Shining Through Shadows

Broken Soul

Zachary

Her piercing blue eyes were flickering back and forth, searching for me. She looked surprised and uncomfortable at the same time as she realized I wasn’t there anymore.

Well, technically I was, but I’d retreated to the shadows. My shadows. It was a place I could hide when I wanted to, and I’ve come to use it more frequently in the past few years.

With all of my outbursts and loss of control, I’ve chosen to stay hidden when I was feeling the worst. It was a way for me to suffer in privacy and a way for me to keep nosy people at bay.

But since Lydia arrived, I’ve grown rather fond of being hidden in the shadows to watch her uninterrupted. It was a way to satiate the part of me that was curious about her without me having to be close to her.

It seemed, every time we were close, she was either injured or witnessing the part of me I’d rather keep to myself. This way, she wouldn’t get hurt.

If a room or place provided enough natural darkness, I could create a shadow. The shadows had different purposes. I could use them for hiding, fighting or, as I had recently discovered, teasing.

They were a part of me and my beast, tending to act on impulses. Like when I couldn’t fight the urge to touch the delicate skin on her neck, letting the shadows reach out to her.

I glanced at Lydia again, taking in her natural beauty as she glanced around the office one final time before she yanked the door open, completely ungracefully. Her thick, golden hair was gathered in a braid which fell down past her shoulders to her back.

And her eyes… Those bright blue orbs could almost light up the entire office as she looked around for me. What was that look on her face? Suspicion? Annoyance? It was hard to tell.

All I knew was that I missed it already.

As the door closed, I walked out of the shadows and inhaled whatever was left of her scent. It was complex and I took another deep whiff.

She smelled fresh like the cold, frosty air in the winter mixed with the sweet and floral smell of elderflowers.

The beast within me slumped down to the ground in satisfaction as the scent of her invaded my nostrils. He was, as much as I was myself, under a spell whenever she was near. A spell I didn’t want to break as long as I could be in her presence. Visible or not.

I stared down at the chair she had been sitting in and remembered how flustered she had been being close to me. Little did she know that the chair had been a compromise between me and my beast, because he wanted her to sit in my lap, close enough for him to feed her. Feel her.

It was like her very presence calmed the storms raging inside of us. I took another deep whiff, inhaling what was left of her scent, one I would recognize anywhere. It was almost gone, evaporated entirely, and I couldn’t wait for her to come serve me breakfast again in the morning, just so I could take another breath of her.

For the briefest second, I thought that she could be the other half of my soul, but mates were a rare gift and the goddess had no reason to bless me with one.

I was a tormented and broken soul. I was tainted by darkness, engulfed by the shadows I willingly hid myself in.

A soul like that didn’t deserve something as rare as a bond.

Definitely not with a soul as pure and bright as hers…