Fall (Cold Mark 1)

As I swallowed the bite of my bagel on a dry throat, Malik leaned down and touched his lips to Leo’s in the most tender action I had ever viewed before. Their mouths meshed together in gradual strokes, as if they were each other’s oxygen and breathing one another in.

And their chests…there were silver lightning bolts shining along their flesh.

My wide eyes stalled on Malik’s back. Between the radiating streaks of light, his flesh was marred with thin scars. Those marks were not just battle wounds. The crisscrossing marks that etched his back muscles could only be from repeated beatings. Or torture.

My gaze snapped away from Malik’s abnormal wounds when Leo lifted his left hand and grabbed onto the back of Malik’s head. Leo threaded his fingers through Malik’s black hair and gripped tight. Malik’s hips began to pump with more force, and their kiss escalated from adoring affection to much more primitive in hunger.

Bizarrely, as I stood froze in place, my gaze landed on their nightstand.

On it sat my two rings.

They…had taken them off.

A feeling, unlike I had ever known, rolled my stomach in a flurry of nausea.

My wide gaze slammed back to them in their obvious love for one another.

A quiet whimper choked from deep within me.

Malik and Leo had lied. They had acted as if their Soul was made specifically for them.

But I was not anyone special to my Vaq. They had each other.

Leo’s glowing gaze snapped open at the sound of my distressed choke. His angelic face slammed in my direction, his mouth disconnecting from his lover’s. Though, it did not appear that Malik had heard me, his ministrations not stopping as he tilted his head to kiss along Leo’s jaw. Leo’s entire body froze as his golden eyes scanned my face; the lightning bolts that had been shining on his torso stopped their frantic glow. His kiss swollen lips parted, and he whispered, “Malik, love, you need to stop.”

Malik instantly halted as his lover’s quiet words. His dark head of hair tipped up as he stared down at Leo. His voice was breathless as he rumbled, “What’s wrong?”

Leo did not say anything. He only continued to hold my gaze, which was swiftly turning glacial.

Malik stared a beat longer, and then his attention snapped in my direction.

Before they could say anything else, frigid words spewed from deep inside me. “You should have locked the door.” My voice was off. The tone echoed how my new found home had just been rocked and shattered. I marched forward, even as Malik swiftly pulled the blanket up over his back. Other than that, they did not move an inch as I ignored them and tossed the remains of my bagel on their nightstand, and then grabbed the two rings there.

Staying silent in my gut clenching hurt, I turned on my heel and marched toward my room.

It was dead quiet behind me until Malik growled, “Fuck.”

I quickened my pace as I heard sheets rustling.

With extreme agitation, Leo snarled, “Where the hell are my damn pants?”

I slammed the door behind me. There was no lock on my side of the door, so I swiftly grabbed the boots that I had saved from arrival day. Rapidly thumping my feet into them, I grabbed a black cloak on my way out of my bedroom. My guards came to attention seeing me. I quickly slipped the rings into my pant pocket, and feigned severe anxiety, crying, “There’s something wrong with Malik and Leo!” I pointed with my free hand inside my bedroom. “The door’s unlocked. Please go help them!”

I almost snorted when all ten charged inside to ‘help’ their Plumas. Dumbasses.

With no guards to watch me, I shoved my arms into my cloak and raced down to the first floor.

I made it all the way out to the front courtyard before anyone noticed. But it was too late for the palace guards to catch me. I was already gearing one of the hover bikes. This technology was no different than on Joyal. I had driven these a hundred times before, and I also knew they would not start without a key. Hence why all the keys from the five other hov-bikes were now inside my pant pocket. The palace guards had left them in the ignitions. In their defense, they probably had not expected anyone to steal from the palace grounds. It worked for me. No one would initially be able to take chase.

I flicked my finger, taking the bike into first gear. A rush of air shot my vehicle for escape straight up into the air. In a blast of freed exhilaration, I soared higher than the palace was tall. Just as I heard Malik and Leo shouting my name from the ground, my cloak blew out behind me as I shifted gears and hit the accelerator.

I was getting the hell away from their mind games.

I would rather live on the street than be played with like a lab rat in a glass maze.

My eyes were burning from the harsh wind, but I did not stop.

Not even when I heard sirens blare over the city I was flying over.

I headed east. Toward my one ally on this planet.