Chapter 8

Eight

I watchedthe pretty fae walk away until I couldn't see him anymore, and then I took a breath as my fingers danced across my lips. Holy shit, I'd actually kissed his hand, and that kiss alone had shot so many feelings through me—physical and emotional, if I was being honest.

As I stared at the place where he'd disappeared, I couldn't help but truly consider if Belryn—Bel—was more to me than a simple date.

For the first time in my life, I felt… drawn to another person in a way I hadn't experienced before, in a way that seemed to align with all the stories my siblings had told me about finding and meeting their viramores.

Could… could Bel really be my viramore?

A small thrill shot through my chest at the thought, and I couldn't help but feel like that thought was right. It felt right.

Holy shit, had I actually met my soulmate?

A small laugh bubbled out of me, and I had to stop myself from running after the man to pull him into my arms and ask him if he felt the same.

Holy shit. Belryn.

My Bel.

"Remi?" Savelle called out. "You alright?"

After taking a breath and tamping the giddiness down, I slipped back inside the office and faced my friends, who all looked curious, happy, and excited. They were going to be all over this date thing.

"I'm good." I couldn't help but smile as that giddiness was starting to pop back out. "He agreed to go on a date with me tonight."

"We heard," Isa said.

"You weren't supposed to be listening."

She shrugged. "Couldn't help it. We're invested now."

That made me roll my eyes at them. "Privacy is a thing."

Tan grinned at me. "Then you should've gone somewhere else. You know we're all too nosey."

I flipped all three of them off, making them laugh.

Isa asked, "What are you going to wear?"

I blanched. "I have no idea."

Savelle clapped their hands. "Alright, then let's quickly get these desks together so we can find something for Remi to wear."

"I can pick out my own clothes."

Isa and Savelle both looked me up and down before exchanging a look, and Tan scooted closer to me, whispering, "You should probably let them help you. There'll be hell to pay if you don't."

I sighed. "I know you're right."

He smiled and shoulder-bumped me while we stood there, watching the other two discuss my lack of fashion. Tan said, "Belryn's really cute."

"He's beautiful," I corrected.

Tan nodded in acquiescence. "He is. Seems nice."

I hesitated for a moment before admitting, "I feel drawn to him in a way I can't explain."

Tan turned to me with a raised brow. "Really? You're practically glowing." His eyes widened. "You think he might be your?—"

I cut him off before he could say it, not wanting him to say the word out loud yet and jinx it. "I don't know."

"But you totally think he is. Oh my Mother." Tan grabbed me in a quick hug. "Remi, this is great news. Okay, I'm with those two on dressing you for tonight. We need to make you shine."

I sighed as my traitorous friend joined the rest of our crew in their plans. They were all ridiculous, but… I was grateful I had them in my corner.

I arrivedat the restaurant Bel had picked out twenty minutes early. I found a parking spot more easily than expected, so I walked to the front of the place and stood there, bouncing from foot to foot as my nerves kicked in.

What if he didn't show up? What if he had trouble getting here because he didn't have a car? Or at least I assumed he didn't.

What if I never saw him again?

That thought shot pain through my heart, and I gasped out, grabbing my chest and closing my eyes as I tried to push it away.

It took a full minute for it to calm down, and when it did, I said to myself, "I have his number now. I can find him if I need to."

That, above anything else, seemed to ease the strange sensation in my chest.

I started to pace, hoping to keep all the craziness from making me panicky again. Maybe if I got a little energy out now, I'd be able to act like a sane person by the time he arrived.

When I saw a figure approaching fifteen minutes later, relief flooded me even though I couldn't tell one hundred percent if it was him. I just had a feeling it was. And then he got closer, and I saw his purple, chin-length hair blowing in the wind, and my heart felt like it soared.

He finally reached me, and it was nearly impossible not to pull him into a hug or cup his cheek and brush my lips against his. But I refrained by fisting my hands at my sides and breathing through the temptation. I took some deep breaths and filled my nose with his scent, calming my wolf a bit and releasing some of those nerves.

What the hell was with me? I never got worked up like this.

"Hi," he said with a small, unsure smile.

"Hi." I cleared my throat. "Thank you so much for coming."

He blinked. "I…" He shrugged, looking like he didn't know what to say.

I didn't know either, so I held my elbow out to him. "Shall we?"

He stared at my arm for a moment before stepping forward and slipping his smaller hand through, his shoulder brushing against my upper arm.

As we headed for the door, I realized he still had his backpack and guitar on his back, so I stopped us and quietly said, "Do you want to leave your stuff in my car? It'll stay locked up while we're inside."

He made a face, and I had the feeling I'd said the wrong thing. Shit. Were his things off-limits? Should I not have said anything?

"I'd rather keep them, if it's all the same to you. This is literally all I own in the world, and I don't want to risk it gettin' stolen."

Right. I was an ass.

I turned him a bit so we were facing each other, but his jaw was set, and he was staring at the ground. "I'm sorry."

That made him look up at me.

"I spoke without thinking. I'm an ass, and I apologize."

He opened and closed his mouth a few times before simply giving me a nod. He cleared his throat. "You're not an ass. You just come from a different place, and you're fine. You don't need to apologize."

I did, but I left it at that, not wanting to start an argument with the man before we even entered the restaurant.

"Shall we go inside, then?"

He nodded and gave me a tiny smile. I'd take it.

We got a few looks when we entered, but I'd expected it. Fae were not looked kindly on in this country. I hated it, but there wasn't anything I could do about it at the moment.

At least I was able to take a beautiful fae out for the night without the usual pushback the fae received. Money could do wondrous things, and when I gave my name, their tune changed immediately.

That pissed me off too—money shouldn't dictate how someone was treated. Everyone should treat everyone else with respect and kindness, no matter who they were or where they came from. Assholes.

Bel didn't seem affected. Probably because he was used to it. Which was yet another horrible thing to add to the list.

We were seated at a table in the corner by a window and given glasses of water and menus.

After the hostess walked away, I asked, "What do you normally get here?"

Bel shrugged. "I haven't been here in years, so I don't really have a regular meal I get or anythin'. I hear they do great pasta, though."

I hummed and looked at the pasta section of the menu, picking out what looked good to me. After I set the menu down, I asked, "Do you want a glass of wine? Do you drink?"

"The water's fine, hun." He sort of grimaced, and it took me only a few seconds to realize what the problem was.

I gently pushed his menu down so he'd look me in the eyes. "Tonight is on me, and before you argue, I'm the one who invited you out on a date. I always pay for my dates."

He stared for a long beat. "You take a lot of guys out on dates?"

I shrugged. "I wouldn't say a lot, and I wouldn't say only guys. I like beautiful and kind people."

"But a lot of them." It sounded more like a statement than a question, but I still shook my head.

"Not a lot. I haven't been on a date in…" I thought about it for a few seconds. "Probably thirteen or fourteen months."

His jaw dropped. "What? Why not?"

"What do you mean? I haven't found anyone I wanted to date until now."

He gaped. "B-but you're you. How could you not… I mean, you could easily get anyone you want."

I shrugged, a smile toying at my lips at his sort-of compliment. "I guess I'm picky."

He snorted and shook his head. "You're on a date with me, so you're obviously not that picky."

That made me frown. He clearly liked the whole self-deprecating thing, but I wasn't a fan because he seemed to really think so little of himself.

I said fiercely, "I'm on a date with you because I am picky. You're sweet and gorgeous and kind, and I want to get to know you better."

He huffed. "I'm a homeless fae with absolutely nothin' to my name. What in the world could you possibly get outta datin' me?"

Instead of grabbing the menu this time, I grabbed his hand, gently plucking it from the menu and holding it between my larger hands, much like I had at the office.

"Belryn," I said, waiting to continue until his gaze met mine. "You are much more than your situation or your species. Those things are what you are but not who you are, and I'm very interested in the who."

He stared for a long moment. "You're very good at the whole swoony thing."

That got a snort of amusement out of me. "Thank you. Does that mean I've convinced you that I invited you here because I like you as a person?"

He tilted his head like he was thinking. "Ahh, you're probably about seventy percent there."

I laughed again and squeezed his hand. "I can work with that."

"Good."

"And I'm paying, so please get whatever you want. In fact, get a couple of meals for all I care. And wine. That is, if you drink it?"

He let out a put-upon sigh. "I drink it."

That made me smile again. "Do you mind if I order my favorite?"

"I'm not picky." He shrugged.

So I lifted the hand I still held and placed a slow, lingering kiss there. "Good, because we've already established that I am."

He chuckled, and when I squeezed his hand, he gave mine a squeeze back. It sent another small thrill through my hand, up my arm, and straight into my heart.

Mother of All, he was going to melt me into goo by the time we were done here.

My earlier theory seemed more and more likely by the minute.

After we ordered drinks, I asked Bel, "How'd it go at the pawn shop?"

He let out a long sigh. "The coin was gone, so I didn't even go inside."

"Seriously? What's up with that?"

He shrugged. "No clue, but at this point, I don't really want anythin' to do with that thing. Its magic is… somethin' I don't understand."

"You and me both."

Maybe I'd call my dads later and ask if they'd ever come across anything like it before. They had an abundance of rare and dangerous artifacts that they'd confiscated and collected over the years, keeping them safe and out of the wrong hands.

"I wonder if I should give the coin to my dads," I muttered under my breath.

"What was that?"

"Oh, um… my dads deal in rare artifacts, so I was just thinking out loud. Maybe I should call them about it."

He stared at me for a few beats before nodding. "That's not a bad idea."

For some reason, that surprised me, but I supposed it shouldn't. Bel was clearly a smart man, and he knew how dangerous something we didn't understand could be.

After a beat, he asked, "Will you let me know if you find anything out about it? I'm a little concerned that it keeps coming back to you. What if it's… targeting you?"

I offered a small smile. "As strange as it is, I don't get a malicious vibe from it. In fact, I think it might be some sort of… lucky coin."

"Lucky?" He looked so perplexed I couldn't help but chuckle.

"It brought me to you, didn't it?"

His eyes widened for a moment before a light flush formed over his pale skin. It made me want to touch his cheeks and brush my nose against his skin, inhaling his blushing scent.

Of course, I didn't want to scare him away, so I managed to stay right where I was and contented myself in watching just how red he could turn.

"What?" he finally asked in a whisper. "Why are you staring?"

I swallowed thickly. "You're beautiful, and I like looking at you."

He blinked once, then barked out a laugh and waved me off. "Uh-huh. Right. What are you getting to eat?"

He did a valiant job of trying to distract me, but there was no way I could miss the way his cheeks darkened further.

But I didn't want to make him uncomfortable, so I glanced at the menu even though I'd already picked what I wanted.

After ordering, I asked, "How was work today?"

He tilted his head to the side, examining me for a moment before answering. "Are you… joking?"

"What?"

His eyes widened. "Oh, you're, um, serious. Work." He leaned forward and asked in a hushed whisper, "You know what I call work is me buskin', right?"

"No, I didn't know that. You play your guitar?"

He sat back, looking a bit shocked. "Yeees." He drew the word out, almost like he was unsure about answering me.

"That's great. I don't play any instruments, but I love music. Maybe I'll stop by one day so I can listen to you."

"Wow, you're… you're actually serious again, aren't you?" He muttered something under his breath that sounded a lot like What the hell am I even doing here. But before I could question it, he spoke louder again. "I'm not sure about all of that."

"About what? Me stopping by? Why not? I'd love to hear you play."

He muttered under his breath again, but I couldn't make out the words this time. "I'm not tellin' you which corner I busk at."

I shrugged. "Guess I'll have to drive around the city until I find you." I leaned in closer. "And you already gave me a big hint, so I know to start on this side."

He let out a groan that turned into a chuckle. "Why the hell would someone like you want to watch me buskin'?"

"Someone like me?"

He waved his hand up and down, encompassing all of me. "You know, all posh and proper. I don't even know what the hell you're doin' with bringin' me on a date and all. Aren't you embarrassed?"

"By what?"

"Me! By bein' seen with me."

"Why in the world would I be embarrassed? Like I said before, you're sweet, kind, and not to mention gorgeous. Every person in here should be jealous of me because I was lucky enough to come here with you."

He stared for a long moment before snorting. "Holy shit, you're serious about that too, aren't you?"

"Absolutely."

He snorted again and shook his head. "That's… sweet. Crazy, yeah, but also… sweet." He stared down at the table for a moment, but I didn't miss the small, pleased smile that spread over his lips.

It made me smile in return, and I decided right there that I was going to do everything in my power to keep making him smile, and hopefully make him laugh a little too.