by Lola Gabriel
Eden’s eyes searched his longingly. For the moment, she was captured by Levi’s allure. Was he just that charming while trying not to be, or was there something about him that was pulling her in?
Eden turned her cheek and closed her eyes as she attempted to compose herself. This was asinine. She couldn’t be mates with a fugitive, a rebel, a rogue. What kind of misfortunate existence was this? She had to be dreaming; she must be dreaming.
A warm hand cupped her cheek. When Eden opened her eyes, a pair of deep yellow ones were peering back. “I bought into the soulmate nonsense as much as you did, all right? This is catching me off-guard, too. Forgive me for being so forward… I just… I want to know if this is real.”
Eden’s cheeks were pink as her heart fluttered in her chest. Never, in any circumstance, would she let a man she had never met before handle her in such a matter. She would have threatened to throw the crazy man out for even standing to follow her when she crossed the room. The only reason Levi was getting away with it was that he was absolutely right. Eden felt it, too.
As he cradled her face and studied her, she began to feel stupid for doubting the stories of the miraculous love among their people. She had always logically explained what they felt as “love at first sight,” or rather attraction at first sight. Completely randomly, and utterly shallow at first, that the others just learned to live with one another’s flaws over the years. Yet, as Eden looked upon the face of a complete stranger, she could see herself being patient enough with his faults—that she would simply try to support him and perhaps guide him in the right direction from time to time. This was bizarre, to say the least. Celestial, almost.
Eden let out a deep breath. “No, it’s real, all right…”
“So you do feel it?” Levi enquired smugly.
“Yes. Are you happy?” she sneered.
He gave a weak laugh and shrugged. “Sorry. I just wanted some sort of reaction from you.”
“It’s fine,” Eden muttered, smoothing out her hair. Clasping her hands together, she spoke again. “But it doesn’t matter if you’re right or I feel it or not.”
Levi’s face scrunched into confusion, as though she had slipped into another tongue. “How is that?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Eden repeated, “because even if it is true, it doesn’t change a thing. This will never be a thing, and it’s ridiculous that we’re even discussing it, considering I just met you less than an hour ago.”
“How doesn’t it change anything?” Levi argued. “You just said yourself that you felt the connection, too!”
“Yes, but as I just said, this can never be a thing. You’re a wanted man, and I’m…” Eden let herself trail off. She didn’t want to even think about Darian or the arrangement. All of it together was too much for her to fit in her head. For the time being, she was going to focus on the matter at hand. “It goes without saying that I’m in a particularly complicated position in this entire situation. I have a role in the Kingdom, and this—” She gestured between the two of them, “—this doesn’t exactly fit into it.”
“However, this,” Levi purred, grabbing her hand before it dropped, “is at the very least worth exploring. Don’t you think?” Eden’s lips parted to protest, but then he added, “At least to say that you tried. It’s the what ifs in life that haunt people.”
A lump formed in Eden’s throat, and her head was swimming. Did everyone feel like this when they met their soulmate? That they never believed in the premise, and once it happened, it was the most mesmerizing, intriguing burden of their entire lives? That was what it felt like to her.
Finding Levi was a burden at this point in her life: something that was going to have to be dealt with despite everything she already had on her plate. While it was stressful, she actually found herself longing to delve into this… feeling she had. It was impossible to put into words, but she could feel it as if it were a tangible thing.
She nodded and bit her lip. “How do we go about this, then?”
“Let’s meet tomorrow,” Levi suggested, “in the city somewhere. We can talk for a while and just… see how things go.”
“Okay, fair enough. Here.” Taking his palm, Eden reached for a pen on the floor that lay with her grandmother’s journals scattered about. She scribbled her phone number onto Levi’s palm, not bothering to put her name. Before she dropped his hand, she realized how juvenile it was to mark someone else with your phone number. How very cliché, she chastised herself mentally. “We can plan things later.”
“Sounds good,” Levi nodded before standing up from the chaise lounge and stretching. He then began heading for the balcony door, peeling back a curtain to check outside. Eden wandered behind him curiously, trying to figure out what he was doing. It was only when he opened the balcony door that it dawned on her.
“You’re leaving right now?” she asked, a frown threatening to form on her lips.
“Have to leave while it’s still dark. What’s the matter? Already sad to see me go?”
“No,” Eden insisted, despite her need to avoid eye contact. “Just… you may have a concussion, and it’s probably best if you rest a while longer.”
“My head hurts like hell,” Levi agreed, “but I’ll be all right. I’ll text you.” Then he turned his head and planted a quick peck on Eden’s cheek before stepping out into the darkness. Eden watched from the door as he hoisted himself up onto the railing and jumped into the air. His body sank out of view for an instant, and then he emerged in his dragon state, his dark mossy scales glimmering in the moonlight.
In an instant, Levi was gone.
7
Since Levi had a potential head injury, perhaps it was a good thing that he couldn’t sleep that night. He was fully wired, animated by the prospect that he had actually found his soulmate. He had been living a relatively calm life since he had left the Kingdom, though he had to constantly look over his shoulder and occasionally attempt to outrun one of Carlyle Tallant’s men. Other than that, Levi kept to himself and had a pretty solid routine.
Eden was going to shake up his entire world. Levi was a determined, headstrong man. He knew that if what he had felt last night was still there and proved the bond to be real, whatever she said didn’t really matter to him. He would always pursue her—if they were mates, it meant they had to end up together. The memory of waking up to her face caused his entire body to tingle. That was going to be something that stuck with him for the rest of his days. It had been so surreal.
Early the next morning, Levi and Eden had arranged to meet at a pub on the far side of town in the early evening. Levi paced about his cabin, tidying things that were already tidy, just to give his hands something to do. He desperately wanted to go check on his mother, knowing that it would serve as an excellent distraction and give him some peace of mind to know she was all right. But it was too great a risk. He wasn’t sure when he was going to be able to get back to see Matilda, wondering if he was going to have to find a way to care for her solely through Ginny. He wished to just move his mother altogether, but he knew that it simply wouldn’t work. They would find her again, and it would be the same predicament.
Levi could have cried out in joy when it was finally time to leave for his meeting with Eden. He had been dressed for hours at that point, though it wasn’t as if he had put any thought into the outfit. He had a full wardrobe of plaid button-ups, black t-shirts, and jeans. He was a simple man, one could say. Dashing on a small bit of cologne, Levi exited the house and climbed into his truck. He had fetched it that morning, thankful that the warriors didn’t know which car had been his. If they had known, they probably would have torched it before laughing and walking away.
Riding into town, Levi didn’t listen to music, his thoughts going around in vicious yet excitable circles. The area in which Eden had picked the bar was a very crowded downtown section. She probably hoped that being in plain sight, along with mixing into crowds, would help them stay under the radar. Admittedly, being somewhere so
public made Levi anxious, but he didn’t challenge her decision.
He ended up having to park a few blocks away. The entire area surrounding the pub was packed full of cars, bikes, and pedestrians. As he made the walk toward the destination, Levi froze midstride. Just as he had feared, there was a dragon lurking nearby. It wasn’t exactly hard to spot one out of a crowd. Dragon shifters tended to be taller than the average person and more fit than the modern human, with impeccable beauty. That, and from the lack of new dragons, he was fairly certain he knew every dragon’s face at that point.
Taking a few calming breaths, Levi headed in the opposite direction, knowing that if the man was following him, the last place he needed to lead him was to Eden. After turning a corner, Levi risked glancing back and cursed under his breath when he noticed the man walking in his direction. Levi headed down the street quickly, but not quickly enough to raise suspicion. He beelined directly into a crowd of people, gently pushing his way through so he could head down the street on the other side of them. He walked aimlessly, almost, sticking to his method that random was the best way to go when trying to avoid capture. If you didn’t even know where you were going, then chances were your chasers wouldn’t know, either.
Levi refused to look back for a long time, and when he finally did, the man was nowhere in eyesight. He exhaled, a hand resting on his stomach as he did so.
Thank God, he thought. Levi spotted the nearest street sign and began heading back in the direction of the pub. As he grew nearer, he saw the same dragon again. He kept stride with a group of men that were walking, trying his best to stay out of sight.
When Levi finally slipped into the front door of the pub, all of the stress and annoyance he’d felt dissolved. Like one of those cheesy 1980s movies, Levi looked across the bar and spotted Eden right away. He gravitated toward her, feeling as if it was nature itself moving him along instead of his own legs.
Eden was sitting in a booth, her chin propped up by her hand as she gazed out the window. When Levi approached the side of the table, she looked to him, and the corners of her full lips tilted upward. Levi’s heart skipped a beat. He had only known her for less than twenty-four hours, but he already had the impression that the vixen did not smile very much. He wanted to change that.
“Glad you finally made it. You’re late,” Eden lightly chastised.
“Yeah, well, I had some pests I had to shake off,” Levi explained as he sat down across from her. A waiter came up to the table, and he ordered himself a beer before glancing at Eden.
She paused, as though she had thought he was going to guess her order or something, before turning to the waiter and ordering herself a glass of wine. When the waiter paced away, Levi looked to her with a chuckle. “How very fancy for a pub.”
A sickly sweet smile that was obviously sarcastic came over Eden’s delicate features. “You could say that a pub isn’t my usual scene.”
“You’re the one who picked the place.”
“Well, I figured it would be the last place someone would look for me,” she said matter-of-factly, crossing her arms over her chest. Levi burst into laughter, for some reason finding the sentiment downright adorable.
“I can think of a few other places in town that would be less likely,” he jabbed as he finally regained his composure.
“Oh? Like where?”
“Like places little princesses should never trek,” he tutted, taking a gulp of his beer as soon as it was placed on the table.
Eden surveyed her surroundings before leaning toward him. “Just because I’m royalty doesn’t mean I’m a prissy little princess.”
“You’re right; it doesn’t. But you fit the bill, Miss Priss.”
She gaped and then glared at him. “You don’t even know me.”
Levi chuckled. “Come now, don’t be so offended. I never said being prissy was a bad thing. In fact, I find it cute, somehow. As crazy as that is.”
“Oh, please. You’re just infatuated. Are you even going to judge me fairly or just love everything I say and do because you feel compelled to?”
Levi once again drank Eden in. Her brilliant blue eyes were on fire with passion, and her pink lips twisted up in a sassy expression. She was a fighter, and a fierce one at that, even if it only extended to vocal warfare. Something told Levi, however, that her feistiness didn’t end with quick quips. He suppressed the thought, not wanting his mind to wander to lustful places.
“That will be a hard distinction to make, don’t you think? Because so far, I’ve been genuinely enjoying this conversation. Who’s to say it comes from a logical place? Who’s to say that it matters where it comes from?”
“I’m to say,” Eden instantly shot back. “I know that this bond is real. It’s hard to accept, but I’m trying to. If anything were to ever possibly come from it, I would want to make sure that you actually liked me for me. Not because I’m your destined one. That’s an absurd cop-out, and I don’t accept it.”
Levi’s head cocked to the side. “Eden, what makes you think that I wouldn’t truly enjoy this conversation?”
“Because I’m saying everything that comes to my mind. I’ve been told that I’m not the politest in conversation.”
“Well, that may be true to some extent, but I can assure you, I appreciate it. Why would I want things sugarcoated to me or put through a filter as if I’m a child? I’m a big boy, I am pretty sure I can handle anything you have to say.” Eden blinked and was silent. Taking a chance, Levi reached a hand across the table and grasped hers. Her slender hand was perfect in his hold: warm, soft, and it fit just right. “It’s admirable to be the way you are, Eden. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.”
Still, Eden said nothing, but she searched the depths of his eyes as though the words she was supposed to say lingered in them. When she came up short, her other hand gripped her glass. She downed a good portion of her fizzy beverage before holding up a hand to signal the waiter to bring her another.
Once she finished her first drink, the conversation went back to flowing as natural as breathing. Time didn’t exist as they learned everything about one another. Eden shared stories about how it was to live with Carlyle. While she wouldn’t openly say anything bad about him per se, Levi could sense her underlying resentment. She spoke of her siblings and shared brief stories about her brothers fighting growing up, and how when she fought with them, if they didn’t allow her to win, her father would punish them.
Levi’s heart ached from joy as she spoke about her healer training. The way her eyes sparkled and entire face animated made him hang onto her every word, wishing she would talk about it for the rest of the night. He was sure she could have, if given the opportunity. All too soon, though, Eden redirected the attention to him. Levi shuffled uncomfortably in his seat. He wasn’t used to talking about himself, and he honestly couldn’t remember a time when he had recalled his life to anyone. He shared what he could, though.
Levi was at least a hundred years older than Eden. He remembered when it was announced that there was a princess, but he had never gotten so close to the royal family to actually meet her. He talked about his travels through Asia and Africa and how he had been arrested by Carlyle when he returned to Europe. War had broken out in the time that he was gone, and every male in the Kingdom was supposed to be fighting. When released, he was put on the front line of an attack on the witches. He had done more damage to the witches in one night than Carlyle’s men had managed to in a fortnight.
Carlyle had wanted to make him the leader of the warriors, but Levi had wanted no part in it. He was a skilled and fierce fighter, but killing always left him with so much remorse that it had become hard to live with himself. Levi had announced his departure from the Kingdom, which, naturally, had not been taken in kind. Tallant’s men had been sent to fetch him, but he had managed to slip away from them. Over the past five centuries, the feud between Levi and Carlyle had grown stagnant. Tallant’s men never seemed to bother him much, but they would jump on an o
pportunity to try and capture him if they spotted him.
“I don’t understand,” Eden interrupted. “If they are after you, then why do you stick around so close my father’s home? You could move anywhere in the world and live in peace, never have to look over your shoulder again.” Levi shook his head.
“At this point,” he said, “I would be looking over my shoulder even if Carlyle gave me his blessing to live in peace. Besides, I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. My mother is the reason I stay nearby and risk capture nearly every day.” Eden’s brows furrowed, not understanding what his mother had to do with it. Levi took a deep breath. “She’s… she’s ill. My father’s been dead for centuries, and my sister Genevieve is married to one of your father’s warriors.”
“Oh,” Eden breathed in understanding. He didn’t need to explain why that complicated her mother getting the care she needed. While the Kingdom hadn’t banished her, they had done all but that. If she didn’t turn Levi in, she could not use any of the Kingdom’s resources.
“So… meditating. Is that something you could teach me?” Levi asked before taking another heavy gulp of his beer. He had to switch the subject, feeling the familiar hot prickle of rage pressing against his skin. It was absurd for the Kingdom to treat his mother the way they did when she’d had nothing to do with his decision-making, as awful as that may have sounded. It did warm his heart, however, that even in her subdued state, she continued to protect him.
Levi busied his hand by rubbing circles into the back of Eden’s, unmoving in his palm. Her fingers squeezed his in understanding before clearing her throat to respond. “Do you actually want to learn to meditate?”
“Why not?” he shrugged.
“Not many dragons care to. I’ve heard some say that it’s unnatural for our kind to be out of touch with our anger.”
“I get the feeling you’re plenty angry.” He grinned devilishly. “You just know how to control it, unlike almost everyone we know.” They chuckled for a moment before he nodded. “But yeah, I am curious to see what it’s like. You’re so passionate about it, how could I not want to?