“You are. You’ve been in a shitty mood for days already.”
“I haven’t.” Oh yes, I have.
I’ve been trying to slow down on Datura—again—and it’s been a fucking shitshow.
“I hope you won’t be an ass whenshegets here,” Arc said with a dramatic sigh, sliding a blank sheet of paper my way over the coffee table.
I looked at it. Just a plain, white sheet of paper. What was he trying to say?
“What, do you want me to draw something, or—”
“Turn it you dumbass,” he muttered, rubbing at his temples.
So, with a shake of my head, I did.
Andoh.
It was a drawing alright. One of the hyper realistic ones Arc tended to make in a daze right after his visions to study them in detail.
Not that there wasmuchdetail that would be missed at first glance.
My cheeks heated.
“What—what’sthis?” I asked.
Arc snorted, leaning back in his seat with a long exhale. “I think it’s pretty self explanatory.”
No, it wasn’t.
Was it a warning? Was I going to finally succumb after waiting and hoping for a mate for over a century? For being so envious and eager to find one that I fucking fell?
“It's you,” he said after I’ve been silent for too long. “Obviously having sex and—”
“You don’t know that,” I snapped. No way I was going to fall for some random woman I didn’t recognize, no matter how attractive she looked.
“Oh no, I do. The drawing might be focused on your faces, but the whole scene I saw was pretty explicit.”
My hands started to shake. “No, I can’t—this won’t behappening, I’m—”
“She’s yourmate, Carter,” Arc interrupted, his voice turning softer, like my internal struggle was loud enough for him to hear.
“You don’t deserve love,”the voices whispered.“You’re a Fallen, you’ll live in eternal loneliness. You’re—”
“Fuck!” I muttered, grabbing at my head, rocking on my seat. “Shut up, shut up,shut up.”
“Carter. Listen to me.” My eyes snapped up.Pity. So much pity and worries in my oldest friend’s gaze. “Don’t listen to them, listen tome.”
The scoff that escaped me was dry, humorless. “Easy for you to say.”
“I know. But she’s yourmate. What you’ve been waiting for all your life, your entire existence.”
“How can youknowthat?” I snapped again. “What if it just means that I’ll lose my resolve and become a whore like Jeremiah? What if you’re right, but predicting something that will happen indecades? Telling me now is just plain cruel. You don’t know anything except that I’ll end up having sex with a hot girl.”
“Will you let me explain or just keep freaking out?” he asked, but a smile crept at the corners of his mouth. I nodded, letting myself fall against the backrest of the couch and bringing the drawing with me. “I know she’s your mate because I’ve heard snippets of conversation in my vision. One particular sentence, actually. I know you won’t have to wait for too long, because I’ve seen the date on the calendar you insist on keeping up to date in your room.”
My mouth went dry as I struggled to find words. My mate was coming? Maybe he understood wrong. Maybe it was all a misunderstanding.
“What did you hear that makes you so sure?” I managed to ask.
