Master

Chapter 6

Lincoln's P.O.V

Oddity, a strange or peculiar person or thing.

Oddities were rare in themselves. I didn't see them often, seeing as I'd been around enough to not be surprised by much and I didn't concern myself with them, because in all honesty, I just didn't care. Besides, oddities were weird, for example, in the supernatural world, an oddity would be an ugly witch or a strong omega werewolf. Those were oddities.

Another oddity was me waking up before Kalem.

Not once since Kalem had settled into a life with me in our castle had the boy not been smiling down at me when I opened my eyes with a blood bag in hand.  He'd always been there at a distance, gazing down at me with his joyous, bright, honeycomb eyes and a smile that warmed the darkest parts of me.

'Morning Master.'
He'd always chirp happily.

But not this morning. This morning I opened my eyes and found an empty bedroom.

A frown instantly took my face as I swung my legs over the side of my bed and looked around. Perhaps he was hiding, trying to surprise me. But that didn't make sense, knowing Kalem, he'd probably scare himself trying to scare me. 

I stand to my feet, steading myself quickly before I make my way out my room and towards Kalem's. When all the stupid reasons were cleared from my head, I was combatted with the one thought I wanted to avoid but couldn't.

Perhaps, he'd left.

It made breathing a much harder task than it should be to consider the possibility that Kalem had left. There wasn't much I could do in a situation like that, I couldn't bring him back against his will if he wanted to leave, he was free and could do whatever he pleased. Even if that meant he wouldn't be with me, taking my heart with him as he left.

I couldn't bear to think of him leaving so I forced myself to avert to other possible reasons for my boy's absence. He could be ill, it didn't take more than a simple brush of the wind to make humans sick or he could've been taken. If it was the last, that would simply mean every person or thing that stood between me and him would lose their lives in the next five hours.

But it'd been none of the above.

As I burst into Kalem's room with anxious eyes and a distressed soul, all I found was a darkened room with a small, curled body hidden beneath the puffy, yellow blankets that covered his large bed. I could barely make out his tiny frame with all the pastel yellow sheets and pillows, he'd taken a liking to the color so I made sure to use it as much as possible in his room and accent it with white.

I released a steady breath before walking towards him, futile stress and unnecessary worries filtering out of me with every step. I let myself relax completely when my eyes settle on his disarrayed, black wild hair which was barely sticking out from under the sheets.

I lift the nearby chair to the side of the bed, being sure not to wake him before sitting down into the smaller chair. Leaning back into the old wood, I fold my arms over my chest and watch my boy sleep.

I knew I shouldn't have referred to him as mine. He wasn't a thing I could just possess and control as I pleased, yet in my mind, he was mine. Not because I'd indulged in the disgusting trade of slavery and thought of him as a slave for me to do whatever I wished to. No. He was mine because I knew I would never let him go, even if he let me go, I would always protect him. I'd never spend a moment away from him unless needed, which were few in number as he repelled the very idea.

It didn't take much self-awareness to realize Kalem was already my entire world.

Another twenty minutes or so passed before Kalem finally steered awake, his body stretching out at all angles while releasing a small mewl or two beneath the covers.