Epilogue

Epilogue

3 days earlier

Taylor

Shit. Shit. Shit!We’re mates! We’re luminescence mates! This is the real deal.

I did my best to keep a straight face as I stared at Brexl, my mate, as he sat across from me in our borrowed cave. I wasn’t upset because I was mated to Brexl. If given the choice, he would have been my top pick. I was upset because I didn’t want to be mated at all.

I wasn’t good at relationships. No, that wasn’t right. I was too good at relationships. I was so good, in fact, that I had lost my entire identity to every relationship I’d been in.

If my boyfriend liked sports, I’d get into sports. If he liked cooking, I’d get into cooking. If he liked going out every night, then I’d go out every night. Except that wasn’t me. I didn’t like cooking, or going out, or sports. I liked staying in, baking, and watching reality tv shows, and yet somehow I’d bury those parts of me to please the person I was with.

I presented a confident exterior, and outside of romantic relationships, I was a confident person. Inside relationships, though… I feared that if I didn’t make the relationship easy for my partner, things would go wrong.

My dad was a bit of a hothead growing up. His mood could change in an instant, and I’d be on the receiving end of whatever punishment he deemed fit. I learned how to be easy to live with, how to go with the flow and never stir up trouble. Unfortunately, that skill bled into my romantic relationships as well.

I’d tried and failed to be in too many relationships to count. I just didn’t trust myself to not slide into my old habits again, not even here on Valo Prime.

Brexl

I should go to her, right? But what would I say? I had no words to comfort her. Should I apologize that she’s my luminescence mate? Should I assure Taylor that she had no obligation to me?

“Are you alright?” Taylor’s words cut through my thoughts.

“You’re clenching your fist pretty tight. I think you may have cut yourself.”

She approached me slowly, her long black hair swaying in a braid down her back.

“Here, let me see.” She held out her hand and waited.

I lowered my hand into hers and she gently pried my fist open.

“Oh yeah, you scratched yourself with your claws. Does that happen often?”

I shook my head but spoke no words aloud. Taylor was mesmerizing. I was in my monstrous form, and yet she didn’t shrink away from me, and she touched me as if I were a fragile being and not the beast that I was.

“Hold your hand up like this, and I’ll grab a bandage from my bag.”

I did as I was told and waited patiently for Taylor to return. I wanted to tell her she didn’t need to do this, and not to waste her bandages on me. But my tongue wouldn’t move.

She returned and dabbed the blood from my palm with a cloth, then wrapped my scratch with a bandage.

Her hand lingered on mine for a moment. Our glowing skin was a sight to behold. Taylor was already perfect, but seeing her glow increased her beauty even more.

“I…” She beganto look nervous. “I never intended to be in a relationship again.”

“You don’t have to be mated to me.” I cut her off. I could not bear to hear her say how much she didn’t want to be with me.

Relief flooded her face, and I knew I’d said the right thing. I wasn’t angry. If anything, I had compassion for her. I was a monster. No one should be mated to me.

THE END