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She didn’t seem to be afraid of us like the others, or care about our families or our power. She didn’t drool over my brothers or try to cling to them like other girls. I could tell she knew there was something different about us, but unlike everyone else, it didn’t seem to faze her. She stares us down, stands her ground against Creed, keeps up with Annex’s crazy, and gives Ezra some peace.
And that shifter would have happily killed Annex if he hadn’t gotten the better of him first. Annex was surviving in the way he knew how, even if it was a bit bloodier than necessary. It was a kill-or-be-killed world. And who was I to judge him?
“Be gentle, Red…” His lips hum in my ear, his grin growing against my neck as his hands tighten around my waist. “I’m not used to someone else taking the reins.” I shake my head as he chuckles.
Was he really serious about this, about her? I shake my head, a heavy sigh leaving my lips. He couldn’t be. It was Annex. And the only thing he was serious about was blood and carnage. This was a phase. Something to pass the time. He would realise it soon, and everything would go back to how it was before.
Were they really that jealous I was spending time with their ‘Infernal Four’? I stifle a chuckle. It was a terrible name. Imagine one small spelling error, and they become ‘The Internal Four.’ It also sounded like some hell-bound quartet or demonic boy band.
“And, if I’m psychotic…and he’s clearly demented,” I point to Annex. “What does that make the three of you?” I glance towards Mallyn, then Ezra, and finally land on Creed. Ezra’s grin returns as he points toward Mallyn. “He’d be the berserker, and I’d be…” He taps his lips, a playful smile spreading on them as he gives a casual shrug, “The loveable romantic?”
“What about me?” Creed calls, his interest now piqued as a small scowl darkens his expression. “What are you?” “What do you think I would be?” A dark amused look spreads in his eyes as the other guys fall silent around us. “Major Asshole?” I reply, tapping my chin as Annex and Ezra snicker, “Patronising Prince…Harbinger of Glares…” I shrug. “There's plenty more, but we only get such a short break to eat.”
Crazy bastard. Who wanted to ‘play’ with him? His idea of fun probably ended with multiple corpses and a few hefty wanted posters. But he did get one thing right…I do look pretty cool with a blade in my hand.
Annex, Ezra, Mallyn, and Creed hadn’t appeared in school all week, not since the little call they got in the cafeteria. Even Mr. Valor had been busy after school with other work, so we hadn’t been able to train together the past few days. He was also my last class, and since I had attended, he wouldn’t even know I was missing. I freeze. Why did I think of them?
Truthfully, I enjoyed his company. There was more to him than just the ‘Defence teacher’ or the ‘Elven instructor from the Valor clan’.
“You call me pathetic, weak and magicless, and then in the same breath say that I’m the big bad villain picking on her little sister.” I scoff, “How does that even make sense? Especially for someone as powerful as Seria? Are you all blind or just that dumb?”
Maybe it was because we shared a similar fate or a similar type of pain, but a connection formed between us, a bond that had slowly grown with each hummed note, each lyrical word, and each gravelly broken sentence. To me, he had become a balm to my battered soul, a small glimmer of light in this otherwise dark nightmare of a prison.
“Zrael? Zrae–” “Beau…tiful. So beau...t…iful…Mate.” His voice is still broken and coarse but sounds less pained with his breathing steadier. Wait. Did he call me ‘Mate’? He couldn’t mean that kind of mate, right? I mean, we hadn’t even seen each other so how would he even know? I had heard that different supernaturals had distinctive ways of knowing if they were fated mates. Some involved scent or blood, but even then, it was so rare.
“Mate?” I call, “Do you mean like fri–” “Fat..ed.” He cuts me off, his voice slightly deeper, a more steady and sure tone with each syllable. “Your voi…ce. I ca…n te…ll. You..r my m…ate, Micai.”
…A mate. A fated mate. A bond stronger than any other in this world.
Our bond was stronger than anything I had ever felt…or ever would again. That day…the day they took him from me…will be a memory and pain that will forever be etched into my soul. The only sounds that day were my screams, my sobs, and my pleading with him not to leave me. They took a part of me away that will never be whole again without him. My beautiful soul and lost siren. My Zrael.
My brows pull downward…why didn’t she want me like that? Why was Micai any different? Why wasn’t she lured in like all the others by my appearance? Why did my fake facade and sweet smile not work with her?
A girl would have to have been made for us to be someone who could withstand the darkness that surrounded us. Someone made by the Gods and Fate themselves…a Mate.
A wistful smile stretches my lips. Was I still holding onto that hope? That one day I would find my own mate, the one being made for me.
Someone was singing. I take a step closer before freezing. My feet are glued to the spot I stand on as a tremor works its way through my body and down to my very core. A warm and tender feeling spreads in me, flowing through every vein and bone and filling me with it as it quickly consumes me whole. It takes even the air from my lungs as it moves. A voice rings in my head, a feeling of surety joining it with a single word. Mate.
There, sitting across the room and singing that heart-breakingly beautiful song, is Micai. My fated mate, the one made for me by Fate and the Gods themselves…was Micai.
It was Micai. My little sea star was my mate and the other half of my soul.
My mate has a deep pain inside her, one that needs time to heal. And time, I have plenty of. In fact, every moment from now was hers; every second to have and every day to decide what's next.
Micai’s voice could make an Angel weep and any Siren green with envy. And she was mine.
She seemed to crawl under my skin and carve out a place somewhere in me just for her. And fuck if some bigger part of me didn’t love it.
But none of us could have ever seen her coming—a girl who could weather our storms and stand beside us. And Red was the one. Even if the rest of them didn’t know it yet, I did. I knew it as much as I knew that pain was fleeting and that if I were cut down right now, I’d rise to kill again tomorrow.
Ezra laughs, pulling me from my thoughts with whatever Red’s said to him. But that was another thing. Ezra. His eyes are glued to Red like she's his salvation and the fresh breath of air he's always been looking for. The dopey expression on his face when she's not looking is almost comical.
He was another ally for the cause. The one to make Red ours. And she will be; she just doesn’t know it yet.
Has someone hurt her? The thought has me instantly clenching my fists harder, the force of it drawing blood as it drips down my fingers and creates a trail to the path below. No. I shake my head. She couldn’t smile so beautifully every day and be as strong as she is if she had suffered like that. Me and my brothers were different. We only survived our pain because we had each other and even then, we’re still broken. Our cracks show.
And as I lay down to sleep, a single thought crosses my mind…It was a much better birthday this time around.
Xander wraps his hand around her shoulder. “What talk?” he asks her, his voice soft and gaze gentle, before turning to me with a cold tone and stony glare. “What did you say?” Always Seria’s knight in shining dickhead. How did I ever like such a pathetic moron? One so blind, with no sense of his own?
“Morgan,” Seria says, “Xander was just defending me–” “From what?” Morgan snaps, and they all fall silent. “What happened for you to need to be saved?” She laughs darkly as she meets each frozen stare. “What? From a little fall?” She scoffs. “Fuck, you’re precious. How is your two left feet her fault?” Her head whips back to Xander. “Is she so precious that you become a witless dickhead with no eyes or ears?”
The friendship of the past was dead. They were only a dream that had once helped to give me comfort when I was young and alone, but no more.
Creed, as in Captain Asshole, Mr. Stubborn Incarnate, and the Dark Lord himself?
“There won’t be a second time, Xander. I’m not putting up with any more shit. Stay away…All of you.” I look at Kane, Knox, and Anders before I pull the blade away and straighten myself before handing it back to Annex.
“Never again, Micai. Never do that to me again.” He kisses the tip of my nose as his hands slide around my waist, a slight tremor in his fingers as he pulls me into his bare torso. “Don't ever do something so dangerous again, and don’t ever leave without me. I’ll always follow you, no matter what.” He pulls back, his eyes narrowing, “Lead the way…but never leave me behind again.”
“It's because…you're everything that colour stands for…and more. Dangerous. Fearless…And a temptation…I shouldn’t touch or want…but can’t help coming back to…You’re the salvation I never knew I needed. My Red.”
