Untouchable by Marii Solaria

Chapter 3 – Lost Memories

“Memory loss is one way of coping with damage.“– Jeanette Winterson

Kiya

It’s nearly noon when I woke up. Guess I needed that sleep. But everything feels weird. Here I am, sitting at the foot of Neron’s bed, staring at my reflection in his vanity. Can I attribute my restful sleep to Neron’s scent? Or the fact I’m in his room? Hard to say, especially since I’m covered in it.

And I can’t say it’s a bad thing. He smells nice.

But there’s one thing that bothered me. The sparks. They aren’t as powerful as they used to be. Back at the couch, when his fingers brushed against my arm, I felt them but, they’re weak. When he tucked me in the bed and touched my face, the sparks weakened that I barely noticed them. I’m used to the weakness in the sparks of our mate bond, but this time, everything felt foreign. Abnormal.

A dull pain throbbed on the side of my neck. It made itself noticeable through the panging underneath my epidermis. It’s also the same area where Osiris bit and drank from me those weeks ago. A profound effect of the bite still exists long after his death. Vampires are more skilled than I originally thought.

He’s dead. He’s gone.

And yet, he continues to fester in my mind. Why?

“Ugh…” Scratching my head, I hopped on my bare feet and took in the Alpha’s room once more. Neron has everything in his room than an adult male ever dreams of and then some. The color scheme of blue, black, and red fits him in strange ways. This is the first time I’ve ever been in his room and I felt out of place. Like I

shouldn’t be here.

But my feet remained rooted against the soft carpet. Because of my damn curiosity. As the humans say, curiosity killed the cat, and satisfaction brought it back.

Good thing I’m not a cat!

are him and his father. Some are him with Valerian and Kwame. Some are from what I assume are special occasions, like parties and his birthday. One, however, captured my attention the most. It’s a picture, the frame in

compartmentalized in their matching sapphires. A happy picture meant to invoke joy invoked pain in me. Pulsating to the rapid thumping of my heart.

best friend.

my mind. In a flash, I’m plunged into a powerful episodic memory where I can smell Nuria’s scent of pomegranate, feel

that beautiful

that improved

Person

the children to eat

this is a good idea?” Halima asked her friend. “We can get in trouble with our parents.”

if we run away into the woods after. Besides, Miss Cassandra makes the best

them, but Daddy always says never to hit people without a reason. Only hit if they

a reason.” Nuria retorted with a shrug.

but I didn’t want to get in trouble.” Shaking her head with bouncing curls, the young Beta pointed to the plate. “What’s

from behind and quietly take the plate and

other girl asked. “You can’t eat cookies

threw caution to the wind. “Forget about the milk. We’ll get

“Really? You made up

let’s go!”

attention. As the Alpha’s daughter had her distracted, Halima, barefooted, snuck inside. The Island is too high for her to reach, so she had to use the chair available near it. Luckily, the Beta’s daughter didn’t have to move it. With quick haste, she climbed the chair, grabbed the plate in silence, hopped off, and escaped out the kitchen. Once Nuria saw their mission

showing off her million–dollar smile. “You see? Nothing but quick work. Miss Cassandra won’t

you two

voice. Slowly turning around, they saw Neron standing with his arms crossed. Quirked an eyebrow, he pointed to the obvious plate of surgery

Both girls

“That.”

behind them, the children feigned innocence. “We don’t know what