Page 52 of Dark Souls

“You are right. They will be fine.” She smiled, reaching out for my hand and giving it a squeeze.

I placed the book back on the shelf and turned to watch her as she added another book to the pile she was carrying. “Grandma, can I ask you something? Something personal?”

“Of course. You can ask me anything, Ilaria. You know I am an open book.”

That is what I loved about my Grandma Maddy. She truly was. Sometimes, she was too open, but you could never fault her transparency. I admired how she could so freely express her thoughts and emotions.

“I know when you first met Grandpapi you were hesitant about being his mate because he was Lucius’ son and an enemy of the wolves, but did you ever contemplate actually rejecting him?”

She paused, a small smile on her lips as she placed the books down on the shelf and leaned against it to give me her full attention. “Honestly, yes. I tried to reject him twice.” My eyes widened at that knowledge. I knew they had a complicated start to their love story, but I had no idea she actually tried to reject him as her mate. “But, of course, he never let me.” Her smile widened, but it wasn’t solely with happiness. I could see the guilt hiding behind it. “It’s funny really. When I first met your grandpapi, he believed he wasn’t capable of love or deserving of it. He said he didn’t know how to show love because he’d only ever known brutality. Yet, he was the one who refused to give up. He was the one who fought for us even when it felt impossible from the very beginning. Yes, his methods were a little… unorthodox.” She chuckled at the memories that were racing through her mind.

“You mean because he kidnapped you?”

“Yes. And other things. I mean, he followed me around as a flipping bird.” She laughed loudly, which made me grin from ear to ear. “But the point is, I was willing to reject him because I judged him before I knew him. I saw his darkness and thought that was all he could ever be. But I was so very wrong. Luckily, I realised that quickly or I would have made the biggest mistake of my life.”

I chewed at my bottom lip as I folded my arms across my chest, leaning against the shelves as my mind raced with thoughts of Red and Heathen. Even though Heathen wasn’t my soulmate, he acted as though he was. While my actual soulmate wanted me to forget I’d ever met him. What was I supposed to do with that?

“So, you didn’t want him? At the beginning?” I asked her again just to clarify. I was trying to understand Red’s actions. His thought process. Why fuck me and leave me without even giving this a chance? It was him who sought me out. He came to me. Found me. And then just left. Why?

“Oh no. I wanted him. I wanted him badly.” She shot me an exaggerated expression. “The moment I first laid eyes on him, every cell in my body came alive. I felt more in his presence than I had in my entire life. He was like a magnet, pulling me in. Even when I wanted to kick and scream and run away, I couldn’t. I never really had a chance. I was an idiot to believe I could have ever walked away from him.”

I swallowed, forcing my anger and hurt down. Peering down at my boots, I tried to hide the emotions on my face. Red walked away. Was it so easy for him?

“You know I don’t mind answering any of these questions, but I have to ask, is there something on your mind, sweetie? About your soulmate?”

The truth was on the tip of my tongue. I lifted my head and held her gaze. Her sparkling grey eyes were so calm and comforting that I felt my bottom lip tremble. She immediately dived forwards, wrapping her arms around me tightly and stroking the back of my head. I closed my eyes, fighting to keep the tears at bay. I wasn’t going to cry. No way. He didn’t deserve my tears.

“Come here. Come and sit with me.” Grandma tugged us down to the floor, where she kept her arms wrapped around my shoulder as we sat with our legs bent and backs against the shelves. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I’m not sure that I can. Or want to.”

“Okay. I understand. But just know I am here. I’ll always be here. You know, when I first found out I was mated to your grandpapi, I hid it from everyone for weeks. I didn’t tell a soul because, at the time, I was ashamed. I thought no one would understand and I wanted to deal with it on my own. But I wish so much that I had talked it out. It would have helped ease the pain and perhaps, I would have thought differently about my situation. Been more open to the bond that was meant for me.”

“It’s–” I inhaled deeply, feeling torn between talking to someone about it and wanting to try and forget it ever happened. “It’s not me that won’t give it a chance. It’s him.”

I had to applaud her for how well she hid the shock on her face and tried to look calm instead. “You’ve met your soulmate?”

“Last night. He was at the resort. I saw him when I was swimming in the lake, but he didn’t talk to me. And then, I found him in my cabin when we all went to bed.”

“He broke into your cabin?” She was quick to make the link to the smashed door as I nodded my head. “Did he… did he hurt you?”

“No.” I shook my head with a desperate laugh. “Not like that anyway. We talked for a bit and then…” I eyed her carefully. “We slept together. It was out of this world. Or I thought it was. I fell asleep after and when I woke up this morning, he was gone.”

“He just left?” The anger in her voice was palpable. “Without saying anything?”

“Oh, he left me a message to find on my bathroom mirror.” I chuckled. Laughing seemed to ease the hurt. “Forget me.”

“Forget me?” she repeated, frowning. “What the… Oh my god, you wait until I get my hands on him! What’s his name?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t even know his name. That’s the part I am so annoyed at myself for. I know literally nothing about him. Just what he looks like, that he’s a vampire, and he has a slight European accent.”

She started bobbing her head, her mind working fast. “Okay. Well, that is not nothing. I am sure we can track him down. Goddess, doesn’t he know who you are? Who your parents are? He thinks he can get away with treating you like that? He is in for a world of torture.”

“No!” I panicked, turning to face her with pleading eyes. “You cannot tell anyone about this. Please. Can we just keep this between us? Please, Grandma. I’m not ready to deal with the fallout from them all. Until I decide what to feel or how to even handle this, I just don’t want to face the questions. Please.”

She pinched her lips together, clearly unhappy about keeping this a secret from the rest of my family. “Okay. I won’t tell them. Only because I know how they will all react, and I can see you are still processing. But you need to tell them eventually.”

“Thank you,” I breathed in relief.

---