Page 53 of These Dangerous Fates

“It was arranged. Her family is one of the wealthiest vampire families. It was the perfect alliance. My dad got more money, and her family got the status.” He shrugs, eyes clouded with painful memories. “Arranged marriages are commonplace in the vampire world. We’re still old school in our thinking. Something I’ve always hated.”

“Not just the vampire world,” I say bitterly, tucking my head back against his chest, snuggling closer. “What happened?”

He kisses the top of my head before continuing. “She stopped spending as much time with me. At the time, I thought it was because I was a teenager and didn’t need her around as much. I thought she was giving me space to grow into my own person. I was wrong, and looking back, I can see the signs now.” Sadness laces each word he speaks, and a heaviness settles in the air around us. “She was a wonderful person, but always slightly reserved. I think she resented her life and being forced into a loveless marriage. She would smile at me, but never anyone else. During that time, though, she’d started smiling more. There was a light in her eyes I didn’t recognize at the time. It was like she was glowing from the inside out.”

He pauses again, his words catching in his throat. I ache for him. I know all too well what it’s like losing such an amazing person who meant so much to you. I lost two of them. Pressing a kiss to his chest, right over his heart beating along with mine, I give him the only support I know how.

“She had met her beloved,” he whispers. “She kept it hidden, obviously. Divorce is not something vampires believe in. Eventually, my dad found out. He was livid, but he told her as long as she stayed married to him, she could have her secret relationship with her beloved.” He pauses, and I can tell he’s gearing himself up for something painful. “A couple of months later, they were both found dead. The reports all say they were ambushed while out on a date, victims of a robbery gone wrong. I believed it for the longest time. But now I wonder. I question if my dad didn’t have something to do with it.”

“Kai,” I breathe. My heart breaks for him. Even though I understand his pain all too well, I’m positive my dad had nothing to do with mom and sister’s death. While he wasn’t happy with my sister and I being human, he loved my mom tremendously. One of his only redeeming qualities.

“As much as I want to shout from the rooftop that you are my beloved,” he says, “I think it’s safest to keep it quiet. Not only will my dad not handle it well, but it will put a target on your back. I can’t let anything happen to you.”

“I understand,” I say quietly.

It hasn’t fully registered what all of this means. Beloved. Immortal. Those are big words a human like me isn’t used to hearing. Everything is kind of numb, but in a good way. It’s like when you have a good dream. You know it isn’t real, but damn, it sure as hell seems like it is, and you want nothing more than to wake up and find out it wasn’t a dream at all. That’s what I keep thinking. That I’m going to wake up and realize none of this happened, because it’s too amazing to be real.

I push up on my elbow to look at him, with his tousled hair and hooded eyes. “This is so surreal to me,” I whisper, tracing his features with my gaze.

Kai grins, and the tips of his fangs glint in the lamplight. “You and me both, baby girl.”

I want to soak in this moment forever. The lazy touches and soft conversation heal parts of me I thought were broken for good. But, nothing can last, and I’m terrified my next question will make it all crash down around us. But I have to know. “Kai?”

“Hmm?” he asks lazily.

“What about Cade?” I ask so quietly my voice is barely audible.

He doesn’t tense under me like I expected him to. Instead, he huffs a small laugh. “What about him?”

“Well … I think … maybe … I kind of like him too?” The words rush out of me, tripping and stumbling over each other.

This time, his laugh rumbles his entire chest. “Really? I never would have guessed.”

I slap his stomach and sit up so I can look at him. The adoration shining in his eyes warms my heart, despite my irritation. “Kai …”

He pulls me back down and tightens his arms around me. “Relax, baby girl. You’re my beloved, and that means the world to me. But it doesn’t mean I can’t share you. If you want to be with Cade as well, I would never stop you. Whatever you want, you’ll get. I promise.”

* * *

Kai and I finally get out of bed. That time with him, laying in his arms, listening to our hearts beat together, was divine. But, there are two other guys who also hold a piece of my heart. I’m hopeful that maybe things will work out in the end for all of us, now that I know Kai and I are tied together forever, and he doesn’t seem to mind sharing.

Immortal.

I shudder as I push open the door to the library, not sure I’ll ever be able to wrap my human mind around that concept. Before I make it five steps into the library, Allie barrels into me, almost knocking me to the ground. She hugs me tightly and breathes a huge sigh of relief.

“I told her you would be fine,” Cade says drily from his spot on the couch. “A vampire would sooner stake themselves than hurt their beloved. But she didn’t believe me.”

“I had to see you with my own eyes,” she says as she pulls away, scanning me for injury.

“I’m fine,” I reassure her. “More than fine.”

I glance at Cade, my heart rate doubling as I take in his handsome features. While he’s attempting to look relaxed on the couch, I can already read his signs. His shoulders are tense and his fingers tap restlessly on the armrest. Those violet eyes I love so much bounce between Kai and me, guarded and a little sad. I can practically see the wall he’s building around himself. That won’t do.

Shaking my head, I walk to him. He watches me approach, tracking my every movement like a hawk, but doesn’t reach out to grab me like he would have before. I don’t need Kai’s empath abilities to know exactly what he is thinking, and he couldn’t be more wrong. The room is quiet, almost oppressive, as everyone watches the scene unfold before them. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I plop down in his lap, straddling his waist. He hesitates before his hands settle on my hips, fingers contracting and digging in, like he’s scared and doesn’t want to lose me.

I stare into those violet eyes, ensuring he understands exactly what I’m saying. “Just because Kai is my beloved doesn’t mean there’s no room for you in my heart,” I say. “If I can’t have all of you, I don’t want any of you.”

Cade relaxes under me, but concern still pulls his brows down. “Does he know that?” he asks, nodding his head toward Kai.

---