An Unacceptable Mate

Chapter Eight

"Matt?" I gasped, unable to believe my eyes or wrap my head around how the hell he'd gotten here.

Grey eyes met mine and then widened. "Charlie! Jesus Christ, I thought you were dead! That bastard orange-eyes kidnapped me! He didn't tell me what was going on for like two whole days! Can you please tell me what his deal is or I swear to..."

  "I thought that, seeing as this is going to be for a very long time and you're already tired of my company, I'd invite one of your dear friends to journey with us," Acera told me dryly from the doorway. My breath caught.

He looked like an angel.

Trying not to get distracted by his stunning white shirt, perfect features and bare chest, I offered a tiny smile. "That was very considerate of you," I admitted, trying to entwine an apology for last night into my words. "And for the record, I was never tired of your company."

A look of frustration crossed his blank expression and as he nodded in acknowledgement, smiling infinitesimally, his betraying eyes were angry with me.

Could he possibly know that his long lost brother had contacted me in my dreams? And other vampires?

Guilt ate me in one bite as the door slammed shut. How could I fall out with someone as immaculately beautiful and as impossibly kind as Acera?

Somehow, I had and even with my best friend now at my side, I couldn't feel the least bit happy.

So after explaining everything to Matt, excluding the dream and mind-invasion from last night, he seemed a lot more, well...unaccepting?

    "So this Acera is...your promised one? That's kind of messed up," he said, cocking a brow.

I shrugged. We were underneath the gazebo, sitting at a full table of food. I spooned some melon into my mouth, eyes scanning the beach and forest for any signs of him. He'd been gone over two hours and the craving for his touch had started to ebb away at me. Even just to look at his face would satisfy this sexual hunger somewhat.

    "And you have no choice in it? You can't kill him like all of the other bloodsuckers you exterminate?" Matt fired, sounding pissed at everything. He angrily stabbed an innocent sliver of pineapple and then tossed it into his mouth. I could hear his teeth grinding together.

  "Nope, if I could, I would have the first time we ran into one another," I admitted quietly.

What if I had killed my mate the first time we'd met? Vice versa? Would we both have been damned to hell for eternity? I really had to look into this.

    "That's just stupid! You should have a voice here, Charlie. That bloodsucker clearly only wants two things from you: your blood and your virginity," Matt told me fiercely, cleaning his hands of imaginary dust and then snatching a loaf of bread before hacking at it.

My mouth popped open, eyes growing wide. "Matt! What has my virginity got to do with any of this? And since when is it any of your business that I am a virgin?"

He quirked a brow; incredulous. "Everyone at school knows it. All the guys play bets to see who will jump your bones first."

  "Don't tell me they bet on you," I said severely, not sure how to react to his words.

He went pink, casting his ashamed eyes away. "Mostly."

    "Don't you guys talk about anything else other than sex and gambling and cars?" I stereotyped, flailing my hands in the air desperately for some assertion.