California, 1986
Paul's eyes widened as he realized who you were to him. You wished you could have stopped the word that fell from his lips.
"Mine."
No.
'This can't be happening,' you thought to yourself as you fought your instincts to keep the same word Paul has uttered to you from bursting out of your own mouth.
Even if you could ignore the fact that this man had been hitting on Maria not five seconds ago, this wasn't what you wanted for your life.
All the big choices in your unlife had been largely dictated by some dude with a god complex. How could this guy be any different?
You refused to trade one captor for another.
The handsome blond man stared at you in shock, seemingly surprised as you were at the sudden twist of fate that had brought you two together.
Though as his shock wore off his lips seemed to curve into a smile and his hand moved to touch your cheek.
You panicked.
You recoiled sharply from his outstretched palm "Oh my god I totally forgot I have to go stock things in the back, so nice to meet you, bye!" you rambled quickly as you raced to escape from behind the desk.
"What?" Paul's brow furrowed in confusion. He moved to stand in front of the swinging door, your only escape from behind the desk.
You glared at him, "you're in my way..."
"What?!" he repeated with more frustration than confusion, "but we're...I mean we-"
"I know what we are," you told him, "and I don't care. So can you please move aside so I can do my job."
Paul's jaw dropped.
You sighed and pushed passed him.
"Hey!" he called after you.
You ignored him and kept walking, desperate to be anywhere but next to him.
"This isn't over you know," he promised you.
You scoffed as you pulled at the door to the back room, "seems like it is."
You slid in, slamming the door behind you and pinching the bridge of your nose between your thumb and forefinger.
Despite what you'd said to Paul, you knew you hadn't seen the last of him.
You were determined not to breathe a word to Max about anything that had transpired that night.
He'd never really told you anything about mates, you suspected because he'd never found his own. You couldn't predict how he'd react, and you wouldn't let him force you into anything else.
Which meant you'd have to figure this out on your own.
As the sun rose and Max went to bed for the day, you scoured the shelves of his home library for anything that could give you more information.
You slunk away to your bedroom with a mountain of books. You secured your black out curtains, preparing to stay up all day researching.
What you found terrified you.
Humans swooned over the idea of soulmates, they spent their lives searching for someone who'd complete them, one person who was perfectly suited for them.
But this wasn't an original human creation. They'd stolen the idea of soulmates from vampires.
Many scholars thought when a human transformed into a vampire, they lost their soul.
