His hair was sandy blond and tousled like he didn’t care to comb it, but still managed to look put together. My gaze fell to his ears, which were short like a human’s. I was a whopping five-foot four inches tall and this dude towered over me at least a foot higher. He was stacked with muscle that pulled at the edges of his t-shirt, and his arms screamed “I can squeeze your head off your body with my bare hands.” But his eyes, his insanely blue eyes were threaded with molten copper. They had me stepping closer to inspect them, letting my guard down as I did.
The thought that he was Fae shook me, but I was still ready to fight my way out of this room, crystal in hand, when a blue light pulsed from his chest. Alarm registered on his face, and then that same blue light pulsed from me, an identical rhythm to his.
No.No. no. no. no…
Confusion crossed his face as a warm unconditional love trickled down my veins and a sob lodged in my throat.
My fucking soulmate was a Son of Darkness.
I couldn’t really describe what I was feeling. My heart burst open and euphoria pumped through me, but I was trying to push it down. I felt … completely and utterly in love with this person before me, like he could do no wrong. I would accept him for whatever he was, and he would do the same for me. We were created for each other, and I suddenly felt like the last twenty years of my life had been so lonely without him. The entire room glowed blue with our combined magic. Boom-boom, boom-boom … the magic pulsed with my heartbeat. His brows were drawn down in confusion, but then softened into intrigue.
He finally found his words. “What is this? Magic?”
He didn’t know. The tears that had been building up in my eyes spilled over and I found myself wondering if he was feeling the same thing as me. How the hell could this dark creature be my soulmate? It wasn’t right. He was my newly sworn enemy.
He seemed to have just noticed the crystal in my hand, and every possibly soft feature I’d seen in his face vanished. “Seeker,” he hissed, and stepped forward, ripping the crystal out of my grip.
Our blue light cut off completely the moment our fingers touched. It was like it had done its job of bringing us together and now it was gone—except he didn’t touch me like he should have. His touch was cold and threatening.
“Liam?” a voice called down the hallway. Footsteps could be heard.
My eyes widened in panic and … Liam, AKA my clearly evil soulmate, grabbed me under the arm and dragged me across the room. He shoved me into the closet, closing the door nearly all the way as he stepped out into the room to meet whoever had said his name.
I froze, unmoving, as one of the horned guys walked in. I saw him through the one-inch gap in the door. When he scanned the room, passing the closet in which I hid, my body went rigid. “What was that blue light?” the dude asked and my heart beat so loudly in my chest I thought I was going to throw up.
He’d shoved me in a closet when he could have killed me … that was sort of … not evil? It wasn’t exactly soulmate love, like in Faerie, but he hadn’t killed me … so I’d have to take it.
“Nothing. I was just checking on the crystal,” Liam said smoothly, clutching the blue crystal in his hand with ease.
The guy looked suspiciously at Liam. “Isawa fucking blue light down the hallway.”
The tall winged creature stepped closer to the horned dude and started down at him, “Who’s in charge here?” he asked.
The horned guy gulped, lowering his gaze. “You.”
Liam nodded. “That’s right. There wasnoblue light. Stop smoking pot and wait for me to give you orders. Understand?”
The guy glared at Liam but nodded. “Yes, sir.” Then he stalked out of the room, slamming the door.
Whoa … my soulmate was kind of a dick and it was kind of hot. Oh my God, what was wrong with me? Why was I even referring to him as my soulmate? Clearly that was a mistake. Some … fake blue light trick thing? I was grasping at straws.
When the horned dude left, Liam wrenched the closet door open. His face was all hardened, not a trace of the wonder or curiosity I’d seen before. Reaching out, he took both of my upper arms into his hands and pulled me inches from his face.
“I don’t know what that blue light was, but I know what you are, and if you touch this crystal again, I’ll kill you.”
I should have been terrified, and I was half wondering where he’d put the crystal, but honestly I couldn’t get over how yummy he smelled, how my wings seemed to perk and snap erect when he was touching me. How even though he held my arms in a death grip, his touch was … pleasant.
Fuck.What was happening to me?
He dragged me forward, my tiptoes skimming along the carpet as he released one of my arms to free up a hand and wrench the window open.
“Wait, you don’t understand,” I pleaded.
He picked me up like I weighed ten pounds and tucked me into his chest. My stomach dropped out at the close physical contact and I saw a flicker of desire in his face … or maybe I imagined it.
“Don’tevercome back.” With that, he chucked me out the window and it took everything in me not to scream. My wings snapped out, fluttering, and lifted me up just before I hit the ground, causing my feet to skim the tall grass.
I raced back to my scooter, trying to think of what the hell I would tell Trissa and Mara. No way could I tell them that a Son of Darkness was my soulmate.
