation, he pulled on a monogramed robe and tied it tight around his waist before combing back his sleep messed hair. After the guard whispered into the man’s ear, the man eyed Dig Graves.
Magnus De Astor.
It took Dig a moment to recall him, knowing his face from billboards and printed into newspapers. Magnus De Astor assisted in the round up and mistreatment of Soulless. Seeing as Dig assumed he himself was Soulless that meant Magnus De Astor assisted in the round up and mistreatment of himself.
Dig gritted his teeth.
“Who are you?” Magnus asked.
“No one you need to know about.” Dig crossed his arms. “You have to let me into the estate. It’s illegal to restrict a connection. I’m allowed inside.”
Magnus fingered a silver button on his pyjamas. “You believe your Soulmate is inside my manor?”
