Fallen Mate

1 His human mate was dead.

A scream rent the air, dragging him from deep sleep. Triam woke up with a start and looked around him. He listened to the silent house, confused about what woke him up. He was sure he heard someone scream…a girl scream. He got out of bed and opened all his senses. He caught a faint gasp and a weak ‘please, help me’ in the wind.

What the hell was that? He asked himself, walking close to the window. He opened it and leaned outside, sniffing the air. He closed his eyes as he sifted through a myriad of scents. The scent of blood hit him.

Triam gasped as his fangs shot through his mouth, piercing his bottom lip. He groaned, slapping his hand over his lips, staggering away from the window. His stomach twisted as hunger rolled through him.

He clenched his waist feeling like he was about to vomit the food he’d eaten earlier at dinner. Since he was half-vampire, half werewolf, he could eat food if he wanted to. Although he hadn’t bitten anyone, he’d drunk blood to keep the vampire side of him alive. At the moment, his strongest side was his wolf, and he had to feed it food to help it grow. Being a hybrid wasn’t easy. He didn’t understand his own body half of the time. And right then it felt like everything was going wrong inside him. His vampire side was awakening in a way he’d never felt before.

He couldn’t get the scent of the blood out of his nose.

What the f**k? He’d never felt anything like this before.

“What’s going on?” he asked himself as he stared at the window. He breathed in deep, trying to calm the vampire within him. But the scent of the blood was too enticing. Without thinking, he snatched his hoody from the chair he’d thrown it on and jumped out of the window. He looked back, hoping his mom and dad wouldn’t wake up and find him gone. They were very protective of him. His mom more so. She worried about him a lot, because she didn’t understand what he was.

And it didn’t help that his powers grew.

Triam looked over his shoulder at the spirits that had lingered around him ever since he was six years old. He hardly spoke to them now, but yet they still remained. They were fun when he was young, but he found them to be a nuisance now. He couldn’t be alone no matter how hard he tried. He stopped just outside the window and sniffed the air.

The scent of blood filled his lungs and saliva pooled in his mouth. f**k, he was hungry. As if admitting that made the vampire side of his crazy, and took off in a run. His body moved at high speed. He navigated through the streets, following the most delicious smell he’d ever scented. He didn’t think about what he was going to find, only that he had to get to it. The thought of not getting there drove him insane.

Fuck. Maybe he should have woken his father and asked him about this. He didn’t want to go crazy and bite innocent people.

But what if whoever he scented was in danger?

Shit.

He hadn’t thought of that. He needed to get there faster. Triam closed his eyes and used the scent of blood as a guide to teleport to the location where it was concentrated. He appeared on the outskirts of the human town they lived next to.

An overturned car stood in the middle of the road, wheels up with smoke coming out of the engine. Moonlight shone down on the car, turning it bleak. A girl dressed in black stood next to the car staring down at something on the ground.

Triam sniffed the air, and the scent of blood hit him all over again. He growled, feeling like he was drowning in it as his eyes narrowed on the bloodied body on the ground – blond hair streaked with blood was splayed on the ground, the girl’s white top was red too. She’d bleed profusely. And she was so still as if she was dead.

Triam’s eyes returned to the girl in black. She looked familiar.

Fallen. He would know her anywhere.

What was she doing here?

He rushed to them. He gripped her arm and turned her around.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, staring down at her. Her eyes were a strange mix of purple and gray, they unsettled him every time he looked at her. But he always tried not to react. She was his uncle’s adoptive daughter. There was no way he could react to her badly. Though she kept her distance away from him anyway. She always moved away whenever they happened to be in the same room.

She didn’t like him much.

Fallen blinked and stared at his hand on her arm. Triam let her go and turned to the female on the ground.

“What happened?” Triam asked, trying not to breathe in the scent of her blood. It was strange that it was driving him this insane. Who was she to do that to him? She smelled human too. Human blood did nothing for vampires. But why did it smell delicious to him?

He froze as a memory suddenly filtered into his mind.

Finding one’s mate was the most beautiful thing, his mother told him as she stared at his father lovingly. His father would blush, looking soft and gooey, far from the lethal vampire that he was.

“You’re going to find yours too, and you’ll be so happy,” his mother said, touching his cheeks softly.

“How would I know?” he asked innocently. “How would I know she’s my mate?”

His mother’s smile had widened. “Your wolf will tell you.”

“Or his half vampire, remember?” his father nudged his mother gently. “Your instinct will tell you. If that fails. There’s always the scent of her blood. It would be like nothing you’ve ever smelled before. It would take over everything – your thoughts, your reasoning, and your body. All you would want is to be near her, to feed from her.”

“Vicker. Don’t tell him that. That sounds terrible.”

“He’s part vampire. It's his nature.”

No, Triam thought as he stared down at the still body of the girl on the ground. He didn’t hear any heartbeat. She was so still. She couldn’t be…

“Is she dead?”

“Yes,” Fallen said sadly. She turned to the wrecked car, and back. “I pulled her out of there. I tried to save her, but…human beings die so easily.”

What? His mate was dead? That couldn’t be. He must be mistaken. But the scent of her blood was everywhere inside him. He was having the same reaction to it his father had spoken about – it drove him crazy.

No. Triam clutched his hair as he stared down at the human girl. She was really dead. His mate was dead.

He couldn’t believe this. He was only twenty-four in human years. He’d hardly lived his life. He couldn’t have a dead mate.

Tears filled his eyes.

She ate her soul, one of the spirits whispered. Triam flinched, not having heard them in a while. He’d forgotten how raspy and strange their voices were. They talked amongst themselves, filling his mind with their chatter.

No. She didn’t.

She did I tell you. She’s a Hell demon.

She is?

I told you she was. The rift was opened a few years ago, remember? She must have come through. More will come.

More! Please no.

You have every right to be afraid. Demons hunt for souls in the forest of the dead.

They do not. The demons don’t go there. You know nothing, Kyrt.

She ate her soul, I tell you.

Triam slapped his hands over his ears and screamed. “Shut up!”

“What?” Fallen said, moving away from him. Triam’s hand shot out and grasped her arm. He pulled him close and stared down at her. Rage, pain, so much pain filled him, but the scent of his mate’s blood broke through the haze that was trying to take over him. The scent came from her. He stared down at her black dress. Did she have her blood? She probably did if she tried to save her. Or eat her soul as the spirits said.

“Was she dead when you arrived here?”

“What the f**k, Triam? Let me go,” she said, trying to shove him away. But he tightened his grip on her.

“I told you. I tried to save her, which means she was still alive when I arrived.”

What the f**k did she do? He asked as he stared down at her. Her black hair flowed down her shoulders; her alabaster skin looked beautiful under the moonlight. Triam’s eyes narrowed on her as he saw things he’d never noticed before about her. She grew up right before his eyes. His uncle Cassia brought her to his house all the time, but they’d never spent time together. She was baby Fallen.

Why was he noticing her strangely beautiful eyes, or the fullness of her lips, the curve of her neck, and the fullness of her breasts?

She ate her soul, the spirit’s voice echoed in his mind.

Fuck.

Triam shoved her away from him. Fallen hit the ground with a thud. She moaned as she tried to sit up. Triam took an involuntary step towards her, as his heart beat with a painful thud, watching her on the ground. He stopped abruptly and turned away.

He clutched his head, feeling like he was going crazy.

What the f**k happened? He turned to her and was about to ask her when he heard a roar in the distance.

His entire body buzzed, and he could feel his wolf pushing through him. He was going to turn soon. Triam scented the air. He wasn’t sure what he picked up; it was definitely not who he thought it was. He shouldn't be here.

He turned and stared at Fallen. Her eyes were trained on the fast-approaching creature. Triam took a step towards her and helped her to her feet gently. He hated that he was treating her like that. But he couldn’t help himself. There was something about her…

She ate her soul, the words repeated in his mind, maddening him. But instead of shoving her away. He pushed her to his back. And turned to the creature that came to a stop in front of him.

Long white hair hung around his face, and flowed down his back, with tiny braids woven into it. His black eyes shone bright in the moonlight. His face was lupine shaped with long canines. He stared at him, but he felt like he was looking right through him to Fallen.

Kelani. What the f**k was he doing here?

“Mate,” he said, his voice rough.

Mine, Triam shouted in his mind. He let his wolf rise just as little, matching the bastard who’d just run out of nowhere. Since he was a hybrid, he didn’t have to turn all the way to reach his wolf. He could partially turn – have the claws, the teeth and werewolf strength without going all the way. He faced off with the beast, standing between him and Fallen. The beast blinked and his eyes focused on him for the first time since he arrived.

“Step away from my mate,” he declared.

“She’s mine,” Triam said, reaching behind him for her. He didn’t know why he was saying that, but it felt right at that moment. His stomach twisted, and he tried hard not to look at the human girl’s body on the ground. She was dead.

His mate was dead.

Why was he clinging to Fallen?