My own fated mate rarely crossed my mind. I was sure she would be good, kind, and maybe even everything that I didn’t know I needed. Maybe she’d be the one to finally loosen the threads Blaise had woven through my heart.
But it was hard to imagine her when he was standing right in front of me.
“C’mon, Ambrose,” Blaise said, breaking my spiraling thoughts. His tone was breezy as his gaze flicked from the clock on the wall back to me. “Better make our way to the town hall.”
I gave a noncommittal grunt and followed him out of the apartment, the door clicking shut behind us.
Outside, the Shadow Realm stretched out in muted shades of inky blues and grays—half-formed streets cloaked in shifting darkness, broken only by scattered streetlamps. Unlike the mortal world, nothing here existed unless someone imagined it into being. And most didn’t have the energy to conjure anything outside of the essentials.
My gaze trailed after Blaise as he walked ahead of me, his silhouette carving a path of gold through the gloom. He was half a head shorter than me, yet still imposing at six foot—broad-shouldered, muscular, confident in that effortless way that had always made me weak in the knees. He stepped into the flickering cone of a conjured streetlight, and my breath caught.
He ran a hand through his golden hair, a habitual gesture that shifted the collar of his T-shirt just enough to reveal the thick, silvery scar at his neck.
I hated it.
I hated the reminder that he’d almost died. Hated the reminder of what I’d done to him that night. But most of all, I hated that it still stirred something dark and hungry inside me—my body’s instinct to sink my teeth into his flesh, to mark him with a bite of my own.
I ground my teeth and forced the thought away.
Your mating bite is meant for your fated mate,I reminded myself.The one you might be meeting tonight.
Blaise glanced over his shoulder and grinned, bright and unbothered, motioning for me to catch up. I hadn’t realized he wasn’t alone.
Sasha stood beside him, just beyond the reach of the streetlight, her arms crossed as shadows curled lazily at her feet. One of the few succubi in our clan and five years our junior, she wore an unimpressed expression sharp enough tocut glass. Sasha had never been subtle about her disdain for the summoning, and she was one of the few who would’ve happily gone her entire existence without meeting her fated mate.
“Sup, dudes,” she said flatly. “Still hunting together?”
Blaise jabbed a fist into my arm, flashing his teeth. “Nah. I’ve finally taught this one all I know and set him loose in the big bad world to find his food on his own.”
I forced my mouth into a grin, even as something tight twisted in my chest.
I guess“We had sex and now everything’s weird”didn’t make for good small talk.
“Hmm,” was all Sasha offered. “Excited about the summoning?” she asked, though her tone couldn’t have sounded less enthusiastic.
“’Course we are,” Blaise said. He wore that same easy grin, though this time it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “You’re not?”
Sasha let out a long, slow breath. “I mean... I should be. It’s what we’re meant for, right? But I just had a really good year in the mortal realm, y’know?”
“Oh, tell me about it,” Blaise said, a little too quickly.
Everything was moonlight and shadows for Blaise. I wished I had his ability to roll with the punches, to pretend everything didn’t lodge under my skin.
“Honestly,” Sasha muttered, “I could take a leaf out of Devlin’s book.”
“Devlin?” I asked, my brows knitting together.
“Didn’t you catch him before he left?” Sasha said. “He’s not doing the summoning this year. Took off on a vacation or whatever. Said he needed a break.”
“He’s... skipping the summoning?” Blaise echoed, mirroring my disbelief. “Devlin?”
Devlin had lived for the idea of meeting his fated mate. He’d practically starved himself after not being summoned that firstyear, clinging to some lovesick belief that he should save himself for her. It had taken Lochran, Blaise, and me weeks to convince him to finally go out and feed. Every Samhain after, he’d waited hopelessly for this to be the year he was finally summoned. The idea that he would simply... opt out?
Something cracked open in my chest.
Because if Devlin could skip it... Could I?
I glanced at Blaise, and for the briefest second, our eyes met. Something electric passed between us—wonderful and terrifying and full of possibility.
