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“I can eat,” I shyly said, walking behind him.

“You can stop tryna be cute. I know you hungry. You don’t gotta be scared I’ma judge you ’cause you wanna eat.”

I stopped walking, stunned at how easily Kenji read me. At the same time, he comforted a worry I hadn’t even voiced to him yet. Maybe Kenji really was my soulmate.

Chapter 14

Kenji Touré

“You’re the oldest, then Benji, and Tahji is the youngest?” Quinny asked me, sitting across from me at my kitchen bar top while I stood on the other side, watching her eat her eggs, bacon, and pancakes.

Last night, Quinny tried to act shy when it came to her eating in front of me. She was trying to take small bites and eat like she wasn’t hungry. Since she wanted to act like she couldn’t eat on her own, I took over feeding her. Quinny warmed up real quick when it was me putting the food in her mouth. This morning, she wasn’t holding back. As soon as she smelt the food cooking, she was ready.

“Mmmhmm,” I answered. I was half listening to Quinny.

Not that I didn’t care what she was talking about, but my attention was divided between hearing her and being mesmerized by her beauty. I was still in awe at how breathtakingly beautiful my soulmate was. There was nothing I didn’t love about Quinny, and if I could have handpicked my soulmate, I would have still chosen her.

“Tahji has a different mom?” Quinny asked before chomping down on a piece of bacon.

“Yup. You’ll meet Tahji’s mom at some point.” I tried not to let my dislike for Regina come out in my tone. The side-eye Quinny was giving me meant she probably caught on to it.

The only two reasons I tolerated Regina were her being my dad’s soulmate and Tahji’s mom. Other than that, I couldn’t stand her spiteful ass. She used to pretend she liked Benji and me when we were younger, but once we got older, all that fake nice shit went out the window. Once Benji and I took over for our dad, Regina really started to despise us. I typically ignored her bitter ass. Benji loved to do shit to get under Regina’s skin. He never missed a moment to stoop to her level, and the shit was funny most of the time. At least until it dragged me and Tahji into their bullshit. Benji and Tahji had had their fair share of fights behind Regina, but they never let that shit get between their relationship as brothers. At the end of the day, Tahji knew how his mama could be. Regina wasn’t happy with her own life, so she wanted everyone to be miserable around her. My dad could only tolerate so much of her. I do think if she wasn’t his soulmate, he would have left her a long-ass time ago. Regina’s anger didn’t start until her human family started dying. She took that shit hard when her siblings started passing. I remember her begging my dad to change, and for whatever reason, he wouldn’t. I think that’s what made Regina start resenting him. Back then, I stayed outta their shit, so I ain’t know what all they had going on for real.

“What about your mom? Where is she?” Quinny asked.

“She killed herself. Couldn’t get over my dad leaving her for a human,” I told her with no emotion.

Quinny frowned, shocked by my nonchalant attitude. “That doesn’t bother you?”

“Nah, not for real. I’ve had years to think about it, and I think my mama was selfish as fuck. She killed herself to try to make my dad suffer, but she ain’t think twice about her kids. I made my peace with her death. She did what she did. She said fuck us, so it’s fuck her,” I replied.

“Wow, I thought my mom was fucked up for leaving Sutton and me with our dad, but I guess your mom is worse.”

“Yeah, fuck her.” I sighed, looking over at the digital clock on my stove. I told my dad and brothers I’d meet them at twelve at our dad’s mansion.

All of us lived on a compound together, on the outskirts of Idyll. My dad had the biggest mansion in the compound. His motto was “the bigger, the better.” Benji and his mate, Malinda, lived across the street from me. Tahji and Koa lived towards the front of the compound. We had our servants living on the compound as well. Their houses weren’t as big as ours, but they were nice. As the leaders of the Fifth Region, we didn’t live among our subjects. It was best mainly to protect our peace. Allowing the vampires who lived in our region to have continuous access to us was draining. There was always something wrong or something that needed the attention of one of us. We had a system in place that allowed for communication between us and the vampires in our region.

“Are you going to be okay here by yourself?” I asked, reaching across the counter to stroke the side of her face.

She shrugged. “I don’t have a choice but to be okay. It’s not like I can go anywhere. You probably got people watching me.”

“Do I?” I asked with a playful grin.

Quinny wasn’t wrong. We had our own police-like division called The Impact. They weren’t like human police who were trying to stop crime, though. More like security that patrolled Idyll and reported directly to my family if there was any suspicious activity, vampires from other regions, suspected treason, and other stuff like that. We also had a sector of The Impact that solely protected our family and only patrolled our compound, called The Division Force. It was our most trusted vampires who’d vowed to protect us with their lives. I’d already told them about Quinny being here, so they knew to look after her while I took care of business with my family.

“I might still be learning about vampires and their ways; however, when I keep seeing the same cars driving around, it’s easy for me to put two and two together.”

“I guess you do pay attention sometimes.” I snickered.

Quinny waved me off. “I mean, when I’m in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of vampires, I don’t have a choice but to pay attention.”

“You getting smart?” I asked her, cocking my brow up as I made my way around the counter to her.

Quickly, she shook her head no, but it was too late. I’d already made it to her. Using her thick thighs, I turned her around to face me in the swiveling bar chair. I placed myself between her legs, using my fingers to lift her head up by her chin. Our eyes locked onto each other, intensity coming from both of our eyes. I moved my face inches from hers, my mouth hovering over hers. Our lips were so close that all either one of us had to do was lean forward, and we’d be kissing.

“I can’t hear you, Quinny,” I taunted her.

I loved fucking with Quinny. The way her body reacted to me was heaven to me. Her pussy got gushy whenever I touched her, and that shit drove me crazy. Her scent was enough to make me lose myself. Dealing with Quinny over the last few days and not being able to fuck her had to be the toughest battle I’d ever dealt with. The way I craved to be one with Quinny was maddening, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I was going to be able to hold out on completing our mating bond.