6
Finn
For the second time in less than five minutes, the world has fallen out from under my feet.
Only this time it’s not a sunrise.
It’s the worst possible outcome I could have imagined, all things considered.
The last glimpse I get of my mate is the fan of her raven hair as she dashes away down the corridor, the sway of the dark gray skirts she’s wearing, a tiny flash of her face—flushed pink with emotion—
And then she’s gone.
As quickly as she came, she’s gone.
I’ve never fully understood the demon instinct to chase.
Perhaps it’s because I’m a naturally lazy creature, but the way some demons love to make a sensual sport of chasing down and claiming their partners always seemed a little barbaric to me.
But Goddess, I understand it now.
With my mate fleeing, with every single instinct I possess screaming at me to go after her, oh yes, I understand the need to chase.
But I also understand what it looks like when I’ve been rejected.
The stark truth of it settles into my bones with each passing second.
My mate just rejected me.
She doesn’t want me.
She couldn’t even stand to be around me long enough for me to say something, to offer an introduction, to give me even a moment’s chance.
“Well,” Seren says in a choked voice. “That could have gone better.”
Suddenly I want to be anywhere but here.
Anywhere but standing in a room with one of my best friends and the witch he’s so deliriously happy with, the witch who just so happens to be my mate’s sister.
Humiliated, but not entirely without manners, I make myself paste a wry, rueful smile on my face.
“I know it was a late night last night, but I didn’t think I looked that ghoulish this morning.”
Seren grimaces. “I’ll… talk to her. Sol, she’s… I honestly don’t know why she’s here. Something might be wrong, and maybe she’s just… just… not in the best mood to find out…”
“That she’s got a demon mate?” I supply, and she grimaces again.
“Yes. That.”
“Or maybe it just runs in the family,” Callum adds sardonically, looking at her with exasperated affection. “I seem to remember our own first meeting going about as well as that one did.”
Seren smiles fondly back at him, and again, I need to get the hell out of here.
Still, something she said doesn’t sit right with me.
“What do you mean something might be wrong?”
Seren tears her eyes away from Callum. Her gaze lingers on the door her sister just disappeared through, and little furrows of worry appear on her brow.
Furrows that do nothing at all to ease my own worry.
“I don’t know exactly,” Seren says slowly, shaking her head. “But it’s really weird she’s here. She had… something big going on back at the coven. Important stuff she’s been training for a long time. If she’s here instead of there…”
Seren trails off, and Callum puts an arm around her shoulders.
Part of me wants to press her for details.
What exactly is waiting for Soleil back in the human realm? What might have happened with her coven to make her flee?
But the truth still stands that I’m a stranger to her, and her sister isn’t exactly going to spill all her secrets to me.
For a moment, I let myself hope.
Perhaps that’s it.
Perhaps Soleil really is distracted by whatever’s troubling her, and her rejection had nothing to do with me at all.
And yet…
I can’t forget the horror on her face, the desperation in her eyes, the way she looked as if she just received the worst news she could ever have imagined.
How am I supposed to come back from that?
Defeat sits heavy on my shoulders, and I give my two friends one last half-hearted smile before I turn to go.
“I’ll talk to her,” Seren says again.
I force myself to shrug. “If she’d rather not speak to me, that’s fine. I don’t want to force her into anything she doesn’t want.”
The words taste sour on my tongue.
Of course I want Soleil to change her mind.
Of course I want to talk to her.
But the same old small, tired voice inside me whispers it won’t make a difference, anyway. Perhaps like everyone else in my life, my mate is disappointed with me, expected more of me, would rather not trouble herself with me when all I can offer are unmet expectations.
Seren and Callum share a look I can’t decipher and don’t want to linger on.
Goddess, I want to run, too.
Away from this happy couple. Away from this court. Away from all the ways I’ve already failed my mate before I’ve even gotten the chance to speak with her.
Without another word, and unable to meet my friends’ eyes, I leave their chambers, off to somewhere I can be alone and avoid disappointing anyone else today.