Forever

Always

An hour later, Kol returned after a self proclaimed break and held up my favorite candy. "I know it isn't the cure, but I'd hoped it would make you feel better."

"No way." I made a grab for it. I hadn't had this since- Jeremy and I always shared the bag, no matter who got it.

Kol pulled it away. "I recall a certain someone talking about this."

"You remembered."

"Always."

"Kol-"

"I know, I know. This isn't what you want."

"Then why are you trying so hard?"

He sighed. "I used to be jealous of the bond Elijah, Rebekah, and Nik all seemed to share. Their 'always and forever'. Despite the fact that we all had the same tyrant of a father with an absent mother." Kol sat on the bed beside me, legs folding in front of him. "I searched for you, after we became vampires, and for centuries, traveling with various groups of witches. It all seemed hopeless until one bright eyed brunette appeared."

I looked away. "Yeah but, I mean, I haven't been the easiest soulmate in the world." Maybe I felt a little guilty about that.

"No, you're perfect." He grasped my jaw lightly, effortlessly drawing my eyes back to his. "You are Drew. My Drew. Even if I had to wait another thousand years, I would've. I meant what I said in your motel dream. The bond would force us together, whether in life or death. If we see one another in our afterlives, I want you to be able to choose when the bond happens, even then."

Stupid butterflies.

Stupid Kol and his pretty words.

"You say that like the bond is a sentient thing."

Kol gently pulled my wrist against his, our two matching birth marks nearly touching. "It is not sentient, however, there has never been a pair in history able to resist the pull for long. We are marked, bound together forever. No spell can undo it. You were made for me, and I for you."

"I understand why you're obsessed with making this happen, but why were your siblings?" And your father.

His brow furrowed in thought. "They surprised me. I thought for sure Niklaus would kill you the moment he saw you, perhaps even Elijah as well. But they didn't. I cannot answer why they want us together."

"That's comforting." I reached out and traced his mark. "When you say magic can't break it- what does that mean." He'd talked about it at the ball, but it'd been brief and vague.

"Legend has it that the soulmate bond was born when the earth first woke. No one knows how it does what it does, only that the soulmates themselves are entirely random. There is no pattern to trace, no specific bloodline, even the marks are unique. A few pairs are born every century and as far as I know, I am the first vampire to ever receive a soulmate naturally. I thought for sure my mark would disappear when we realized our immortality, but it didn't."

Had there really never been a vampire born as a soulmate? "So we would have always met."

"Yes." He brushed some hair away from my face. "Though if I could release you, I would. I know that is what you truly want."

Was that it? Did I want that?

He killed Josh.

But he's also been incredibly understanding.

Kol could've easily forced the bond, like his father had, but he didn't. Had it been anyone else, maybe they would've done it.

"You want to do the bonding thing."

"Only if that is what you desire."

Wasn't I about to die? Maybe even dragging Kol with me? "But hypothetically if we do, then it's a death sentence we'd be tying our lives together."

He frowned. "Though I would gladly follow you, It could be the push to get Nik to agree. He believes you don't want this family, but if you do the bond and cross that line, he'll have to accept it or lose me."

I mean, it's not like I wanted to do it because I loved him.

Right?

Right?

It'd only be to save myself.

Kol's brow furrowed. "Why do you care what happens to me?"

That caught me off guard. "What?"

"You said, it would be a death sentence. For me. Why do you care whether I live or die?" 

"I don't-"

"Say it." He interrupted.

"I don't know what you're talking about Kol." I took my hand out of his. "It's nothing."

"Drew." He looked at me with those stupidly adorable brown eyes, a cautious, guarded hope in them.

"We can't."

"I want you to say it."

"Kol-"

"Say it."

"I care about you!" I yelled, frustrated with him, frustrated with myself, and with my feelings. "I don't want you to die because of me."

Kol's expression softened. "I could die a happy man, just hearing those words." His thumb stroked my cheek. "You are my forever."

"And you were supposed to be mine."

He grasped my face in his hands. "Drew Gilbert. My Angel."

Kol leaned in slowly, as if afraid I'd pull away.

I found myself not doing so.

It felt both so right and so wrong at the same time and what if I wasn't good enough for him-

He kissed me.