You Can't Run From The Dark

{Part 37}

~Dessa~

Dessa's head was spinning when Zaire let her down and she had to sit fast, before she tipped over. She could only watch dazedly as he stripped off his clothes, and her mouth went dry at the sight of his body. He might as well have been carved from marble, and every hard line of his muscles called to her from somewhere deep inside. God, she was irritated at him for so many reasons, but she still couldn't stop herself from sliding into the pool after him. Skinny-dipping in the Dark Realm with a sexy monster man. What had her life come to? 

As his head broke from the surface of the water, their eyes met, and she immediately waded toward him. The decline was steep, and she couldn't touch bottom after a few steps. His mismatched eyes narrowed at her, their divine beauty slicing straight into her heart, and he backed away from her approach, sending ripples of rejection out from his movement. She stilled in the water, realizing that he didn't want her to go to him. 

"Zaire?"

He frowned at her, but didn't respond, though his gaze was locked on hers with unflinching focus. 

"I don't like you very much," Dessa mumbled the lie, with a frown of her own.

His lips twitched as if he wanted to smirk, but his face remained stoic. 

"Oh?"

That single word challenged her untruth, and she mustered a glare. 

"You don't like me, either," Dessa continued, her lower lip trembling slightly.

He returned her glare, then, and the amusement in his eyes vanished instantly. 

"I don't care for your lies," Zaire scowled, revealing his fangs. 

"Why did you choose me as your mate?" Dessa forced herself to ask, tears welling in her eyes as she used every ounce of her willpower to look away from him and up toward the swirling eddies in the sky above. There were no stars, there was no moon, only a blanket of darkness that pulsed with those unnatural wisps of color. 

"I didn't choose you," Zaire scoffed, his voice was low and measured. "You were fated to be mine. You are the other half of my soul."

Dessa's heart skipped a beat at those words, and she turned her gaze back toward him. 

"Why?" Dessa shook her head slowly, feeling overwhelmed by all that could mean. 

"When most Fae are born, their souls are split in two by the Oracle, and we are meant to seek out our mate and bind with them, in order to be complete. It's our penance for causing such destruction that the Oracle had to form the Veil to separate our worlds. Most often, their other half is placed inside a mortal vessel. It was meant to create a balance, and put an end to the chaos."

Dessa was silent for a moment, trying to soak it all in. "If that's true, then why didn't you bind with me earlier? Why did you only come to me when I was about to die?"

Zaire's expression reflected a storm inside of him at her question. 

"I didn't want to be bound."

His admission felt like a physical strike. That explained everything, didn't it? Dessa felt her throat close up, and her chest felt tight, like his words were crushing her.