Mates. As in—
I’m aware of what a mate is.
Mates weren’t husband and wife. They were soulmates, as in till the end of time type of stuff. As in there was a situation where if we shared blood during sex, and if the M word was involved, we’d be linked—everything stopped.
Kieran.
Another sigh. What?
Can you speak like this to others?
He was quiet for a bit. Yes.
Relief went through me. My eyes started watering.
But not to the same degree.
That was his dragon.
I could almost feel Kieran shutting up his dragon.
What’s he mean by that?
Nothing.
Kieran.
What?
What’d he mean by that?
There was an exchange of growls happening. And I was now noticing that we all enjoyed growling. Interesting.
A fatigue started rising up in my body.
It’s the response to your adrenaline. Rakon shouldn’t have woken you.
Rakon?
That’s his name.
Whoa. Do I need to name my creature?
No, Micaela. Your energy will blend with you eventually so the two of you are merged as one. It’s not healthy to be as separated as you are. It’s a different situation with Rakon and myself. We’re the same, but we’re also two separate creatures as well.
Cool. That’s all I could think. I knew I should have more of an intelligent response, but the fatigue was rising and rising. A yawn left me. A second one came right on its heel.
You need to sleep, and you need to eat.
I nestled into my pillow, my whole body feeling like it was melting. Night, Rakon.
Night, Micaela.
I could feel his wish to merge with my creature, and she stirred. A blast of exhaustion came right after.
You’re doing this to me, aren’t you?
Kieran didn’t respond to that. He said softly in my head, “You need to eat tomorrow.”
Yeah…
I was asleep.16Fucking BradA week later.“Since our Halloween sucked, I think we should have a re-do.”
Nikki announced that when I got back from classes, and as she was teleporting back and forth from her kitchen to her bedroom. She was getting dressed for a shift at Bass again.
“What?”
She teleported to the bedroom.
Came back, her leather corset outfit on. “I know you don’t like Brad, but hear me out.”
I growled.
I’d been more forthcoming with them since I noted how Rakon and Kieran liked to do the same.
“Hold on.” Poof. She was gone.
“So as I was saying.” She was back, braiding her hair in her usual work-style. “You’ve not said much about Jay, but we were supposed to get drunk that night.” Poof, gone. Poof, she was back and she was spraying some red glitter into her hair. “If it hadn’t been Dissension Night, we would’ve done that. And Brad’s on this thing where he’s wondering if we should try at a relationship or not. I say no, but he’s got something up his butt about it. He’s having a small gathering tonight. After my shift, we could go over and check it out? What do you think?”
“I have school tomorrow.”
She gave me a knowing look, though there was a flash of concern there too. “You and I both know you won’t be sleeping. You haven’t been since…”
Yeah. Since Halloween, except for the night when Kieran used his power on me.
I changed the subject. Nikki hadn’t pushed, but she knew I wasn’t sharing something.
“Sure. Why not. Fucking Brad, huh?”
She grimaced. “I mean, I’m the one fucking Brad.”
That got a laugh from me. “You know what I mean.”
“I do.” There was that concern again. It was all front and center, and she crossed the room to stand in front of me. “If you need to talk, I’m here. You know that, right?”
“I do.” I smiled, feeling it, because she was there for me. “You should’ve told me Jay was cheating on me, and you know it.”
“I know, but that’s not why you were with him, you know.”
I looked up, frowning. “What do you mean?”
“You hide from so much. I know your kind does that, but you spent five out of seven nights here anyways. It’s why you only had to grab a third of your possessions. The rest was already here.”
That was true.
“I’ll tell you next time, I promise. He was kissing two girls one night in front of you. You saw, and you never said a word. I figured you really didn’t want to deal with it.”
That was all true too. “Still tell me.”
“Okay. I will.” She reached forward, giving me a hug. “Okay. I’m off.”
I gave her a nod and a wave as she left, then I considered my night.
I did have class tomorrow, but I was restless.
I didn’t want to study. I didn’t want to do homework. I didn’t want to eat. I didn’t want to take a bath. I didn’t want to watch a movie. I didn’t want to go for a run. I didn’t want to do anything.
I knew what I wanted to do and I couldn’t do that.